Neighbor Prayer Update

Many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”

“And HE will be their peace.”
(Micah 4:2; 5:5)

This passage from the Prophet Micah is such a hopeful promise, even in the midst of very challenging times. Out of the context of warfare and exile, Micah introduces the promise of nations at peace, through the coming of Messiah. Today this is no longer just a future promise. It is a reality (and becoming more so) for many nations and people who accept Isa al Masih as their peace. So today, instead of focusing on all the situations of conflict, we want to rejoice and pray for situations where God is at work establishing his Kingdom of peace.

AND A REMINDER, tomorrow begins Ramadan (22 August – 20 September), so please register to receive your daily email prayer updates from 30-Days of Prayer. You can also receive daily Twitter updates. The important this is that you join the rest of us in praying each day (or as often as you can) for the needs of the Neighbor world, during this very important event for them.

1. Pray for our friend Daud. He is very close to the Kingdom. A real man of peace. He has been seeking truth, asking questions, reading Christian books, and requesting prayers. Right now, Daud is in the hospital, since last Tuesday. May this time of illness be a turning point in his life where he calls on the name of Jesus for healing, physically and spiritually. May God’s presence be very real to him through Christian visitors, literature, dreams and visions.

2. From friends in a creative ministry area, they send very good news of God’s work amongst Neighbors in their country. Please, please pray with them for the following items:

• They have now developed a leadership team who are involved in strategy, placement, and training. Pray for their planning meeting at the end of this month.
• Six people are involved in ongoing intensive training to better serve Neighbors. Three of them are already involved in active ministry, and the other three will be placed in strategic ministries by early next year. Pray for these and others who are dedicating themselves to serve.
• Pray for Mr. D as he has been assigned the role of shepherding each of these trainees through this process, evaluate their progress and help them with problems they are facing.
• One of these young men testified that he turned down an offer of a pastorate complete with a building, a parsonage, and a very nice wage in order to heed the call of God in his life. He talked to his parents and they have given him their blessing in this. This is a very sharp young man, who will become a valuable part of this neighbor ministry team. Pray that he will maintain his commitment and be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to endure all the challenging times ahead.
• All of these people will be learning skills they can use to support themselves, to create a personal identity in the places where they will go, and as a bridge to build relationships. Over the next 4 months they are to present a short list of possible skills that are appropriate for the areas where they will be living and working. Pray that God will direct and guide them to wisely select areas of work that He has uniquely gifted them to do.
• There are two additional students who have expressed a call to working with neighbors who will be entering the program next year. We are praying for more as we open the students eyes to this work.
• Additional seminars will begin on August 28th to enlighten and train laity and pastors to be more effective at working among neighbors. The second seminar will occur in October. The plan is to go to every zone to increase the acceptance and understanding of new paradigms for neighbors among our established pastors as well as teach them new attitudes and methods.