Pray for those involved in translation to treasure the Word as they study and to clearly and accurately translate.

Ask for courage for the new believing parents to share the truth with their children despite the risk of them speaking with other relatives.

Last night a Berber woman said that her brother is also ‘in Christ’ and another friend too. When asked what he believes she said, ‘Well, he downloaded the Word on his phone.’ In this land where believers are persecuted, there is no reason to pretend to be Christian… and this man was shot and wounded because of the Word on his phone… but pray that each one who declares allegiance to Jesus will be rooted in the true gospel and that no false doctrine would take root. Ask that new believers would abide in Jesus.

A new believer who was in Europe attended church for the first time there. He did not understand the language but was overwhelmed with joy and hope in his spirit. He’s now back in North Africa and trying to decide if he wants to move somewhere his 5 kids can have freedom. Ask for wisdom for believers to know when to stay and proclaim truth at home and when to go.

The wife of a newly baptized brother is coming home. Pray for her to surrender to the truth of the gospel. May this be a home where believers can gather!

A young woman has just returned to her home country and is asking to connect with the body of Christ there. Pray that she will be bold to tell her family of her faith and that the local believers will welcome her.

Pray for a young woman who just texted last night to say she was going through difficult times. Her specific request was: may God keep evil people away from me. Ask for her protection from the evil one and for her to abide in the shelter of the Most High.

Continue to ask that the Berbers who have reached Europe would find believers who know their language. One believing young woman just sent a text asking about the apostles. Another wrote asking about Catholicism. Praise Jesus for their hunger to learn and for texting… but please ask that they will find face-to-face disciplers.

Ask that each new believer would continually turn to Jesus and hear His Words and then speak what He gives with great clarity and compassion wherever they are. One is right now reading the Word with his not-yet-saved mom. A family of believers is in a refugee camp looking for fellowship. A young man is writing daily to answer questions of Jesus on FB. May each depend on Jesus.

Pray for those working on translation of the Word, that the sweet, rich truth would continue to transform their hearts even as they make it clear and available to others.

The extended family of new believers just arrived in Europe. One brother was shot before leaving for having the Word on his phone; a sister and nieces/nephews followed him soon after. Each has tried to find other believers. Pray for each to connect with believers that they can communicate with. On her last FaceTime call, the sister said many were kind but she couldn’t talk to them.

A young man meets today with experienced translators to discuss how to translate the Word into his dialect. Pray for patience to match his zeal and that he will be able to work well with others. Also ask that the Word would continue to amaze and delight his soul…often he will stop to say, ‘God is talking’ or ‘I love Jesus so much.’

One young woman sent pictures of the beatitudes asking for explanations. Together with a sister in Jesus, a believing Berber brother wrote back with personal examples of mourning, being comforted, of being persecuted and blessed. Pray that the Berbers scattered around the world would continue to minister to each other in love.

Praise Jesus for the family with at least four believers who love to study the Word and pray together. Ask that God give them courage to continue and disciple their children too.

She was imprisoned for 23 days when she was expecting her son, the gift she had prayed for. There she saw a foreign believer forced to put on the veil and say the words required by her captors. When she stood up for the woman, she was punched and a tooth was chipped… but she was not afraid. She said, “I knew that if God had plans for me out of prison, he would set me free.” He did have plans! He drew her to himself. Pray that she would live full of courageous faith. Pray for others being persecuted to stand firm and exalt Christ.

A young woman sent pictures of the passages of scripture she has been reading and texted, “I have found hope and life and forgiveness in Jesus. God has called me to tell all who will hear of His Way of Light.” She has been reading the Word to her two sisters and their children and to her Arab friend and her children and asked to be sent verses daily. Ask for continued hunger, zeal, and proclamation.

The young man who was in prison is now out, but under continued pressure from authorities. Please continue to pray that God will fill him with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom, that he will live a life worthy of the Lord bearing fruit, and that he will be strengthened. Col. 1

A young man is now in prison because he chose to follow Jesus and speak the gospel. Pray that “because of his chains other brothers and sisters will speak the Word more courageously and fearlessly.” Pray that “through our prayers and the help of the Spirit this will turn out for his deliverance” and that he will “have sufficient courage so that Christ will be exalted in his body whether by life or by death.” Phil 1

As family members threatened death and fellow believers were followed and also threatened, he turned to the small group of believers and said, “I’m ready to die for Jesus, are you? ” Ask that believers would hold tightly to Jesus!

