Thirza Peevey writes:
Dear Lord, the meme below is convicting me that it is some time since I have last invited prayer for clergy, laity and missions. Dear Jesus, thank you for inviting us into your work, that we might see the change in the world and participate in it. Thank you for giving us the blessing of participating in your redemption of the world and of the individuals in it. Thank you for those who have gone before us, and planted the seeds that are now flourishing and blooming: those brave souls who have entered into pagan lands, often at the cost of their entire life, or their immediate death. Thank you for the Adoniram Judsons, the Stanley LIvingstons, the David Nitchsmans, and Hudson Taylors who have carried your word into the far corners of the earth, where it is beginning to bloom now.
Lord, the work is often dangerous. There are missionaries all over the world right now. Lord, please grant them protection and peace where they work. Keep them from harm. But if harm must come, redeem it with a vast harvest. May those who would harm your missionaries to prevent your word from spreading find that each missionary they cut down cause hundreds to spring up, until they fear to touch one of yours. May every drop of blood that is spilled from your saints result in thousands turning to you and becoming your follower and disciple. Lord, make the devil tremble to touch any of yours, for the number of his that it costs him. We are not fighting a flesh and blood war, but one of spiritual principalities. Lord, go before us and teach the devil FEAR!
Lord, the work is often hard. Lord, put heart in your servants all around the world. Give them courage to face what often seems a losing battle. Keep before them the tiny seeds planted by the generations before them, and the vast harvests coming from those seeds now. The handful of missionaries in Asia 150 years ago must have felt so inadequate to the task of bringing China, India and the smaller Asian nations to you. The population was vast even then. But the small seeds they planted are bearing fruit, and China is on the brink of being the most Christian nation in the world. Keep this before your servants, and give them courage and heart for the work, and for the small seeds they plant.
Lord, the work is often thankless. Help them to do it as to you, and not worry if others thank them or not. Encourage them, Lord. Fill their hearts with joy and song, give them courage to praise you no matter what the day brings.
Lord, the work is often overwhelming. Give them inspiration from your Holy Spirit. Give them resourcefulness and creativity. Send others to come alongside them in the field. Send them a Boaz, who will order grain to be pulled from the sheaves and spilled on the ground, that they might have plenty to find and to glean. When there is nothing else to work with, give them the jawbone of an ass or a slingshot and a few smooth stones, and the ability to wield it against large armies of well-armed giants. When you withhold the rain, give them the hand full of meal and dregs of oil that never run out.
Lord, the hearts of the nations are often like stone. Pour out a spirit of repentance on this land and this world. Send old women to pray for the church, as in the Isle of Lewis and in the church of Jonathan Edwards. Send faithful pastors to preach your Gospel of repentance and redemption. Stop the mouths of false preachers, that the people might hear truth. Give your pastors the inspiration and the words they need to speak. Lord, make this the year that revival breaks out in this land. Make this the year that hearts return to you. Lord, make this the year that the churches of this land, the many little abandoned chapels that dot our landscape, are pressed back into service because there aren't enough buildings to contain all the new believers, and the year that people go even to wrecks like tiny Hurricane Lake, because they are seeking for you and they know not where else to go. Let them show up even at long abandoned churches, seeking a man of God to tell them what they must do to be saved.
(In Jesus' Holy Name, Amen, Amen and Amen!)
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