John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.”
Wonder of wonders, Jesus gave His life to win you—and the nations—to Himself.
Take time to pray and meditate upon God’s love for you demonstrated on the cross.
1️⃣ What most surprises you about God’s love towards you?
2️⃣ How would your life change if you dove deeper into His love?
🙏📓 We invite you to take a moment to pray, meditate, and privately journal your thoughts.
Weekly Missions Reflection: Encountering God's Sacrificial Love
Have you forgotten you belong to a Kingdom that can't be shaken?
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus gave every Christian ambassador a clear mandate:
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV).
Our Lord couldn’t have spoken the heavenly call more clearly.
But today, many believers don’t even know what God’s kingdom is. It’s time for that to change.
You see, God has given the church a primary mission: seek the Kingdom of God—welcome the transforming influence of Jesus’s reign in our lives and our world.
The original Greek shows the importance of this command: the word translated “seek” is zēteite (ζητεῖτε), which means desire, endeavor, or enquire for, and the word translated “first” is próton (πρῶτον), which means before, at the beginning, chiefly, at first or first of all.
Jesus commands us to seek, desire, enquire after, and endeavor for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and to do it first, chiefly, and before anything else!
No longer can we allow the transformative call of God’s kingdom to occupy a small part of our lives—it must become our lives!
We should be consumed with our pursuit of God’s kingdom and its redemptive influence in the world.
And that’s exactly the problem.
Many of us rarely think of God’s kingdom, let alone pursue it before anything else.
Truth is, most of us have forgotten we belong to this worldwide revolutionary kingdom, so we see no further than our local churches and denominations.
As a result, we waste away the years, devoting our attention solely to our family leisure, hobbies, home church, or personal ministry, and leaving God’s worldwide invasion of light to others.
We desperately need to recover a vision of God’s kingdom so we can experience its redemptive power and spread it to the whole world.
That’s the ambassador’s job description, after all!
From the book, Invasion of Light: How Jesus Can Use You and Me to Win the Battle for Souls and Societies by Brian Mark Weller and JJ Weller
The whole world is searching for clarity, meaning, and purpose only found in Jesus’s good news.
But, in the 10/40 Window, over 3 billion people have scarcely heard His name (Joshua Project).
The headquarters of every major non-Christian religion, the 10/40 Window is home to about:
☪️ 1.84 billion Muslims,
🕉️ 1.2 billion Hindus,
☸️ 392 million Buddhists,
☯️ 387 million in tribal religions,
◼️ and 574 million Atheists and Agnostics (sources: pray 10/40, World Religion Database).
These God-beloved people aren’t born more hardened to God’s Spirit than you and I.
They’re not more sinful or farther from God’s grace.
They just need messengers of truth; Spirit-ignited disciples willing to proclaim the hope only found in Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:16 proclaims, “The gospel…is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (NIV).
That means global missions is not an aimless gamble. If we send the gospel, the harvest is guaranteed.
In time, with much sacrifice and faithfulness:
✅ Millions will see through the ruse of sin, selfishness, and false religion.
✅ Masses of souls, now unreached, will soon bow before Jesus in grateful worship.
✅ And someday—we pray—these cultures will finally be liberated from the multi-generational bonds of idolatry.
The potential harvest is so beautiful—but the laborers are too few (see Matthew 9:37).
Will you join Jesus’s rescue mission for the unreached?
Not everyone can go—but everyone can reach the unreached with prayer, finances, and personal advocacy.
Maybe today's the day to start asking God your role?
________________________________
🕊️Ready to win the unreached to Jesus? We’ve shared how you can learn, pray, and sponsor native missionaries in the discussion below.
1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (NIV).
1 Peter 1:15 says, “prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit” (NASB).
God wants us to live constantly prepared to obey His Great Commission.
1️⃣ Do you prepare your mind to represent and proclaim Jesus before you leave the house?
2️⃣ How?
3️⃣ If not, how could you?
4️⃣ Will you begin cultivating the habit?
🙏📓 We invite you to take a moment to pray, meditate, and privately journal your thoughts.