A young woman asked, “Can you sing a song of love?” As she listened to a song from I Cor 13 and read the passage, she told stories of counterfeit selfish hurtful love. She is memorizing the song of truth now. Pray for women to learn about and receive Christ’s steadfast enduring love.

She had a dream of a white house surrounded by white flowers. Inside was a faucet. As she drank from the faucet, she found it sweet and satisfying and woke with her thirst quenched. She later read John 4 about Jesus as living water. Ask that Berbers would continue to receive dreams and be satisfied in Jesus.

Her niece is a believer and begged, “Please don’t forget her, she’s close!” A few days later, her aunt turned her wrist to show the pattern of her veins spelling God in Arabic. “Whenever I feel alone, I look at my wrists and see God does not forget me.” Then a believer showed her Isaiah 49:15,16 where God declares we are engraved on His hands and never forgotten and she heard of Jesus’ wounds on the cross. Pray that Berbers will know of the cross and that they have not been forgotten.

‘I want to read for myself and decide what to believe,’ she said and then read the Word for about two hours asking questions like: “Did Jesus really die?” Or “Is Mary Aaron’s sister?” And then she declared, “The Koran is wrong. It is not written by God. Moh. is not the last prophet.” Then later, “We are not saved by works but by believing.” Please pray that she and many other Berbers would learn of the truth of Scripture and the cross and grace!

A young Berber man was baptized last week and has been begging his mom to see the difference in his life. She threatened to tell the soldiers and have him killed. He pleaded with her to see Christ’s arms open on the cross ready to receive her. Pray that each who believe will be courageously loving and tell their families.

Pray for new believers facing Ramadan in all-Muslim families. Ask that they will not walk the same path as millions of other feet, hardening the soil by repeated steps trying to earn paradise and refusing the grace of the cross. Ask that instead, through truth, despite suffering, they would plow furrows and break up the ground.

“I want to believe, but I don’t know how.” This young Berber was talking on FaceTime with another Berber in a different country, hearing about her new faith, about what she was reading in the Injil. Last Monday he met with another believer face-to-face for the first time. Praise Jesus for new contacts over the internet and ask for disciple-makers to follow up each one.

Pray that God would open Berbers’ eyes to the evil of enchantments that ask for power from spirits and that they would turn to the cross and Jesus; by his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53)

A believing sister identified herself online as one who follows the Messiah and held up the NT to show a family friend in another country what she is reading. This friend has also already rejected Islam, and said that he believes. She is teaching him about Jesus over the web! Praise Jesus for those who hear through the internet. Pray for further face to face discipleship.

She was telling me the story of Cain and Abel, explaining to me that Cain had killed Abel because they both loved the same sister. But, when I gave her my phone and let her read the story for herself, she did not argue at all. She said, “It wasn’t that way at all. God didn’t accept Cain’s sacrifice.” Pray that as she, and others, read “spiritual stories” and watch TV, they will be drawn to the truth and be able to distinguish between truth and lies.

She was in tears because she was afraid to tell her parents the truth. She lives with her extended family in the capital in order to go to university. She hadn’t told her father yet of her faith in Jesus, nor had she told her parents that she had quit going to university because of threats there. Yesterday, she texted to say that she wasn’t coming for our regular time to study the Word. Her parents were visiting her from their home village. She wrote, “I can’t come, but I will tell my mom what you taught me of Jesus.” Later she wrote to say that she had spoken to her mom and had prayed that she would know the truth. Pray that she would have courage to live in truth also regarding university, and ask for favor with her father. Pray for each of our brothers and sisters who live in unbelieving families that they would know who to speak with and when to speak and what to say. We continue to ask for Jesus to draw their families to Himself!

If you have been praying for the Berbers, you have heard of Hannah and her Arab friend, Ruth. They had clearly rejected Islam and eagerly received the Word and accepted an invitation to study the prophets and Jesus. They then unexpectedly came to the Christmas Eve service! (According to the government, the church is only for foreigners.) We were so blessed when some foreign Arab believers leaned forward to explain communion to them. Then there were a few weeks of cancelled invitations and sickness and miscommunication…but on Saturday, both Ruth and Hannah came to read the Word of God. We read through Genesis 1-3 and John 1-3…and as Hannah read aloud verse 16, she said, “I just love God!” Each clearly chose to believe, accepting the mystery of the deity of Christ and the necessity of his death on the cross (both denied by Islam)! How beautiful is the gift of faith! As Hannah left she said, “I am a new creature!” There has been much joy over these past two weeks, and a taste of suffering too. Please pray that Jesus would guard the hearts of his precious daughters and give them boldness as they share with their moms and aunt.

