Pray for my S. Asian Muslim friend, who prayed with me last week that the Living God would reveal Himself to each of us. May the Lord Jesus be revealed to her as the image of the invisible God, as He revealed Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus. May she not shrink back but have faith to the saving of her soul.
Turn and Live
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live. Ezekiel 18:32
May many Alagwa turn and live! May God’s Spirit cause many Alagwa to turn towards His truth and love and be saved.
Bible Translation
SIL has been working on the Lopit Bible translation for a few years now. Lopit believers are hungry for the Word in their mother tongue! Pray for those working on this translation work to persevere, that nothing would hinder the work, and that the Word of God will be well received by every Lopit community.
Survey
A group from mainland Africa is coming this first week of March to do a survey of the state
of the island Body. Pray for them as they talk with brothers and sisters that they would have
clarity and discernment and would be able to provide good guidance and advice for the
future.
Diaspora in Portland
An older Iranian student terminally ill with lung cancer, seriously crying at times, continues to reject multiple “hearings” of the Good News. …even busying himself with other things when RH brought a video of God’s Story in his own language to view on his big screen. Tomorrow, he and RH plan to visit a Christian Iranian, whom RH meets with. Pray for God to open his heart.
Pray for a warm-hearted Kurdish family whom RH visited last Tuesday. Last year, they met for several weeks studying Matthew in simple English. They want to spend more time together, but feel that with both their work schedules and a pregnancy, they can’t commit to this study now. PRAY!
Discovering the Bible
Pray for the Kimatong team as they develop and use a new Bible story set to help new believers grow in their faith. Pray that all believers would be discipled and understand more and more how to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” (Colossians 1:10). Praise God for Laarim believers who are starting their own DBS bible studies. Pray for good, abundant, and lasting fruit among the Laarim.
Diaspora in Europe
Praise God for a new believer from a Muslim background in La Rochelle. Pray for his discipleship journey and wisdom as he shares with his family.
Praise God for new households of peace and discovery groups among a UPG in Southern Morocco which is the fruit of Tharsis Betel, our partner ministry in Spain.
Pray for engaging extended families of our Saharawi friends in Jerez in a refugee camp in Algeria the beginning of March. Pray for open doors for fruitful ministry.
Luka to the Lopit!
Luka and Umjuma are a wonderful Christian couple in Torit who believe God is calling them to be missionaries to the Lopit. Luka himself is a Lopit, and has felt God leading him back to his people over the last few years. This week he is (hopefully) in Iboni, getting a feel for the work that our Lopit team is doing there. He will be shadowing Robert, learning from him, getting a picture of the possibility of him and his family joining the ministry of that team. Pray for the Lord’s clear leading in all this! Pray for the Lopit team and us to know how to move forward to incorporate this couple into the team. Pray for the church in Torit to be ready to send them.
Diaspora in USA
The purpose statement for the Int’l Student ministry we partner with is: “To make Christ known among the international students at the local area colleges and throughout the world.” Pray for many students to respond to the Gospel.
Continue to pray for salvation for A., a Hindu student who has been regularly attending church with us because he wants to know more about the “culture of Christians” (his words). He will be taking his last exam for his Master’s program today and is currently interviewing for jobs which will most likely result in his moving out of our area.
Diaspora in Philadelphia
Pray for the March 6 outreach to Muslim event. We’re also taking people to a Turkish and Arab music event.
Pray for the planning of an Easter picnic in the park, we’re inviting diaspora friends to learn about the meaning of Easter.
Pray for planning a “better understanding” event that will bring local church and mosque members together to talk about their faiths.
Pray for a Saudi Muslim Background Believer student who is discouraged. He will stay with JF’s family and be introduced to an Arab fellowship.
Injury and Difficulty
Please pray for a Rangi evangelist who has injured his foot while riding his motorcycle through sand to visit people and share the gospel. This is the second time in a month he has had such an injury. He feels the heat of spiritual battle. He is begging the Lord for protection and for progress as people are learning about Christ and beginning to put their faith in Him. Please pray with him.
Diaspora in Montreal
Praise for three New Testament Bibles given out to our friends, after months of gospel discussions with them. Pray R, H, and A would read their Bibles and the Holy Spirit would open their eyes to the Truth. One of them, an Algerian man, told us he has been wanting a Bible for the past ten years.
Patience
Please pray that older believers would be patient with new believers. May they be humble and compassionate, willing to speak the truth with understanding and discernment and wisdom. May God strip away all self-righteousness and spiritual pride… and may the new believers and older ones dwell constantly in the Word.