(Weekly Missions Reflection: Preparing Your Mind for Ministry)
Jesus said, “My food…is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34 NIV).
Jesus never delayed obedience to God’s will.
Instead, He lived to please His Father every moment.
1️⃣ Are you delaying obedience to God’s call right now?
2️⃣ Is there anything God has called you to do that you’ve put off?
3️⃣ Have you neglected someone He wants you to reach?
4️⃣ How could you obey at the next possible opportunity?
5️⃣ Will you commit to do it?
🙏📓 We invite you to take a moment to pray, meditate, and privately journal your thoughts.
(Weekly Missions Reflection: Overcoming Delayed Obedience)
You'll NEVER be the same once you see the world through the lens of Jesus's compassion. But first—are you willing to open your eyes and look on the fields?
How the Church of Acts Turned the World Upside Down
“Jesus went up to Heaven, and the disciples went into the prayer closet.
Emboldened by Jesus’s promises, they gathered together and stormed the gates of Heaven for days on end, committed not to move a finger until the Holy Spirit had fallen upon them (see Acts 1:14).
Then, Jesus fulfilled His Word.
'A sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from Heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting' (Acts 2:2).
God ignited flames above their heads (Acts 2:3) and flames deep within their hearts. Soon, the flame of the Lord spread from their souls to their lips—for they all 'began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them...declaring the wonders of God' (Acts 2:4, 11).
Now transformed into a bold witness, Peter stood up before the amazed masses, and the invasion of light began.
Emboldened by the Spirit, he declared:
'Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people....I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the Earth below...before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him....Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah' (Acts 2:14-17, 19-24, 36).
The crowd couldn’t believe their ears. They had traveled to Jerusalem to honor God by celebrating the Jewish feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost. Now they discovered they had killed God’s Son—the very Messiah they had long awaited!
The Holy Spirit’s promise of conviction kicked into high gear.
According to Acts 2:37, Peter’s hearers 'were cut to the heart,' a phrase which means 'pierced all the way down...deeply (thoroughly) pained...[and] emotionally stunned.'
Unable to contain their grief over sin, thousands cried out at once—'Brothers, what shall we do?' (Acts 2:37).
The Holy Spirit testified through Peter immediately: 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call' (Acts 2:38-39).
The crowd’s response was incredible. Only weeks prior, many of the same people cheered as Jesus was dragged off to His brutal death. Now, only moments after the descent of the Holy Spirit, three thousand fled their sins to pledge allegiance to Jesus, the New King (Acts 2:41).
The invasion of light had begun with shocking success!
And these new believers wouldn’t become tepid, timid, part-time disciples. Acts 2:42-47 explains their newfound but radical devotion to the Savior:
'They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.'
The Invasion Replicates
What began that Pentecost Sunday only continued, replicating in every direction.
By Acts 4:4, 'Many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.'
In Acts 5:14, 'More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.'
In Acts 6:1, 'the number of disciples was increasing.'
In Acts 6:7, 'the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.'
In Acts 9:31, 'The church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.'
In Acts 9:35, 'All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon...turned to the Lord.'
In Acts 11:21, 'The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.'
In Acts 11:24, when the disciple Barnabas preached, 'a great number of people were brought to the Lord.'
In Acts 14:1, 'Paul and Barnabas...spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.'
In Acts 14:21, Paul and Barnabas 'preached the gospel in [Derbe] and won a large number of disciples.'
In Acts 16:5, 'the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.'
And in Acts 17:12, 'many...believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.'
As a result of this powerful invasion of light, the gospel spread throughout much of the known world in a single generation (see Colossians 1:6, 23).
Even nations that never before had access to God now heard and received the glorious news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Wherever the church went, chains were broken, sinners were set free, enemies of God were reconciled to Him, boldness was ignited, and culture shifted.
First-century pagans bemoaned this incredible success, complaining, 'These men...have turned the world upside down!' (Acts 17:6 BSB).
Yes, by God’s grace, they did turn the world upside down.
And of all times, they did it in the 'last days.'
The world would never be the same again.”
