Evaluating Our Motives

In Luke 12, Jesus reminds us, "Life is more than food and the body more than clothing." Birds have all they need and the flowers are so beautiful, but neither does anything to make it so.

We all so easily lose sight of our loving Lord. We feel blessed when we have good clothes, a nice house, and a little extra stored away in savings. Those things are fine, but Jesus tells us here to store up our treasures above instead of here on earth.

"Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail...For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

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The Spiritual Reality

How many of us really feel like the countless stories of Jesus casting out demons really apply to our daily life? It truly is outside the understanding and experience of many of us, but for the Dong people, stories like the one in Luke 8 this is much more of a reality.

It is easy for us to read right past yet another story of Jesus casting out a demon, yet there is a wealth of information in each one. For us who seek to pray with understanding for the Dong people, these stories make up an excellent training course in the spiritual realm which can inform us of some aspects of the slavery and trickery under which the Dong people live.

In some areas, Dong women do not walk alone on the mountain trails at night for fear of being physically attacked by the spirits. And that is not just some local ghost story; it is quite real. In another area, it is widely believed that a new building (tower, bridge, stage, or even home) will take the life of one of the first users or performers and that soul will serve as the protective spirit of that building.

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What a Relief

Everybody needed a little clarification about the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus, even John himself. Though Jesus gave yet another riddled answer to John's inquiries, it seems to have brought up a topic Jesus had wanted to talk about.

When the people hear Jesus's glowing words for John, confirming he came to prepare the way for the Messiah, they seem to be very relieved. "They declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John" (Lk 7:29). They had accepted the message of John and now are accepting the message of Jesus, but did not quite know if that was ok, as if to say, "Are these two guys in agreement or have we accidentally switched sides."

It is much like the situation with the Dong. They do not quite know who is with who, which message is right, or whose message is more important. "Do I listen to this foreigner or that Chinese guy?" "Are they preaching the same message?"

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Blessed for Belief

Luke 1:20
"And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time."

Poor Zechariah. He was righteous, walking blamelessly before God, but God was doing something so incredible, he just could not wrap his human mind around it. If not for God's persistant plan, he would have totally missed the boat.

God is doing something great among the Dong people. He has promised to bring the chosen from every people before his throne to worship him. Let us not only believe what he is going to do, but speak up for the Dong people in prayer, before the ability to speak is taken away as it was for Zechariah.

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Through Many Tribulations

When Paul and Barnabas were returning to towns which had already received the Gospel, what did they tell the believers? What was the follow up? They returned "strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kindgom of God" (Acts 14:22).

That sounds very similar to discussions among the workers among the Dong people. One worker recently thought aloud, "Maybe we should warn people before they even believe: faith in Christ is going to cost them; they will be persecuted."

How do we prepare hearts for tribulation, trials, and persecution? It is especially hard when those who are communicating the gospel have not themselves faced persecution (or do not feel like they have faced it).

Maybe it is as simple as the verse out of Acts says, just let them know. Because the world is fallen, because Christians who stand firm never fit in, because of so many reasons, there will be trials. And because Christ is worth more than all these things, we need not only to remind the Dong people of what they face ahead but to live out our witness of Christ in front of them.

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Dong People Learning Not to Fear

We cannot really blame them, can we? If most of us lived in the same circumstances as our Dong brothers and sisters, we would be tempted to react out of fear as well.

We do not have anybody coming into our houses and confiscating our Bibles and Christian materials. We are not faced with the decision to signing a confession denying Christ. Though it is tempting to do so, the purpose of this call to prayer is not to compare political systems or cast our stones at China; the purpose is to pray for our Dong Christian brothers and sisters and the trials they face.

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A Choice of Rulers

Though we often do not think of it this way, we have a choice of rulers. We can choose who has authority in our lives: God, Satan, money, time, work, power, or just about anything else. The Dong people too, have a choice of rulers. We need to pray for them as they make this choice.

