PrayingNeighbor.Com

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Drawing the Nations

“You will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you.”

(Isaiah 55:5)

PRAYER REQUESTS for April 18, 2008:

1. Praise God for drawing people to Himself all over Indonesia.

Recent reports from three Jesus Film teams show that God is responding to the prayers of His people for neighbors. Please rejoice over this good news, and pray for a CPM amongst these new believers, and for the protection and provision for our ministry teams.

• TEAM A: “Every time we show the film there are people who accept Christ. Presently we are working with 7 new believers that we have formed into a cell group. We are discipling them and training them how to witness to others. They are using the JF as a bridge to win their M friends. Pray for them.”
• TEAM B: “Even though there has been lots of rain, our team has faithfully shown the JF. This month 6 people were won to the Lord. Three of them were former Christians who had backslidden and joined the M faith but now have come back to Christ. Praise God!”
• TEAM C: “In Showing the film this month, two young men, named A & N, received Christ as their Lord. Both are from M families. Pray for their growth and maturity as we are currently discipling them.”

2. Today’s unreached people prayer focus, from The Joshua Project, are the Tausug, Moro Joloano of the Philippines . The Tausug, numbering 1,265,000 are mostly located in Jolo, Tawi-Tawi, Sibutu and Pangutaran Islands, Mindanao. Less than 2% of them are Evangelical. There are some evangelical resources available, but no active church planting within past 2 years. Please pray that:

• The Holy Spirit to grant wisdom and favor to missions agencies reaching out to the Tausug of the Philippines.
• God will reveal Himself to the Tausug through dreams and visions.
• God will use the Tausug believers as bold witnesses to their own people.
• The Tausug will be freed from the spiritual principalities and powers that are keeping them bound.
• God will raise up prayer teams who will begin interceding for the Tausug.
• Christian radio broadcasts and the rest of the Bible will be made available to the Tausug.
• That the Lord will save key leaders in the Philippines who will boldly declare the Gospel.
• That Jesus, the Prince of Peace, will heal the wounded hearts of the Tausug of the Philippines.

3. Pray for our video production team as they work to complete the God Next Door video series, for mobilizing believers to love and reach their neighbors.

4. ADAPTED from this week’s Jumaa Prayer Fellowship requests. Please pray….

• for the families of ministry workers (pastors, priests, missionaries, charity) in Iraq, that they would remain strong in their faith, bold in their witness, and loving in their attitudes, in the midst of continued threats and pressure.
• for Morocco’s growing number of new believers. Pray for safety, strength, maturity and boldness for these new MBBs, in spite of their limited freedom.
• for an ease to tensions in Gaza. Radical political groups are gaining momentum. Pray that believers will be instruments of peace to both sides, and will work to relieve the poverty, unemployment and despair that fuels radicalism.

5. Pray for upcoming neighbor ministry strategy meetings from May 6-9 in the Middle East.

6. Macedonia Prayer request
The national coordinator for “30 Days of Prayer” in Macedonia is hosting a major prayer meeting TODAY ( April 18 ) with Albanian, Macedonian and Kosovo believers, which is not an easy task. This is an important time in history for the Church in Kosovo and for the future of all the people who call Kosovo their home.
Please pray:

• that the Church in Kosovo will hear this call to united prayer, and come with hungry hearts to seek the Lord as one Body.
• for the members of KPEK (alliance of protestant churches in Kosovo), who are hosting and leading this gathering, that God would give guidance
• for God to raise up pastors and intercessors to come from the Church in Albania
• for God to raise up pastors and intercessors to come from the Church in Macedonia
• for God to be glorified and Jesus to be lifted up and honored through this humble and united gathering of His people!
• for the Kingdom of God to come and be established in Kosovo!

7.  A partner ministry is in a pastor’s conference in Dumaguete (10 hour trip from
Davao by bus and plane) and have been notified that 3 Bajao babies
in Bajao Church’s congregation have died of measles in the past
24 hours. In addition, three kids died last week. Please pray that the
parents of any infected kids will be willing to take them to the hospital.
So far they only want to keep them at home and trust God without
medical assistance.

Please pray we can change the hearts of the decision makers in the
health department and get the kids immunized. We are leaving for Davao
this morning and will be back by 6 pm. Please pray that we will be able
to have an immunization clinic tomorrow, which is our Sat.

