Jonathan Haward

Right now, there are people fighting for their lives. For some, it is all around them—the poverty, the hunger, the sickness, the war, the political oppression, the demonic influences. There are people who will go to bed tonight and not know if they will wake up—maybe tonight is the night that their body gives out in the slums, or they will be a target of the militant forces around them, or they will be taken and trafficked, or they will hurt themselves or others because a leader of a false religion told them to. If all of these circumstances sound foreign to you, take a moment and thank God. Then follow that with a prayer request: God, how can I be used to see the Kingdom of Heaven expand on the Earth?

If it were not for Jesus and His love, I wonder if we would be driven to reach the lost out of mere sympathy. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”

The story of Jonah is the story of our lives as Christians: we are torn between our call, and our comfort. Jesus told us that our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak (Garden of Gethsemane, Matt. 26:41). Our comfort isn’t just liking the things we like, it also means avoiding the things we don’t like – anything that puts us in an uncomfortable position. Like sharing the Gospel, or leaving our zip code to travel for an actual mission trip.

I have found in life, that both good things and bad things can be hidden. Diamonds are expensive because their original geological form is found buried inside the Earth, then the process to transform them into priceless jewelry is also hidden to most of the world; while the information is available, most of us cannot describe every step of diamond production; nor does any singular person have the skill set to carry out each stage on their own. Now let’s look at something bad: trafficking. The stages of abduction, imprisonment, transporting, torture and sale of human beings is foreign to most people, except those in law enforcement and proactive ministries and organizations injecting themselves into the system so that it will stop. Evil primarily occurs in the dark – physically and metaphorically. Again, no singular person can facilitate an entire trafficking ring. Both with diamonds (good) and trafficking (bad), many people are required to achieve success.

Over the last few weeks, we have had 3 of our GI mission teams in 3 very different areas of the world: Asia, the Middle East, and Africa—a contrast of very different outreaches. Two out of the three were in the 10/40 window—which, if you’re not familiar with that term, it is “the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude.” (the Joshua Project).

If you were expecting a heart-warming story about being thankful during this season, you may have to look elsewhere. I have just returned from a location in the world that is dominated by a man-made, demonically inspired “religion.” While most of the Western world has been preparing for all the seasonal holidays we enjoy, there are areas of the world that are deprived of the Gospel, and in some instances, believers are still persecuted for their allegiance to Jesus.

Have you ever heard of the 10/40 window? Simply put, it is home to some of the largest unreached people groups on the planet. It is a geographically rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia that sits latitudinally between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north. This area of the world has been referred to as “The Resistant Belt” and includes the majority of the world’s Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.