The Israelites rarely seemed to know how good they had it till they were at the point of losing it. God graciously provided for them so many times, saving them from disaster because of their last minute change of heart. But not always...

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Reached but Still Unbelieving

It is easy to talk about either the Dong people that already believe or those that have never even heard, but what of those who have heard some, but still have not put their faith in Jesus Christ or started the journey of growing to maturity in him? There are so many barriers, and as always, whether in China or in the West, those barriers differ with every person.

Let's spend some time praying through some of these different barriers that the Dong people have:

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Are We Watching Baggage or Making War?

In 1 Samuel 30, we see one of the many wise acts of David in his leadership over the people of Israel. It speaks clearly to us today of the value of those who "go" and those who "stay at home" as equal participants in the mission.

His troops had been marching and fighting for days. When they returned home, they found they themselves had been raided, and after consulting the Lord if they should pursue, the Lord confirmed they would catch the raiders. Of David's six hundred fighting men, two hundred did not have the strength to go on and they stayed behind and watched the equipment.

After the four hundred returned victoriously, these "more honorable members of the army" did not want to share the spoils with the two hundred who did not go on with them. David refused, saying, "For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike." He made it a law for the army after becoming king over all Israel.

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Is God Our Intimate Companion or Infinite Judge?

One of our fellow workers in the Lord with the Dong people of China relates this experience:

I was spending some time in Bible study with three Dong friends on a Sunday, a humble yet new Christian couple and a believer of several years who has not shown much growth. We were reading about the love of Christ, a love of complete sacrifice, and a love he calls us to live out in his words, "by this all men will know that you are my disciples."

Then, the elder believer, who did not previously know the young couple, putting on the airs of a pastor, quite randomly began sharing from Psalm 139. At first, it seemed like it might fit in: a God of love, clearly showing his love for us, and using Psalm 139 to show the intimate relationship we have with Jesus Christ.

We all read the psalm outloud together, and our brother began a discourse along these lines: "No matter where we go, he always sees us. Even if we sin in our heart, he will know it. There is no sin or act we can hide from him."

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Can the Dong People Really be Reached?

It is easy for us to doubt. We think of the massive task ahead of us. We are praying for the Dong people, but it is really possible for so many hundreds of millions of people hidden deep in the mountains of Southwest China to be reached by the good news of Christ?

Isaiah 52:10
The Lord has bared is holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

In short, the answer to that question is "yes!" Elsewhere in Isaiah, the Lord asks if once his arm has been stretched out to work, there anyone who can turn it back? No! Well, he has bared his holy arm before all the nations, and he will definitely fulfill his plan.

Are we sure his plan includes the Dong people of China? They surely fall within "all the ends of the earth" and so, yes, the Dong too will see the salvation of our God.

We do not find any assurance in our own power. However, we can place all our assurance in the words of our most faithful Lord. He has bared his holy arm, and he fully intends to work his wonders. We want to see what happens when the Lord starts working. What a wonderful sight!

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God's Glorious Presence in the New Year

What do we hope to happen in the new year for the Dong people of China? What happens when God chooses a people as his own, establishes himself among them, and leads them unto salvation? Here is a little new year history:

Exodus 40:1,34
The LORD now said to Moses, "Set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the new year." ... Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glorious presence of the LORD filled it.

In the old covenant, God lived among the Israelites by choosing for himself the Tabernacle as the holy place of his presence. Jesus has written, with his blood, the terms of the new covenant, though, and that is a covenant with all the peoples of the earth, including the Dong people of China.

Now, the Lord is establishing himself among the Dong people. There will be no Tabernacle, but we can pray that God would continue to choose Dong people which he will fill with his glorious presence. Nothing better could happen in the new year.

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Dong Believers Will Say in These Days

Christmas is coming near. Christmas is a celebration of the coming of the long-awaited Savior. For us, this is a reflection of what has happened, but in many ways, the Dong people are still waiting for the promised one to come. Jesus is still becoming known to the Dong people of China.

