ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
Greetings and welcome to the May 2026 edition of Creating Connections. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve our growing Hispanic and multi-ethnic constituencies of the Assemblies of God. We have often said, our mission is to look more and more like the finished mission of God as written by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, which says, “After these thing I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and thy cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-10). The Apostle John was, without doubt, overwhelmed with the vision before him, for he begins by saying, “I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count.” John describes people of every nation and all tribes, tongues, and peoples. “Every” and “all” tell us that God’s mission of redemption will not fail. It is not saying that “every nation” and all peoples” will be saved, but it is saying that there will be people “from” every nation, tongue, tribe, and people who will say, “Yes” to Jesus.
For God so loved the “world”—John 3:16, and “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations”—Matthew 24:14, and “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to all creation”—Mark 16:15 speaks to us that God’s mission is to preach the gospel to “every nation, every tribe, every language, and every person.” Stop to consider this, we have both the privilege and responsibility to share the gospel in word and in actions to our nation, to our tribe, to people who speak our language, and to our people. The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is best communicated incarnationally, meaning people need to relate to the gospel because they see it lived out in someone from their ethnicity, tribe, or generation, in their language, and from among their people or neighborhood. Our visible way of life, our prayers, and our faith and confidence in God’s power and promise translates Jesus’ love, healing touch, and transformational power into the language that someone who needs Him understands!
Jesus is the example of incarnational ministry according to John 1:14,18, which says, “And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Verse 18 says, “No one has ever seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” The word “explained Him” is also translated as “declared Him,” but the word could also mean “translated or interpreted”. Eugene Peterson, in the Message version, paraphrases verse 14 as: “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” Sometimes we need to hear from someone who lives in the same neighborhood we do and whose life also helps us understand God. God loves to manifest his extraordinary power through ordinary people. That often becomes the greatest surprise to us and, at the same time, helps us to believe God can do something for us as well.
That is why prayer can be such an important practice and vehicle for helping others experience God’s help and power. Praying for our own needs and praying for others is a practice found throughout scripture. Daniel DeWitt Lowrey writes: “Praying to God assumes in faith that he is powerfully willing and also graciously able to hear and respond to the prayers of his people—and further, that he chooses to work in and through these prayers. Thus, prayer is seen all through Scripture as both a wonderful privilege and a solemn responsibility for God’s people.”
Often, people wonder what faith really is, but sometimes just explaining a theological truth is not enough; sometimes, they need to see how faith is exercised. In the beginning, Jesus’ disciples were astounded by Jesus casting out devils and healing sick bodies. Mark 1:34-36 records the miracles Jesus did at Simon Peter’s house. The next morning, Jesus rose before the sun and went out to a secluded place to pray, but his disciples went looking for him and found him praying. That happened often enough until finally they cried out to Jesus as recorded in Luke 11:1, “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of his disciples said to Him, ‘Lord teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.’”
Possibly the greatest ministry that every follower of Christ can be involved in is the ministry of praying for others. James 5:13-18 says:
Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
James is saying in these verses that prayer is a vital practice in the church. When someone is sick or their lives have been damaged by sin, prayer is God’s provision for healing and restoration. James then draws our attention to Elijah, considered possibly Israel’s greatest Old Testament prophets. Yet Elijah was a man of the same nature as ours. He was not a superhuman, but was a man who understood that in his time, he had no political power to help turn a nation back to God. He only had the practice of the prayer of faith. His prayers stopped the rain and confronted the evil leadership of King Ahab and Jezebel. His prayers brought a nation to its knees in desperation. When the people returned to God, Elijah fell on his face once again and prayed for rain, and God sent the rain that saved the people from destruction. That is why James exhorts, “and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).
Let me close by encouraging you today to embrace God’s call to pray for the people who live in proximity to you. Pray for those closest to you, then extend to your neighborhood, and then to your co-workers. Finally, let’s pray for America, then for nations. It’s our privilege and our responsibility…in Jesus’ name, amen!
Dennis Rivera
Director, Hispanic & Ethnic Relations
