An Unspoken Ministry

I just recently returned home from a week long mission trip in New York City.  It was great – different ministry opportunities, awesome partners, and an amazing God to guide us along the way.  One thing, though, that the Father taught me was that being on the mission field does not always require me to open my mouth.

           Let me explain: A lot of Christians get this idea in their head that when they go on a mission trip, they are going to meet so many people that they can help lead to Christ.  Which is definitely possible if God calls for it, but it doesn’t always happen quite like that particular scenario.  Sometimes we are simply called to prayer.  Prayer walking, for example, was something we did a whole lot of in NYC.  To be honest, at first it felt as though nothing was being accomplished.  It’s just prayer, right?  What’s the big deal?

           The big deal is we are given prayer as a tool to speak to the Creator of the Universe about anything, one thing being the lost souls of communities.  It’s hard, though, to be sent to an area just to pray.  We can feel as though we are not accomplishing anything or being effective.  That’s something else – I believe the devil uses a standard of effectiveness to discourage us.  If no one comes to know Jesus on missions trips we go on, we quietly deem it as an ineffective time.  Admit it, Christians have a line that defines effectiveness.  However, effectiveness cannot be determined by works we do.  We are not the ones doing the works – Christ is working through us.  That being said, who are we to say God’s work is ineffective?  Is it worth nothing?  Do the great things He can do through prayer amount to nothing?

            No!  Of course those things don’t amount to nothing!  Sometimes we may just be the people standing to the side praying as a teammate shares the Gospel with an individual.  Here is some scripture from Acts 2 that sticks out to me when thinking about this topic:

     ¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.”

           There doesn’t seem to be much there, but reread the first six words.  So, Peter is the one speaking.  However, the other 11 disciples are there as well.  They aren’t speaking, but you can imagine that they were probably praying over to the side.  Or, maybe they were noticing bystanders who were unsure about joining in to listen and reached out to them.  It doesn’t directly say, but surely God had them doing something important!  (Throughout the next few chapters, it discusses Peter and John’s works…and Peter does a lot of the talking.  But surely John was still busy for Christ!)

           All this to say: Prayer is an incredible tool that is often times underestimated.  We may not always get to be the people who share about Christ with someone, but instead may be present as a prayer warrior.  Other times, the roles may be switched.  Whatever the Father may use you for at any given moment, embrace it fully and give it your all.  How humbling it truly is to be worthless souls used for a worthy ministry!