Everyday SupernaturalSample

The Gift of Plodding

Another of our spiritual heroes is a man called William Carey. He became convinced that it was the job of Christians to share the gospel with people around the world—at that time not everyone thought this—and went to India as a missionary in 1793.

William’s life was not exactly a bed of roses—three of his seven children died in childhood, his wife developed a severe mental illness, and William himself suffered a skin condition that meant he couldn’t be out in direct sunlight. He didn’t see anyone converted for the first seven years of his ministry in India, and lost six years’ worth of work in one night when the manuscripts he had been laboring on were destroyed in a fire. However, by the end of his life he had seen thousands come to know God and had opened up a way for missionaries to get throughout India. Over the years he translated the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Arabic, Hindi and Sanskrit.

It’s hard to articulate the impact of his life, and he is now celebrated as the ‘father of modern missions.’ His famous motto was, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” That is what he did, day after day, and setback after setback. Towards the end of his life, William was asked what his greatest gift was. He replied, “If people would ask, ‘What was Mr. Carey’s greatest gift?’ I would have them told, ‘Mr. Carey’s greatest gift was that he knew how to plod.’”

Sustaining the everyday supernatural is about learning how to plod. It’s about being open to what the Spirit might be saying to us, surrendered to his will and ready to step out. The great need of the church isn’t for a few one-off risk-takers, it’s for risk-taking plodders.

When John Wimber used to teach about healing, some listeners would attempt to pray for people a few times, then they would come back to Wimber and say, “It doesn’t work. No one I prayed for was healed.” Wimber’s response was always, “Go and pray for a thousand people and then we’ll talk.” He knew that if they prayed for a thousand people, they wouldn’t need to chat as they would have seen people healed. If we really want this to become the new normal, we need to choose to live in this place every day. If we make the decision to plod today, in fifty years’ time we’ll be rejoicing that we did!