Studying together

Pray for an Alagwa secret believer who is beginning to study the Word together with some of his relatives and friends. Pray for him to facilitate a group coming to Christ together.

Publicly identified with Jesus

Pray for many of the secret believers and seekers who are trying to decide if they should fast Ramadan or not this year. Pray for courage to be publicly identified with Jesus.

Struggling and alone

Pray for one of the believers (A) who is struggling with mental illness as well as demonic oppression, and currently has little to no Christian support. Pray that the few believers currently in the village will reach out to her. Pray the Lord will stretch out His hand and deliver her.

Know Christ

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” Phil 3, 10
Please pray for the Alagwa seekers and believers; may this be the cry of their hearts! May they hunger to know Jesus more and be willing also to share in his sufferings. Praise God for the ways they are beginning in small ways to share scripture and testimony with others. May this increase!

Local church

Please pray for the local church as there are many transitions happening at the moment. Please pray especially for Petro and Mama Grace as they take on the leadership. Praise God for the passion God has given them both to minister amongst the Alagwa.

Fulness of Life

Please pray that God would break down the spiritual strongholds which continue to hold Alagwa hearts captive. May they be free to know and follow the One who gave himself fully to bring them fullness of life.

Courage

Please pray for one Alagwa believer currently considering baptism. May she have the courage to do this, knowing Jesus is worth any opposition she might face because of this step.

Lay hold of

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.” From Psalm 32

Repentance is such a restorative gift from God which many Alagwa seem blinded to. It is common for people to feel that they don’t sin or if they do, it is not a problem between them and God. Pray for this spiritual blindness to be lifted so that they may come to Jesus! Please pray for the believers to really lay hold of lives which are open and honest before God, confessing their sins and joyfully finding forgiveness.

Resist

Please pray for all the believers to resist the pressures of the cultures around them to see Jesus as simply one source of power and instead to surrender to Him as the Lord of their lives. May they have joy in worshipping and seeking His face. Please pray for them to have the longing Paul expressed in Philippians 3:
“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Adoption

“Praise the LORD, my soul…He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.” from Psalm 146.
Praise the LORD who can and is setting Alagwa free. There are so may spiritual prisoners- bound with fear and occult power they think is from God. Many are oppressed and possessed- may they be set free.
Praise the LORD who is giving sight to the blind. May more spiritual eyes be opened to see the rich truth of unconditional love and salvation in Jesus. May they see their bondage for what it is and have the courage to step away and follow Jesus.
There are many who are bowed down- with all sorts of burdens. May they hear Jesus’ invitation, and come to him whose yolk is easy and burden light.
Thank you Jesus that in you we have a righteousness that comes by faith- please draw many Alagwa to yourself that they might experience your true love and full adoption.

Blessed to be a blessing

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us-
so that your ways may be known on the earth and your salvation among all nations.” Psalm 67:1-2
Please pray for the team and the other believers amongst the Alagwa. May God be gracious to them; may they know and enjoy His presence daily. May they be blessed to be a blessing so that HIS ways and HIS salvation may be known amongst the Alagwa and the peoples nearby. Raise up Alagwa and Rangi believers to share the blessings of His salvation and presence with those around them.

Matayo

Join us in giving thanks for Matayo. He is a baptised believer, and we see evidence of the Holy Spirit working in his life. He has over the years suffered rejection from his family and being threatened and beaten by some his brothers. He also continues to struggle with epilepsy but his testimony is that he knows God loves him, with or without healing. He loves sharing his faith, often playing scripture on his porch- in Alagwaisa and Swahili. He particularly feels called to reach out to the Alagwa. Please do pray for his physical healing and for him to know Jesus more (Philippians 3 v 10). May God continue to envision Matayo to serve and disciple those in his community.

Disciples

Please pray for Mama and Baba Jaki. They were already following Jesus when we arrived in 2010. Thank God for their perseverance, despite many challenges. They live in a village close to Madebe and desire to see a church planted in that village too. Please pray for them to abide in Jesus and know Him more and to have courage and wisdom as they witness in their community. Pray for Mama Jaki to have a hunger to draw closer to Jesus and for Baba Jaki as he prepares to preach tomorrow morning at the church gathering.

