So I just recently had a revelation. An “ah-ha!” moment, I would normally say. You know the verse Philippians 4:4 where Paul writes “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice!”
Gospel for Asia is an organization born from prayer. Literally, it started as a tuesday night prayer meeting in our founders house, and still to this day, we are a living breathing organism grounded in the greatest weapon given to Believers in Christ. Prayer. We have Monday, Thursday, and Friday morning prayer before we go to our battle stations, we have Tuesday night prayer every week, we have a Friday night all night prayer on the first Friday of every month, as departments we have prayer once, twice, or even three times a week, and of course there is personal prayer time. I’m not saying this to brag or anything, but just to make a point. With our lives grounded in prayer, you can bet that we see the effects of those prayer requests every day, sometimes immediately after we’ve prayed. I don’t know about you, but for me, this is a cause to rejoice.
Some of the answers to prayer may include, healing for brothers and sisters, whole villages coming to know the Lord through the various ministries we have on the field, people in the west faithfully giving more than they have in excess to further God’s work, etc. Aren’t these amazing things?! But what about those prayer requests that we don’t get the result we had been hoping for? Say, we pray for healing for a brother in Asia who was brutally beaten for professing Christ Our Savior, we pray and we pray and we pray, but then that brother goes to be with the Lord. How is that a good thing for the family that he left behind, or for the believers he was discipling in a distant village, or even for those who persecuted him? Doesn’t Paul say Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS?
Is the word “always” subjected to only the happy answers to prayer? Shouldn’t we also rejoice in the answers to prayer that aren’t as happy? Praise the Lord that brother is no longer suffering, but he is forever in the eternal presence of our Lord Jesus! Praise the Lord I didn’t get the raise in my paycheck, because HE knows what I need more than I could ever imagine! Praise the Lord for _______ (you fill in the blank).
Often times working in ministry I will get caught up in the numbers of the results. No matter how hard I try not to focus on the numbers, it seems to always creep into mind. Recently we have been praying for year-end giving via the web. We’re praying for a “million dollar” day. Which would be AMAZING, but what happens if we don’t reach that? Or if the numbers go down? Will we still be praising the Lord for the lives transformed by the gifts given by those who were perhaps sacrificing the comforts offered in America, what someone might call the “widow’s mite”? I want to say I would rejoice in this situation. I want to say I would rejoice in every situation, whether it be death, or new life, or sickness, or health. I will definitely be praying for the Lord to make this transformation in my heart and mind.
But then I find it hard to rejoice in death when often times it’s a death of someone who hasn’t yet come to know the Savior, the Comforter, my Father in Heaven. How can I rejoice? They are headed to the worst possible suffering one could ever endure, and not just for a day, but for eternity in Hell! But then I remind myself of Romans 8:28 “ALL THINGS work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” If ALL THINGS work for the good of those who love God, then I have to trust that the Lord has it all under control.
If you would like to do something to make an impact on these lost and dying souls, share the love of Christ with someone who hasn’t heard before. Well you’re in luck. It just so happens that we are in the last two months of the year 2011. Meaning, it is time to start thinking about Christmas gifts. Praying for the loved ones that will be joining you on both Thanksgiving and Christmas, that they will come to know the Lord. But what about those that we are praying for in Asia? You know…the ones I talked about earlier, the ones who are in need of healing, the ones who are being persecuted daily just because they were born as a Dalit, the broken, the blind, the lame. Remember them? Make it your prayer request that they would come to know the Lord. Believe Him for that. He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). And if you would like to give a life-altering gift this year, I know the perfect place to do so. www.forgottenchristmas.org. Don’t just give because you feel bad for them, give because you love God and love those who He created. Love them as you would your own son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister, etc.
I am praying for each of you. I may not know your name, or what you look like, but I do know that God loves you more than you could ever fathom. And I pray that if you know Him, that you would grow in Him. If you don’t know Him, I pray that you will come to know and love Him just as He knows and loves you (even before you were born!).
God Bless,
Alley/Alex/Owley
Source: Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS
