When Jesus saw the people coming to Him for healing, he felt compassion for them because "they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd". After this, the Lord said that "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few". Then He asked His disciples to "beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His field". The church in Jerusalem did this and "they began to speak the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31). The church in Antioch did it too (Acts 13), and the Lord actually sent workers into His field.
Today many people are still coming to the Lord for healing, and they are still "dispirited and distressed, like sheep without shepherd" because their marriages are failing, their homes are breaking, their children are going the wrong way, and many feel lonely and unloved. People truly need the Shepherd Jesus.
We at Heredia understand this, and we have beseeched the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field. We are beginning to see His answer to our prayer. Some of us are truly experiencing His healing touch in our marriages, families and personal lives. Jesus has truly become our Shepherd. In the process we have learned to feel compassion and have gotten excited to the point of wanting to learn how to help others receive the same healing. Some of the people we are working with are already expressing their concern for others and want to become the Lord's workers to help others in their personal growth.
Now, how do you help them become the Lord's workers? The answer is in many places in the Bible, but we focus in Ephesians 4.11-16. Church leaders are to equip "the saints for the work of service, until we all attain the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." The tricky part is this equipping. How do you actually equip the saints? Do you sit them in classrooms and hammer the principles into them? Well, classroom teaching is necessary but it doesn't seem to be enough. According to verses 15 and 16, it is accomplished by "the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies." The "proper working of each individual part" is essential.
We have tried to put these principles from Ephesians 4 into practice. When you and another Christian get together to pray for one another on a regular basis, it really "causes the growth of the body." It takes personal involvement of those who are more mature in the lives of those who are in the process. It takes being "devoted to one another in brotherly love" (Romans 12.10). Growth occurs when members are encouraged by the transformation they see in each other's lives. This transformation is a testimony of God's power.
The results are not really visible at the beginning. We hope that there will be more visible growth in the months to come. Thanks to all of you at Bammel for being so supportive of our work in Costa Rica.