From the book, Invasion of Light: How Jesus Can Use You and Me to Win the Battle for Souls and Societies by Brian Mark and JJ Weller
𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 ‘𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿’ 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲—𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝘀.
We all celebrated Jesus's resurrection this weekend.
We took our family pictures.
We enjoyed our sunrise services and sunset dinners.
But Easter looked different on the other side of the world.
Over 3 billion people spent Resurrection Sunday totally oblivious that Jesus ever came, died, and rose for our salvation.
Most of these unreached lives have never
🤝 met a Christian
⛪ entered a church, or
✝️ heard the salvation message.
They're looking for hope only Jesus can give—but they don't know any Christians who can tell them about Him.
That's life in the 10/40 Window—a spiritual wasteland with dangerously scarce access to the good news.
The 10/40 Window is home to:
🌏 97% of unreached people (Joshua Project),
🌏 72.9% of the world's poor (World Bank),
🌏 73% of modern-day slaves (Global Slavery Index),
🌏 40 of the 50 most dangerous places for Christians to live (World Watch List),
🌏 and about 42% of the world's population (Joshua Project).
It's no easy mission field—but the 10/40 Window's billions of inhabitants need the hope of Jesus's resurrection just as much as you and I.
Unfortunately, the global church spends 999 times more on all other Christian causes than we spend to reach the unreached.
Which leads us to the question—
How will those unreached billions spend next Resurrection Sunday?
The answer lies in every disciple's hands.
Together, we have the resources and manpower needed to send them Jesus's good news.
The one thing waiting—our hearty “yes" to Jesus's final command:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
Believer, God's given you a role in the mission.
Not everyone can give or go—but all can pray and advocate.
Are you ready to reach the unreached with the glorious news of Jesus's resurrection?
Jesus commands us, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35 NKJV).
1️⃣ This week, have you kept your eyes and heart wide open to the desperate needs and cries of the lost world?
2️⃣ Have you missed any opportunities to show Jesus’s compassion or advocate for unreached people groups?
3️⃣ How would you respond differently if that opportunity came again?
4️⃣ Did you take any opportunities to show compassion? What lessons can you draw from that experience?
🙏📓 We invite you to take a moment to pray, meditate, and privately journal your thoughts.
(Weekly Missions Reflection: Opening Our Eyes to the Harvest Field)
𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝.
"When Jesus died on the cross, the prison doors opened wide.
His resurrection declared the captives can now run free.
Now, we must go into all the world and proclaim the gospel of liberation.
We must lift our voices and say: 'The enemy has been defeated. The good King is enthroned. Step out of dark captivity into God’s marvelous light of salvation!'
The invasion of light will never succeed until we do.
If we refuse to stand up for Jesus, the lost masses can only continue racing toward the fiery judgment of God.
But if we humble ourselves, call on His name, and faithfully live and preach the gospel, God will unleash the Kingdom’s restoring power upon many in our world.
The Kingdom will come—not only to revive Christians, but to flow like a river of light into dark societies.
His river of light will flood the darkest parts of the world, giving hope through Jesus Christ—the King who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
As Ezekiel 47:9 promises, 'Wherever the river flows, everything will flourish' (BSB).
The only question is—will you join the counter-invasion?
If you answer 'yes' to that question, we want to help prepare you to 'fight the good fight of faith' (1 Timothy 6:12).
In the following chapters, you’ll rediscover the kingdom you serve, the enemy you face, the character you’ll need, the message you must preach, the spiritual weapons at your disposal, the example you must follow (Jesus Himself), how to find your place in God’s kingdom, and much, much more.
Are you up for the challenge?
If so, read on, ambassador of Heaven.
Together, let’s start the invasion of light."
From the book Invasion of Light by Brian Mark and JJ Weller
🗺️ 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱? 🗺️
Recently, we came across a shocking statistic.
Just since 2001, the foreign missionary force has decreased by 50%, from 1,135,000 to 430,000 (International Bulletin of Mission Research).
That's right—the church has less than one-half million active foreign missionaries in 2026.
Where do those few remaining missionaries serve?
🔹 91% of Christian outreach targets people who already profess faith in Jesus (Baxter, The Coming Revolution).
