In his outreach to the Lisu people in southwest China, James Fraser pressed forward with renewed permission from the China Inland Mission leadership to continue his work. But that encouragement was overshadowed by an awareness of the fierceness of the spiritual warfare involved. James responded by writing home to praying Christians in the UK, asking them specifically to pray for the Lisu work.
He wrote to his mother, who was a praying believer, saying:
“I know you will never fail me in the matter of intercession, but would you think and pray about getting a group of like-minded friends, whether few or many, whether in one place or scattered, to join in the same petitions. If you could form a small prayer circle, I would write regularly to the members.”
This was the first suggestion of such partners in his work and it was acted on immediately back in Letchworth, England (where Fraser’s mother lived and where his home church was). In ones and twos, people in the area agreed to share the burden with him. They undertook the task much as a business partnership. It was a clear and definite commitment to the job. They would pray him through.
“What a number of earnest spiritually minded Christians there are at home, and how correspondingly rich are the prayer forces of the church. How I long for some of this health for myself and the Lisu here. Yes, I’ve had it in measure already but I should very, very much like a wider circle of intercessors.”
“Our work among the Lisu is not going to be a bed of roses, spiritually. I know enough about Satan to realize that he will have all his weapons ready for determined opposition. He would be a missionary simpleton who expected plain sailing in any work of God. I will not by God’s grace let anything deter me from going straight ahead in the path to which He leads. But I shall feel greatly strengthened if I know of a definite company of praying people holding me up. I am confident that the Lord is going to do His work, sooner or later, amongst the Lisu here.”
(Source: Mountain Rain, a biography of James O. Fraser by Eileen Fraser Crossman)
James Fraser little knew as he wrote those words how fierce the battle would be. Nor did he perhaps estimate just how influential would be the prayers of those Christians in the UK in praying down the revival that later came amongst the Lisu people.
All this may have taken place a hundred years ago, but it is no less relevant today to the work of cross-cultural missionaries worldwide. They need the prayers of their sending churches as much as ever.
