As the International Partnership Coordinator at IDES, I get the privilege of working closely with our international partners. On a daily basis, I am emailing, calling, or virtually meeting with missionaries and national workers throughout the world who are working diligently to meet the physical and spiritual needs around them. Our partners see and experience the most difficult of situations - catastrophic natural disasters, violent persecution, senseless wars, famine, and deaths from easily preventable diseases. They prayerfully respond to these needs to the best of their abilities, and IDES comes alongside to support them in their response. I am always amazed by the sacrificial love that I see on display through our partners as they work to share Help and Hope in the name of Jesus and I feel blessed that I get to play a very small role in their ministry.
Even in the midst of the chaos that our partners are often dealing with, I am frequently humbled by our partners' prayerfulness. They frequently tell me that they are praying for me or praying for IDES, and they often ask me what I need prayer for specifically. There have been many situations where missionaries or national workers have themselves been affected by a war or disaster, maybe losing their home or being forced to relocate due to violence. It would be a fair expectation that in those situations, the partners would be focused solely on ensuring their safety and figuring out plans for the immediate future. But time and time again, our partners take a moment to stop in the middle of their own emergency and pray for me. It's humbling to know how deeply they care for me as an individual, and is a loving act that points us back to the example of Christ.
In Luke 23:34, as Jesus is being crucified on the cross, he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In the middle of being crucified, possibly the most painful death that one could experience, Jesus prays for the people who are killing him. This radical example of forgiveness is also a picture of prayerfulness. It reminds us to call upon the Father in the most difficult of situations - praying for others and even for our enemies in the midst of our own struggles.
I hope to be more like Jesus and more like our partners as I grow as a follower of Jesus. I hope to remember the struggles of others even when I am struggling. I hope to more consistently realize that as the world faces disaster after disaster and I feel helpless to do anything, that turning my troubles over to the Lord in prayer is actually the most powerful thing I can do. Psalm 107:28-29 offers a great reminder of this:
“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.”
As the body of Christ, it’s a privilege of the church to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world. If you follow IDES on Facebook, you may have seen that we are in the middle of a weeklong series on praying for various countries where IDES works. I encourage you to take some time, watch these videos, and pray along with us for our brothers and sisters around the world.