So, the Lord God has called you to be a missionary to the nations. Congratulations! You
are about to experience a lifetime full of rewards! Never before has there been such thrust in
missions as in these last days. It is obvious that the Lord Jesus is pushing to get people
to respond to the gospel before he comes again.
Along with the rewards come many dangers that the missionary may wish to avoid. It
appears as though Satan works extra hard to destroy the person and the work of the one whom
the Lord has called to preach the good news of salvation. Many books have been written and
many seminars have been given on preparation for the mission field. These have covered every
aspect of missionary life that can be thought of and all have given invaluable ideas for success
as a missionary.
The most important aspect of a missionary's life is the vitality of his or her spiritual walk.
Without a proper spiritual walk the missionary is doomed to failure. Every part of the
missionary's life will depend upon his or her life in the Spirit. This little article is an attempt to give
you some basic and practical Biblical ways to prepare spiritually for your stay on the mission
field. May the Lord God bless you with a renewed desire to be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might as you head for your rewards in other nations.
The Lord God has called you to the mission field. Hallelujah! He is faithful as he continues
to answer the prayers of his children to take his life-giving Word around the world. You are
excited and perhaps a bit apprehensive. It is a special calling, but you are thinking, "Why
me? What can I do? I'm not qualified. I have so many problems, how can I ever help anyone
of a different culture to turn to Jesus?"
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon thought in many Christians. God's people during the
Old Testament period had the same questions. Let's take a look at the life of Moses in Exodus
3 and 4. In verse 10 of chapter 3, God commissions Moses and tells him what he wants done.
Moses had received a call from the Lord God Almighty. God had a plan to set the Israelites
free from their bondage in Egypt and Moses was going to be his servant to carry it out.
Notice Moses's four responses to this calling. 1. "Who am I, that I should go. . .?" (3:11) 2. "But,
behold, they will not believe me. . .!" (4:1) 3. "I am not eloquent. . .but I am slow of speech and
of a slow tongue." (4:10) 4. "Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." (4:13)
(Please send someone else to do it.) These are questions and statements of a man filled with doubts
about his ability. But, with each statement of doubt, the Lord reinforces that he will be with
Moses and will be the one who is delivering Israel. He knew the weaknesses that Moses had
and was showing him that deliverance of Israel wouldn't be done through human strength, but
through the power of the Most High God. You can find the Lord's responses to Moses doubts
in 3:12, 4:2-5, and 4:12.
Still Moses doubted and said to find someone else. The Bible says that the Lord's anger
burned against Moses. He was the person the Lord God had chosen to do the job and that
calling was not going to change for any reason Moses had. You see, the Lord knew all along
that Moses was going to be called to lead the people out of Egypt. The forty years that Moses
spent in Egypt and the forty years that he spent in the wilderness were preparation for the
calling the Lord had for him. Moses at that time didn't realize this, but the Lord, who knows
all, was able to see the whole picture. He could see the past, present, and future all at the
same time. He knew the preparation of Moses over his lifetime would be just what was needed
to lead the people of Israel.
The Lord God has called you, but you are responding like Moses did. Remember, God sees
the whole picture and you don't. He knows that you are the right person for the calling he has
given you or he wouldn't have given it to you. The Lord shows us in this example of Moses
that the person is the instrument, but it is the Lord who does the delivering. All he needs is
a willing instrument.
I Cor. 1:26-29 says this to us. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things that are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which
are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that
are: That no flesh should glory in his presence."
After reading this do you still wish to argue with the Lord? The Lord says to think of what
you were when you were called. God knows your weaknesses and incapabilities. That is why
he chose you. He wants the world to see that the things that are accomplished through your
service for him are done through the power of God and not through human power.
This is why missionary service is so rewarding. You can't do it on your own. You have to
depend on the Lord. He gets all the glory and in turn will heap reward upon reward on you
for your faithfulness in being available to him and his work.
