Wednesday, July 27, 2016 “My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; For they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt.” (Psalm 71:24, NKJV) Hi, this is Eleanor Witcher of IMB’s prayer team, asking prayer for those who are the first in their family to accept Jesus. “You have failed us all, Sampriti*!” The shame was almost too much to bear. Sent from her Tamil village in Sri Lanka to a special advanced school in the city for her A-Level exam preparation, she, who had outperformed all her classmates, now struggled in classes that assumed proficiency in English or Sinhalese. The top 10 students would be sent to higher education; Sampriti fell short. Back at home, she hid in her room rather than face the scorn of her parents and village. Sampriti’s uncle suggested that she come and live with them in another city and get some technical training. There she saw the love of Christ lived out through her Christian aunt and uncle. When her aunt shared the story of Nicodemus, Sampriti was drawn to God’s Word. Becoming a Christian changed her life, but she was no longer welcome in her own home. When her parents tried to marry her off, she turned for help to her church leaders, who arranged a marriage for her to a godly man. Praise the Lord that a 30-year-old man, Mr. W, gave his life to the Lord. He is from a city where the Central Thai Team has worked very hard to plant a church over the past few years and has yet to see consistent, lasting fruit. The ground is very hard there, and believers in the region are often opposed for breaking societal Buddhist norms and becoming Christians. * Please pray that God will raise this man up to be an integral part of a church birthed in his town. * Pray that Sampriti’s family will witness the grace of God in her life and find salvation through Jesus Christ. * Rejoice all day long in the righteousness of our God! *name changed
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Friday, July 22, 2016
“You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.” (Leviticus 19:34, HCSB) Hi, this is Eleanor Witcher of IMB’s prayer team, joining you in prayer for women. While attending a lively henna party, a believer began sharing the gospel with the Moroccan Arab women in attendance. Fatima*, a local henna artist, was there for her work and seemed very quiet. Although she never added to the conversation about the gospel, she did stop applying the elaborate henna designs every so often to listen. The believer enjoyed being with Fatima. A few months later, Fatima expressed how she had found comfort in hearing the prayers of believers. As Fatima opened up more, she said that she had watched a film about Jesus and wanted to hear more stories. Some Central Asian women and their toddlers gather weekly in a church building for tea, coffee, and discussions while a Christian woman does crafts with their toddlers. They’ve been coming for over a year, and the group is warming up to the workers. One day, Eve* visited and privately shared that she was a Christian who had worked in a Christian bookstore before meeting and marrying her unbelieving husband. The worker asked if she’d like to meet regularly to study the Word and pray. Eve agreed, and they met for a few weeks. However, because of financial needs, she’s had to get a job and is no longer available to meet. Her husband allows her to pursue her faith, but Eve seems uninterested and ashamed at times. * Please pray that Eve will want to pursue her first love and ask God to provide her time for fellowship beyond her language study, job, and parenting responsibilities. * Pray that Fatima will earnestly seek the living God and that, like a dry and parched land, her soul and whole being will thirst and long for God, His Word, and salvation. * Look around you to see those who are immigrants and refugees within your own community, reaching out to them with love and compassion. *name changed Monday, July 11, 2016
“Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord…Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:11 & 14, NKJV) Hi, this is Eleanor Witcher of IMB’s prayer team, encouraging you to pray for the people of Northern Africa as they cope with war. What do the countries of Syria, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, Eritrea, and Iraq have in common? They each are the home of several hundred thousand Palestinians. These are people who left their homeland either as refugees or for financial purposes and now have settled elsewhere. Zaina* escaped with her family from her war-torn Syrian village. Disillusioned with her belief system by the brutality she had seen, she found herself drawn to the peaceful stories of Jesus. Praise God that after giving her heart to Him, she now studies His Word with others! Isabel* cowers in her home in Yemen. She is afraid to go outside, and her family is struggling to survive the war. Though she spends long hours inside, she has been able to hear the gospel. She has a Bible and has expressed an interest in learning more from it. Abdu*, a Tuareg man, sits in his home in the Sahara Desert and takes