Hold The Ropes For Us
Hold the ropes is an expression used for people back home who pray for missionaries. In 1792, William Carey (the father of modern missions) was talking to his mission board about heading to India, they told him since he was going to the dark places where the unreached are (on their behalf, the senders…) they would pray for him faithfully until they die. They said it is like he is going into a dark cave, and they are holding his rope as he goes deep into the darkness, they said they will never let go (i.e. never stop praying for him) until they die. We are by no means William Carey, but those people at home: you, our support team, our senders, our friends and family are the ones we had in mind as we wrote this blog. You have all partnered with us in prayer for our support and for various other requests over this past year. Now we are asking that you “hold the ropes” for us. You are A VITAL role in our ministry. WE NEED your constant prayer and intercession.
When Abraham pleaded with the Lord, Lot and his daughters were spared from total annihilation (Gen. 18-19). When Moses prayed the nation of Israel was spared (Ex. 32). When Hezekiah prayed his life was prolonged for 15 years (II Kings 20). The Lord incarnate taught His disciples “how to pray”, Paul always talks about prayer, the last thing Christ did before He went to the cross was pray… and now HE ever lives to make intercession for us! (Heb. 7). Prayer is a HUGE thing! When the disciples asked about the laborers for the field, Christ told them to pray! Please, do not forget us and continue to pray for us. We NEED your intercession MORE now then ever. We will be going into a place that is foreign to us in every way. The physical, emotional and spiritual warfare will be real and testing. Please choose today to partner with us in a significant way, to PRAY FOR US. Finances get us to the field… but YOUR prayer will keep us and sustain us on the field. We are your sent-ones and are your responsibility, please claim us 🙂 do not let us be like some unclaimed baggage at an airport.
One faithful prayer warrior told us that he does not want to miss a day of prayer for us, he is a veteran and understands war. He said that prayer is his ministry to us, he knows that Satan is real and is seeking to devour us, he knows what it is like to be on the front lines on the battlefield. This was super encouraging to us to know we have such a faithful prayer warrior who knows how crucial HIS ROLE (and all our pray warriors) is in our ministry. Thank you John! (You know who you are).
We believe in prayer so much we are going to start a prayer letter specifically for those WHO ask to be on it… YOU have to contact us. That means you would have had to read this post and then contact us. WE want this to be something YOU want to do… We desire to be transparent and so it will be something we ask you not to share with others… It will not be something that comes out consistently but it will come out regularly. Please contact us and ask to sign up for this specific email by writing us at stokingthefires@gmail.com. Tell us you want to be on that update personal email list. Thank you for your faithfulness. We know we would not be able to do this job WITHOUT YOU!
Your sent ones who are off to go spelunking in the caves of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes. Would you please consider holding our rope as we go into the deep and dark caverns of Papua New Guinea?
Stoking The Fires 