Mission (14)

PTAP: UAE - Ras Al-Khaimah

For this week (week of November 22):
 
Pray that every Emirati would have access to a local church.
Pray for God to save many Emiratis in the little emirate of Umm Al Quwain
Pray for Christians in UAE to proclaim the Gospel boldly and clearly.
Pray for God to graciously save Emiratis from Ras Al Khaimah, by faith in Jesus Christ.
Thank God for faithful witness in UAE over multiple generations.
Pray for Gospel witness among the Shuhooh tribe.
Pray for conversion and new life among the Emirati people.
Pray for Emiratis to seek and find news about Jesus through social media.
Pray for Emiratis to place their trust in the hope God provides through Jesus Christ.
 
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PTAP: United Arab Emirates: Dibba

For this week (week of November 15):
  • Pray for Arabic speaking churches in UAE to increase in number and grow in maturity.
  • Pray for God to establish Christian witness in the towns of Dibba.
  • Pray for unity of the Spirit among God’s people in churches throughout UAE.
  • Pray for God to graciously protect Emirati marriages from brokenness
  • Pray for God to send Arabic speaking witnesses to the emirate of Fujairah.
  • Pray for opportunities for the local church to minister to the needs of elderly Emiratis
  • Pray for Emiratis to turn to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, in faith.
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PTAP: United Arab Emirates: Dibba

For this week (week of November 15):
  • Pray for Arabic speaking churches in UAE to increase in number and grow in maturity.
  • Pray for God to establish Christian witness in the towns of Dibba.
  • Pray for unity of the Spirit among God’s people in churches throughout UAE.
  • Pray for God to graciously protect Emirati marriages from brokenness
  • Pray for God to send Arabic speaking witnesses to the emirate of Fujairah.
  • Pray for opportunities for the local church to minister to the needs of elderly Emiratis
  • Pray for Emiratis to turn to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, in faith.
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PTAP: Pray for Yemen.

Prayer Requests - November 19, 2019
 
Below is an overview of the situation in Yemen. This is not a Christian report. But it is a good overview of the problems in Yemen. This video is 7 mins. Please take time today to pray for Yemen.  
 
Prayer Points: 
1. Pray for an end to the war in Yemen. There have been small steps in the south to end fighting there, but that is only a small part of the overall picture. 

2. Pray for 24 million people of the total population of 27 million who need food aid and other aid. There is great suffering and this suffering is all man-made. 

3. Pray for families that have lost so much--homes, livelihoods, family members, loved ones...Some reports have stated that over 100,000 people have died in Yemen. 

4. Pray for the gospel to spread in Yemen. Despite all the suffering and pain, more Yemeni are walking with the Lord Jesus today than since Islam took control of this country. Pray that more people will come to know Jesus and find hope in Him. 
on Facebook, you may visit Pray4Yemen for more information on the land.

PTAP's Vision
"To see the global church praying for the Arabian Peninsula so that the gospel and churches will be planted for every indigenous people in the Arabian Peninsula"
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Prayer Requests - June 17, 2018
 
Dylan (pseudonym) asked when the "night of power," a particular night at the end of Ramadan in which it is thought more clout is earned with Allah for praying through the night, was to a few young Gulf men. This question led to a sharing of thought in which three young Gulf men heard about the grace that comes through Jesus apart from works. Please pray that the discussion will continue and that these young men will turn their hearts to Him.

An indigenous family has welcomed visits and prayers of Christians for their adult son who has been paralyzed for over a year from the neck down even though his condition worsened after believers prayed for him. Please pray that God will reveal Himself to this family, granting them faith and repentance toward His truth. The Gospel was explained to the paralyzed man, who showed great emotional response to it in his face, although he cannot speak.  Despite the "failed prayers" for healing, the Christians are now invited to meet the rest of the family during Eid (holiday that follows Ramadan).  Please pray for boldness to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and that God would stretch forth His hand to heal this man as a testimony to the Truth.
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YOU WRITE WHAT YOU ARE

Jesus said it in Matthew Chapter 7. “You can't grow grapes from thorn bushes.” This applies to every area of our lives from running a marathon to raising your children. And it especially applies to writing which is the fruit of your soul. I remember reading something Baxter Black wrote on how he began writing poetry. He told about writing a poem with a religious theme for an English class in college. He got the paperback with the words writ large and in red across the top of the page, “WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW!” Who does not agree with this principle? You must write what you think. You write about what you care about. And yes, you write who you are. Your own character is the foundation of all your writing.

I recently read a quote by Danielle Steel, a secular writer, in a secular book on writing.

