Prayer for the Africa Crew: Week 1: 7/13 - 7/19/14

As our 2014 Africa Crew prepares to serve our Lord Mozambique, join us in prayer.  May Sheri, Enrique and Cecil be covered in the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and blessed abundantly by Him as they look ahead during these few weeks before departure.

Africa Prayer Calendar: Week 1

Excerpts are taken from Neal Pirolo's book "Serving As Senders Today."

Samuel Chadwick said, "The one concern of the devil is to keep

Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies,
prayerless works and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at
our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!"

It is the prayer of a sending church that releases power through His
messengers in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

The day came for me to teach on "the tactics of the enemy." I woke up
early. I was so dizzy I could not get out of bed. They called me for
breakfast, but I said I would skip it. I struggled to my feet, all the time
rebuking the enemy. I was barely able to get dressed and "ready" for
the day. I slowly walked to the auditorium. Once on the platform, to
maintain my balance, I had to hold on to the sides of the chair. When I
got up to speak, I told them I was so dizzy that I could hardly stand
there. I said, "The enemy does not want us to learn about his tactics.
You are looking at one of his efforts now! I need you to pray for me."
They did. Oh, how they prayed I And I taught for seven hours that day,
without a sign of dizziness. What satan had meant for evil, God turned
into a valuable lesson on the effectiveness of prayer.

All Christians are involved in spiritual warfare. Wherever they are

aggressively battling the enemy, there is a greater vulnerability to his
attacks. However, your cross-cultural worker often has to deal with
battle tactics less familiar than those he faced back home. Where there
is less Christian witness, there is greater oppression. Cultures more
open to Eastern religions and animism are also more aware of the evil
spirit world. Territory that satan has held for generations does not yield

easily. Add to this your worker's adjustment to all the unknowns of this
new culture, and you already have a sizable prayer list.

Because you may not have ever "been there," his prayer needs may
seem so remote or unreal. Thus, you may sense a lack ~f being able to
make your prayer specific.

Here is a prayer list to give you a good start in understanding the areas
of need peculiar to a cross-cultural worker.

• Adjusting to the new language, different foods, new customs,
  difficult climate
• Protection in travel, health, accidents, dangerous situations
• Parents' concern for their children's health, schooling,
  friendships
• Housing accommodations, lack of privacy, differences in living
  standards, lack of accustomed conveniences
• loneliness, homesickness, lack of accustomed fellowship with
  others
• Interpersonal relationships, dealing with one's own (and others')
  prejudice, selfishness
• Dependence on the faithfulness of others to meet one's financial
  needs
• Effectiveness in ministry, whatever the assignment
• Functioning of the tools of ministry. (It is amazing how
  computers can crash at the wrong time!)
• lack of visible results; the "plowing, planting and watering"
  stages can go on for years I
• The people being ministered to, the national Christians, the
  leaders of the country
• Need for stability, wisdom, compassion, self-discipline, boldness,
  power, love, to be filled with the Spirit of God.