Thank you for praying for “Ruth,” the Arab woman who was bowing at the church and taking pictures before the cross. God did continue to stir her heart and she brought her closest friend, “Hannah,” a Berber, to our home. “Hannah” led the conversation. “Islam doesn’t make sense. In school we are taught Islamic law, and are mocked if we ask questions. We are told that ISIS isn’t real Islam, but it teaches the same things we learn in university. It is Islam and I cannot follow that way. For a while my family forced me to go through the actions of Islamic prayer, but if it doesn’t touch your heart, it is meaningless. Every night I pray, ‘Lord, please show me the truth.’ “. They both eagerly accepted the written Word and want to read and study together! Exams are just finishing. Pray for a consistent time to meet!

A few weeks ago, she sat with me looking through my daughter’s wedding pictures and told me, “I would never let my sons marry someone who is not a Berber or someone who is not fair-skinned.” We spoke of marriage as a covenant before God, about the importance of the heart vs. outward appearance, about loving as Christ loves his church but she just shook her head. Then this last week as we sat together, she told me that her son had married secretly – a darker-skinned Arab who cannot read or write, and who is not respectful. She had found out about the marriage a week before her first grandson was born. The new daughter-in-law and baby were being sent away the day I arrived for tea. There was such hurt in every face. Pray that in these prejudices and disrespect, each would feel the weight of their sin. Pray that they would see the beauty of grace and call on the Name of Jesus. Ask for the miracle of healing through repentance.

“Samuel” is a quiet thoughtful man. He comes with a group of young men to talk with my husband about what he believes about Jesus. He is disillusioned with Islam and would not really call himself a Muslim, but he doesn’t align himself with any other religion either. Sometimes he asks to talk one-on-one, with more serious questions that he doesn’t want the others to hear. Pray that he would surrender to Jesus, that he would not be drawn into philosophy for philosophy’s sake, but that he would receive the simple gift of child-like faith and believe.

She was looking at my phone with pictures of our children’s baptism and as she asked questions, her two daughters came in and added their own questions. The conversation led to Jesus’ example of baptism…and then to his perfection, his death and resurrection. Her older daughter said, “I know that story. It comes up on the TV sometimes.” The mom then clarified, “It’s not a local channel. We’ve watched that movie lots of times. And there’s a grandmother who speaks about the Bible on TV too. When she speaks, I want to sit and hear every word. We should watch it together sometimes.” Pray for those who are sending in light through satellite and TV. Ask that “Dream” and her family will not only hear, but believe.

She was married at 15 years of age, and widowed with six children when her youngest set of twins was 6 months old. She married even before her older sister, primarily because of her unusual and coveted coloring…blonde hair and blue eyes. Being married as a teen in not unusual in her family. Her mother married at 14 years of age; her neighbor is a great-great grandmother and still living. (She has grandchildren of grandchildren!)

This has profoundly affected her view of marriage, children and life in general. Her relationship with her husband was more like that of a father with a child. She was disciplined for chewing gum in public and given rewards for good behavior.

When she first gave birth, she was still in her mid-teens, and went directly to her mother’s house and held on to her physically all the way to the hospital. After giving birth, she refused to hold or look at her children; her mother would care for them for the first several weeks. Several pregnancies later and with a husband ill and bed-ridden, she took pills that she hoped would abort the babies (twin girls.) God spared them, and she drove herself to her mother’s in the middle of the night in order to literally drag her mother to the hospital for the last time.

Now that her daughters are getting older, she doesn’t want them to be married young. She is looking for someone who is financially stable and fair in coloring to match her children. When she asked us what we were looking for in sons-in-laws for our daughters, she shook her head when we said wealth and nationality and looks were not at the top of our list. We were asking Jesus for men who love Him more than they love our daughters, who will love them as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her, who will lead their families as they follow Jesus.