a long look around. Everything is so different from what it was just a couple years ago. All of his people have recently moved and have created their own town. They were no longer welcome where they used to live. Everyone seems happy. There is some food, water, and electricity, and everyone has a home, but Abdu can’t help but feel that something is missing. He is searching for something--for what, he is not sure. * Please pray for Abdu of the Sahara and for Isabel from Yemen that they will turn to God’s Word during these difficult days. * Intercede for new Syrian believers like Zaina to grow in their faith and be bold in sharing their love of Jesus with others refugees. * Pray for Palestinians that they will meet Christ-followers who will tell them that His death on the cross provides salvation. (*name changed) Friday, July 8, 2016
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6a, NKJV) Hi, this is Eleanor Witcher of IMB’s prayer team, joining you in prayer for those studying the Bible. National missionaries John* and Tania* share gospel stories each week with the Mir people of Colombia. They are learning the language, the culture, the worldview, and many of the tools needed for day-to-day living in the jungle. The people want to learn what God has to say to them, so John and Tania have begun to share gospel stories each week. They share them in Spanish with those who are bilingual. A worker among the Nyungwe of Mozambique writes, “Sitting on the reed mat, I see birds flying overhead towards the Zambezi River as the sun begins to set. There are several new believers and several who’ve not yet chosen to follow Jesus. The women sit on the mat with their small children. Older children play nearby, rolling bicycle tires. Most of the men sit in chairs. Several people are holding a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. The new believers learn that their testimony is made up of their life before Christ, when they met Him, and how their life is now different. We write words in the dirt to describe these things. In small groups, each person practices sharing their testimony. My partner has to get up to sell something at the booth in her yard that holds candies, chicken stock, and cooking oil. While she’s gone, I hear a chorus of testimonies: ‘I was a drunk.’ ‘I was a gossip.’ ‘I was unfaithful to my spouse.’ ‘I didn’t want to hear anything about God.’ ‘Jesus changed me.’ We end our time with each individual naming those with whom they plan to share their testimony this week.” * Please pray for these new believers meeting weekly in Tete to learn from God’s Word. * Ask God to give John and Tania wisdom and discernment as they share the gospel for the first time with a group of people whom they are still getting to know. * Stir up the gift within you and share your testimony with someone this week. (*names changed) Friday, July 1, 2016
“He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live.” (Psalm 107:7, HCSB) Hi, this is Eleanor Witcher of IMB’s prayer team, asking you to pray for city-dwellers. Nestled between the peaks of a major mountain range lie the villages and cities of the Outer Rim people of East Asia. The Outer Rim people comprise two basic groups: those who have lived outside of their native culture in another host culture for hundreds of years, and those who have fled persecution in their home country in the past century. Being originally from the same ethnic group, both follow related customs and speak related languages. Most ethnic Outer Rim people live in mountain villages, but many of their children are sent to cities for schooling. As a result, they are being rapidly absorbed by the majority culture. Refugee Outer Rim people generally live in colonies in cities. While many of the city people have limited exposure to Christianity and some of the individual people groups have responded well to the gospel, the vast majority have less than one believer in 1,000 among their people. In addition, in recent years, the host cultures have become quite hostile towards Christianity. There are 10 focus cities in Malaysia workers are trying to reach with the gospel and plant churches in. More workers are needed so that each of these cities will have at least one worker engaging the people for Christ. College is out in the United States, and students are heading to Spring City in East Asia. One student team will come for two weeks, another for three weeks, and still more students will arrive and stay for seven weeks. * Please pray that the Lord will mightily use these three teams to spread His gospel to the more than 200,000 college students in Spring City. * Intercede for workers who are already engaging two of these Malaysian cities, asking that they will be able to find “people of peace” (Luke 10:6) who are open to the gospel. * Pray for the salvation of the Outer Rim people of East Asia. *** Our offices will be closed for the celebration of Independence Day. The PrayerLine will be distributed next on July 6. Thank you for your understanding and Happy Fourth! *** |
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