It is these truths—God’s love and His presence and control over circumstances–that brought strength to Daniel’s soul, even affected his body, and gave him courage to go on. He was not ready to receive this vision, one that would somehow take its toll on him. He said to the angel, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” Are we lacking in strength, exhausted, burdened with cares, even with good reason? If so, we need to re-immerse ourselves in who God is, which includes His perfect love.

The prophet Daniel saw many mighty works of God on the behalf of himself, his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, works performed before the greatest of kings of his era. He received revelation from God in visions and was given ability to interpret dreams for the seeming all-powerful king, Nebuchadnezzar. And yet even such a man as Daniel knew what it was to be utterly spent and in need of encouragement. He needed to be renewed in the love and peace of God.
A Full Life
As Daniel chapter 10 opens, it is the third year of the reign of Cyrus the Great, King of the Medo-Persian Empire, whose armies had toppled and absorbed the Babylonian Empire. Daniel had been a Jewish captive now for decades, though God has greatly exalted him to positions of authority and influence in both empires. Throughout all this time Daniel has seen God’s hand at work powerfully and clearly. He is now a very old man, and the world has radically changed, is still changing.
Prayers Answered
Daniel knew the time was close for the Jewish captives to be allowed to return to Jerusalem, just as God had said. He had spent the last three weeks now in fasting and prayer, seeking God’s face for revelation about the future of Israel and the last days. In answer to his prayers, it appears that the pre-incarnate Christ (Christophany) and a mighty angel visited him. The angel then gave him a vision of the future sent from God.
Before giving Daniel the vision, the angel tells Daniel about the great battle taking place in the spiritual realm between God’s angels and the fallen. The battle was so intense that God sent his famed archangel Michael to join the battle to ensure that the vision reached Daniel.
All of this is fascinating and rich with devotional truth, but these are not the points I would like to raise here. What happens next is what we will consider.
Exhausted and in Pain
Daniel is exhausted from prayer and fasting, overwhelmed by seeing the pre-incarnate Christ in His glory (compare with Rev 1:12-18), seeing the angel, and hearing of the great battle in the spiritual realm.
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Our sinful flesh, even with a thorough grasp of sound doctrine, can cause us to fail to evangelize. We might maintain a strong stance against hyper-Calvinism and be committed doctrinally to urgency about making disciples and still find ourselves apathetic and passive in evangelism.

A trap is something you fall into because you don’t realize it’s there. Theological traps are errors in thinking about God and His ways that creep in and steal away our motivation for evangelism. These aberrant thoughts affect our emotions, zap our confidence, and often hold us back from faithful verbal evangelism.
Being the sinners that we are, our flesh easily falls into such traps. Outside of intervening grace, we tend to avoid sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Biblical evangelism is a supernatural event springing from grace. Our flesh is diametrically opposed to it because we are proud and selfish. That is why consistent evangelism as a lifestyle is such a battle for most of us. Evaluation of our evangelism—what we do and what we fail to do—is therefore a healthy exercise.
Great commission-centric living requires a continual renewal of our minds. How we think about God, others, and life in general, must be regularly recalibrated: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:21). As we consider together some of the theological traps that easily ensnare, let’s be honest with ourselves before God. Are we presently struggling in the quagmire of one or more of the following four traps?
Relegating our Responsibility to God’s Sovereignty
If we have a biblically healthy view of God’s sovereignty in salvation, we must admit the negative tendencies about evangelism that come with it. Our sinful flesh is prone to reason that if God is in control and election is real, then God will certainly save the elect so ultimately it’s not really up to us anyway. This kind of thinking can cause us to stray away from urgency in evangelism. This is why some people who are passionate about evangelism tend to reject strong views of God’s sovereignty in salvation.
A view of God’s sovereignty that allows or encourages apathy in evangelism is not sound doctrine. God’s Word leaves the relationship between God’s sovereignty and the will of man a mystery that cannot be fully understood.2 In passages that strongly declare God’s sovereignty, verses that declare man’s responsibility are often close by (see John 6:41-71).
Our sinful flesh, even with a thorough grasp of sound doctrine, can cause us to fail to evangelize. We might maintain a strong stance against hyper-Calvinism and be committed doctrinally to urgency about making disciples and still find ourselves apathetic and passive in evangelism.
Diminishing a Woman’s Responsibility for Evangelism
Bible-believing Christians must emphasize male leadership because God does. To fail to do so is to be unfaithful to God’s Word.
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We must tell them our stories—the real ones: both victories and failures, joys and sorrows, and how God taught us through these things. As appropriate, we need to tell them how God taught us when we struggled with sin, faced depression, failed the Lord. They need to hear about the ways God helped us through difficult trials. We must tell them about how we came to know Jesus. Through example, love, prayer, and testimony, older believers can have a powerful influence on younger generations.

