By Maria Cochrane, AFM Volunteer Prayer Partner
Many years ago, Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) taught me to pray and exposed me to real-live missionaries for the first time in my life. Subsequently, when a neighbor invited me to his house to get to know a missionary couple on home assignment from China, I said sure! I was so compelled by their ministry that my husband and I started supporting this couple financially and prayerfully. Their updates from the field, detailing how the Lord was using our prayers to expand the ministry, deepened within us our affection and appreciation for cross-cultural workers (CCWs).
A few years after that, I was contacted by AFM’s then-executive director, The Rev. Julian Linnell, asking if I would coordinate AFM’s monthly prayer calendar. Again, I said sure! Assembling prayer requests each month brought to life the ministry of AFM’s CCWs. I felt (and continue to feel) personally connected and privileged to witness the ways in which our Lord comes through, time and time again. And each time I pray for CCWs, the Lord continues to increase my awareness and thanksgiving for the material and spiritual gifts He’s given me.
Previously, only AFMers living in Richmond, Virginia were able to join AFM prayer meetings. But with the COVID pandemic, AFM’s in-person prayer meetings went out the window. In April, AFM launched a weekly virtual prayer meeting on Thursdays (11:00-11:45 Eastern Time) via Zoom.
The first time I joined the Zoom prayer time—Wow! Names became faces. Every week we focus on one missionary family’s ministry. This engenders a deeper understanding of missions and the movements of the Holy Spirit in our day. Every week I feel a deepening of my affections for specific countries and peoples, and for the AFM CCWs serving there.
Over the years, God has shown me that praying for others is the most effective way to grow and strengthen MY faith. So, when I tell people that I love to pray, it’s true! I am not ashamed to admit that my first motivation to pray is building up my own faith.
Jesus Himself teaches this principle, for He says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That certainly applies to praying for others. The return is so much more than the effort or time. And so, I hope that you will join us each Thursday (beginning September 10th) for prayer so that your faith may be deepened, that your love for others may grow, and that you may be abundantly blessed as you witness the work of the Holy Spirit around the world.
To receive the prayer requests and link to AFM virtual prayer meetings, email your name and home church to prayforme@afm-us.org.We’ll send you this information beginning Wednesday, Sept. 9th.
