Many years ago I was reading a prayer letter from a missionary in the Dominican Republic. In the last paragraph, the missionary wrote these words, “Alexis asked me a couple months ago: ‘What would have happened to me and all the people in our church if you had not come to the Dominican Republic?’”
I have often thought, “What if the Lord Jesus Christ, after counting the cost of man’s salvation, had decided to stop short of the cross?” Thank God He did not! Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The gospel is free to us, but it was not cheap.
What if every Bible-believing church in America took seriously the Great Commission? Jesus said in Mark 16:15, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” I praise God for churches all over the world that have taken seriously God’s Great Commission to us. Sometimes, we get so involved in superficial things that we fail to do the one thing that God has commanded. We are to make Him known to “every creature” in our generation.
What if every Christian gave something every week to missions above a tithe and offering? Many churches use what we call “grace-giving” or “faith-promise giving” to encourage their members to give something every week, above their regular offering, for worldwide evangelization.
What if there were a great emphasis on world evangelization in all of our Christian schools, Bible colleges, and seminaries? What a great difference this would make! Our missions organizations would soon be flooded with mission candidates.
What if God’s people took seriously the prayer request of our Lord Jesus Christ? After looking at the multitudes of hurting people, Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few” (Matthew 9:37). While the harvest field is much larger today than it was when Jesus walked upon the face of the earth, the force of laborers has not increased in proportion. The problem is not with the harvest; the problem is a lack of laborers. After making that great statement, Jesus commanded His disciples, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
What if you and I would go before God daily and pray to Him that He would send forth laborers into this great harvest field? Many people are fearful of praying that God will send forth laborers. Their fears rest in the fact that they are not willing to go to the mission field, and if they pray, God might lay the mission field on their hearts. Someone has well said, “We should not pray unless we are willing to be the answer to God’s prayer.” We should always be willing for God to use us and our loved ones anywhere in this life.
Thank God, the missionary went to the Dominican Republic, and Alexis and his friends were saved. Thank God, Jesus Christ went all the way to Calvary and suffered, bled, and died so you and I could be saved from our sins. My constant prayer is that we will not come short of what God has for each of us.
