Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Little Tent

A few weeks ago Our Daily Bread had a devotional that caught my attention. It was titled “The Little Tent.” David McCasland wrote:

During evangelist Billy Graham’s historic 1949 Los Angeles campaign, the big tent that held over 6,000 people was filled to overflowing every night for 8 weeks. Close by was a smaller tent set aside for counseling and prayer. Cliff Barrows, longtime music director and close friend and associate of Graham, has often said that the real work of the gospel took place in “the little tent,” where people gathered on their knees to pray before and during every evangelistic service. A local Los Angeles woman, Pearl Goode, was the heart of those prayer meetings and many that followed.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the followers of Christ in Colosse, he assured them that he and his colleagues were praying always for them (Col. 1:3,9). In closing he mentioned Epaphras, a founder of the Colossian church, who is “always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (4:12).

Some people are given the high visibility task of preaching the gospel in “the big tent.” But God has extended to us all, just as He did to Epaphras and Pearl Goode, the great privilege of kneeling in “the little tent” and bringing others before the throne of God.

This analogy can also be applied to the work of missions. Some missionaries are on the front lines and have the high visibility task of preaching the gospel to unreached people groups. Others are in “the little tent” supporting those on the field. Those of us in “the little tent” might have the God-given task of praying, giving or training. No matter what the job, we are part of team taking the message of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

Bob

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God’s Universe

By J. Vernon McGee

This is God’s universe and he does things His way.
Now, you may have a better way of doing things,
but you don’t have a universe.