Friday, June 15, 2007

That The World May Believe...

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17:20-21

Less than a month to go. My head is swimming with thoughts, details, excitement, concerns, wonder. Our family has spent the past several days organizing stuff: shoes, bug spray, hats, candy and piles of clothes that we'll be taking. (They're currently stacked on top of our pool table downstairs...hope it all fits in the suitcases! :-). We've also been spending time looking through the 3 photo albums of pictures that were brought back from my previous trip to Swaziland just over a year ago. Only this time we're pausing a little bit more over each page. Pausing...wondering if we'll see these very faces again this time. Pausing...praying that God would extend His hand of mercy to the Swazi people. Pausing...asking prayerfully that God would knit our hearts together with each and every one that we'll meet. Pausing...not wanting to be so busy in the details that we miss the real message (and lesson) that God wants us all to learn.

Our team has been challenged to spend these final few weeks in prayer and fasting...using the Scripture passage from John 17 as our focus. Jesus prayed this prayer with His disciples just prior to His arrest and subsequent crucifixion. This would be His final time with them before the cross and He wanted them to never forget these words. They are significant and powerful. So we're asking, that you would please join us as we spend this concentrated time in prayer:
  • That God would receive all the glory for this work.
  • That many Swazis would believe the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and receive eternal life.
  • That God would protect us from the evil one. (also pray for protection for our hosts Kallie and Charmain of El Shaddai Orphanage, Vasco and Busisiwe of the Manzini church and Pastor Guambe of Mozambique).
  • For the spiritual, emotional and physical health of everyone involved in this mission (many of us have been fighting various sicknesses).
  • That God would sanctify us by the truth of His Word, so we would be holy as He is holy.
  • That our team, and those we will be working with, will be brought to complete unity.
  • That we would reflect the love and light of Christ to everyone we'll come in contact with (Mt.5:16).
  • That all preparations will be made according to God's will.
  • That God would help us keep His word, out of obedience and love for Him.
  • That we would depend on God to enable us to accomplish the work He has prepared in advance for us to do.

We praise God for this privilege of joining Him in this journey and thank Him abundantly for each of you. May the grace and peace of our Lord be with you always. I'll blog again soon.