Not only is Jesus going to come, but, probably to the great delight of many Dong people, he is coming with a great feast prepared:

Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
  a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
  of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain
  the covering that is cast over all peoples,
  the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever;
  and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
  and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
  for the LORD has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
  "Behold, this is our God;
     we have waited for him, that he might save us.
  This is the LORD; we have waited for him;
  let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

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People in Darkness Will See a Great Light

The first coming of the King has already happened, and we are still in the process of taking the good news of his fair, just, and loving rule to all peoples. Hundreds of thousands of Dong people have no idea who Jesus is. Upon mention of his name, many say, "Oh, Jesus was a person?" The name sounds familiar, but the Dong people of China know little beyond that. They are in complete darkness.

Isaiah 9:2,6 (NLT)
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light -- a light that will shine on all who live in the land where death casts its shadow.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us...These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Where is the "land where death casts its shadow?" It is all around us. The only way to escape the sting of death is through Jesus Christ. The land where death still reigns is the land where people have not yet received Christ, and the Dong are still living in that land.

They will see a great light, though! The light of the coming child will shine hope in the land of darkness, and death will no longer overshadow the Dong people. And when the news of that child, Jesus Christ, comes to the Dong areas, they too can live the the Kingdom of God, established in justice and righteousness.

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Everybody Using Gifts for Building of the Body

We prayed in the last entry for unity in the body of believers who are seeking to share the good news with the Dong people. The following verses contain an excellent continuation how that works and what the church will look like as a result.

Ephesians 4:11-14
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

God has given the church all these gifts for the edification and growth of the Body. When believers who live among the Dong are excercising the gifts they have been given, the Spirit uses that to build up the body of Christ. It is simple obedience to use the gifts given that brings about church growth.

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Unity of Christ's Church Reaching the Dong

Christ is reaching the Dong people. Dong and non-Dong, local and foreign, Christ is using his people to bear a witness to those Dong who have not yet believed. And though we tend to focus our prayers on the lost, let us turn to prayer for those laboring for the Lord to reach the lost.

Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Regardless of culture or language, whether called outsiders or insiders, all of the Christians among the Dong are of one body and one Spirit. It takes time for the witness of this unified body to bear a clear witness among the multitude of local spirits and beliefs, and the unified message of the Lord is the best witness they could have. Let us pray that the message of the one faith will be clearly told in the word and action of the unified body. How is the body to remain unified, though?

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Joining the Lord in Building the Dong Church

Psalm 127:1
Unless the Lord builds the house,
  those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
  the watchman stays awake in vain.

Any work we propose to accomplish among the Dong will be in vain unless it is truly the work of God and not just human achievement. It is so easy for us to focus on numbers of people who come to Christ, which has a place in keeping us accountable to the mission given us, but we need to look instead to what the Lord is doing.

What house is God building among the Dong? Where is he building the church? Where can we take part? We need to constantly return to Christ and his will, and use that to evaluate what we are doing.

It is the Lord who accomplishes this work. That is not our excuse to sit back and do nothing. Far from it! It is only to say our priorities need to be set straight. We need to join in what he is doing instead of asking his blessing on what we want to do.

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Dong Churches Dying from Lack of Growth

We praise the Lord for the growth he is bringing in the lives of Dong Christians like the writer of the praise song shared in the last entry. However, many Dong Christians are still feeding on spiritual milk. Many have not grown out of their spiritual infancy.

Proverbs 1:32-33
For the simple are killed by their turning away,
   and the complacency of fools destroys them;

Though those verses sound harsh, they are quite true for the Dong situation. Most of the Dong churches are struggling. They have not grown, and have stayed "simple" like those in the verse above. And just as this verse states, these simple churches and believers are being "killed by their turning away."

The infant Dong churches are slowly dying through attrition. People have stopped attending the meetings and several churches will soon cease to exist (or become completely useless) if people continue to leave. The Dong churches are dying because the believers are turning away. But why are they turning away?

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When a Dong Man Fears the Lord

We all want our children to be safe, but finding assurance of safety is the problem. Men want to find confidence and self-respect, but that might be even harder to find than safety for children. These are issues for all of us, and no less for the Dong people.

