Daily prayers
Margot lives in South Africa with her husband Fernando, and they have recently started a new role assisting the Communications Team in the Southern Region office. As their two children are so young, Margot spends a lot of her time at home, so it has been a challenge getting to know people and getting stuck in with ministry. Please pray for them as they seek to join a mid-week Bible study group, get to know people, and try to get involved in serving. There have been a couple of incidents of crime in the area recently (one right outside their gate). Growing up in South Africa, this isn’t new to Margot; however, it feels different now that she has two small children in her care. Please pray that they would be wise as they go about their day-to-day life, and for the Lord’s protection over their household.
Bruce and Jan seek to build relationships with African diaspora in the UK as part of the Borderless team. Jan has been encouraged by the opening weeks of the new academic year. Record numbers of North African women are attending her English conversation classes, and she has had the opportunity to mentor a couple of new colleagues. The African women are increasingly open to discussions about faith, and Jan has developed strong relationships with a good number of them. She has also just started facilitating another parenting course – a faith-based programme which gives women the chance to share and process the struggles of parenting children who are living in two very different cultures (home and school). Excitingly, Jan is co-leading this course with a North African woman who was previously a participant. Please pray that the course would be a blessing to these women and a stimulus to them inviting God into the challenges they face
Please pray for the 1.5 million Nyamwezi, who are the second largest tribe in Tanzania, living principally south of Lake Victoria. Praise God for a new church plant now led by a trained local evangelist. So far, those attending are mostly women and children who openly praise God. Please pray that the Gospel message will also be received by the husbands and fathers who hold onto their traditional religious beliefs. During a summer outreach, a Bible college group visited homes in the town centre and also homesteads on the farmland surrounding the village. At one household, all 21 people living there received Christ as their Saviour! There was more joy later that day, as 16 others also received the gift of everlasting life, placing their faith in Jesus. Three of the new believers came to the Sunday service. Please pray for the 37 new believers, that they would live out their lives in obedience to God’s Word and join in fellowship and teaching through the local church.
Pray for all in AIM as we seek to be an intercultural organisation where members and leaders from many cultures and nations feel welcome and actively participate. Pray that we would be able to celebrate the diversity, beauty, and glorious future of the Lord’s Church. (Rev 5:9-10, Gal 3:28).
Read John 15:18-19 During an Easter celebration in our young church community, she came for the first time: Afsana—a woman in her late thirties and unmarried, which is very rare in Central Asia. In the church, Afsana finally found love and devotion, and it was not long before she gave her heart to Jesus. When Afsana was 41 years old, she unexpectedly suffered a stroke and died. Her family refused to take any responsibility for her burial: “She was a Christian. We do not touch her.” It was the women of the church community who made the preparations for Afsana’s funeral. It was a cold, dreary winter day. Just as dismissive as the weather on this day were the people towards Afsana, even after her death. It was clear once again how high the price is for those who profess loyalty to Jesus in this society. The reward is nevertheless incomparably higher. At this moment, Afsana lives before the throne of God. Pray for Christians who encounter all kinds of opposition because they have chosen to follow Jesus. Pray that they won’t get discouraged. Ask that those who come to believe in Jesus will not fear the consequences of their choice and that the Holy Spirit will give them the strength to testify (see Acts 1:8). Thank God that He holds the future in His hands. Pray that He will show you the role you can play in contributing to the future as described in Revelation 7:9. A crowd that no one can count!
Read Psalm 67. The Karamojong of Northeast Uganda live in uncertainty and fear of misfortune because the spirits of ancestors and gods must be appeased. The presence of mission partners and evangelists in this area helps the local church to reach out to the community. They use audio Bibles, among other things, to get the Word to the people. In recent times, more than fifty listening groups have formed around these audio Bibles, gathering under the sparse trees in this dry, hot region. Pray that God’s Word will shine as a light in the dark, so people will see who God is and who they are in Him. Pray that the identity of the Karamojong will no longer lie in how many livestock they have, but that they will come to know Jesus. Pray a prayer with the words of Psalm 67 for all mission partners in Karamoja.
Read Acts 17:16-23 Until I was sixteen, I had never heard of God,” says Capucine (20). She grew up in the south of France, in a family where no one knew God and her childhood was marked by loneliness and a lack of love. “Exhausted from searching for solutions, one day I decided to simply go and pray in my room, to an unknown God… From that moment on, my fears subsided.” Although Capucine had been told she was bad and would go to hell, she continued to pray and found a local church where she took a Bible course and got baptised. Through the books she read and stories she heard, she soon felt drawn to missions. When the director of Operation Mobilisation in France gave a presentation in her church, she knew that this was for her. “I wanted to serve God, because He has truly changed my life.” She now shares the Gospel with migrants weekly through OM. Pray for the younger generation, that their hunger for truth may increase and lead them to the living God. Pray that more churches in Europe will form living communities that display God’s love clearly.
Read Matthew 5:39-48. A local pastor and his family were driven out of their village in Myanmar because they had started following Jesus. Yet he returned when a natural disaster struck the region. Together with church members, he restored the homes of Buddhist and Animist villagers, the same people who had previously rejected him. No reproaches, but love in action. Since then, the small congregation has supported vulnerable families and provided education to children who cannot go to school. Pray that many more people will come to know Jesus through the visible love of His followers in their local neighbourhoods. Ask that new believers will grow in sincere faith and stand firm in the face of opposition. Pray that God will give His people wisdom, compassion, and strength to show costly love to our neighbours as Jesus does.
Read 1 Timothy 2:1-6. “When I come across the word ‘faith’ in the New Testament, I find something like an atomic bomb,” said George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilization. “If someone truly believes in Jesus Christ, a revolution is set in motion. A revolution of love…” Our efforts and love will always be insufficient. Only when we embody God’s love does the Gospel become visible with power. It is His desire that all people be saved. His mission is to reconcile the world with Himself. And on His behalf, we may implore people to accept His invitation (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). Thank God that He is willing to work through us and use us in His glorious plan of salvation. Pray that God will rekindle the fire of love in His Church, in you, and that this may unleash a revolution that turns the world upside down.
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