IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS:
God’s Power In Praying For Missionaries

1 Corinthians 1:8-11 ESV

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,
of the affliction we experienced in Asia.
For we were so utterly burdened
beyond our strength
that we despaired of life itself.
Indeed, we felt that we had receIved the sentence of death.
But that was to make us rely not on ourselves
but on God who raises the dead.
He delivered us from such deadly peril,
and he will deliver us again.
You must also help us by prayer
so that many will give thanks on our behalf
for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Every story in this blog is intended to lift up the Name of Jesus for the way He does His work so powerfully through the lives of His People.

Oh, How My Heart Wants To Hug Their Necks

Oh, Father in Heaven,
Oh, how my heart wants to hug their necks,
those faithful sisters and brothers
who from the depths of their hearts
in obedience to the Holy Spirit
bow their heads in their chairs
or in the pews in their church
or in Sunday School rooms
or kneel on the carpet
and pour out their prayers
on behalf of your servants
facing the foe for Your Name
in places these prayer warriors
might never go except
in their words so fervent
taken as tools in Your Holy Hands
to stir up the hearts
of those who might never
hear the sweet
Name of Jesus
who came to be Savior
for all of the girls and the boys
and the women and the men
in Your world so beloved—
Of Father, I praise you for each one of these
who hears Your Holy Call
and they pray
and You hear and You answer
and strengthen
and empower
Your messengers—
now look at all those
people won by Your using
all of those prayers,
bowing and praying,
offering up
for others
their concern,
waiting to hear
the sweet name of Jesus.

My beloved Aunt Betty, certainly one of these prayer warriors Paul was talking about, kept up with those she prayed for by phone, updating information and offering assurance and encouragement, and of course, regularly and faithfully praying.

Paul, the one time extremist Pharisee, and a chief persecutor of Christ’s Church, met Jesus face-to-face on the road to Damascus, and ultimately became both an Apostle and a Missionary. In fact, the Holy Spirit, used him in many ways to establish the missionary movement of the early Church. So, it is noteworthy to read his plea above. Notice he talks about the deadly perils he faced over again in the midst of his missionary work. This should be no surprise. We know our Enemy will raise every obstacle he can to keep God’s missionaries from completing their task of taking the Gospel to the very ends of the Earth. So Paul says, “You must also help us by prayer . . .” We are begged to help our missionaries by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf  for the miraculous acts of God through our missionaries, and the miraculous protection of God in the daily lives of our missionaries. When God calls a missionary and they respond in obedience, and when His people support them with their prayers, then mighty miracles happen and God’s Kingdom is built. Count on it!

We know this because the Scripture above says so, and because we experienced it over and over again in Nigeria and then, in Niger. Praise God, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being among those who joined God in His mighty work as you prayed for us and other missionaries.  In my own church in my D-Life group I have a Christian brother who down through the years has faithfully prayed for individuals and people groups we mentioned—and God has proven Himself ever faithful. I cannot wait until we get to Heaven so I can introduce him to those who will be there because of the faithfulness of His many, many prayers. Thank you and God bless you, Tim.

I could write about so many, many like him—brothers and sisters in Christ, who from the time I went to Nigeria in 1982, and continuing as Becky joined me in 1988, until we returned to the U.S. in 2018. They prayed for us and our Nigerian and Nigerien brothers and sisters daily, and often more than daily—God kept His promise (Of course, He did!) and we had the blessing of seeing so many come to Jesus, grow in Jesus, serve Jesus, and bless us in Jesus. We had the further blessing of seeing people groups and tribes hear the Gospel for the first time. Because people prayed, doors were opened and people were called and obeyed and went among them to tell them of Jesus who loves them and has a plan to save them and change them and free them and empower them to share the Gospel, themselves. It’s true! Prayer and prayer warriors are definitely all about Jesus.

Aunt Betty and Uncle James, Gayle, Sheila and Kristy

I want to share with you the story of my Aunt Betty, (Bless her heart! I mean it! Really! Bless her heart because she never, ever stopped praying for us during our time as missionaries and beyond.) She exemplifies the faithful, humble, yet powerful, Prayer Warrior God uses to accomplish His Will in His servants, here in the U.S. and throughout the world. God’s Kingdom is coming because of prayerful hearts like Aunt Betty’s.

Aunt Betty, Uncle Billy (My Mother’s Youngest Brother), and My Mother

Aunt Betty was born to John Bradley Mosley and Minne Lee Nelson Mosley in Jamestown, Cherokee County, Alabama. (My Mother was also born in Jamestown.) Aunt Betty attended Gaylesville School for eleven years, but earned her G.E.D. In 1982. (That’s the same year I first went to Nigeria.) She lived as a faithful, hard-working housewife to my Uncle James, (from whom my parents took my first name), until his sudden, untimely death. Then she went to work in accounting for B&C Tire, Noland Plumbing, and the Hokes Bluff Ciity Hall. Next she worked as a librarian at the Hokes Bluff City Library until she was 82. She loved reading and talking about reading, and in addition to pumping me for prayer requests over the years, she always wanted to know what I was reading. I never named an author she didn’t know.

Aunt Betty and Uncle James were baptized together at Louis Street Baptist Church in East Gadsden, Alabama.

Having grown up in the Methodist Church, Aunt Betty and her Baptist Husband, Uncle James, as young marrieds, both professed Christ as Savior and were baptized at Louis Street Baptist Church, the very church where I was also baptized. Later, in the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union at Immanuel Baptist Church in Hokes Bluff, she met Ada Belle Nail, who became her prayer warrior mentor. She grew over the years to carry that blessed heritage forward, as she encouraged the lives of many, including my family and me, with her prayers. I remember her keen interest and her faithful, focused, specific prayers throughout the years of our missionary service; but it was when I was diagnosed with cancer that she really “got down on her knees and got down to business with the Lord” for me in a way that deepened my appreciation for the effectiveness of faithful, caring, loving, trusting  prayer. As I underwent surgery and as I recovered I often answered the phone to hear her teasing, encouraging voice asking pertinent questions, and assuring me that she would be praying for every single concern or challenge I was facing at that particular time. And she did. And God answered. And not only was I healed, but I was convinced, once and for all of the unimaginable power of prayer. Praise God for my Aunt Betty.

I never think of Aunt Betty and Uncle James without remembering their antique cars, which received the same kind of devoted and careful attention, as did her faithful prayers on behalf of so many blessed people.

Not long before she went on to glory, I called Aunt Betty and asked if Becky and I could come for a short visit. She was not feeling well, but graciously invited us to come on over to her house. When we got there, she was so weak, we had to wait several minutes for her to make it to the living room where she would greet us. Even though her body was growing weak, her mind was still focused on the God to whom she had prayed so often, and her questions still came, searching for our concerns. Then, my cousin Sheila, came to help Aunt Betty hear us as we conversed, and we had a fine visit. And as we got ready to leave, I went and sat right in from of my godly, sainted aunt and prayed my heart out for her and hers, with deep gratitude for all the times she had prayed her heart out for me—and as I did, I was reminded of countless others in First Baptist Glencoe and in other churches in many places, who had lifted our names in prayer. I praise God for how He particularly and overwhelmingly cares enough for His servants to enlist prayer warriors who stand with them in the gap as He continues the building of His Kingdom to His glory among every tribe, people, language and nation. Amen and amen!

You can read stories like this one about people who have made their lives ALL ABOUT JESUS in the book.