Spirit-filled ministry

When you pray for missionaries, remember to pray that they would minister in the power of the Holy Spirit and not in the flesh. A person can accomplish many things in the flesh; but none of those achievements will be worth our time when viewed from eternity. Jesus told his disciples, “Without me, ye can do nothing.”

Anyone who reads the book of Acts quickly recognizes the role that the Holy Spirit had in the early church: empowering, protecting, leading, and conforming. They had the miracles of healing to show the people. Holy Spirit filled Christians today have the miracle of changed lives to show to those who observe us.

The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to speak with boldness even when their lives were threatened. “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word ... And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Notice that they prayed for boldness and the Holy Spirit gave them boldness. What missionary does not need more boldness to preach Christ?

He protected the apostles by raising up Gamaliel, a member of the council, to protect them when their very lives were threatened. It was a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin who said, “But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed.” Do any of the missionaries for whom you pray need God’s protection? No doubt!

The Spirit of God led them in their decisions. It was the Spirit who prevented Paul from traveling into Bithynia to enable them to bring the Gospel to Europe. Missionaries need to be led by the Holy Spirit. There are a multitude of seemingly worthy distractions on the mission field. A pioneer missionary once said, “        It is one of the most subtle wiles of the foe to get us occupied with superficial and surface concerns (e.g., book-selling, language study, running mission-stations, report-writing, correspondence, account-keeping, building, repairs, buying things, reading, etc.). The enemy is delighted to have us so occupied incessantly with secondary and trivial concerns, as to keep us from attacking and resisting in the true spirit of the conflict. Weigh these words.” The missionary daily led by the Holy Spirit has protection from these distractions and a guarantee that what he is doing will matter in eternity. Pray for your missionaries to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

It is God’s plan from eternity past that we would be conformed to the image of His Son. At the same time that God uses circumstances to mold us (Rom. 8:28-29), He is also at work as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God in a man yielded to God’s work in his life necessarily changes his manner of living from the inside out. When we look at the list recorded in Galatians we realize that the works of the flesh are actions, things that we do. But the next list is not a list of actions but attitudes. As the Holy Spirit fundamentally changes the way that we approach life, our entire demeanor changes.

Even missionaries, especially missionaries require the ministry of the Holy Spirit changing them from the inside out. Jim Elliot once remarked, “So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that His main work is to make something of them.” It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can make a lasting impact in the culture in which we serve. Pray for your missionaries to be filled with the Spirit, empowered to preach with boldness, protected by His hand, led by His wisdom, and changed by His work!