Growing Your Heart For MissionsSample

Seen and unseen 

This passage has spoken to me many times in my life—most often in the midst of tragedies like Beslan, Ebola, or when we receive word that partners have been attacked yet continue to see God’s Kingdom grow despite unimaginable persecution.

And while I weep for our partners, I know they have hope. It is the inhabitants around them that my heart truly breaks for. Those who don’t know God, but must still live in such damaging conditions as abject poverty, extremist war zones or severe religious poverty. 

We live in the seen, the finite, and the temporal. But every day, God sees the suffering these people experience without Him. I pray that every day He continues to increase my awareness of the plight of people around the world who are hopeless, helpless, and in desperate need of a Savior.

What keeps me on my knees—first in tears, then ending in peace—is the deep theological understanding of who God is, what we have been called to as His people, and where we fit in His plan. And the difference their knowing Him can truly make in their lives. 

God, the most important aspect of missions is the condition of the heart. We’ve prayed for clean hands and pure hearts. We’ve acknowledged that this is YOUR work and that you will do it—we just have to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have to all who ask. Give us now a spirit of boldness, and may we live every day in the expectancy of your faithfulness. May the brother or sister reading these words know that they have a legion of brothers and sisters in Christ cheering them on to faith and good deeds. Lord, may their ministry bear much fruit, bringing you all the glory and honor and power and praise forever. Amen.