Trainings
Praise God for the good training for Toposa disciples on sustainability as a long-term solution for supporting disciples. Pray for the upcoming 2- month- long full training for disciples in March and April. Pray for shelters for the training and accommodation that still need to be built. Pray for unity, wisdom and strength for both the team and disciple leaders to overcome various challenges.
Similar Languages
The Ndengereko and the M people have languages that are similar. Pray that believers from the M tribe will share the gospel of Christ with the Ndengereko, and that many new churches will be planted through their witness.
Floods and Needs
Recently we asked for prayer for villages in our area that were greatly affected by recent floods. Praise the Lord for how He has provided help in the initial recovery, and especially thank Him for how He raised up the new local church in one village to reach out to their community with Christ’s love and take advantage of the many opportunities the Lord presented for the Gospel to be shared. Please keep praying for all the people of these farming villages, as many lost their seed supplies for this next season of planting. Pray for the Lord’s continued provision for these people. Pray for those who heard the Gospel and experienced Christ’s love through His church to come to faith in Christ. And pray for the local believers to keep persevering in these circumstances, especially pray for the health of the evangelist’s family.
Zealous People
A number of Christian workers have recently had to leave the Digo. Please pray for many more to replace them, for believers in Christ to go live among the Digo and share the gospel and teach Scripture. Pray that as the Digo have been known for their zeal for Islam in the past, soon they will become known for an even greater zeal for Christ.
Outreach
Pray for the outreach planned for next week among the Jiye. Ask God to prepare many hearts to hear and respond to the gospel.
More and More of Them
South Asian Muslims fear the reprisals if they leave Islam to follow Christ. They fear the reactions of their extended families. Nevertheless, more and more of them have a deep hunger to know more about the Bible and Jesus Christ. More and more of them are dissatisfied with their present way of life. Pray for spiritual breakthroughs. Pray for many to be saved and confess Christ openly.
Needing deliverance
Several of the new believers battle panic attacks and depression. Two have said that when they try to call on Jesus’ name, their tongues feel heavy, unable to move. Please ask for deliverance from fear, from unforgiveness and lies. Ask that each be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit and be freed by calling on the Name of Jesus in the moments that fears and lies try to rise. Pray that believers would ‘set aside any deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.’
Into the Sheepfold
Please pray for the Datooga to ponder what it means that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Pray for those who are Christian pastors to consider His example and follow in His steps. Pray for those who feel lost and like needy sheep to return to the Shepherd and Guardian of their souls. Pray for many Datooga who have wandered in the wilderness to find their way into the sheepfold of Jesus Christ, and His full salvation.
Falling in Love with Jesus
Pray for the Borana people to fall in love with Jesus Christ. Pray for them to hear the Word of God through Christian radio, through Scripture engagement, through friends who know and love Christ. Pray for the believers to walk worthy of the gospel and speak boldly of the salvation that is available to those who put their faith in Jesus. Pray for strong Christ-centered churches in every Borana town and village.
Needing Christ
There are very few Tuareg women who believe. Pray for women to come to faith. And pray for men to be delivered from alcohol. Many spend most of their salary on drink and have little left to provide for their families.
Arab believers interceding
Praise Jesus for online prayer groups of Arabic speaking believers from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt who pray sometimes through the night for their Berber sister when she is afraid . They have been faithful to call to repentance, to give words of knowledge, to battle with the Word on her behalf. Ask that these scattered Arabs continue to walk in the Spirit and pray fervently. Praise Jesus for how their prayers are changing lives here.
A Way To Reach Them?
A number of single young Zaramo men are interested in the gospel. Is there a way to reach them by using art? Or sports? Pray for guidance and enabling for the Tanzanian Christian teacher who lives among them and shares the gospel with them.
Falling in Love with Jesus
Pray for a S. Asian woman who needs Jesus as her Savior. Pray that she will read the Christian books and the Bible she has gladly received. Pray that she will meet regularly with her Christian friend to read Scripture together. Pray that she will fall in love with Jesus to such an extent that she does not care what she will sacrifice in order to be with Him. And pray for her whole family to follow her into that Love.
Transformational Development
Pray for our Dorobo leaders being invited to a transformational development seminar on March 23-28 at Malewa. Pray for the right ones to come and that they could influence in their communities with this teaching to teach them to rely on the Lord. These communities have been held back by honey-wine and the accompanying poverty.
Blessed to be a Blessing
Could I ask for prayer for those that we have trained in the TCT programme (Truth Centred Transformation) as facilitators as they work with our little group of believers. Pray that God would grow them in their heart for Him and their understanding that they have been blessed to be a blessing. Pray that our community of believers would also begin to really grasp this at a deep level and begin to live it out. We would love to see their lives transformed by this truth and see it outworking in their own lives as well as in their interactions with others in the community.
