The Arabian Peninsula Partnership
The Gospel for every person and a church for every people in the Arabian Peninsula amongst indigenous peoples
05 March, 2010
Pursue Jesus Wholeheartedly
Praise
Praise God for the local believers who have returned after recent outreach programs. Ask that they would grow to full maturity in Christ.
Prayer
Pray for "Stanley", who recently shared his testimony of how he came to faith, with an aggressive Muslim woman that he knows. The Muslim husband has caused significant grief - visiting him at his work, calling him names and indicating that his name is now with the police.
Please pray for the completion of a film project chronicling dramatized conversion stories of believers in the region. Pray for the powerful use of this film to proclaim the true transformation found in Christ.
Pray for family relationships in our country. Many families have a maid taking care of the children so that the mother/child and father/child relationship is minimized, which has a bad influence on the child’s behavior and on respect for parents.
Several workers in our country have to move house. Pray that doing so will not disrupt effectiveness in ministry.
There has been a peace agreement between the government and the rebels. So far, it seems as though both parties are holding to the agreement. The rebels are withdrawing from their stronghold. Please pray that the peace will hold, and that negotiations will continue between the government and the rebels. Through the peace process, ask the Father to reveal Himself to these people.
Testimony
"Sandra" has specifically asked for prayer from you, our friends, to support her as she is facing an impending family crisis.
Her third child, "Tina", moved to the US for university almost six years ago. Three years ago, without telling Sandra, Tina married a man she met in America. Their first child followed a year later. While Sandra has known for some time, Tina has still not told her father anything. It looks like Tina is intending to email her father soon and begin to tell him the story. First, pray for courage for her to do so. This disclosure has been far too long in the coming. Much wisdom is required here. Sandra greatly fears what her husband "Harry" will do when he finds out. Harry can be violent and often blames her for everything that goes wrong with their children.
Sandra has been seeking to follow Jesus for a number of years. She is the mother of five children. Over time, each of these kids has had amazing encounters with Jesus, though each one’s walk is complicated and challenging.
Over the past four years, all three of the oldest girls, along with Sandra, have been baptized in declaration of their desire to follow Jesus. Just two weeks ago, we had the joy of participating in the most recent of those baptisms for "Emma", Sandra’s oldest. Emma is on the journey. She has issues and, like many of us, things that threaten to choke out the young growing faith which is sprouting up in her. Pray that she would throw off that which hinders her and pursue Jesus wholeheartedly.
Please also pray for their relationship with their cousin, "Samantha", who also loves Jesus. There is a deep wound between them which has brought hurt, separation and isolation from one another. Pray that these relationships would be restored.
We are so thankful to see more and more people trying to follow Jesus, but it is often messy, and our hearts break for such situations. Please do remember to pray for godly husbands for these young ladies and for the desire for all of them to gather together regularly for encouragement – not just with western Christians like us – but with one another, as local Arabs who love Jesus and want to help members of their own community to do the same.