Praise & Prayer Update May 10th

It's been an exciting week here leading up to the Global Day of Prayer. We encourage you to tune in to God TV any time on Sunday May 11th to see prayer events from all over the world. Let us unite together as one Bride to cry out for Jesus and all that's on His heart!

Praises:

• Our prayer times as a couple are becoming less tedious and more enjoyable! May the Lord continue to allow our hearts and minds to unite in worship, praise and intercession.

• $500 more of language school support has been deposited. Praise the Lord for His provision! May we be faithful with all that He gives us and treat all of our finances as if they belong to Him. It looks like H will be able to spend from June 5 to June 29th without having any work commitments. She plans to spend time time focusing on prayer, language, and strategic outreach. H's friend and accountability partner is currently at language school about 6 hours away, and H is thinking about spending a week with her working on strategies to reach women in our region.

• Although school and upcoming exams are currently taking up a lot of our time, the Lord is giving us ways to share with and serve our students and co-workers

Prayers:

• D needs to change his flight schedule so that he can stay here until all his students complete their exams. Pray that he will be able to find affordable and available flights back to the US.

• Students are getting restless and ready for summer break, although school doesn't finish til May 30th! May the Lord give us strength and perseverance as it is difficult to deal with whining students, lack of water, frequent power outages and the overwhelmed administration. May we have the attitude of Christ Jesus throughout all the trials!

• May the Lord have favor on H's visa which is "processing." She has to wait four weeks, which is after her current visa expires, to get her next update. May the Lord give us faith that HE will oversee this situation.

• May the Lord guide us in HIS strategy to reach the millions of lost people in this region

• H was reading this week about how many women have come to Christ through dreams, visions, prophetic words, and witnessing miraculous healing. May the Lord help us to always be willing and available to pray and minister to people that we meet. May He grant many dreams and visions of Him that would lead them to a personal relationship through Jesus Christ. May the Lord give us faith to pray for healing in the name of Jesus.

Praise & Prayer Update

Things seem to be coming together for our summer plans, and we are getting anxious to finish up with the school year and get on to the summer break.

Praises:

• $650 of support for language school has been deposited into our bank account. Since H now plans to stay in the city and take language classes, this should cover the costs of 2-3 months of part-time tutoring. Praise the Lord! Any other support received will go towards more hours of language classes, study materials, and helping to pay the bills since H has committed to work less than 20 hrs/week in order to focus on language, prayer and outreach.

• H was able to schedule workshops for the summer at a local institute. The Lord gave her favor in meeting with the director of the institute and she was able to get all of her visa renewal materials ready and mailed out.

• Two more young women have arrived in our city to focus on reaching women for Christ. Praise the the Lord that he is sending laborers for the harvest.

Prayer:

• That D's flights would be confirmed and tickets purchased within the next few days

• That we would have quality time together in prayer and building on our marriage before D heads back to the states for 2 months+

• That the Lord would give both of us favor as we process our visas

• That the Lord would provide for this country, as half the population currently can not afford enough to eat

• That the Lord would help us not to be wasteful and to spend all of our money as if it is His

• That the Lord would give us opportunities to bless people around us with physical provision in a way that clearly glorifies His name

• That H would find the right language tutor for the summer months

• That the Lord would help us to finish the school year well and be a light to both students and staff

• That God would open up the door for His word and spur many to pray on the upcoming Global Day of Prayer (May 11th - next Sunday)

In Christ,

H & D

P.S. - We would love to hear from all of you more often! Please let us know how you are doing, what the Lord is teaching you, and how we can be praying for you.

Praise & Prayer Update April 26th

Hello everyone,

We're currently working on a list of stuff to do during load-shedding (government regulated power outages). Jump in the car to run errands. Go grocery shopping in the air-conditioned grocery store. Take a shower. Make food, since you'll be sweating at the stove no matter when you do it. Take another shower.

The extreme seasons tend to expose the rising disparity between rich and poor in this country. While our neighbors' houses roar with the sound of petrol powered generators during outages, other parts of the city can be without electricity, running water, or gas for days. Every summer many people living in those areas just die from the heat, dehydration, and disease. May the Lord have mercy on the rich men of this country, that they would come to know Him and His heart for the poor.

During these past few weeks we've both been praying and felt the Lord guiding us to change our summer plans. D's sister and brother-in-law have been going through a tough time, and D feels that he should spend the summer in the states with his family. Financially, we do not feel that we should be spending money for two plane tickets to the states, and H feels that she should stay back to focus on language, prayer, and reaching out in the community. Instead of going to the summer school, she will stay in our city and hire a language tutor there. Any support that we receive will help us pay for the classes.

Praises:
• H was able to share more this week with one of her co-workers and is hoping to give her a Bible in her native language next week
• D was able to find an affordable plane ticket to the states. Pray that all the travel arrangements will work out
• God has really given us rich times of study and fellowship during our home group
• Last night we were able to share about the gospel with two friends

Prayer:
• That the Lord would guide us as we continue to plan for the summer
• That the Lord would work out both of our visa situations.
• That God would allow us to finish well and be a light to both students and colleagues
• That the Lord would give us boldness and help us be intentional in sharing with those we meet

Thanks for all your prayers and support,

H & D

Comparative Study - The Last Battle

In our home group we've been studying Joel and recently compared different passages thought to describe the last battle. Here's some of my notes. If you'd like the information in chart form just send me an email.