Fear not
Pray for believers to be strong in the Lord and not fear their Muslim families or community.
Some church leaders have married outside the faith. Pray they would be faithful to the Lord and not be swayed from the faith.
More laborers
We praise the Lord that there are now three churches planted by local believers in three different villages around Ikongo, and two other villages are asking Jean Baptiste to come start a church in their villages as well. Jean Baptiste is the only Malagasy partner serving in this area at present and is asking for more labourers to come serve with him. The harvest is great but the labourers are few. He hopes to bring two or three believers from these three churches to the Malagasy training in April. Please pray for Jean Baptiste that the Lord will sustain him and strengthen him. Also pray for more workers to join him in this work among the Tanala.
May the good news spread
Pray for Fulani believers to be faithful and bold in sharing their faith with their neighbors. Pray some will desire to spread the gospel to new areas. Ask the Lord to build His church among all Fulani peoples!
Faithful prayers
The events surrounding the girl with the demon has united workers and driven faith to new heights. We are excited to see what God has in store for this island. Ask with us that this would truly be a year of lasting breakthrough.
Forgiveness and peace
Karamoja has been experiencing insecurity since the beginning of January- raiding between clans and people getting shot. Some young guys who went to raid were stoned by another clan. A local lay reader in church and his wife living in another clan had their lives threatened and warriors tried to enter their house and kill them. Please lift up Karamoja! For the warriors to repent and come to Christ, people to forgive rather than revenge kill, and peace between clans.
Fearing God more than man
Pray for Dr. R. Six weeks ago she was convinced that Islam was true and that she would never ever change from following Allah and his prophet Mohamed. Yesterday, she brought up spiritual things again. “I want to be a Christian. I believe that Jesus is Lord and I’ve found more peace in Him than in Mohamed, but I want to go to Europe to become a Christian where people won’t laugh at me. If I become a Christian here people will point their finger at me and say I’ve been lost.” Please pray that Dr. R fears God more than man. Pray for abundant peace in her heart as she figures out what it means to follow Jesus. Pray she continues to seek truth. Pray Jesus speaks directly to her heart the things she needs to hear. Praise Him for what He’s doing!
Church and Students Worshiping God Together
Secondary Students at the Christian school have had after-church -service discussion questions for two weeks now and the response has been so beautiful. The students are thanking us for the opportunity to share with their classmates who don’t know Jesus. The staff are excited for a less formal opportunity to discuss Christianity. We asked an adult choir from a church nearby to come worship with us and help lead our discussion groups. The weeks have been so rich and we praise God for this time of studying God’s Word TOGETHER as church and school.
Response!
Praise God for several women who received the gift of salvation! Now for challenging follow up, especially for the ones who live far away! Pray for Ex, New Mom, and her 3 guests to tell others the Good News they’ve heard, and to hunger and seek for more Truth and to talk much with God.
Rain needed!
While some parts of Madagascar are experiencing flooding, the drought is severe in the South of Madagascar, including the Betroka area where the Bara live. Lack of rain has caused the fields to dry up, and now the people are struggling with no food and no water. God has clearly opened doors for us to use Farming God’s Way as a tool for reaching out with the gospel. But we lack the rain that we need to see the rice, manioc, beans and sweet potatoes grow! Please ask that the Lord of the harvest would send rain and enable all the seeds to flourish – the physical and those sown in people’s hearts.
Thirteen Years Ago
Please pray for my language helper who I met 13 years ago in England!
Recently, I have made contact with her and she is studying her religion and she also invited me to study together! She wanted to compare the two Books – Quran and Bible to see what they say about Jesus! Please pray for her, may God open her mind and give her vision, so that she will know that Jesus is her Saviour!
Outreach meeting
“To be Mwani is to be Muslim” to the extreme that many people no longer consider a person to be Mwani if they have accepted Christ. The Pemba team is planning and praying for a meeting on February 22nd. It will be a time of singing, with Bible story and personal testimony shared by two of the Mwani believers. Pray for God to use these connections powerfully for His Kingdom.
Church planting training
Esther reports that a one-month intensive church-planting training is scheduled to be held in March. Eight students have registered so far, but they need ten. Please pray for another two applicants so the training can take place. Praise God that a missionary couple from Tanzania have come to join Esther in the work. Also, she is leading a program at her church to train small group leaders. This is a new thing for the church to have small groups, but the leadership is excited. Pray that the pastor would train the leaders and that this would be a great ministry for the church.