Proverbs 14:26 says this: "In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge."

Most Dong fathers lack this confidence. Very few have even seen an example of confidence (without pride). Few Dong people know this confidence because so few know the fear of the Lord.

What is the fear of the Lord? It goes far beyond respect. There is one true God, he created all things, and nothing is beyond his ability. More than that, he is absolutely just and unending in love. No man can match that. No idol even begins to rank. No spirit (heavenly or demonic) is the creator, all powerful, or anything more than a servant to him.

If the Dong people lived "in the fear of the Lord," they could find a new confidence, a confidence without self-love or arrogance, but full of joy in the fulfillment of knowing the only one worth fearing: the Lord. And this confidence stretches to more than one person, but to the whole family.

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Dong Believers Sharing the Gospel through Love

Another prayer walk participant shares:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

This passage came to mind as we visited two Dong believers. Even though they do not have the scriptures in their heart language, or maybe have never heard this passage, they know that in love God gave his only Son for them.

Simply meditating on this fact can reveal the love he showed us through his death and resurrection and can help us in turn show this love toward others. Christ washed the feet of the disciples as an example of his love and humility, and commanded his disciples to love one another. We share our faith through a Christ-like life and with words of truth from his word. These two aspects of sharing the gospel cannot be separated.

Pray that the Dong believers would have this humility and love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, because he said that people would know that they belong to Him by it. Pray also that they would believe and understand that they do not live on righteousness of their own, but by his righteousness that is revealed in the gospel. (Rom 1:16-17)

Too Light a Thing

Isaiah 49:6
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
  to raise up the tribes of Jacob
  and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
  that my salvation may reach
    to the end of the earth."

Is it a light thing that millions of people on this earth have accepted the lordship of Christ? No. Is it a light thing that with his own blood Christ has assured the salvation of all those millions who have believed in him? Absolutely not!

However, is it too light a thing? Yes!

When we say "the name of Jesus Christ is above all other names," that is to say that his name is so full of value and honour that every tongue on this earth needs to shout its praises. It is too light a thing that only millions of people claim his name! His name is worth so much more.

We are a light to the nations, including the Dong people. Our light is to take the salvation message of the Lord Jesus to the end of the earth, to the very last man. Let us pray for the salvation of the Dong people, till the last man receives.

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Kingdom of Priests

This is a different kind of God. He has been proving who Yahweh is throughout the plagues and Exodus. He has firmly established how different Yahweh is from all the other gods.

A different kind of God develops a different kind of relationship with his people. In preparation for the giving of the commandments on Mt. Sinai, God says, "you will be to me a kingdom of priests, my holy nation" (19:6).

Most nations of that era had their gods and only a few out of the society served as priests to communicate with the gods. Yahweh's kingdom is different: the whole kingdom is made up of priests. In other words, he wants direct contact with everybody, instead of a few people who are set apart (holy) as priests.

Israel went astray from that concept, but the new kingdom is exactly that. That is the relationship he wants with the Dong people.

He does not want them to fear the unknown spiritual powers and seek the help of a witch doctor. He wants them to know him and commune personally with him. He has given the life of his only son in order to establish a perfect kingdom that does function as he desires.

Just as the climax of the Exodus was the giving of the covenant at Mt. Sinai, so joining God's kingdom of priests will be the climax of his work among the Dong people. Let us pray it will come about.

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He Knows Them

Why did God not choose the easy road? Why did he not just put the Israelites on the road to the promised land? Why did they have to head out into the desert?

"If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt" (13:17). As it turns out, God knew them better than they knew themselves. We often see the people complaining in the desert, but they did not turn back; God knew they would really turn around if they had to make battle.

Thus, he sent the pillar of cloud and fire. They could follow it for direction, and when the Egyptians had changed their minds and came out to kill the Israelites, the cloud was the Lord's defense for them.