Pray for young Berber girls who step into mother-hood so early. Pray that they will know how incredibly precious they are to Jesus, not because they are physically beautiful, but because they are made in His image. Pray for the children of these young brides, that they will know that they too are precious, even if they hear their mother speaking of trying to abort them. Pray that God, in His mercy, will bring them to believers…that they will see godly marriages that are a picture of Christ and the church, and that they will know the beauty of being loved by Jesus as their Bridegroom who treasures them and gave His life for them.

She was married at 15 years of age, and widowed with six children when her youngest set of twins was 6 months old. She married even before her older sister, primarily because of her unusual and coveted coloring…blonde hair and blue eyes. Being married as a teen in not unusual in her family. Her mother married at 14 years of age; her neighbor is a great-great grandmother and still living. (She has grandchildren of grandchildren!)

This has profoundly affected her view of marriage, children and life in general. Her relationship with her husband was more like that of a father with a child. She was disciplined for chewing gum in public and given rewards for good behavior.

When she first gave birth, she was still in her mid-teens, and went directly to her mother’s house and held on to her physically all the way to the hospital. After giving birth, she refused to hold or look at her children; her mother would care for them for the first several weeks. Several pregnancies later and with a husband ill and bed-ridden, she took pills that she hoped would abort the babies (twin girls.) God spared them, and she drove herself to her mother’s in the middle of the night in order to literally drag her mother to the hospital for the last time.

Now that her daughters are getting older, she doesn’t want them to be married young. She is looking for someone who is financially stable and fair in coloring to match her children. When she asked us what we were looking for in sons-in-laws for our daughters, she shook her head when we said wealth and nationality and looks were not at the top of our list. We were asking Jesus for men who love Him more than they love our daughters, who will love them as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her, who will lead their families as they follow Jesus.

Pray for young Berber girls who step into mother-hood so early. Pray that they will know how incredibly precious they are to Jesus, not because they are physically beautiful, but because they are made in His image. Pray for the children of these young brides, that they will know that they too are precious, even if they hear their mother speaking of trying to abort them. Pray that God, in His mercy, will bring them to believers…that they will see godly marriages that are a picture of Christ and the church, and that they will know the beauty of being loved by Jesus as their Bridegroom who treasures them and gave His life for them.

She didn’t know that her words were right out of Scripture. “How many times should I forgive my brother, one, two, four?” She had dropped by initially to bring some wedding gifts for our daughter, but ended up asking how it was possible to forgive one who wrongs you over and over. Her story was heart breaking. She had generously allowed her brother to use her portion of the inheritance, an apartment, for a year, but he decided to stay on and now that her sons are looking for a house, he still refuses to move. He won’t talk to her on the street anymore. The money from the property that was sold in the countryside that was to be divided between all the children was distributed among all the siblings except her. And probably the most hurtful, he tells lies about her to her oldest child and this child no longer speaks to her. She said, “What else can I do? I have repaid evil with kindness over and over. Should I still forgive?” As a widow with six children, the inheritance is a big deal. I told her how Jesus had answered that same question (about how often one should forgive a brother) – 70×7 – and she immediately said, “He meant that you just keep on forgiving. But I can’t! And why should I?” I spoke of the poison that un-forgiveness is in our hearts but she said, “If I forgive my brother, then God will also forgive him.” She didn’t really want him forgiven by God.

Forgiveness is difficult and never deserved. Please pray for those who are caught in cycles of un-forgiveness that lead to loneliness. Usually, community comes from family circles. Among the Berbers in our city, afternoons out shopping or chatting over tea are usually spent with sisters and sisters-in-law. Holidays, weddings, and funerals are all times when families gather. She told me, “I don’t know any of my neighbors or really any colleagues from work. Only my sisters come over.”

Please pray that she and those like her will feel the weight of their sin and come to Jesus in repentance. Pray that they will know the incredible forgiveness of Christ and as they are forgiven, would also forgive.

Two intentional believers met a shepherd in the mountains recently. After greeting them, the shepherd shared that he had had a dream the night before that he bumped his head on the low mantle of the door of his house because it was dark. He was told in the dream that two men would meet him the next day to give him light. Wondering if they were the two, he listened intently as they shared about ‘The Light’.
Praise God that He is at work. Please pray for this shepherd.

Pray that the Berbers would have no peace and would seek the rest for their souls only God can give.