I gave you that illustration of Moses because I know many of you feel you just aren't worthy
to serve Christ in another culture. You think you need to grow more in your spiritual life before
you can become a missionary. Nonsense! If the Lord has called you, he himself is saying
that you are ready. He is saying that your whole life has been a time of preparation for this
point in your life. Besides, he will provide for you everything you need to serve him effectively
and victoriously as a missionary. Don't allow the Lord's anger to burn against you. If he says
go, GO! Do whatever it takes to get yourself on the mission field. Don't procrastinate and don't
make excuses. Don't wait because you do not feel spiritual enough.
Nevertheless, your spiritual walk with the Lord is so important for the mission field that I
feel it is necessary to say that when you do receive the calling of God to the nations, you
need to know that your spiritual life is healthy. By following the ideas of the next few pages,
when the Lord says, "Go," you will be able to respond with a firm, "Yes." To be ready to go to the mission field, you will have to learn to put the Word of God first
in every area of your life. Everything you do or say must be based upon the Word of God.
Don't make decisions based on what you feel or see. Make your decisions based upon the
Word of God. The Lord says that we are to live by faith and not by sight (II Cor. 5:7) and
that without faith it is impossible to please him (Heb. 11:6). If you are living by faith, you will
be living by the Word of God. Let me illustrate this. At tomes I don't feel like reading the
Bible and praying. Yet, by faith, I know that the Word of God feeds my spirit man and that
prayer is part of my fellowship with the Spirit of God. If I followed my feelings I would
miss out on both spiritual growth and fellowship with the Lord.
Many times, the missionary will find himself tested with his financial situation. Yet, the Lord
promises in his Word to supply all his need according to the Lord's riches in glory by Christ
Jesus (Phil. 4:19). The missionary must lean on this promise and not be moved by what he sees
in his pocketbook. Look at I Cor. 15:2,58. Verse two talks about keeping in memory what
was preached unto us. In other words, it means to hold firm to the Word that was preached
to us. Verse 58 says to be stedfast and unmoveable. These indicate that we are to be moved
only by the living Word of God and not by our feelings or circumstances or by what we see.
Let nothing move you but the Word. On the mission field you will receive ample opportunity
to put this principle into practice. The devil will throw everything he can at you to get your eyes
off the Word of God and onto your circumstances. He will do everything he can to get you to walk
crosswise to what the Word says. To be successful on the mission field, be a believer not moved by
what you feel or see, but one moved only by the Word of God.
In relation to the Word of God, you will need to be able to feed yourself spiritually from
the Word. On the mission field you won't have your pastor to feed you. You might not have
the TV or radio evangelist to feed you. You won't have the Wednesday night prayer group to feed you.
Child of God, you are on your own! You may be in an area without Christians and a church. If
you are in an area with a strong church base; you will have the language barrier staring at
you for a while. If you don't feed yourself on the Word of God, your spirit is going to starve.
Know how to feed yourself on the Word of God without anyone's help. You have that
ability as a believer in Jesus. The Word itself says that the Holy Spirit, who lives in you, will
guide you into all truth (John 16:13). It also says that you do not need anyone to teach you,
but the Spirit's anointing teaches you about all things (I John 2:27). It is vitally important that
you spend quality and quantity time in the Word of God so that you may be able to be moved
by that very Word and not by what you feel or see. If you don't spend time in the Word, it
can't get into your spirit. The Bible says that the entrance of God's words gives light. It gives
understanding unto the simple (Ps. 119:130). With light and understanding of the Word in your
spirit, you will be able to deal with those difficult times on the mission field. You will be able
to walk in victory in all situations. SO, LEARN TO PUT THE WORD OF GOD FIRST IN YOUR LIFE.
LET IT BE THE AUTHORITY. BE MOVED ONLY BY THE WORD OF GOD, NOT BY WHAT YOU SEE OR FEEL.
The second thing you must prepare for spiritually to live on the mission field, is the ability to
make war against Satan and his spiritual forces of darkness. The works of Satan will appear
more obvious on the field. You will find yourself dealing with more demon possessed people
and you will find yourself battling Satan for control of your ministry and your family. Your weak
points will seem like they are magnified.
