by Andy Johnson

Prayer Coordinator and Worker Care Director

As you read this, we are only days from Christmas, the day on which much of the world celebrates the birth of Jesus. He is the One we now know as Messiah and King. On the day of His birth, though, not many did, and of those who did, probably no one understood just what kind of Messiah and King that baby came to be (with the possible exception of His mother – moms always seem to know).

For a lot of the Christian world, Christmas Day is the culmination of the season of Advent (a word that means the arrival of something or someone important). Advent is a yearly remembering; however, it is a uniquely Christian remembering. We do remember baby Jesus in the manger. We also, though, remember that Jesus is present with us today through the Spirit He sent and through His role as our Great High Priest. We also remember forward to something that hasn’t happened yet – the second coming of Jesus, this time as King. That’s one of the things I love most about our faith – we get to remember things that haven’t happened!

This is a blog about praying for cross-cultural workers, so why all this talk of Advent? I believe that reaching the world is summed up in the remembering that we do in Advent.

• We proclaim the truth that Christ came, born of a virgin and kept in a manger, and that He died and rose to free us from sin and death.

• We proclaim the truth that Christ lives still and even now intercedes for us with the Father.

• We proclaim the truth that Christ will return.

Every year, Advent starts by focusing on the hope we have in Jesus. To symbolize this, believers light a single candle. That’s because hope in Jesus in a dark world has the same impact as lighting a candle in a dark room – it might go unnoticed under normal circumstances, but in the dark? You can’t help but notice.

I’m asking you, friend, to pray for workers around the world today that their lives would be a proclamation of this story. Pray that the One who came first as a baby would one day soon come as King. Pray that a great light would break out among a people walking in darkness. Pray for His servants, that they would not grow weary in telling a dark world that there is hope, that the One who came is still coming!

Peace, friend.

Andy

Are you interested in sharing Jesus with unreached people of the world?

We can help!

Email start_the_journey@mrnet.org to talk about it.