God also knows the Dong people. He knows them better than any missionary, better than DongTeam.org, better than any people group profile or strategy to share with them the Gospel. God knows what they will need to accept him and what they will need to grow in him. Let us turn to him and ask him to continue preparing exactly what is needed for the Dong people.

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Blood of the Lamb

Probably the most clear imagry of the Holy Lamb to come is the story of the first Passover. God had proven for all to see that he was far above all gods, so much so that he executed judgement against the gods of Egypt (12:12), a feat that no other god could so clearly display.

Now, in preparation for the final plague, God gives instructions that he himself will follow hundreds of years later with the spotless Lamb, who was also killed for the sins of others. Now, when he sees the blood, his judgement will pass over those who claim it (12:13).

The Lord will do many things to proclaim his power to the Dong people. He will make abundantly clear that he is the one and only God, above all other gods. And a time will come for judgement, just as it did for the Egyptians. Let us pray that the Dong people will claim the blood of the Lamb as the sacrifice for their sins and escape their impending death.

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Done Deal

Even more clearly than in chapter seven, the Lord again clearly states why he did things the way he did with the Egyptians. In chapter nine, he says, "I could have killed [all the Egyptians] by now...but I have let [them] live for this reason—that you might see my power and that my fame might spread throughout the earth."

God could have finished the end goal among the Egyptians any time he wanted. It is the same with the work among the Dong people. God is able to have already finished the work. When we wonder why nothing is happening or when it will happen, we can continue praying with the firm knowledge that he will accomplish his will."

And as he says in chapter ten, "You will be able to tell wonderful stories to your children and grandchildren about the marvelous things I am doing among the Egyptians to prove that I am the Lord."

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Why Signs and Wonders?

It would have been a lot easier on everybody if God had allowed the Israelites to just leave Egypt in the first place. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Why? God says in the first few verses of chapter seven that he did this so that he could multiply his miraculous signs and wonders.

What is the point? In 7:5, he states clearly his reason: so that the Egyptians "will realize that I am the Lord." The whole point is that God receive glory. If he only wanted the Israelites out, he could have softened Pharaoh's heart from the first petition of Moses and Aaron.

God wants glory. In the work among the Dong people, God wants glory. Who will declare the glory of the Lord? Who is going to sing his praises for the things he does among them? If we do not, the very rocks will do so for us. So, let us save those poor rocks their breath and do so now in honor of the One who is saving them.

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Do We Protest?

Moses had to learn an early lesson in the Exodus process. God had already warned Moses of Pharaoh's response before Moses ever took a step in the door. Even so, after Moses's first request to Pharaoh, Pharaoh only stepped up the work quotas for the enslaved Israelites (Ex 5).

When the Israelite foremen caught up with Moses to tell him to keep his mouth shut, Moses lost heart. They had said, "You have given them an excuse to kill us"(5:21)! And Moses immediately "protested" to the Lord, "You have not even begun to rescue them!" (5:23).

There are many parallels to any work of salvation. We know ahead of time that the Lord intends to reach the Dong people. We know he loves them and wants to see them come to him. In other words, we know the plan. When something bad happens, or more accurately, when nothing seems to happen at all, we protest that God has not even begun to rescue the Dong.

We also need to remember this is a matter of life and death for those still not rescued; the Israelites said, "You have given them an excuse to kill us!" All those living outside of Christ will indeed receive punishment, and there is a real chance that God's salvation plan itself will cause this phrase to become even more true.

God's reply to all these things? "I will redeem you with mighty power and greats acts of judgement."

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So They May Worship

The journey of the Israelites out of Egypt, the Exodus, was the primary salvation event in history until the coming of Christ. It is also one of the most telling pictures we have of the salvation to come.

We will spend a few entries working through the events of the Exodus and apply them in prayer to the Dong people. To start off, let us pray through the main theme of God's message to Pharaoh: "Israel is my firstborn son. I commanded you to let him go, so he could worship me" (4:22-23). Then, in more than half of the warnings Moses gave to Pharaoh preceeding the plagues, this theme is reiterated: "Let my people go, so they can worship me."

