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The Wind in the Field
R. Stanley
THE field is the world. The wind is the Holy Spirit. The
world has not yet been saturated with the gospel.
Worldwide evangelisation is a mountainous task. It
cannot be accomplished by muscle power or
monetary strength. As God told Zerubbabel, "It's
neither by might not by power, but by My Spirit" (Zech
4:6,7). Let's study in this article how the Holy Spirit
helps us in missionary work if only we depend on Him. lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the
Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief
in my heart" (Rom 9:1-3). This was for the salvation of
Israel (10:1,2). Also for him to preach the gospel boldly
he pleaded with God's people to pray "In the Spirit"
(Eph 6:18:20).
1. He burdens us to PRAY The last recorded saying of Christ before
His return to Heaven explains the supreme reason for
the coming of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8, "You shall
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you;
and you shall be witnesses to Me." Eventhough the
urgency to get the message of the Gospel to people
had always been there, Jesus would not let His
disciples go on with the job until they had been endued
with power from Above (Lk 24:47-49) Jesus Himself,
though He was the very Son of God, did not preach or
minister to people in His own power. Peter, who had
closely watched Jesus for over three years observed,
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
and with power, who went about doing good" (Acts
10:38). Oratory skills or clever salesmanship will
accomplish nothing without the Spirit's power ( 1 Cor
2:4).
The Holy Spirit descends on God's people
as the "Spirit of Supplication" when they seek Him for
direction in missionary outreach (Zech 12:10). We
won't have all the information about places and
people we would visit with the Gospel. Our prayers will
be limited by the available information. But when we
respond to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, we move
into a realm that's beyond human imaginations (Rom
8:26,27). There's hardly a vigorous missionary
movement that was not birthed in prayer.
2. He empowers us to WITNESS
In the early sixties one Sunday afternoon
the Holy Spirit moved upon our college prayer group
mightily for the African tribes. We didn't understand
why. We were all students and none of us had hardly
travelled beyond 300 kilometers from the
Southernmost towns of India. But we kept thinking
about these tribal people. We had the shock of our life
when one of the BYM outreach teams in late seventies
spotted hundreds of tribal men and women with
negroid features in the jungles of the State of
Karnataka in India. They are said to have escaped slave
traders and been living as a "hidden" people group. We
have a growing Church in this community now. Not one time encounter but an
experience of continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit is a
basic must for bold and effective witnessing. Those
who were baptized with the Holy Spirit in the upper
room on the Day of Pentecost were filled again and
"they spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts
4:31). There must be frequent stirrings within so we
will not be intimidated by fear of any sort (2 Tim 1:6,7).
When our missionary praying is
dependent on the Holy Spirit, we are able to see the
condition of the lost from God's viewpoint and love
people as Jesus loves them. The Holy Spirit effusively
pours out in our hearts God's love that was manifested
in Calvary for the ungodly (Rom 5:5,6). This was the
testimony of Paul: "I tell the truth in Christ, I am not Peter before Pentecost was a notable
coward. But the Holy Spirit emancipated him from the
fear of men and empowered him to challenge
thousands. He understood what difference it made
when the gospel was preached "by the Holy Spirit sent
from Heaven" instead of by mere human enthusiasm
(1 Pet 1:12; Mt 26:34; Mk 14:31). His utter
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