A quick Google search of “the Psalm of the Aged Man” immediately pulls up Psalm 71. This Psalm is also called the “Prayer of the Elderly Man” or “Prayer of an Old Man.” In it the psalmist expresses his heart for the younger generations.
This Psalm may have been written by King David late in his life. It is definitely the prayer of an older believer. In it the older man expresses his confidence in God. He speaks of how God has led and helped him throughout his life. The author asks God for help to deliver him from his present troubles, from his enemies that seek to harm him even still. This older man remembers God’s past faithfulness as he asks for further blessings.
When we read this psalm of the aged man, we also see his strong desire to be used of God to encourage the younger generations to serve Him. I would like to draw your attention to the second part of this prayer. It shows us some ways that older Christians today can be a godly influence on the younger generations.
Psalm 71:15-24
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. 16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. 17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. 19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? 20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. 22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. 24 And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.
What can older believers in Jesus Christ today learn from this Psalm that would help influence younger generations for the Lord?
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I recently read ‘How to Bring Men to Christ’ and found that it met me where I needed spiritual guidance. The book was written to urge God’s people to have a love for souls and to help those whom God’s Spirit has awakened to personal evangelism. Torrey continually proclaimed Christ through preaching, evangelistic meetings, as well as many thousands of personal conversations. He was a man immersed in God’s Word.

Can we communicate with the dead? A lot of people seem to think so. They go to graves, make social media posts to deceased loved ones, perform rituals, and worship ancestors.
Christians should know that direct communication with the dead is impossible. Trying to do so is sin against God (Lev. 20:6; Deut. 18:10-11; 1 Sam. 28:3). But what if I was to tell you that in a certain sense, the dead can speak, and we can listen?
How, you ask? Through the medium of reading their writings.
Old Books and Communing with the Dead
There are ways to commune with those who have gone before. We can listen to the voices of those who have passed beyond this world through their writings or recordings. There are the Scriptures, those writings directly inspired by God. But there is more that God uses. When we read the works of faithful Christians, we can fellowship with them around the unchanging Truth that challenged and shaped them. When we know their acts of faith and the overall tenor of their life, we can approach these voices of the dead and expect to be encouraged in our own life journey!
Books written by now long-dead believers may be just what we need. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that books written for Christians in different times aren’t for us today. Yes, there are some real issues with reading older books. You may have to deal with reading archaic language at times. There are vastly different cultural contexts represented. Denominational differences held by some writers can also be distracting. Having said this, don’t miss out on what godly writers in days past have left for us (like Richard Baxter)!
Sometimes we can allow our present life and ministry context to lull us to sleep. Some areas of our theology become dormant. Devotionally, we walk in circles. Reading sermons and books from believers of other times, especially when those writers have endured much for the sake of the Gospel, can be used of God to re-kindle our hearts.
I would like to draw your attention to two books that I have recently read that have stirred my soul about evangelism. The Lord knew I was desperately in need of this emphasis, so He led me to read some older works that have greatly helped revive me, including these two.
Words to Winners of Souls
Horatius Bonar was a Scottish preacher who lived through times of spiritual revival. He lived from 1808-1889. Bonar was well-known in his time as a preacher of God’s Word and leader in the Free Church of Scotland.
He was also a prodigious writer of books and hymns. He wrote over 140 hymns, including some more well-known titles, one of which is “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.” I have seen him referred to as “the prince of Scottish hymn writers.”
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We, too, will be glorified, because of Jesus. The day of true and final rest with God in heaven is coming. The day when we will experience complete freedom from sin and its consequences, the day when we will know full joy with God forever is our promised inheritance in Jesus. This life really is but a moment of time which quickly vanishes away.