“Where do the ideas come from? I don't really know. I've always had a deeply religious feeling about my writing. I feel very unimportant in the scheme of it all. I pray a lot before I start a book and as I work through it. And the less important I feel the better the book goes.”

Let me deal briefly here with four aspects of prayer that are essential to writing.

INTIMACY

We spend time in prayer to develop intimacy with God. The more time you spend in direct fellowship with God the more He shapes your character.

REPENTANCE

Character development is painful. We need to allow God to make changes in our lives. And we have to come to Him with a tender heart repenting of attitudes and actions that do not please Him.

NOURISHMENT

To get the most nourishment we need to pray the word of God. We take prayer to the level of meditation by memorizing a scripture and then thinking about it over time, maybe several days.

Many years ago I pastored church in a rural community in Texas. I am convinced that during the five years I served there a man who died shortly before I came continued to have the most Godly influence of anyone in that community. His wife told me every morning as he began his day he would fix a Bible verse in his mind. Then he would repeat that verse over and over all day long. And God developed his character and multiplyied the fruit of his life.

PRAISE

Praise is sometimes a neglected element of our prayer life. And yet nothing that I know of develops faith, courage, hope, joy, or peace as thoroughly as praising God for who He is and what He does.

MISSION

Do you spend time talking to God about His mission for your life? Sense of mission it is essential to the attractiveness and benefit of your writing. This is of course true in writing Christian non-fiction. But it is also an underlying foundation for all writing, fiction or nonfiction.

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube

https://goo.gl/PyzUz7

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A 300 year old church in Massachusetts faced a major challenge. Its ‘young people’ were in their ‘60’s. Their annual budget was $15,000. Most neighbors who passed the drab building with a drive-in congregation thought the church was closed. The neighborhood was now an Italian and Jewish enclave unlike the congregation of forty people with no Jews and one Italian. The church had no bridge to the community and no presence in its neighborhood. It was seen as having no value by the community, despite its rich heritage. It was on the verge of death.

A new pastor spruced up the church – a sign of life to the neighbors. Then he surveyed community needs attempting to determine a pathway for the church to serve the city. Of all the community needs, the one that seemed to fit what they could offer was a day-care for single, working moms. The goal was not a money-making enterprise, but a ministry, targeted to the children of the poor. The center opened with one teacher and two students. In a year, they were caring for thirty-seven children, and twenty-four of those were on government subsidies. Three children were assigned to the day-care by the courts, having been abused or neglected. By the end of the first year, the day-care budget was larger than that of the church. The staff was Christian, but all the kids came from non-Christian homes. Daily, they sang hymns and choruses. They heard Bible stories. They were taught moral principles, wrapped with love and grace. There was music, art, cooking, and medical services. It was ‘total’ child care, with parental interaction as well.

Day-care is not the most reasonable route to church growth, the pastor acknowledged, but it was the route God used to reconnect them to a missional purpose and begin to reconcile lost people to Christ. The pastor recalled, “One mother came into my office, and the first thing she said to me was, ‘Tell me more about Jesus. My daughter has never been the same since she started coming to your day-care center.’ That woman and her daughter are now in church every Sunday.” According to the pastor, “Nine Jews have become members of the church. One of them was formerly the director of the Jewish Community Center, and her daughter works for the day-care center.”

One thing is clear, the community no longer thinks the church is closed, and they have found other ways to serve their city. There is a food pantry and care for homeless street people. They have a weekly television show run by members. They teach English to city-residents. They were given a nine-room, six bedroom house to use as a refugee center. Hundreds have been served through that ministry.

A Cambodian church has now been launched. To reach youth, they opened a coffeehouse, and now the median age in the church has gone from the ‘60’s to the ‘30’s’. Home Bible studies, evangelistic in nature, have also served as a bridge. Some forty-five percent of new members came through the Bible Study door. They woke up the sleeping missional dimension in their congregational life,[1] and a dying church was revived. Revivals that focus on the renewal of its members are not revivals at all. Revivals must have a missional dimension. They must resurrect a collective burden for the lost. With a fresh missional consciousness, the congregation asked, “What can we do together to touch this city?” It must re-center members, not in a new experiential spectrum, but in the middle of compassionate ministry.

If your church closed its doors today, would anyone but its own members notice? Would the community be saddened because such a great community transformation partner was gone?

Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

P. Douglas Small is founder and president of Alive Ministries: PROJECT PRAY and he serves in conjunction with a number of other organizations. He is also the creator of the Praying Church Movement and the Prayer Trainer’s Network. However, all views expressed are his own and not the official position of any organization.

[1]       Robert Greenway and Timothy Monsma, 112-113.

