On Prayer

Of William C. Burns, another fellow-soldier, it is said, “His whole life was literally a life of prayer, and his whole ministry a series of battles fought at the mercy seat.” Very early in his ministerial course he gave it as his judgment that, “The great fundamental error, as far as I can see, in the economy of the Christian life, which many, and alas! I for one commit, is that of having too few and too short periods of solemn retirement with our gracious Father and His adorable Son, Jesus Christ.” From this opinion he never swerved. He spent his days and sometimes nights “before the Lord,” and sighed, “Oh, for a day every week to spend entirely in the secret of His presence.” For weeks before the Kilsyth Awakening, as his brother informs us, “he was full of prayer: he seemed to care for nothing but to pray. In the daytime, alone, or with others, it was his chief delight, and in the night watches he might be heard praying aloud.” And the Lord, whom he sought, came to His temple suddenly. “Whoever is diligent in public prayers, and yet negligent in private, it is much to be feared he rather seeks to approve himself to men than to God” (--The Whole Duty of Man).

The Neglecting of our own Harvest Fields

There is much said today about missions and the churches great responsibility to support missions. And yet, while every church should be actively involved in supporting foreign missions, there remains a great neglecting of our own “harvest fields” which lie before us.
Many churches, while boasting of their great efforts to reach the lost in foreign fields, neglect the great harvest which lies before their own church doors.
Across America churches are spending 1,000’s, if not 10,000’s, of dollars a year to visit and support foreign missionaries, while neglecting their own “white fields” which lie before them.
They boast of their missionaries endeavors to seek the lost and train men for the ministry, yet put forth so little effort in their own fields to reach those same goals.
And while I fully support the biblical idea of supporting foreign missionaries (being a former missionary myself), I believe that there is an ever increasing negligence towards those “plenteous fields” which lie before our own church doors.
Satisfied with their “financial support” of foreign fields and the “fruits” which come from their missionaries efforts, many churches content themselves with little or no effort in their own fields, as if the neglecting of their own fields is made up by the “efforts of their missionaries”.
While our missionaries “labor” in their fields to seek the lost and train men for the ministry, we content ourselves with passing out a few Gospel tracts and the putting of a few sermons on the internet.
We boast of our missionaries fervent efforts as though they were our own, and fervently encourage believers to give more money for their great efforts, yet we do not stress the great need for such laboring in our own fields. More later…..