Know... Trust... Obey

I am NOT a prayer warrior. I'm thankful that my relationship with God is based on grace, not my own merit or faithfulness. So often I find myself distracted in prayer. 1 Peter 4:7 says, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers." This verse helps me often in prayer. The NIV says to "clear" my mind of distractions that keep me from realizing that I am in the presence of the God of the universe. Then have the self-control to avoid other distractions.

It has been said that if we have an obedience problem, we have a trust problem. We will only OBEY God to the level that we TRUST God, and we will only TRUST God to the level that we KNOW God. We know God more when we take in the Bible more. I say "take in the Bible" because I've been telling my Arab brothers that I stopped reading the Bible, with the best poker face I can muster. After some awkward silence & questions, I relieve them by saying that I've been listening to the audio Bible while walking more than reading! I sit too much in front of this computer screen. Reading means I'm sitting more. Gotta move a little, while KNOWING God more by listening to His inspired words.

With those thoughts in mind, would you, with a sober mind and self-control, pray for brothers in the Middle East as I encourage & challenge them to respectfully engage Ms around them in gospel conversation? Would you also pray for a few marriages we know that are struggling, both here and overseas? This 25-minute audio about "everyday communication for spouses" from ACBC is helpful.

The Big Picture

Would you take 10 seconds to click here, then scroll down to the "Population" column and click it twice? You will see the 6 largest "people clusters" of Arab people groups....

1) 108m Egyptians- A cluster all to themselves. Barely reached at 2.8% evangelical. Pray that many of them would be sent to other unreached Arab people groups.

2) 87m Arab, Levant- Pray for the unreached Palestinians, Jordanians, and Lebanese, but especially for the Syrians (23m) and Iraqis (36m) who are extremely unreached.

3) 83m Arab, Maghreb- Moroccans, Tunisians, and pray for more workers among the Algerians (38m) because I only know 1 missionary there, though I assume the Lord has more.

4) 41m Arab, Sudan- These tribes are a cluster all to themselves. I was traveling in and out of Khartoum (where we lived from '05 to '08) until the war started in '23. Pray for more workers because I know only 1 person focused on ev and cp among these tribes, though I assume the Lord has more.

5) 41m Arab, Arabian- Qataris, Kuwaitis, Bahrainis, Omanis, Emiratis, and Saudis (25m). These groups are extremely unreached with the gospel, but many missionaries have recently begun going there. Pray for possible political stability through this war.

6) 39m Arab, Yemeni- A cluster all to themselves. I know very little about these people groups, but I'm thankful for a few brothers I know who are reaching Yemenis in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

To summarize, pray that more workers will be sent TO the harvest and be raised up FROM the harvest, that Jesus will receive the worship He deserves for paying for our sin and RISING from the grave. He has risen indeed.

We Left the Middle East Just In Time

It was very encouraging to have my wife join me for 2 weeks in the Middle East. When we lived there as a family, she was busy homeschooling and faithfully raising our 8 kids. She didn't have much time for language learning or engaging with local ladies. Therefore, the travel and the ministry conversations are new to her, but she learns quickly. She personifies James 1:19, "be slow to speak, quick to listen." She has lived out Philippians 2:3-4 for so long as a wife and mom that it carried over into our conversations... "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." She finds contentment in God easily and is therefore low-maintenance!

She says, "I am grateful that we were able to make another trip together to Nazareth, Beirut, Amman, and Cairo. We visited around 35 families, some workers, mostly Arabs. We spent most of those visits listening to them share their ups and downs about ministry. We desired to encourage them, as well as spend time in prayer for them. God is working in these countries and many surrounding ones. Please pray that more Arab Christians will have a burden to share their faith with Arab Muslims, most of whom have yet to hear the gospel."

Overeating

In 2012, I met an Egyptian brother who has become a good friend. Shortly before that, he was asked to leave the Apostolic church he attended after he spoke against the prosperity gospel he saw there. Then he could not be a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian church he attended because he was not willing to baptize his infant child. (This denomination in Egypt is the largest evangelical denomination in the Arab world.) Over the past 5 years, his wife and kids have joined the homeschool group that our family helped begin when we lived there briefly in 2010.

He has a home "group" that he hopes will become a church. Since he is literally a theological scholar, he is seen as the leader, so they ask him to do everything. He has two part-time ministry roles, but will leave one soon for several reasons, including that the director told him he was overweight. He has struggled with health issues and with his weight as long as I have known him, but it doesn't seem that the director communicated this in a God-honoring way. Would you pray that God would provide for this family, provide another elder-qualified man for this potential house church, and help my friend overcome obesity?

Please also pray for another Egyptian with whom I have walked for 7 years, who is house church planting in Saudi Arabia, but struggles with obesity also. He sees himself as an elder-qualified man, but I have doubts (and told him so 3 years ago) due to his lack of self-control in more than one area of life. I need wisdom regarding when and how to suggest to these brothers that they listen to something like this 12-minute podcast. For me personally, I may look fit, but I know well the temptation to overeat carbs or sweets, and my belly fat reveals it.

A Camouflage Bible in Kuwait

What do you think of when you think of Kuwait? Maybe Desert Storm, if you are old enough to remember? The metro area of Kuwait City is home to over 3 million people. Around 40% of the population are workers from Southeast Asia. Maybe 20% are Arabs from Egypt and other Arab countries. Only 30% of the population is Kuwaiti Arabs. Similar to other Gulf Arabs, such as Emiratis & Qataris, Kuwaitis are also difficult to reach with the gospel. Through a few mutual friends, I have connected online with several brothers who live there and have a burden to reach them.

One of them is an Egyptian who has lived in Kuwait all his life, except for his college years in Egypt. He began doubting Islam after reading the Hadith, or the oral traditions of Muhammad. After trying agnosticism, Baha'i, and the occult, he had several dreams about Jesus. He began reading a camouflage New Testament in English that his father had received while working with the US military. Soon after his father passed away, he began attending an English-speaking, gospel-centered church in Kuwait. Pray for a better work opportunity for him, as those around him in his current legal work are constantly skirting the truth. Pray for my online conversations with others living in Kuwait, and possibly adding Kuwait City to my itinerary every 3 months.

A long but interesting conversation with Kirk Cameron about whether or not hell is eternal conscious torment here.