A university student in MENA writes asking for special prayer for a friend. “I’ve been studying the Bible with a friend who told me just yesterday, ‘If I can see Jesus in a dream inviting me to follow Him, I will know He is by my side and I would have the courage to stand against the world for Jesus.’ Please pray that God will make Himself known to her.” We can also pray He will show what He is like through those around her, including her classmate who is asking for prayer!
A MENA pastor tells about a visit he made very recently to a local university. “The professor I needed to talk to was teaching a class and asked me to wait until the break. I didn’t know when the break was, so I approached a student on the patio. After he told me, he asked if I was a student there. At one point in my experience I would’ve hesitated, but I’ve learned to be open. It becomes the key for conversation.
“‘No,’ I told him, ‘I’m a pastor.’
“As soon as he knew I was a Christian, he began asking all kinds of questions about the Bible, Jesus, the Christian faith. I couldn’t answer everything all at once, so right there we exchanged phone numbers and made plans to meet again to have enough time to discuss my faith. Pray for him and for others I am working with at all levels of interest and understanding.”
Amal (not her real name) had her first contact through Breathe Free. Her smoking habit had gripped her; for weeks she often faced serious temptation to smoke. But she received a daily spiritual message from the Breathe Free team. Just recently Amal shared, “Every day I would come home, facing horrific temptation to smoke. Many times at the hardest moments I would sit down wanting to smoke, but the daily text message would come at that moment and give me the strength to remain smoke free.”
Soon after her own struggle she became a regular translator for the Breath Free program and was later baptized. She is now training to facilitate Breathe Free programs to help others quit smoking too.
For a creative way to touch people’s hearts, one outreach plan uses many different talents–musical training, technology and the skills to use it, and the spiritual understanding to reach hearts. The outreach, called The Yakoudouni Project, put carefully selected biblical reflections into an audiovisual that uses the local language. It’s all done in a home studio with the help of friends who know the language and understand the culture. The team requests prayer that God will show them the most effective way to get that message across to those who are seeking the truth in Jesus Christ.