Let me begin by sharing a quote with you that I came across a couple of years ago. This quote is by R. Arthur Matthews and was written in his book, Born for Battle in 1973. His words struck me as almost prophetic as I read them in our post-9/11 world.

Tides of war and revolution sweep the world. Yesterday's allies are today's enemies. National borders change overnight.

There are hostile forces at large in every country: political ideologies - subtle sinister and spreading - flamboyant nationalism, often menacing in its attitudes to western peoples, and ancient religions in aggressive revival programs.

These all present massive imponderables to those planning world evangelism. Add to these the attitude of many homeland churches. We are being educated to consider ourselves eligible to predetermine the limits of our spiritual sacrifices.

Does the sum of all these factors affect the issue? Let us be sure of one thing: God continues to incarnate His redemptive purposes in human lives.

He still calls, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Let world conditions fluctuate or worsen; the fire of God's purpose burns on. R. Arthur Matthews was of course describing conditions in 1973, but how much more true are these words over thirty years later? 

Matthews knew much about difficulty. He was among the last missionaries in China when the Communist took over, and lived under the constant threat of martyrdom for his faith. Some of his words stand out to me particularly as I write this.

He speaks of world conditions as "massive imponderables" to those that are planning world evangelism. Truly when we choose to dwell upon our current world conditions, the state of the world, the threat of war, hostility towards Christianity and our largely Christian nation it can become overwhelming.

Matthews goes on to describe a sinister plot of the enemy to convince the church that it is OK to seek preservation and "predetermine the limits of our spiritual sacrifice," as if there was actually room for negotiating.

But, I love how he ends his comments, "Does the sum of all these factors affect the issue?" No, no - let world conditions fluctuate, and they will; let world conditions worsen, and they will. We must be resolved that the purpose of God in the earth among His people must burn on in our hearts.

After the tragedies that struck our nation on September 11, 2001 I wondered how it would affect world missions. The Lord spoke to me and simply said, "Nothing has changed."

The world was talking about how everything had changed, the world would never be the same, but in the Spirit realm concerning God's plans for the nations, God's desire for man's salvation - nothing changed.

Yet many people have allowed world conditions to dictate to them their level of commitment, their level of giving, even their response to our Lord's words, "Go ye into all of the world and preach the Gospel."

The great commission has not been amended, nor has its fulfillment been rescheduled. God's purpose still burns on. He still calls, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" He still seeks to incarnate His redemptive purposes in human lives - my life and your life.

We have to come to grip with the fact that we are the generation that God has chosen to be alive in these last of the last days. We are the people that God expects to rise up upon the mountain of revelation that has been passed down from generation to generation.

God expects all of our CD series and books, all of our meeting and revivals to produce a faith that will cause us to be triumphant in this hour.

The Scriptures poses a very pointed question when they ask in Luke 18:8, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

Will He find you living faithful or will He find you merely existing in a fear-dominated world?

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