Surrender to Jesus

Please pray for Mama Zubeda and her family. Mama Zubeda is a believer and shares the recorded Bible passages in Alagwaisa with her family particularly. She loves Jesus and listening to the Bible too.
She asked her husband if she could get baptised, but he said not yet. (He is not a believer, and isn’t ok even to be prayed for, although he also really enjoys listening to scripture.)
Please pray for Mama Zubeda to grow in her understanding of God’s love for her and that she take time to listen to the Holy Spirit. Please pray for boldness and courage to obey him. Please also pray for her husband, Dosla, and their 12 children to surrender to Jesus.

United with Christ

Please pray for the Bible translation work, as the teams are drafting Ephesians and Philippians. Please pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the translation and also for the translators, especially those who are not believers. May they understand deeply what it means to be united with Christ!

Needing strength

Please pray for A, a baptised believer who has been in intense spiritual battle for a long time. May God give her the strength to trust all of her life to Jesus, and to repent in the areas where she has compromised. Please pray for healing for her.

Considering baptism

Please continue to pray for one of the secret believers, who has recently been talking much more seriously about getting baptised. She knows that if she does, she will be the first in her community. Please pray with her for the courage to take this step of commitment. Please pray that God would give her a deeper understanding of his vast love for her, that she would sell everything for the pearl of great price.

Hunger for righteousness

Please pray for a hunger in the believers who belong to the church to know Christ (Philippians 3 v 10). As the pastor seeks new ways of getting them to apply God’s truth in their lives, may the Holy Spirit bring an awareness of compromise and repentance.

Grow in faith

Please pray for solid foundations of strong relationships both between believers and between believers and Jesus.
One worker has been praying for two secret believers to commit to meeting regularly together to support one another. This morning, one of those secret Alagwa believers came, followed a bit later by a baptised Alagwa believer who just turned up. Next came a neighbour who is a seeker, and then the other secret believer originally prayed for. They were all listening to Luke 4 v 16-21 in Alagwaisa and studying it. The baptised believer gave a great testimony of how God has changed his heart and behaviour and this impacted the three women. They discussed together, asked questions, then all prayed together. Please pray for this excitement to continue and for these three women to have a desire to meet together again. Thank God for the witness of the baptised believer; may he grow in his faith and desire to share the gospel with others.

United with Christ

Please pray for the translation teams as they tackle Philippians and Ephesians. Pray for the Muslim as well as Christian translators, that all may understand more deeply what it means to be united with Christ.

Repented

Please pray for N, a baptised believer who had stepped away from Jesus and gotten involved in some dodgy things. Pastor Edward and I had the joy of spending time with him and seeing him repent and recommit himself to Jesus on Wednesday. Please pray for him to continue to fix his eyes on Jesus and know His love and grace (Phil 1:6).

Growing

Praise God for a local believer growing in his relationship with God and in faith. Praise God that he recently testified that he is utterly convinced of God’s love for him whether God heals him or not. This is a huge step in a culture where God is approached for healing and blessing but not just surrendered to or worshipped for who He is.

baptism

Please pray for the secret believers to commit to be baptised this year. May God by his Spirit continue to reveal to them the importance of this step and empower them to take it.

training

Praise God for the 12 training sessions our team mates (AICT Pastor and Evangelist) are planning to run over the next 6 months. These Global Disciples training sessions will help teach and equip church members to share their faith in their communities. Please pray for excitement among the believers, for full engagement and much fruit.

Struggling with anxiety

Please pray for the believers who have been struggling- especially for Asha. May they not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present their requests before God. And may the peace of God, which transcends all understanding guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4 v 6-7)

Unbelievable Love

Praise God for his unbelievable love- may many Alagwa truly understand this year that the God who made them loves them unconditionally and wants a relationship with them.
Please pray for the Kwa Madebe church- may all of us grow in love for God, for one another and for those who don’t know Jesus yet. Please pray that as a church we would strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind and live in peace (2 Corinthians 13 v 11).