Right now, the Dong people are held captive. They are oppressed by the spirits they worship. They are, spiritually, not free to worship the Lord. Let us with one voice, proclaim the same warning in prayer for the Dong.

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Safely Over the Mountains

Habakkuk 3:17-19
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.

No matter what the situation in the Dong world looks like right now, there is still meaning to rejoice! Let us pray for the Christians, Dong, Chinese, and foreign, working among the Dong.

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Come Home

The Isaiah passage in the previous entry has a beautiful statement: "I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home." For all these generations, the Dong have been wandering through spiritual wilderness, not knowing where to go, having completely forgotten what it is like to be home.

Home is relationship with God. Home is heaven. Home is eternal life, beginning here on earth, and fulfilled in life with God after these bodies pass away.

We are accustomed to dreaming about this heavenly home in relationship with God, but to the Dong, this is a totally foreign concept. When they find what they are missing, they can feel the call home; they know it is something they want.

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Do we not see it?

Isaiah 43:18-19
"But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert!"

Forget all that is being done among the Dong; forget all the projects to accomplish what we feel needs to be done; forget all our plans for what the Dong need. The Lord is doing a brand-new thing, his thing, his way.

He will create a pathway for the Dong to come home, a pathway to lead them through the wilderness. And in that desert, they will find the one thing they do not expect, but need the most: rivers, flowing from the river of God.

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Crowning the Year

Psalm 65:11
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.

When I read this verse, I immediately think of Jesus explaining the Parable of the Sower to his disciples. In Jesus's parable, the seed that falls on the pathway represents those who hear but do not understand; the seed is easily snatched away from their hearts by the evil one.

In this Psalms passage we see a very different story. "Even the hard pathways overflow with abundance." In other words, even where the seed falls in the hardest place and the recipients do not hear and understand, the seed still bears fruit. Why? The Lord will crown the year with a beautiful harvest.

Let us join together in prayer for those Dong who have heard, but not understood

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Upon All People

Joel 2:28-29
"...I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike."

This is a prayer for the Dong people. Prophecies, dreams, and visions can greatly affect a people who are already constantly listening to the urgings of the spirit world. May they receive word direct from God himself. In these verses, God himself has said that he would pour it out on ALL people. Let us pray that the Dong would be included in that.

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Wisdom and Spirit

Stephen was up against learned Jews from all over the Roman world, men from some of the greatest centers of learning, and the Bible says that "none of them was able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke."

Just like the Dong church, the Christian church of which Stephen was a part was very young. Let's pray that the believers among the Dong will be filled with the Spirit and will we counted as wise though they are not schooled men.

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The Skies Speak

Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where
   their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.

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Give Them Many Opportunities

Colossians 4:3-5
Don't forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to preach about his secret plan—that Christ is also for you Gentiles. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this mesage as clearly as I should.

We should devote prayer for Dong Christians as if they had written this verse to us. I do not know of any who are "in chains," but pressure from the authorities is a challenge they face. More important, we need to pray for opportunities to preach the gospel and for the clear proclamation of the message.

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A Moment of Praise

Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear you, O Lord,
  and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you,
  for your righteous acts have been revealed.

Let's take a moment away from specific requests and come back to the things that are most important. Let's praise the Lord.

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Faithful Deeds

"And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of the life to which he called you. And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds."

2 Thessalonians 1:11

The Dong Christians who want to reach out in mission are doing so in many different ways, and just like anybody who is honestly trying to spread the gospel of Christ, they are constantly trying new ways or implementing new ideas. In some ways, evangelism does not change, but many aspects of the style or method do change depending on the audience.

Our Dong brothers and sisters come up with many "good intentions and faithful deeds" as mentioned in the passage above. Let us pray, as Paul did for the Thessalonians, that God, by his power, will fulfill these acts of faith on the part of the Dong Christians.

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Hide It Under a Bushel?