Responding to the Macedonian Call

PRAYER REQUESTS for April 11, 2008:

(Acts 16:9-10) “During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Let us prepare ourselves for action through prayer:

1.  The Eastern Baluch people of Pakistan are listed as one of Joshua Project’s “top ten” UPGs.   They are part of a much larger population of Baluch numbering about 8 million. The various groups speak different languages, each with distinguishing characteristics. Their homeland reaches from eastern Baluchistan to southwestern Punjab, which borders India.

• Pray against the deceitful beliefs that have kept the Eastern Baluch bound for many generations.
• Ask the Lord to call people who are willing to go to Pakistan and share Christ with the Baluch.
• Pray that Christian broadcasts will be made available as communication improves.
• Ask God to strengthen, encourage, and protect the missionaries that are trying to reach the Eastern Baluch with the Gospel.
• Pray that God will raise up qualified linguists to complete translation of the Bible into the Baluchi language.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of the Eastern Baluch towards Christians so that they will be receptive to the Gospel.
• Pray that God will open the hearts of Pakistan’s governmental leaders to the Gospel.
• Ask the Lord to raise up a strong local church among the Eastern Baluch.

3. Pray for Mary as she leads a team of bible college students every Friday and Saturday to minister to a neighbor community that was devastated by an earthquake in 2006.     May their loving, joyful service open doors for the Gospel to transform the families of this community.

4. May the Lord open the door for our broadcast team in Manila to partner with FEBC to air a radio program to reach one of the unreached people groups of Mindanao.

5.  ADAPTED from this week’s Jumaa Prayer Fellowship requests.   Please pray….

• for continued prayer for MBBs in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Libya. Pray that these precious brothers and sisters would genuinely feel God’s protection on them.
• for thousands of Neighbors to make a decision for Jesus Christ as they receive witness through satellite television.
• for Southern Thailand. Violence continues through religious & tribal unrest. Pray for a permanent peace.

6.  Macedonia Prayer request
The national coordinator for “30 Days of Prayer” in Macedonia is hosting a major prayer meeting (April 18) with Albanian, Macedonian and Kosovo believers, which is not an easy task. This is an important time in history for the Church in Kosovo and for the future of all the people who call Kosovo their home. Please pray:

• that the Church in Kosovo will hear this call to united prayer, and come with hungry hearts to seek the Lord as one Body.
• for the members of KPEK (alliance of protestant churches in Kosovo), who are hosting and leading this gathering, that God would give guidance
• for God to raise up pastors and intercessors to come from the Church in Albania
• for God to raise up pastors and intercessors to come from the Church in Macedonia
• for God to be glorified and Jesus to be lifted up and honored through this humble and united gathering of His people!
• for the Kingdom of God to come and be established in Kosovo!

Stand in the Gap

“I looked for a man (or woman) among them

who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land

so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)

Intercede today for the 1.4 billion neighbors around the world & right next door!

PRAYER REQUESTS for April 3, 2008:

1. According to one Field Strategy Coordinator: “God is doing a great work amongst neighbors through one of our least educated pastors. Though he doesn’t look like a dynamic leader or gifted pastor on the outside, he is humbly allowing God to use him in a variety of ways, to reach neighbor children and their families. His passion for the lost is contagious amongst his people and they are ministering to 100’s of neighbor children each week, providing food, and other needs. They are effectively using the Jesus Film, the Camel method and many other tools to reach neighbors. Praise the Lord for this pastor and his people and pray for continued outpouring of God’s Spirit upon them.”

2. The Beja, Bedawi of Eritrea are listed on Joshua Project’s top ten list of unreached people. Though numbering only 196,000 in Eritrea, there are over 2.8 million Beja people worldwide, mostly in Africa.

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray against the deceitful spirits of false religion mingled with witchcraft that is keeping the Beja bound.

• Ask God to raise up prayer teams that will break up the ground through worship and intercession.

• Pray for God to speed the completion of the Jesus film and other evangelistic materials into the Bedawiye language.
• Pray that God will raise up qualified linguists to translate the Bible into Bedawiye.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of the Beja toward followers of Isa so that they will be receptive to the Gospel.
• Pray that God will begin revealing Himself to these precious Neighbors through dreams and visions.
• Ask the Lord to raise up strong local churches among the Beja.