Spirit of wisdom and revelation

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know him better. We pray that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened in order that they may know the hope to which he has called them, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.

Ephesians 1: 17-18

Yoke of slavery

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Father, thank you for the freedom we all have in Christ. Please remind all the believers amongst the Alagwa today of the precious and powerful freedom they have in you. May they stand firm, not letting themselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Keep them alert to your truth and grace.

Loved by God

Please pray for spiritual breakthrough for one believer, A, who is spiritually in a pretty bad way at the moment. One of our team is going to meet with her tomorrow (18th Nov) to pray and encourage her from the word. Please bathe this meeting in prayer- that A would meet with God in a deep way and that her eyes be opened to know how loved she is by God. May she know this truth: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” I John 4:4.

Long for His presence

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Psalm 4:6‭-‬7

Lord may the Alagwa long for your presence and seek you. May they understand and rejoice in the intimacy of knowing you, more than having their physical needs met.

Compelled

Please pray for the believers to grow in their knowledge of God’s love for them. May they be compelled by Christ’s love to reach out to those who also need to know that love.
Ephesians 3 v 17-19; 2 Corinthians 5 v 14-15

Unity

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. Psalms 133:1‭-‬2

May there be increased unity in the church amongst the Alagwa! We pray that they would live as a community who deeply love one another and so demonstrate Christ to those around them.

See their good deeds

Please pray for the Alagwa believers to stand strong. May they surrender to Jesus in every area of lives and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. May their lights shine in their communities so that people may see their good deeds and praise their Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16).

Spiritual attack

Please lift up the team ministering to the Alagwa, who have experienced particular spiritual attacks recently. Please pray for encouragement in difficult times and protection. May they sense Jesus walking especially close to them in these days. And may God’s glory be seen amongst the Alagwa.

Know God’s love

I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’ John 17:26

Please pray for the church and believers amongst the Alagwa. May they know God’s love more and more and may they truly love one another. Let their love for one another be known and bring glory to God in their communities.

Gospel of John

Praise God I have just heard that the gospel of John translation is now fully approved! Please pray for all the translators as they study God’s word: may they be changed. Pray for all who will read John, that the Lord will grant them faith to believe.

Compassion

One of our team went to visit a older lady from the local church who lives over an hour’s walk from the village where the church is. She took two other believers with her. One was the lady’s son, and the other a church elder. On their way home, both were excited: we should do this EVERY week! She really needs to be visited and encouraged regularly!
Praise God for this realisation and the stirring of passion in these believers to serve others in the body of Christ. Pray for them as they think about their need to take initiative. May this conviction become action and may the Holy Spirit continue to stir up within them the compassion to reach out.

Sharing the Bible

Praise God for the secret believer who received an audio Bible last month. She travelled to see her extended family and whilst there, played Alagwaisa Bible portions for them every day. She also asked them good questions to help them understand the passages.
Please keep praying for her, that she continue to share and teach especially the ladies in her neighbourhood.

Small step of obedience

There was a very small Islamic/traditional “service” in a house in which nine women gathered. One was a team member. The (unspoken) pressure is always great to join in the Islamic prayers, to be seen to be part of the community. The two secret believers did not pray, and one (the wife of the local religious leader) refused to lead the prayers. Praise God for these small steps of obedience. May God increase these women’s boldness and understanding of His love for them. Please pray both would agree to get baptised.

Secret Believers sharing

Praise God for one secret believer who was thrilled to receive an audio player with portions of scripture in her own language. An elderly neighbour came in and she immediately started teaching him from John ch 1. May she continue to have joy in God’s word and grow in confidence to share with others too.

Another secret believer in another area has recently got a phone that she is able to show the Jesus Film in Alagwaisa on. Please also pray for her that she would show others and tell them about Jesus herself.