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Many of you in our community responded positively to last week’s post, which included a reminder of God’s promise to bless those who set aside time for Him. You may remember that part of the specific promise the Lord gave was to “release strategies to help you bring the full tithe of your time and energy into the Kingdom.” (For the full post, click here.)

This week as I studied, the Lord gave me a strategy to share with you, which I have found immensely helpful. It is the idea of a “mini” Christian prayer retreat. What I will share with you is an adaptation of a plan outlined in Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s new book, entitled “Living Forward.

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Prayer for Healing & Hope

A lady from a VIP family has had many spiritual conversations with Christian women over time. She has read the Bible and gained information about the faith through various Christian materials but has made no known profession of faith. Please pray for the Lord to confirm the truth to her heart, and that the whole VIP household will be saved to shine the light on their brethren.
 
A woman in the village was divorced by her husband for not bearing him any children after 7 years of marriage. Even women who had been her friends all those years in her village turned critical of her, perhaps because of the common assumption that infertility is a sign of God's disfavor. Please pray for this woman's future as her options for a means of support the rest of her life are very limited without a husband or children. Also ask the Lord to pour out his Spirit on her, her children, her family, and her village. 
Praying for Yemen
Yet another peace agreement has fallen apart in Yemen. Please pray for the people of this country who are suffering from a terrible war. Pray that they will hear of a Savior who loves them and can give them peace in their hearts even when there is chaos around them.
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Can You Judge a Book by its Cover?

9651023091?profile=originalWe’ve all heard that well worn cliché, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” While most people tacitly assume the wisdom of this statement, we must ask ourselves whether this is universally true. While the saying may apply well to interpersonal relationships, I would argue that in this age of instant communication and sophisticated design, it does not.

Imagine yourself in a in a store. You find yourself considering the purchase of only one of two different brands of shampoo: one is artfully designed and the other looks rather like a junior high school art project. Market research indicates that you will choose the well-designed product, even if it happens to be more expensive.

The undeniable fact is that consumers judge the quality of a product, in large measure, by the quality of that brand’s design. A well designed product reflects an image that the manufacturer wishes to project with regard to the kind of care and attention that went into the development of the product itself.

It is no different for any other type of organization such as a ministry, church or company. One of the main criteria employed to judge all organizations, at least in part, is the quality of their brand. When we speak of “branding,” it involves more than simply graphic appeal. Your brand is a clear, iconic representation of what makes you, you. A brand is your reputation. It tells people how to feel when they think about you. To build a brand for your organization, you must begin by clearly articulating your vision and the outcomes you seek. Practically, your brand ought to be marked by a well-designed logo and overall look. It's important to seek out a design professional for this task because they are specifically trained in design and color theory and understand the affect different design schemes have on various demographic groups. Done right, your brand will clearly communicate what your organization is about — to visitors, donors, members, and the local/national community. How people feel about your organization has everything to do with its success.

The following are some questions to consider as part of your branding strategy:

  1. What is your vision?
  2. Who are you are trying to reach?
  3. What do you want people to feel about your organization/product?
  4. How does your organization define success? Or, what are the results you are looking for?

A well designed brand will give your constituents or consumer base an instant understanding of what is really important to your organization. If your base were to judge your organization by its “cover,” what do you think it would tell them?

 

9651023479?profile=originalKATHRYN MCBRIDE, a Colson Center Fellow, is the founder/principal of Letcetera, Ltd., a graphic design and publishing firm in suburban Chicago. While a visual artist by profession, she also enjoys a variety of creative pursuits. In all that she does, she endeavors to make things beautiful. Kathryn founded and led a ministry for Christian artists and also maintains the website www.AValiantLife.com. She is deeply affected by stories of sacrifice, nobility and courage and seeks to honor those who have given their lives for something greater than themselves. Kathryn was raised in a large family with a rich heritage of Christian missionaries who lived by faith and modeled powerful prayer lives. She resides in the western suburbs of Chicago where she seeks to live out her “life verse”— There is only Christ, He is everything. (Col. 3:11)

It would be such a pleasure to work with you!  I work for a variety of ministries, organizations and corporations. Please visit my website at www.KathrynMcBride.com to see my design portfolio, a partial client list, publishing information and bookstore. If you know someone who has been faithful to the call of God, please visit www.AValiantLife.com and let us know about them. We would love to tell their story.

 

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Why pray for the desert tribes?

The news is filled with stories of people from the Arabian Peninsula who have developed a reputation as terrorists. Some would call them enemies.

 

Jesus commanded us to pray for our enemies. To pray for our enemies is to pray for them the way Jesus did: to pray that they would find forgiveness as they repent and discover the mercies that are new every morning in the Messiah.