One of the main themes in the Gospel of John is the full consecration of Jesus to do His Father’s will. Jesus was fully devoted to say and do only what pleased His Father. What brought glory to the Father, what the Father wanted Him to experience, what the Father wanted Him to accomplish or not accomplish—this was the wholehearted desire of Jesus.
Consecration to God, giving ourselves to God as living sacrifices, is what Christian living is all about. It is knowing God’s will and doing it. It is willingly giving each aspect of our lives to God in grateful devotion for the great salvation that He has given to us through Jesus (Rom 12:1-2). Previously, we wrote about this need for consecration, and specifically about the need to consecrate our health, security, and safety to God.
As we pursue greater dedication to God, we find encouragement through the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be like Jesus is our goal for daily life. Let’s consider together how the apostle John shows us Christ’s example of consecration in his Gospel.[1][2]
Jesus voluntarily accepted the Father’s will.
The Father’s will for God the Son was to experience shame and suffering for the sins of the world in ways far beyond our comprehension. The Son knew this, knew all of what He would suffer before He came to the earth. And yet, He completely accepted the Father’s will. He voluntarily did His Father’s will, trusting His goodness, sovereignty, and plan in everything.
3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
3:34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God.
8:42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
12:27-28 Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Just as Jesus was sent to do the will of the Father, so are we. Jesus was completely committed to doing the Father’s will, and our ambition must be to do the same. This includes when His will means hardship and suffering. We must place our trust in the Father and purpose to do His will, even if He requires us to experience trials that we previously feared would ever take place. Job said, “For the thing which I fear is comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me” (Job 3:25).
Jesus did the Father’s will in all of life’s circumstances.
4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.”
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The apostle Peter found victory over his fear and insecurity in God’s grace. He learned to trust the Lord on the journey of being like Jesus, consecrating himself to God. Is there a closet, a door in your heart that has been closed to God, locked, an area of your life, a fear, that you need to give to the Lord? Jesus says, “Follow me.” Give it to the Father. Consecrate it to God.

The Christian life can be described as growth in consecration to God. It is learning to dedicate our lives to God in increasingly greater measure. The apostle Paul urged God’s people to consecrate themselves to God as living sacrifices in grateful worship for what Christ has done for us. This means dedication to knowing and doing the will of God (Rom. 12:1-2).
Jesus is our greatest example of consecration to God. The Gospel of John emphasizes this truth. It is amazing how much of the words of Christ quoted in John refer to Christ’s dedication to doing His Father’s will. To become more like Jesus is to become more dedicated to doing the will of our Father, too.
We have a problem, however, and that is the fact that knowledge of God’s will and a fundamental dedication to doing His will does not automatically result in our actually doing it. We are in a constant battle with the world, our flesh, and the devil. We often struggle with embracing and doing God’s will, especially if it includes suffering.
At times, we all resist consecration like Peter.
Consider this passage from the Gospel of John.
21:15-17 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”[1]
Jesus said to Peter that, if Peter loved Him, he needed to follow Christ’s will for his life. What was Jesus’s will for Peter? To shepherd His sheep, to lead, care for, to teach His people. But Jesus was calling Peter to something more than this. Jesus continued,
21:18-22 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them…he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
Peter’s struggle.
Peter struggled with the loss of liberty and physical suffering foretold by Christ. If he did what Jesus wanted him to do, it would be hard. It meant shame, pain, humiliation. Peter seemed to also struggle with fairness– the possibility that others who serve Christ might not be called to the same level of suffering as what faced him.
Peter did love Jesus. He loved Him deeply despite his weakness. What Peter needed to understand was that true love for Jesus can be measured. Love for Jesus is measured by one’s dedication to doing the will of God, even if it means suffering. Peter needed greater consecration to God, willingness to be vulnerable, willingness to put himself at risk, to follow Jesus.
At times, we all need to be reminded of the goal of life.
The goal of life is not to avoid pain, sorrow, and suffering. The godless world around us continually pounds us with life goals of pleasure, security, and self-preservation. We are urged to do whatever pleases us; do all we can to avoid being uncomfortable, triggered, upset, or stressed; stay away from toxic or negative people, or anyone that doesn’t tell us what we want to hear. Goals like these are folly, unrealistic. Even if we could attain such a life, it would be unfulfilling, empty, and miserable.
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In all times and circumstances of life and ministry, Jesus kept His focus on doing His Father’s will. Jesus did not place conditions on doing His Father’s will, which we are tempted to do. We are tempted to think, and even say, “If my circumstances were different, then I would do God’s will.” Or we confess, “If I had a better husband or more supportive wife, then,” or, “If only I had good health or more money, then…” We must be like Jesus: this means obedience to the Father without conditions.

