Month of Prayer and Giving Day 20- Struggling in Prayer
“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” Colossians 4:12 ESV
Mark Hope – an evangelist based at Bradford on Avon Baptist Church and supported by Grace Baptist Partnership – is struggling. No, not the way you might think. But struggling nonetheless.
Mark realises that the work of evangelism involves more than knocking on doors in places like Grittleton, Lea, Malmesbury, Upavon and Yatton Keynell. It also involves much prayer. What Jesus once called asking, seeking and knocking.
But, as Mark would be quick to add, it’s not just about praying for those he is seeking to reach with the gospel. He must also pray for himself asking the Lord to keep him fresh – and faithful – in the work he has been given to do.
One of the joys of partnership in the gospel is the opportunity to come alongside men like Mark. Not so much to relieve them of their struggle – for this a necessary part of their work – but to join them in their struggle (Romans 15:30).
Will you stop for a moment today and pray for Mark Hope? Will you thank God for a man willing to leave secular employment to devote himself fully to making Christ known in the towns and villages of Wiltshire? Will you thank God for providing funds for his support? Will you join him in prayer for greater faithfulness – and fruitfulness.
Are places like Grittleton, Lea and Upavon on your radar? You’ll certainly be forgiven if you know next to nothing about them! However, are there places like them near where you live? Who is praying for the villages in your area? Who is stepping forward to preach the gospel to them?
Even as you remember Mark and his work in Wiltshire, spare a thought – and prayer! – for obscure out of the way places near you. Why not try some form of outreach this summer to reach one of those unreached places? Who knows what good may came?
“Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.”
3 John 8 ESV
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