Vol. 37
April, 1950
No. 4
N THE business of missions,
prayer comes first, When Jesus looked upon
the whitened harvest fields, He might have
called immediately for laborers, or organiza-
tion, or money. Fach plays an important
part in the missionary enterprise. But more
important is the release of divine power
through prayer, so Jesus put prayer fore-
most in the business of missions: “Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest.”
In the business of prayer, missions come
first. When Jesus taught His disciples to
pray, He said, “Our Father which art in
heaven, hallowed by Thy name. . . .” That
cagec and
LsAtons
By T.L. Oswald
was the reverent approach. Then what? “Thy
kingdom come.” That means missions, Daily
bread follows.
So today God admonishes us to lift up
our eyes and behold the whitened fields,
for they are ready for the harvest. Fach
day the members of the family of God
should pray for divine power to direct
the lives of those that proclaim the message
in all lands.
We are facing an unparalleled oppor-
tunity for the spreading of the third angels
message in many foreign lands. Japan's
doors have swung wide open to the spread
of the gospel. There is such a turning to
Christianity that every church is crowded;
many churches refrain from making an-
nouncements of services so that the scanty
space may not be entirely occupied by
inquirers, thus depriving the members of
needed spiritual help. To an unbelievable
degree, the Japanese have opened their
hearts to receive the love of our Saviour. It
is the hour of destiny for the Japanese
people. They need Christ as never before,
A new day is dawning in southern Asia.
There is an interest in the Bible such as
our old-time workers have never seen. Now
is the hour to proclaim with power the
message in India.
Australasia is appealing. Whole island
populations have turned to the message of
a risen and soon-coming Saviour, They
have been lifted from the lowest degrada-
tion of spiritism to be valiant witnesses for
Christ. On New Guinea alone we need
two thousand teachers to gather the soul-
harvest. To the west of New Guinea lies
Indonesia—Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and
the Celebes—to mention only the larger
island fields. God has gone before us and
prepared the way. What will be our
response?
(Please turn to page 2)