We Have a Part
God still has a plan for the world, and we still have a part.
Jesus said in Matthew 28, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me, therefore go…”
That was what He commissioned His disciples to do a couple thousand years ago, and that is still what we, His disciples, are commissioned to do.
Commissioned = ordered, authorized, or given an official rank and role. It most often describes a piece of work paid for in advance, an officer in the military, or someone given official power to act.
About a year ago, I bought a shower curtain that is a world map. I told God that I feel very ignorant of the world. I asked Him to open my eyes to the experiences of other people in the world and to help me understand His heart for it.
I’ve watched documentaries and you can see through the eyes of a film crew what life is like for others, but it’s different to actually talk to people and learn for yourself. We are so insulated in our American bubble that we can begin to believe that what we experience is life and to create a world view based on our experience.
August 26, 2025 I received a prayer request form from the website from a woman named Maria in Pakistan. She very enthusiastically introduced herself, told me about her ministry in Lahore, Pakistan and asked me to join her in prayer that they would reach MILLIONS for Christ!
She told me about the problems with young people with depression, suicide, and drugs. She asked that I pray for her and her fellowship pastors as they share the gospel in a territory that does not welcome the gospel but is desperately hungry for it.
In the back of my mind, the skeptical, self-protective part of me braced myself for the ask. I’ve heard it many times before, people will get you excited about what they’re doing, then ask for money. It appeared that she was genuinely interested in asking for prayer. I replied to her email and told her I’d be praying for them.
August 26, 2025 she reached out again, sharing more of their mission and her heart for the people of Pakistan. I was blessed to hear her heart.
August 28 she emailed me telling me about the religious opposition they face and those false religions they hope to see replaced by the truth of the gospel. I promised, “I’m praying.”
August 29 I received this email:
Dear follower of Christ
River Ravi Lahore flood. Many houses are destroyed and people were lost everything. There is very bad situation now in Pakistan.
Please pray for cities and villages of Pakistan. There is a heavy flood everywhere in Pakistan. Even that in my city areas are affected and facing this flood water. Many cities and villages are destroyed and victim in flood. We need your pray for the nation of Pakistan. People need the mercy of God.
I was sitting with the LORD when I got that email and my immediate soulish reaction was, “See LORD, I knew it. What are the odds that just days after her first email there’s a big ‘devestating flood’ where she lives. I’m sure the next email will be asking for money.”
As I sat there smugly disengaging from what I just read out of self-protection, the LORD whispered to my heart, “Look it up.”
I came down from the high horse I had sat myself upon and Googled, “River Ravi Lahore Flood.” What came up were dozens of live footage YouTube videos of people speaking in another language with subtitles, “Intense downpours hit upper Punjab and northern catchments beginning on August 25th causing rapidly swelling water levels. Just five hours ago, the Ravi River at Shahdara (Lahore) reached an exceptionally high flood stage, sending water into nearby housing developments and roads.”
I felt a deep sense of remorse as I repented to the LORD for judging Maria’s motives in reaching out. The guarded posture I had taken was replaced by a sincere love and appreciation for what Maria and her fellowship pastors are trying to do in Pakistan, and I became aware that the LORD had her reach out so that I could partner with them in prayer.
I stopped fearing her asking for something I didn’t have to offer and genuinely took their group on as a prayer burden.
Within a short period of time, I met several brothers and sisters from Africa. I heard from a woman in Kisii Gucha, Kenya who is supporting 17 orphans asking for both prayers and financial support. I met a Pastor from Kitale, Kenya who he, his wife and their two children support 16 orphans. He was asking for prayers and financial support. I met a Pastor, his wife and their four children from Malawi who were supporting 30 orphans and now have 31.
With each new connection, my soul was filled with joy in getting to know brothers and sisters throughout the world, but there was also a heaviness in my heart that I have always carried through the “concept” of the needs represented in the world to a heaviness for individuals in need throughout the world.
This is a season of life where prayers are the predominate thing I have to offer, and it feels like so little, but the LORD quietly comforts my soul by reminding me that He can do more with one of my heartfelt prayers than He could ever accomplish with the meager finances I could pull together on my own to send.
Prayer feels like an insignificant offering until you remember that as God’s children, prayer partners us with Him to meet needs.
Picture this:
A little girl has two dollars and goes to the ice cream truck to buy herself a popsicle.
As she unwraps the popsicle and takes the first lick, she turns around to find several of her friends standing there without a popsicle.
This little girl who was once so happy about her popsicle now feels kinda bad that she has one, but her friends don’t. She doesn't have any money left so she can’t buy ice cream for her friends. They could share hers, but she already licked it and that’s kind of gross, so the best she has to offer is a weak condolence, “I hope you can get a popsicle soon too.”
She walks away feeling bad for her friends and that popsicle of hers just doesn’t taste as good anymore.
Hearing all the needs and not having the resources to meet them made me feel just like that little girl. I have always felt like life was unfairly stacked in my favor, even through years of mental, emotional, and relational struggles. I have always been acutely aware that even on my worst days and in the midst of my biggest challenges, my life is exceedingly blessed. Even when I don’t have everything I think I want, I have never been without my needs being met.
Let’s look at that little girl again. What if that ice cream truck was owned by her dad and her dad had told her, “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Little One.”
When her friends walk up to discover her eating her popsicle, she could look up to her dad in the truck and say, “Hey Dad! These are my friends. Can they get a popsicle too?”
Our dad DOES own the ice cream truck and HE is the one who is able to share the ice cream. Unless He gives us a box of popsicles and says, “Go share these with your friends,” we can’t give them a popsicle, but what we can do is ask our Dad.
Prayer isn’t a little thing. Prayer is approaching our heavenly Father with the needs of our brothers and sisters and He is more than capable of meeting those needs.
I recently told a ministry partner that I don’t want to become aware of one more need in the world because I already feel bad enough about what I don’t have to offer. She reminded me that I was thinking about it wrong. God asked me to pray and prayer isn’t a little thing.
I took my concerns to the LORD and He said, “If you are their source, they will be disappointed. If I am their source, they can bring that disappointment to me.”
I began to think about Peter, Paul, and the other disciples throughout their missionary journeys. I bet they received many requests for things they didn’t have to offer. I love what Peter answered in Acts 3:6, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Jesus said in John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father."
So here’s a question for us all to ponder:
Do we REALLY believe that the works Jesus did, we will do also?
Do we believe that we can partner with God to feed 5,000 men, plus women and children with only a few small loaves of bread and a couple little fish?
Do we believe that if God asks us to obediently walk around a city, He can make the spiritual strongholds fall?
Do we believe that if we need money to pay taxes, He could put the taxes in the mouth of a fish?
We say we believe the Bible is true.
Are we willing to stand firmly in faith on that statement?