The Bible says that Christ defeated Satan at the cross and at the same time took away
his weapons that he had with which to fight us. (Col. 2:15). Because we are in Christ and he
is in us, we can effectively deal with the darts of deception that Satan throws at us. Eph. 6:11
says, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil." The devil will try to do anything to destroy the missionary's family, because that in
turn would destroy the man of God's gospel effort. Satan tries to throw darts of disappointment,
sin, sickness, rebellion, discouragement, or whatever else he can use to disrupt harmony in the home.
As we put on the full armor of God we can combat all demonic darts. When our lives are
fortified with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God, we can stand
against Satan and be unmovable. All the parts of God's armor are important and the Apostle
Paul gives us a wonderful word picture of the armor in comparing it to the armor of a Roman
soldier, but in verse 16 the Holy Spirit says through Paul that above all we must take up the
shield of faith. This shield of faith enables us to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.
In Roman times soldiers sometimes used spears or darts that were fire tipped. These were
thrown at the enemy during times of battle. The shield was rather large, and door shaped. It
had a padding on the front that snuffed out the fiery darts as they slammed into the shield.
The verse says that these shields quenched the fiery darts, that is, they extinguished them,
put them out. The word quench here is the same Greek word used for quench in 1 Thess.
5:19 that says to not quench the Holy Spirit. So, we are to put out the devil's fires, but keep
the fire of the Holy Spirit going within us.
An illustration of putting out the fires of the devil by faith is that the devil knew we preached
the powerful Word of God in the marketplace in the mornings on certain days in Puntarenas,
Costa Rica. After a while I was noticing that on the days we preached, the devil seemed somehow
to cause major disharmony in my family before I left the house to go to the marketplace to minister.
That was put to a stop again through the name of Jesus and a prayer of faith concerning the problem
the night before the services. The mornings of the services were tranquil once again.
Of course, all problems can't be always connected to some demonic workings. Many times
it is just our own sinful flesh at war in our souls. Well, the whole armor of God is good for
combatting the flesh, also. The shield of faith is a powerful tool against devils and sin. I John
5:4 tells us that this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. By faith we can
use the name of Jesus that is above all names (Phil. 2:9). Everything has to bow to the name
of Jesus and that includes the forces of darkness. Search the Scriptures and you will discover
the power of the name of Jesus and how it is our privilege as children of God to use that
wonderful name. Prov. 18:10 says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous
run to it and are safe. Learn how to make war against the devil and his angels. Remember,
HE IS ALREADY A DEFEATED FOE!?
Finally, I would like to touch on a couple more things. First, make sure your prayer life is
vibrant and healthy. By spending sufficient time in prayer with the Lord you will learn how to
deal with Satan and how to depend totally upon the Word of God. The fellowship of the Holy
Spirit will refresh your spiritual strength. The Lord will show you things that you could never
imagine. He will give you direction for every situation or obstacle of Satan that you face. He
will reveal Scriptures to you that you will need to stand on in various circumstances. He himself
will be your strength.?
In a missions Sunday School class in a church I attended, there was a teacher that stressed
that we need to spend at least one hour in prayer every day. He based his thinking on Jesus
in the garden when he asked his disciples, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matt.
26:40) It changed my prayer life and my relationship with the Lord. A consistent prayer life is
essential for success on the foreign field.
Lastly, you need to develop a group of Christian friends who will be faithful in constant prayer
for your work overseas. Be sure they are believers who know how to pray prayers that are
full of faith. You do not need doubters interceding for you. They will be able to help you make
war in the realm of the spirit and push back the spiritual forces of wickedness that may be assailing
you.
Others praying for you is such an encouragement. My mother and father were faithful
persons of prayer on our behalf and they reminded us of it weekly in the letters they sent to
us. It was so uplifting to the spirit man inside of us to hear that.
It is my prayer that this article has been an encouragement to you. The Lord God has
called you to the mission field and he has great things in store for you. Don't procrastinate!
Go! He has called you because you are the one he has chosen for a particular job and will
be able to do it through Christ. Phil. 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." The Lord God
works his saving grace and his sanctification in our lives and I believe this includes his preparing
of our lives for good works for the kingdom of God. The great I AM WHO I AM has sent you.
God bless you in your service for him.
Add comment
Comments