A. Description of people being attacked (Israel)

Ezekiel 38:7-12
- a land restored from war
- people gathered from many peoples
-on the mountains of Israel
-which had been a continual waste
-they dwell securely
-no walls, bars, gates
-livestock & goods

Ezekiel 39:23
-they dealt with God treacherously

B. Description of attackers

Ezekiel 38
-a great host, army
-from the land of Gog, Magog
-coalition of many peoples from the north
-will advance like a storm cloud
-riding on horses
-will design an evil scheme to attack Israel
-has been prophesied about for years

Revelation 19
-kings, captains, mighty men, beasts, great & small
-sitting on horses
-fighting against “him who is sitting on the horse”

C. How Israel will be judged (What will happen? What will God do?)

Ezekiel 38
-city plundered
-earthquake (19)

Revelation 16
-dry up the Euphrates to prepare the way for the kings of the east
-demons will assemble kings for battle at Armageddon

Luke 21
-Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies
-many will fall by the sword
-led captive among the nations
-Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles

Zechariah 14
-all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem
-city taken, houses plundered, women raped
-half of the city → exile

D. How the attacker will be judged

Ezekiel 38-39
-great earthquake (19)
-all shall quake at his presence (20)
-mountains thrown down, cliffs fall, walls tumble (20)
-every man’s sword against his brother (21)
-pestilence, bloodshed, torrential rains, hailstones, fire, sulfur (21-22)
-led against Israel – mountains (39:2)
-strike bows and arrows and fall in Israel (39:3)
-send fire on Magog (6)

Revelation 16
-lightning, thunder, earthquake, city split in 3
-islands and mountains flee
-100 lb hailstones

Zechariah 14
-The Lord will go out and fight those nations (3)
-flesh will rot will they are standing (12)
-all will fight each other (13)

Revelation 19:20
-Beast and false prophet captured and thrown alive in the lake of fire and sulfur
-rest of followers will be slain and eaten by birds

E. Immediate effects of D

Ezekiel 39
-Gog and Magog devoured by birds and beasts in an open field (4-5)
-Israel will make fires of weapons for 7 years (9-10)
-seize the spoil (10)
-valley of travelers→ burial place for Gog → block travelers (11)
-7 months Israel will bury the bodies → cleanse the land (11-16)
-birds and beasts will feast on the corpses (17-20)

Zechariah 14
-Mount of Olives will split in 2 (4)
-people will flee (5)
-no light, no cold or frost (6)

Revelation 19:21
-birds eat the flesh of the slain

F. God’s promises of blessing to Israel

Joel 2
-They will be satisfied and provided for (18)
-no more a reproach (19)
-remove the northerner (20)
-send the rains (23)
-plentiful harvest (24)
-restore the years the locust has eaten (25)

Ezekiel 39
-They shall know He is the Lord (22)
-restore fortunes of Jacob (25)
-forget their shame and treachery (26)
-dwell in safety (26)
-be gathered from enemy lands (27)
-not hide His face (29)
-pour out His spirit (29)

Zechariah 14
-living waters shall flow out of Jerusalem (8)
-Lord will be king over all the earth (9)
-Jerusalem will be secure (11)

G. Why God does what is described in the passage

Ezekiel 38
-so nations may know Him
-vindicate holiness
-wrath/anger (18)
-jealousy (19)
-greatness, holiness, make himself known (23)

Ezekiel 39
-holy name not profaned (7)
-glory among nations (21)
-nations see judgment, particularly on Israel (23)

H. Other observations

Luke 21
-nation will rise against nation (10)
-great earthquakes, famines, pestilences (11)
-terrors, great signs (11)
-saints to endure (12-19)
-signs in sun, moon & star, distress of nations, roaring sea, fear (25)
-the Son of Man will come (27)

Zechariah 14:16-19
-everyone ‘who survives’ will worship the Lord in Jerusalem once a year
-if any people don’t go up to Jerusalem, they will have no rain

Revelation 19
-picture of Jesus ‘sitting on the white horse’

God TV

Surprisingly, our internet has been fast enough to get the low video stream of God TV. This morning I was able to tune into Che Ahn (Harvest International Ministries, California) for a teaching on God TV and then tune into The Prayer Room Live for some prayer and worship time.

The God TV stream is free and available to anyone with internet. Our connection can be as slow as 7Kb/s and that was enough to watch the low quality version. Being overseas and having limited access to Bible Study and Prayer resources, God TV is a great place to try.

Praying Across Time Zones

I have been really blessed the last few days by being able to pray along with people at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. Since there aren't many believers over here to pres into intercession with, it's great to be able to tune and pray with the teams at IHOP.

An audio subscription is onlly $5/month, and for me I'd say it's definitely worth it. My prayer times had gotten stale and dry and it's nice to have other people praying and inspiring me to pray.

This morning (my time) they were praying for women in prostitution in Cambodia. It spurred me to intercede for the many women in my city who are working in brothels or red light districts. The Holy Spirit was showing me God's heart for these women to come to know Him and be free, physically and spiritually.

Check out The Prayer Room Live

Who I am in Christ

Starting to memorize Bible verses?

Here is a great list of verses about our identity in Christ from Freedom in Christ Ministries.

These are great verses to turn to whenever you feel down or don't know who you are or where you're going

Who I am in Christ