Pray

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The electronic age allows this generation to pray for missions as never before. There was a day when missionaries’ prayer requests were outdated by the time they reached the churches. Supporters faithfully prayed for general needs, unaware of the challenges of a specific day. Praying saints sometimes heard weeks later how God wonderfully delivered the missionary through some crisis on the very day of their burdened intercession. The lag time of “snail mail” sometimes left people wondering how God had answered their prayers. Internet-based communication now provides instant access to the most remote corners of God’s harvest fields, enabling missionaries to communicate needs in real time.

 

Any church member can participate in missions through prayer. They partner with missionaries and are directly engaged with God’s work in foreign lands. The experience should be life-transforming, helping believers internalize God’s perspective on the world and their role in it. Prayer often leads to even greater involvement in missions. Someone once said, "Today’s praying child may become tomorrow’s foreign missionary."  The fact is prayer is important.

 

Missionaries cannot succeed without intercessors. Many would testify of God’s sustaining grace, deliverance, or empowerment during times of great personal weakness. Surely, many of these victories arise from intercessory prayer. Instant information allows churches to mobilize prayer as never before. Please continue to pray for our missionaries that are all across the world fulfilling the Great Commission.

 

Give

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When Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), he revealed one of life's greatest secrets to finding joy in life.

Giving that flows out of a heart of love for God takes different forms: giving of our treasures (finances, annuities, etc.), time (volunteering) and talents (occupation, skills). May the blessing of giving be yours. From Old Testament time, when the Children of Israel were nomads in the desert, to the present, the work of God has always been financed by God's abundant blessing expressed through the generosity of His people.

 

Go

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Have you ever been to a birthday party for someone who just turned fifty?  If you have, you undoubtedly heard the “over the hill” statement directed to the one reaching this milestone in life. Unfortunately, the idea of “over the hill” seems to have affected many seniors in what they feel they think they can do for the Lord.  Some feel the Lord’s work is for “young people” or have the idea, “I've done my part; now it’s someone else’s turn. It’s time for me to take it easy.” Are these ideas true? Is that what God wants?

 

There's an interesting story of an astronaut who went on a mission to space.  The astronaut was about sixty one years old and still he was not the oldest astronaut in the space program. This story should bring up the question, "If men and women in their sixties can be effective in space, can they not be effective in serving the Lord, perhaps in missions?

 

We should all share the goal of serving the Lord while we have the health to do so, or until God calls us home. We do not have to go to the mission field to serve the Lord. But with the world population expanding, and the number of missionaries decreasing, why not consider spending a few good years on the mission field? Sure, we can give, pray, and support missions in other ways, but why not prayerfully consider if God would use us as a missionary.  The time is short and the need of missions is greater than ever before.