Ok, who knows this childrens' favorite? Let's see some hands...oh, I guess I can't see your hands. If you feel an uncontrolable desire to hum, go ahead. I did.

Matthew 5:14-16, from which the song comes, is such a pertinent passage for prayer. There are a few Dong believers, maybe as many as one hundred believers among three million Dong people. They are few, but they are there. There are also believers from the outside (from other minorities, the Han majority, overseas Chinese, and other foreigners) living among or trying to reach out to the Dong. Let's begin to pray for these Christians as they shine out their light for all to see.

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What Gentiles Got to Do with It

Another thing about the Matthew passage that piqued my interest was the insertion of the seemingly non related comment about the Gentiles near the end of the passage. First, we see a dialogue between Jesus and the Roman officer. Then, we hear Jesus's reaction given to the others present. Then, Jesus makes the comment about the Gentiles from all over the world at the feast of the Kingdom of Heaven.

I guess it is not so out of context; the obvious link is Jesus's comment, "I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!" In other words, people from all over the world, people who do not fit the typical profile, people like a Roman officer with great faith, will show forth their faith to the glory of God. Let us pray for that to happen among the Dong.

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Faith Like This

I love those verses shared in the last entry. They are so applicable. The more I read through them the more I feel the challenge to greater faith. We may not see it while it is happening, and we should know there is no need to do so. We can, however, reach out in faith and pray for the healing of the Dong people: healing from sickness, healing of weary souls, healing from a life of sin, healing from the slow work of death on their lives, healing that will bring eternal life.

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Matthew 8:5-13

When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, "Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and racked with pain." Jesus said, "I will come and heal him." Then the officer said, "Lord I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed! I know because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, 'Go,' and they go, or, 'Come,' and they come. and if I say to my slaves, 'Do this or that,' they do it."

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, "I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel! And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven"... Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, "Go on home. What you have believed has happened."

You Are Our God

"I will show love to those I called 'Not loved.' And to those I called 'Not my people,' I will say, 'Now you are my people.' Then they will reply, 'You are our God!' "

They have not heard; they are "Not loved." They know nothing but to ask spirits or idols for help (see more on Dong religion). The verse above is obviously speaking to those not counted as God's people before, but it holds a beautiful promise to which we can all cling as we pray for them: he will call them his people, and they will reply with a confession that he is their God.

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But God Does the Watering

So what is it that causes the growth of the seed and bread? The rain and snow....the water. In this image, the water is the "the word that goes out from [God's] mouth." It is he that causes the growth to happen, not the seed or the sower, not the bread or the eater: not us.

He speaks his word through us in our prayers. He works his will through us as his love becomes action toward others. And, of course, completely independent from us, God also speaks directly to bring man unto him. Let's pray for these three different areas of God's word as it works among the Dong people.

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Where Are the Seed and Sower?

Let's dwell a little longer on the verse in the previous journal entry. God's word comes down like the rain and snow, watering the earth, and making it produce seed and bread. The answer this verse gives us seems to suggest an interesting change in the way we see God's will playing out among these unreached people groups.

The seed the sower uses to plant comes from the field itself. The bread that fills they who need to eat, is not shipped in from some United Nations bread fund; it also comes from the fields. The seed that will be spread among the Dong and the bread that will fill those who are hungry comes from right among the people themselves. And it will not fail. The seed already planted, the grain and bread already growing, as the verse says, cannot fail.

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Not in Vain

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Now that is a promise worth reading over several times just to take in the full meaning. There is the watering of the seeds and the production of a harvest. The promise is this: God's word is always accomplished exactly as he intends; it is never empty. Let us begin to pray for his word to go out from his mouth to the Dong people.

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To What End?

One of the beautiful opportunities we have in Christ is to know the ending of the story we are living. In Revelation 5:9 we hear this song about the Lamb: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were killed, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

The Dong will be there. We are explicitly told every tribe, language, and people, all referring to people like the Dong. Let us start out this prayer journal with praise to the Son of God who came and ransomed us, who came to give us purpose in doing his work, who is ransoming every people unto him.

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