Week of Prayer - ONWARD WITH the GREAT COMMISSION - Celebrating 50 Years of LausanneSample

DAY 7: PATIENT PERSEVERANCE (art. 14-15)

The church is waiting for the glorious return of its Lord, but it does not wait passively; it waits in action and expectation. An urgency transpires in the words of the evangelist: "The gospel must." It is necessary and indispensable that before the great day, the gospel be preached to all peoples. This is an immense work that cannot be accomplished with our poor means, miserable words, or human insufficiency. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who can make a single believer and the church as a whole a host of credible, effective, and convincing witnesses (Acts 1:8).

In the Lausanne Covenant, we read, "The Father sent his Spirit to bear witness to the Son; without this testimony our own testimony is useless.” This is true because the Holy Spirit instils this urgency into our hearts: "The Gospel must be preached". It is not something that can be postponed until tomorrow, in the illusion that tomorrow will be easier than today. Today is the day of salvation. The great evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody had begun preaching to his congregation a series of six sermons on the life of Jesus. On Sunday, October 8, 1871, he completed the fifth sermon as he left the church with this question: "What then shall I do with Jesus called Christ?" (Matthew 27:22). Then he concluded by telling them: “I would like you to take this text home with you and turn it over in your mind during the week; next Saturday we will come to Calvary and to the cross, and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.” That same night, a devastating fire destroyed much of the city of Chicago, Moody's church, and his home, leaving hundreds dead and 100,000 homeless. From that day forward, every message he preached would end with a plea for salvation.

"Come, Lord Jesus" is the cry of the church of all ages; “Keep up the good work” is the echo that proceeds from his holy presence. To reach all peoples, before planning, before preparing strategies, before testing new methods of communication, let our prayer be the one that the Master has suggested to us, a prayer in His will, a prayer that has already been engraved in the pages of the Gospel, his yes, his Amen because “If you, then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

THANKSGIVING

We thank the Lord Jesus for promising to come a second time. Our confidence is that God will make his kingdom perfect, and we eagerly await that day and the new heavens and new earth where his will and righteousness will reign forever. Meanwhile, we rededicate ourselves to the service of Christ and our neighbour in joyful submission to his authority over our whole life.

CONFESSION

We ask forgiveness for the times we have lost hope of Christ's return and for falling into empty expectations of God's promises.

REQUESTS

We pray for a visitation from the sovereign Spirit of God that his fruit may appear in all his people. Only then will we see the whole church become an effective tool in his hands, to the point that the whole earth can hear his voice.

Valerio Mungai

Elim Bible School