3. Pray for Mary as she leads a team of bible college students every Friday and Saturday to minister to a neighbor community that was devastated by an earthquake in 2006. May their loving, joyful service open doors for the Gospel to transform the families of this community.

4. May the Lord open the door for our broadcast team in Manila to partner with FEBC to air a radio program to reach one of the unreached people groups of Mindanao.

5. Pray for “Dori” as she transitions back into life in Jakarta after working abroad for several years. She has returned home to care for her ailing father. Friends there have already been able to contact her by cell phone. May someone near her be able to connect with Dori and share the love of Christ with her family in their time of need.

6. ADAPTED from this week’s Jumaa Prayer Fellowship requests. Please pray….

• for the plight of the Sudanese in Darfur. There are now 2.1 million refugees from the conflict.
• for followers of Isa in Southern Sudan. Despite incredible hardship and persecution, a vibrant church has emerged.
• for the 30 million Neighbors of Northern Sudan. Ask God to raise up more Christian workers to provide a Christlike witness to this multitude. (Currently there are fewer than 200 known believers working amongst them.)

Prayer Requests for 21 March, 2008

PRAYER REQUESTS for March 21, 2008:

1. Praise the Lord for this recent report from one of our JF teams, who in spite of initial resistance, are now seeing signs of hope. Pray that the seeds of the Gospel will take root in this difficult area. JF Worker: “We felt led to focus our efforts on the city of C. This is a very resistant area. We had a commitment to show the film in a particular house in this area, but as we were showing the film, one of the neighbors objected and forced us to quit showing. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, as we left, we left a DVD of the film with the family. A few days later they contacted us, to tell us that they had watched the film and now wanted to study more about Isa.”

2. The Joshua project’s top ten unreached people list includes the Comorian, Ndzwani of Comoros who are 99.99% Ms. This Sub-Saharan people group, numbering 355,000 in population, mostly inhabit the Comoros Islands of the Indian Ocean / Mozambique Channel. Prayer Points for the Comorjan people:
*Ask the Lord to call people who are willing to go to the Comoros Islands and share the Gospel with the Comorian.
*Ask the Lord to grant wisdom and favor to missions agencies targeting the Comorian.
*Pray that God will reveal Himself to the Comorian through dreams and visions.
*Pray that God will give the small number of Comorian believers boldness to share Christ with their own people.
*Take authority over the spiritual principalities that are keeping the Comorian bound.
*Ask the Lord to send Christian teachers and medical teams to work among the Comorian.
*Ask God to raise up an army of intercessors for the Comorian.

3. Every Friday and Saturday a team of bible college students, lead by a graduate student named “Mary”, continues to visit and minister to the community in Yogyakarta that was devastated by an earthquake in 2006. Pray that their loving, joyful service will open doors for the Gospel to transform the families of this community.

4. Pray for ongoing discussion between our broadcast team in Manila and FEBC about airing a program to reach one of the unreached people groups of Mindanao.

5. Pray for “Dori” as she gives up her job abroad and returns to her family in Indonesia to take care of her crippled father. In the same tragedy that crippled her father, Dori lost her sister and brother-in-law, and now without Dori’s income the family will be in severe financial crisis. Pray for follow up workers to make contact with her and share the love of Christ with her family in their time of need.

6. ADAPTED from this week’s Jumaa Prayer Fellowship requests. Please pray….
…for Christian domestic workers across the Arabian Gulf. Often, they will be the only witness of Jesus Christ that many
of their employers ever will hear in an entire lifetime.
…for the neighbors of Tanzania. The government is presently deciding whether to establish a shariacourt as part of the
Tanzanian legal system.
…for neighbors in the country of Georgia.They number almost 500,000 and have had very little witness of the gospel since
the fall of communism.

Invitation to Pray

Dear Fellow Followers of Isa al Masih,

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.“  (1 Timothy 2:1-6)

We invite you to join us (around the world) each Friday at noon, or whatever time is convenient for you, to pray for the needs of Neighbors. We have been sending out these weekly prayer updates each week since April 2007. The list of praying friends is increasing, and God is responding as we cry out for the nations!

If you have prayer requests from your area specifically related to Neighbor issues, please send them to info@apnaz.org.

Feel free to invite others to join our prayer fellowship!

Grace & Peace!