One of the main themes in the Gospel of John is the full consecration of Jesus to do His Father’s will. Jesus was fully devoted to say and do only what pleased His Father. What brought glory to the Father, what the Father wanted Him to experience, what the Father wanted Him to accomplish or not accomplish—this was the wholehearted desire of Jesus.
Consecration to God, giving ourselves to God as living sacrifices, is what Christian living is all about. It is knowing God’s will and doing it. It is willingly giving each aspect of our lives to God in grateful devotion for the great salvation that He has given to us through Jesus (Rom 12:1-2). Previously, we wrote about this need for consecration, and specifically about the need to consecrate our health, security, and safety to God.
As we pursue greater dedication to God, we find encouragement through the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be like Jesus is our goal for daily life. Let’s consider together how the apostle John shows us Christ’s example of consecration in his Gospel.[1][2]
Jesus voluntarily accepted the Father’s will.
The Father’s will for God the Son was to experience shame and suffering for the sins of the world in ways far beyond our comprehension. The Son knew this, knew all of what He would suffer before He came to the earth. And yet, He completely accepted the Father’s will. He voluntarily did His Father’s will, trusting His goodness, sovereignty, and plan in everything.
3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
3:34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God.
8:42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
12:27-28 Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Just as Jesus was sent to do the will of the Father, so are we. Jesus was completely committed to doing the Father’s will, and our ambition must be to do the same. This includes when His will means hardship and suffering. We must place our trust in the Father and purpose to do His will, even if He requires us to experience trials that we previously feared would ever take place. Job said, “For the thing which I fear is comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me” (Job 3:25).
Jesus did the Father’s will in all of life’s circumstances.
4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.”
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Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit to empower us to accomplish the Great Commission. This enablement includes the discipline of mind and heart to learn language sufficiently well to explain Christ where He leads us to go (Luke 24:49). Once we learn a language, that language and the culture embodied in it become part of us. It is no small thing to be enabled long-term for ministry to another people group through language!

From Creation until the Tower of Babel incident recorded in Genesis 11 (around 2200 B.C.), mankind had one language and culture. When God confused mankind’s language, it meant that He created the beginnings of the major language families. Some studies list 14 major language families.1 Others identify between 75 and 150 language families as the criteria get more specific.2 The bottom line is that in order to obey the Great Commission, God’s people must often master communication tools in tongues that are not originally their own.
Language and Culture Are Intertwined
Differing languages tend to separate people groups according to their own habits, ideas, and worldviews. To know a language is usually associated with a general knowledge of the people who speak that language. To know that language is to be acquainted with the culture.3
The division of mankind into people groups that multiplied over time was both an act of judgment and an act of mercy. It was an act of judgment in that God kept mankind from a unified total rebellion, forcing them to accept the opposite of their sinful ambitions and thus fulfilling His plan.
It was an act of mercy because individual groups and cultures would now place checks upon one another. Satan could no longer incite sinful mankind to unite against God as one body. Of course, Satan will go all-out in the last days to accomplish his goals through the Antichrist but will ultimately fail (see Revelation 6-20).
Jesus Commands Us to Overcome the Limitations of Babel
Until the tribulation begins, the Church of Jesus Christ is given a clear command which we call the Great Commission:
“As the Father has sent Me, so I send you. Go therefore into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature so that they repent and know forgiveness of sins. Make disciples of all nations in Christ’s name, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (see Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:25; Luke 24:47; and John 17:18; 20:21). 
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Paul and Barnabas encouraged God’s people by reminding them: “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Barnabas did not encourage people by affirming them in what they wanted to do and be. Nor did he encourage people by telling them what they wanted to hear. He encouraged them in the truths of the Word of God. True encouragement comes from God and His truth. True encouragement directs us to find hope and comfort in the Gospel.

