"Lighting the Fire"
Jotting – Week 34

Send a Message

One of my brothers wrote this about my mom, Edna (Zahn) Streufert,  after her death on July 14, just one month ago: “She enjoyed family reunions and visits with her (nine living) children. She was their best friend and cheerleader, ever patient and wise, seldom sharing adverse criticism, always singing or whistling favorite hymns, a great cook and annual baker of 120 dozen Christmas cookies, pious, strict but always loving, happy, sacrificing much but always having God’s plenty.” My mother was an encourager.

When I left home to attend college, my mother wrote weekly letters that she sent in carbon copies to all her children away from home. (This was in the days before emails, computers, cell phones or even before weekly phone calls were common.) In her letters, Mom let us know about what was happening at home, what our other siblings were doing, how she and dad were faring. She also advised us, prodded us, sent us bits of Scripture. Later were added coupons cut faithfully from the Sunday supplements and once or twice when we lived in Florida, a slender package of autumn leaves. My mother was an encourager.

In Scripture, “Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet” (Acts 4:36, 37). Barnabas (I guess I had forgotten that he had another name) was Paul’s companion. It was Barnabas who took Saul (in the days before he was called Paul) to Jerusalem to introduce him to the other apostles and to tell the story of his conversion (see Acts 9:26-28). He saw to it that Saul was accepted by the other disciples and apostles.

It was Barnabas who was sent “to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord” (Acts 11:22-23). It was Barnabas who insisted on taking young John Mark again on their journey (see Acts 15:36-40), causing a rift between himself and Paul–a rift that was later healed. Through that encouragement, John Mark learned how to follow, how to lead, how to stick with a task, so that Paul had high recommendations for him later on (see Colossians 4:10).

There are many today serving in mission fields away from the comforts of home, of familiar surroundings, of known language and culture. There are many serving in congregations in our own country in areas that may seem foreign to the rest of us. There are many who serve in the military, putting themselves in harm’s way for the sake of the young men and women they minister to for the sake of the Gospel.
 Most of these people have been sent because they had a calling from God to serve in such places. Most of them have willingly left their families and friends to proclaim the Gospel to those who have never heard the Good News of Jesus, to bring the Light of the world to dark corners of the earth. Many struggle with homesickness, with learning a new language, with approaching people whose clothing and food and ways of doing things are so different from their own.

All of them need your encouragement, a word of love and prayer to keep them going, to lift their hearts and spirits knowing someone else cares about them. They want to share their triumphs in the Spirit, their small joys, the news of those breaking out of their prisons of oppression into the Light of God’s freedom and grace. An email, a letter, a card on their birthdays or other holidays, a picture, some touch of home that says “We’re thinking of you”; “We’re praying for you.”

To find a list of these people–and to discover what they are doing in their respective areas, go to http://www.lcms.org/pages/default.asp?NavID=887. There you will discover links to “Good News from the Field”; “Press Releases”; “What’s New”; other resources including a list of mission projects you can support with your gifts (go to http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=6410); a “Pray for Us” calendar that lists needs of missionaries in different areas of the world (go to http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=1063); and a list of missionaries currently serving around the globe (go to http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=1231).

Go to one of the web sites now. Decide on a person or project now–for yourself, your family, your Sunday school or Bible class, your women’s or men’s or youth group, your congregation. Flood the fields with prayers, with encouragement, with love of the Lord Jesus so that those who minister in different cultures to those who are weighed down by sin and depression, deprived of the Light of the world, starving for the Bread that satisfies the soul can gladly lift the burdens of sin, share the Light, give the Bread through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
 
Pray: Lord Jesus, with others, I pray, let me continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; praying for others that God would open for them a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ. I pray that those who serve in other places may abound in love more and more, that no evil overcomes them, that You show Yourself to them through power and peace, through joy and grace, for Your glory and Your Kingdom. Direct their hearts, Lord, their words and their actions so they may draw all people to You and Your saving work in Jesus. Help me, Lord, be an encourager. In Jesus’ name, Amen.