🔹 98.3% of American mission offerings target well-reached regions like Central and South America (Traveling Team).
🔹 40% of the church’s entire global foreign mission resources serve just 10 oversaturated countries (World Evangelization Research Center)
🔹 Meanwhile, only 3.4% of missionaries work among those who haven’t heard Jesus’s good news, and only 1.7% of missions offerings reach the unreached (Traveling Team).
Does this seem right to you?
It doesn’t have to be this way.
The truth is, Christians make enough to reach every single culture with only 0.007% of their income (Traveling Team).
The problem isn’t that we CAN’T reach the unreached.
It’s that we’ve opted not to.
It’s time to reassess what’s most urgent in God’s call.
Are you ready send Jesus’s good news to those who need it most?
Together, we can work towards a world where EVERYONE has heard Jesus’s good news!
𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐬 '𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬' 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐢𝐥. 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.
You see, God didn’t only warn that the last days would bring tribulation, persecution, and apostasy.
He also promised the last days would bring tremendous spiritual outpouring and awakening.
In Acts 2, Peter reminded the crowd of God’s end-time promise through the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people” (Acts 2:17).
The promise continues: 'Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the Earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' (Acts 2:17-21)
Perhaps these verses make you scratch your head.
'Wait a second, Peter—you’re saying we’ll see spiritual outpouring in the last days? Did you flunk out of seminary? Everyone knows the last days will be times of apostasy and sin!'
Yes, Jesus promised lawlessness would abound in the last days—but He also promised other last days realities that many modern Christians have forgotten.
Remember, Jesus also promised the Holy Spirit would move in supernatural power in the last days, turning Christians into powerful witnesses (Acts 1:8), convicting the world of sin (John 16:8), revealing the beauty of the gospel (John 15:26), healing the sick (Mark 16:18), raising the dead (Matthew 10:8), casting out demons (Mark 16:17), drawing masses of lost souls to Jesus (John 12:32), gathering a church from every tribe and tongue (Revelation 7:9), and training those newborn converts into obedient disciples (Titus 2:14).
If you ask us, that’s called awakening!
And this great last days outpouring isn’t coming at some later date—it’s available to every Christian now!
When Peter declared this promise of last days awakening, he boldly announced God had begun to pour it out that very day (see Acts 2:16, 33).
By citing Joel’s prophecy, Peter declared: 'The last days are here—the New Covenant revival has begun! Soon Jesus will return to judge every rebel—but meanwhile, God will powerfully pour out His Spirit on every hungry heart! Run to King Jesus and receive His mercy while you can—the long-awaited times of refreshing have begun breaking in!'
Whether Peter knew it or not, God was using him to forge an unstoppable invasion of light that momentous Pentecost Sunday.
The drastic spiritual shift that began that day would eventually sweep millions of hungry souls into Jesus’s kingdom of righteousness.
And these God-stricken Christian ambassadors wouldn’t live idly in spiritual defeat. Rather, they would gradually transform society from top to bottom, invading with light and destroying Satan’s works wherever they went.
Their motto was, 'Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere!' (2 Corinthians 2:14).
And nothing could stop them, for “neither death nor life...nor anything else in all creation, [could] separate [them] from the love of God” which compelled them to service (Romans 8:38-39)."
From the book, Invasion of Light by Brian Mark and JJ Weller
According to Pew Research, only 28.8% of people alive today profess faith in Jesus.
Our world is grasping for meaning and hope only found in Jesus's nail-scarred hands.
God is calling us to proclaim His breathtaking message of redemption.
Will you give, send, go, or disobey?
"There are only three kinds of Christians when it comes to world missions: zealous goers, zealous senders, and disobedient. May God deliver us from disobedience!" John Piper
2 Corinthians 5:20 declares, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (NKJV).
Jesus sees you as His ambassador. Do you think of yourself as His ambassador?
How would your life change if you more strongly believed in your identity as His ambassador?
Have you ever formally offered yourself to Jesus as His ambassador?
If not, will you now?
We invite you to take a moment to pray, meditate, and privately journal your thoughts!