Acts 11:24 says this of Barnabas: he was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” God describes Barnabas as a man who lived by the strength and grace of the Holy Spirit. God describes Barnabas a man who believed His Word, a man whose live greatly encouraged others. Anyone that God publicly assesses this way is someone that we want to emulate!
Most of what we know about Barnabas we find in the book of Acts. Barnabas (real name Joseph) was a Levite whose family had relocated to Cyprus sometime during Israel’s turbulent history (Acts 4:36). He also had family in Jerusalem that was fairly well-connected: Mary, John Mark’s mother, and maybe others. He himself was a well-off landowner, with land in Cyprus and/or Jerusalem. Apparently, he was in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and he stayed there after receiving Christ.
A Son of Encouragement
We see in Acts how powerfully God used this man. His life and ministry is summed up for us in the name that he was given by the apostles: “Barnabas.” This name means “son of encouragement.” The dominating characteristic of his life was that he encouraged others to know and faithfully follow Christ.
When we read about Barnabas in Scripture, we learn from his example how we too can be used of God to encourage others for Christ. We, like Barnabas, can and should have a ministry of encouragement. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to be “encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the Day drawing near” (10:25).
How did Barnabas’s life encourage others so profoundly? How did his life exemplify being an encourager to the church?
Barnabas was an example of consecration/dedication.
He sold his land (Acts 4:32-37).
After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was working mightily. Many new believers were selling their assets and using the money to meet urgent needs. Not only did Barnabas gave a large offering to God to help, but he also apparently sold his land and gave all the proceeds to the apostles. He gave away his financial security. This act of whole-hearted faith and generosity born out of love for Christ encouraged others to be willing to give and sacrifice for the work of the Lord as well. This was the first major way that Barnabas’ example encouraged others. Everything Barnabas had was God’s.
He gave up his rights to better serve Christ (1 Cor 9).
Barnabas was the apostle Paul’s co-laborer to the Gentiles. He agreed with Paul to choose tentmaking instead of receiving regular financial support. He and Paul did this so that those they preached Christ to would not be confused about their motives. This decision meant that Paul and Barnabas would have to expend lots of time and energy on supplying needs and face financial difficulties that they could have otherwise avoided.
He and Paul chose not to marry as they pursued an itinerant and dangerous ministry. They laid aside their rights to lifestyle choices, choosing instead to live in ways that maximized their usefulness to Christ.
Barnabas willingly sacrificed for others and the ministry of the Gospel. He made sacrifices that had long-term effects on his life. Barnabas lived out consecration.
I have known missionaries who gave up lucrative jobs in the USA to serve Christ full-time in cross-cultural ministry. I recently met a young single woman who took a teaching job in one of the most dangerous American inner-city ghettos to be a light for Jesus there. Testimonies like these spur others to consider what they should do for Christ.
Barnabas was an example of faith and trust in others.
He believed in Saul/Paul (Acts 9:26-31).
Everyone was afraid of the ruthless Saul who had hurt so many Christians, especially in Jerusalem. Now this same man returned to Jerusalem preaching Christ and wanting to fellowship with the believers! No one wanted to believe that Saul was real.
Barnabas heard Sauls’ testimony, observed his life, and believed in him, even when no one else would. He was willing to take that risk. Using his own influence, he brought Saul to the other apostles and urged them to accept him—which they did. Barnabas’s faith and courage was a huge encouragement to Saul first, then to all of the church of Christ as they then witnessed God’s saving grace upon Saul’s life (I will refer to Saul only as Paul).
He believed in the Gentile believers (Acts 11:22-23).
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“We are, as it were, God’s agents—used by Him to do His work, not ours. We do our part, and then can only look to Him, with others, for His blessing. If this is so, then Christians at home can do as much for foreign missions as those actually on the field. I believe it will only be known on the Last Day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home.”

One of my favorite biographies is that of J.O. Fraser. As a single missionary serving in very hard places, he pioneered Gospel efforts among the animistic Lisu tribal people of Southwestern China. His life is an inspiring tribute to God’s grace in both his life and in those who came to Jesus through his ministry.
The book that I refer to here is Geraldine Taylor’s biography him, Behind the Ranges: the Life-Changing Story of J. O. Fraser.  There is another biography of him that is also well-read, Mountain Rain.
Fraser is best known for his strong emphasis on intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is pleading with Christ on behalf of another. Fraser was very serious about people back home praying for his missionary ministry. I would like to share several of these quotes on prayer to encourage you in the ministry of intercessory prayer.
The vital union must be maintained.
“Now the first thing was to strengthen the spiritual base of the work. Called to a forward movement, Fraser realized not only his dependence upon the Divine Leader but also upon the support of fellow believers, one with him in Christ. He might be the hand reaching out into the darkness, but not a hand cut off and thrown ahead of the body. The vital union must be maintained. He was about to start on an exploratory journey to the Lisu of the Upper Salween, a district then wholly untouched by missionary effort, but before doing so he felt he must give expression to a desire which had long been growing.
I know you will never fail me in the matter of intercession [he wrote to his mother in January] but will you think and pray about getting a group of like-minded friends, whether few or many, whether in one place or scattered, to join in the same petitions? If you could form a small prayer circle, I would write regularly to the members.”
Lasting missionary work is done on our knees.
“I am feeling more and more that it is, after all, just the prayers of God’s people that call down blessing upon the work, whether they are directly engaged in it or not. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is God who gives the increase; and this increase can be brought down from heaven by believing prayer, whether offered in China or in England.”
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