North America (MNN) — Yesterday was Giving Tuesday, but should giving really be contained to one day? Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says as we forge into the advent season, we need to make giving and praying for missions a daily priority. Here’s why:
Three Warriors in the Battle for the Kingdom
Hutchcraft says there are three kinds of warriors it takes to win the battle for souls….
“There’s a picture in the book of Exodus that shows us really how the battle is won. The Jews are going up against the Amalekites. Joshua is leading the army in battle against the Amalekites. Moses goes up on the hill and he raises his arms. Later he explains that he was interceding before the throne of the Lord for them. Aaron and Hur are these two men [who] go up with him to hold up his arms because when he is raising his arms, he is interceding. Their support is really needed for Moses to do what he is doing.
“So really, in that picture we’ve got three kinds of warriors…. You’ve got the Frontlines Warriors, as represented by Joshua and his army. You have the Prayer Warrior on the hill, represented by Moses. And you have the support warriors — I call them the Supply Lines Warriors — represented by Aaron and Hur. It takes all three to win the battle.”
So what does this have to do with ministry and the Great Commission?
Hutchcraft explains, “The missionaries that you know, the warriors that are fighting on the frontlines, they are the Frontlines Warrior fighters. They are, all day, every day, engaged in the battle for souls to carry out our Master’s orders that he says must be fulfilled before he returns.
“Then you have the Prayer Warrior. Wow, is it clear from that story? When the prayer warrior is praying, the frontlines warriors are winning. When they’re not praying, the frontlines warriors are losing.
“Then you’ve got the support of the Supply Lines Warriors. In any battle, you can have the greatest army in the world. But if they don’t have the supplies they need, the ammunition they need, they will lose.”
In Romans 10:14, Paul asks, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”
Of this passage, Hutchcraft points out, “So we’ve got the tellers, we’ve got the people who are out there all day every day – like our own ministry team – telling people about Jesus through every means possible. But that’s not the base of the Great Commission pyramid. The foundation of the Great Commission pyramid; there’s one question [in the next verse]. ‘And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?’”
The Battle from the Supply Lines
The senders in missions are critically important, like the supply lines in a battle.
“I saw an interesting comment by the man who was the former head of Australia’s special forces. He was discussing the issue of funding Christian ministry. But here’s what he said from his military experience. He said, ‘The battles are not won based on tactics. They’re rather won on destroying the resources of your enemy.’ He said that was one of the tasks of the special forces: to go behind enemy lines and destroy their enemies’ abilities to supply the troops who are fighting the battle.”
Sadly, too many Christians today who feel called to the mission field are struggling to raise enough support, to get enough supplies so they can follow God’s call to go.
“So it could be that the battle for souls is being lost, not on the frontlines, but on the supply lines. Because Satan’s special forces no doubt are dispatched to keep the supply lines from sending the supplies, whether it’s to spend it all on ourselves, whatever it is, there must be a way to impede the supply lines getting to the frontlines.”
(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)
Part of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries works specifically to make the Gospel known throughout Native America, and to empower young Native warriors to be ministers of God’s Word with On Eagles’ Wings. The team with Ron Hutchcraft Ministries prays for the people who support them and the mission of On Eagles’ Wings. Because just as the frontlines are under attack, so too are the people with the supply lines.
“I believe that the battle is won or lost in the throne room of God. D.L. Moody said, ‘Behind every victory, somewhere there is a praying Christian.’ It may be that one of the reasons it’s taken so long for the breakthrough in Native America is because Native people have been kind of invisible to us. We don’t even know about these issues, so they haven’t been prayed for much,” Hutchcraft says.
“The reason there have been the breakthroughs that there are is because there has been a wave of prayer growing for Native Americans. And much of it is focused from the On Eagles’ Wings team.”
‘Do You Know Who You Are?’
To sum it all up from Hutchcraft: “I would just say to someone who is a supporter of Christian ministry, please don’t think you are just somebody who writes checks, that you’re a fan in the stands. No, you’re on the field. You are in the game. And according to God’s Word, you as the sender of the people who proclaim Christ day after day where they are in ministry, you as the sender are at the foundation of the entire effort to get the Gospel out around the world.
“Do you know who you are? Do you know how valuable you are? Do you know what a varsity position you play? Play it well, as the people on the frontlines are. Play your position with all your heart, prayerfully, carefully, generously, in a spirit-led fashion. Because it is that partnership of the Supply Lines, the Prayer Warrior, and the Frontlines Warrior that will change our world and bring back the King.”