Weekly Missions Reflection: Embracing Your Role as Christ's Ambassador ✝️
So many ask, “Why should we evangelize other countries when America is already such a mission field?” But what we forget—America has fallen in broad daylight.
🇺🇸 95.7% of America’s population has ample access to the gospel (Joshua Project).
🇺🇸 62% of United States citizens profess Christianity (Pew Research Center).
At the least, that means they can hear the gospel if they want to.
⛪️ They could visit one of our almost 400,000 evangelical churches.
💻 They could seek God’s Word through TV, radio, books, or the internet.
🤝 They could seek spiritual perspective through one of their many Christian acquaintances.
❌ In general, they avoid every gospel opportunity with indifference.
Meanwhile, over 3 billion people have minimal or no access to the gospel in the 10/40 Window.
That’s almost half the world’s population—and most of them have never clearly heard the salvation message.
🪙 About 80% of the poorest of the poor live there, surviving on only a few hundred dollars per person per year (Joshua Project).
❎ Most can’t visit the neighborhood church, for the unreached world has only 1 Christian missionary for every 216,300 people (Traveling Team).
❎ Most can’t watch the gospel on TV or the radio, and few ever receive gospel literature.
❎ And most can’t ask a Christian friend about Jesus because most don’t know a Christian.
Yet the church sends only 0.1% of its offerings and 3.4% of its missionaries to reach these unreached masses (Traveling Team).
And the clock is ticking down: approximately 66,000 unreached souls die every single day, likely flooding to Hell en masse. Yet the church has done little to turn the tide. Have you ever heard anything more heartbreaking?
Church, it doesn’t have to stay this way.
Together, we can reach the unreached in our generation.
We just need to hear God’s voice, receive the call, band together, and finish the task.
Will we do it, or leave God's harvest wasting in the fields?
From the book, Invasion of Light by Brian Mark and JJ Weller
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬
I was on my first foreign mission trip, visiting an extremely poor area of Guatemala called the tracks.
A major earthquake had hit not long before my visit, and many families fled to the railroad tracks to seek refuge in makeshift shacks of tin, wood, and plastic.
It was the worst poverty I had seen up to that point in my life—but we did what we could to share Jesus’s hope.
One night, when we returned to our lodging, something life-changing happened to me.
As I lay down in my top bunk, I suddenly became overwhelmed by all I had seen.
My eyes welled up with tears, and soon I began to weep uncontrollably.
I covered my face with a pillow so the five other men in the room wouldn’t hear me—but what could I do to stop it?
As the tears flowed, I did the only thing I could—pray.
Through my sobs I pleaded with God—“Lord, what is happening to me?”
Immediately, the Holy Spirit spoke something to me that would change my life forever.
His still-small voice rang out crystal clear:
“I have given you just a small taste of my burden for the lost and hurting people of the world. If I gave you any more your heart would not be able to contain it. I want you to treasure this as a gift. Hide it in your heart and hold onto it. This burden will propel you to the lost and hurting people around the world.”
I’ve never forgotten that moment. That was when God strengthened my burden for missions beyond anything I thought possible.
Jesus had given me a piece of His heart—He had allowed me to taste His immense love for the lost and hurting, and painfully uncovered how much He longed to save them.
I knew at that moment that He was looking for compassionate messengers—ambassadors of His love who would go on His behalf to tell the lost how much He cares.
God is calling us all to receive that heavenly burden—the burden of the Lord.
His love for souls would be a heavy burden in itself—but as we carry that burden by the Holy Spirit’s power and direction, we find that His “burden is light” and fits just right (Matthew 11:30).
Tragically, many Christians spend so much time trying to lighten their own load that they forget about the masses of lost souls devoid of hope. We need to open our eyes and look on the fields.
It’s time to look in the eyes of the lost and hurting masses, and then look to God to say, “Here I am, Lord, send me!”
From Brian Mark Weller in the book, Invasion of Light
🌏 Are we delaying Jesus's return by neglecting His Great Commission?
Jesus said, "This gospel...will be preached...to all nations, and THEN the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).
But to this day, about half the world still hasn't heard the good news.