The Lost
And then he said to his disciples, "the harvest is plentiful
but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out
workers into his harvest field."Matthew
9:37-38
The latest data I could find on Christian missionaries was from 2002. The
world population is approximately six billion people. There are now
approximately 140,000 protestant missionaries. Approximately 64,000 of which are
from the United States but only 6% of these missionaries to go Islamic
countries. It is sad when we consider the greater than one billion Muslims in
the world and the very few number of missionaries who are reaching out to them.
I remember the story in Luke 16 of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man went
down to Hades and Lazarus ascended into the heavens. The rich man from Hades
begged for Lazarus just to put his finger in the water and put a drop of water
onto his tongue and to send a message to his brothers so they could avoid his
fate. I remember reading somewhere the story, that if we could truly imagine
what it would be like to be present when one lost soul is cast out from God's
presence and has to descend into hell for an eternity, it would change out lives
and cause us to want to reach out to others and share with them the saving grace
of Jesus Christ. Lord, we as Christians and our churches, need to awaken from
our apathy, to see that there is a lost and fallen world around us and that
literally millions are dying without the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Lord, we trust in you and your justice, in your mercy and your wisdom. Lord,
we pray that you will help awaken us from our slumber, give us a passionate fire
inside of us to reach out to those who do not know you.
Mike McMahon
"You can't go on heavenly missions without heavenly fire." - D.
L. Moody
Prayer Power
Lord, we pray for all the people who do not know you. Lord, we pray that they
may come to know you. Lord, help us to reach out to them in whatever way that we
can to share your story with them. In Christ's name, Amen.