 

The Messiah did not die in a way that seemed noble. But His nobility was vindicated through the resurrection. Some who pray for the Arabian Peninsula, are called to go there in Jesus name. We must also pray for them. While there is no guarantee that they will be "successful" in terms of winning thousands by themselves. Those who follow Jesus faithfully will have success in the resurrection.

 

Peace,

Mert Hershberger

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DAYS 1-11 ARE HERE

DAY TWELVE:
VERSE:
As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him....(1 John 2:27)
PRAYER:
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Most gracious, kind merciful Heavenly Father, Who gives all things to all all people, we thank You for the special"chrisma" (gift of anointing) You have given Your anointed and those upon whom You have placed a special calling to reach, teach, preach and outreach to a lost and dying world. These are those who are truly called by Your Name, those who have been reborn and brought into the Kingdom of Your Son. 
Because You have given us Your Spirit, we cannot be deceived by the god of this world and even if distracted, we shall soon learn the errors of our ways. There are some things which bible colleges, Sunday School teachers and preachers cannot teach and that is how to listen to You, how to respond to You and how to obey the promptings and directions which Your Holy Spirit, Who is our true friend in the Faith imparts and inputes into us. He infuses more oil and blessing daily from our first calling on our lives and the Truth can only be found in Him.
 
So most compassionate, gracious and long-suffering God, we lift up on this special day of recognition of Your anointing on the lives of your true followers, those who take this Word across the globe. We lift up Your missionaries who abide and rest more on You for their moment by moment nourishment, guidance, protection and direction than the rest of us. Lord, not only are Your true missionaries, i.e., those whom You have actually sent out to dangerous and seemingly unproductive lands, not only are they solely dependent on You, but sometimes they lose courage in the face of evil persecution as seen with Your servants the Burnhams when Martin was killed by islamic guerrillas in the Philippines in 2002. Lord as the flesh told Gracia, his dear wife to see revenge, Your Grace and Your Love encouraged her to show love, mercy and compassion. Because of that, she "learned to fly again" and won many more souls to Christ, a testimony for us not to give up and even in the pain and suffering in her own family, to see the bigger picture of the Love You have, which put Christ on the Cross.

Father, we also pray for those of us who are missionaries in our own "Jerusalem"- namely outside our own front doors. May we never tire of the hard work that it is to reach on and teach and care for the lost when their hearts are so hard and they literally hate You, while professing to love and know You at Christmas and Easter time. Father, we pray for those of us that we persevere, never give in, never give up and in fact live up to the standards and the call with which You have have called. We do this because Your Call is True, Your Word is True, Your Love is True and Your Promises are Yes and Amen....and we believe it, because of Jesus Christ, our soon coming Lord and Savior, in His Name, amen.
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PRAYING ON A MISSION

What do you have to do that wastes your time and strains your patience? Can you pray in that time? For 40+ years I have enjoyed shopping with my wife. I like being with her. However, we made a compromise early on. I would walk along behind her with a book. I used the time well, and she could ask, if she wanted my advice. "Do the pink look better than the blue?" Of course I occasionally got lost from her. When I discovered that had happened, I would go to the cash registers and wait. Several times over the years we had a church member say someone had told them, "I think I saw your pastor in such-and-such store this week. He was reading a book!"

It may be a little late to keep people from thinking me nuts, but I have discovered that I can pray for people in the store. Today we went to Wal-Mart. I left my book in the car and entered the store on a mission. I couldn't help wondering what God was preparing to do as I prayed for nearly a hundred people up and down the aisles.

Where could you be praying? I once heard a pastor tell about using time stuck in traffic to pray for people who were in the hospital. I have read about a wife praying for her husband as she ironed his shirts. You could memorize a list of missionaries, countries or people groups, lost friends or family members to pray for in the dentist's office or wherever. You can even get excited about what great thing God is preparing to do because He gave you a special time to pray.

http://daveswatch.com/

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God is working in Liberia.


The Lord makes way in the desert, with all our challenges the Lord has help us for the pass eight months.
The youth conference is this 26, 2010. we are praying that the Lord will help. therefore we need your prayers more than ever.

Please pray that the Lord will give us friends and partners as well as supporters.
I have won six souls to Christ since this year, my pray is that this ministry will help them spiritually and physically.
My burden is to see these youth coming to Christ.
Please pray that the Lord will give me the strength to win more souls.
I want to get marry this year, let`s pray for the sum of three thousand dollars.

Our plan is to reach the youth of Africa.
Thanks
Goah Samuel Gbadyu
from Liberia
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