As I write this, less than 48 hours remain before I board a plane, heading for Mexico. LWFC is going to Bacalar to work alongside James and Beverly Rackley, our missionaries at the Oasis Center. As I mentioned from the pulpit, this is an all-church endeavor. The traveling contingent consists of 10 people, but this really is a team effort. The most immediately obvious way this is true is the financial aspect. The church (meaning you) has contributed generously to make this happen, and just like when we send those monthly checks to many different missions and ministries, we all have a very real part in everything God accomplishes there.
I stress again, however, that the support element doesn’t end with sending us off. I refer once more to a military analogy. A combat unit, ideally, goes to battle with a full load of food, water, equipment and ammunition. The success of this unit in battle, though, depends not only on how skillfully it expends these resources, but on a continuous supply of them as the battle continues.
I once listened to an outstanding presentation by a Major General to a roomful of lieutenants about to go on their first assignments as platoon leaders. The title of the talk was “The Needs of the Soldier”, and focused not on tactical expertise, but on taking care of troops in the field. The assumption was that food and water were a given. First on the list was sleep, and how every combat plan had to include a rest plan. Second? Mail. It was deemed by this brilliant leader – who, by the way had a stellar combat record in Vietnam and would go on to become one of the brightest stars in Desert Storm – that letters from home, and the assurance that they would keep coming, was second only to the physical necessity of sleep in terms of maintaining combat effectiveness.
In simple terms, it is vital to be reminded that we are important to people who are important to us. The connection I want to make here is to prayer. I certainly hope we can all agree that prayer has a real effect on people, circumstances, and life in general. If I could choose between being encouraged by someone and being prayed for by someone, I would choose to be prayed for every time. But it’s not an either-or situation. Paul prayed for Christians and churches all over the known world, but he also made a point of TELLING them he was praying for them, and what he was praying for them. From chapter one of his letter to the Ephesians, we read:
“15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this age but also in that which is to come.”
God inspired Paul not only to pray for the Christians in Ephesus, but to encourage them by reminding them that he was praying for them.
I point this out not only to remind you pray for us as we travel, and not only to encourage you to send us emails and facebook messages, but to remind us all that we support many other missionaries and ministries. Let’s make an effort, if we’re not already, to be more faithful to pray for and encourage these ministries we are already supporting financially.
And let’s start at home. Pray for YOUR church. Pray for the pastors, the ushers, the bookstore and information desk workers, the teachers, the praise and worship team, the techies, the cleaners, and one another. Speak faithfilled words of life over one another and continue to believe and get excited about the fact that God has great plans for Living Word Family Church!
With the retirement party coming up, this is a year of celebrating what God has done with us and for us. A time of remembering and reflecting. But God takes us from glory to glory; the best is always yet to come!
