Day Sixteen - Visit a Missionary
Acts 15:36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
There are no needs, if we are unaware of the needs. We are in a war. There are casualties and there are victories, yet we do not pray when we are uninformed, if we are sheltered from what is happening on the front lines. We need to lengthen our prayer lists by taking a closer look at the needs of those who are engaged in the hottest battles. Missionaries are far from home and far from fellow believers. They do not have the support that is needed to effective fight the battle. The problem is in the supply line. The Army Logistician1 writes,
“Although the British had a larger and better trained army than the Americans, they had to transport soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic Ocean. George Washington, as well as other military leaders in the Continental Army, recognized that disrupting the flow of supplies to the British soldiers would destroy their ability to fight effectively.”
“Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “An army marches on its stomach.” His army lost more soldiers because of spoiled food than from battle. In 1795, Napoleon offered a prize of 12,000 francs to anyone who could devise a reliable method of food preservation for his army. This effort resulted in the first attempts to store food for extended periods of time in cans and ultimately led to modern food canning methods.”
The supply line for missions is not food. It is prayer. When the prayer supply line is broken, we will see more casualties. Are you aware of the prayer needs of the missionaries that we support? Some of those needs are listed in our mission updates, but we can find many more when we talk to them in person
An Exercise to increase our Faith: Visit a missionary. The best way to increase faith in our missionaries is to visit them on their field to “see how they do.” We can learn firsthand their struggles. For this exercise, you can call them, write, or email them to find out any specific needs and to encourage them.
1. The Army Logistician , Nov, Dec 2008, http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/NovDec08/spplyline_war.html
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