Weekly Prayer Focus: NLTS students

As you saw in a recent post by Mark, our first class of the NLTS (Niamey Leadership Training School) has finished their first of 12 courses in a 2 year program. These believers learned a whole lot in a little time! The first course dealt strictly with the Old Testament. 6-8 hours of classes for 5 days in a row & studying about the Old Testament non-stop (plus memorizing a verse a day!) ... it makes my head hurt just to think about it!

But these men are eager to learn & grow & plant churches in the villages where God has placed them. As they are back into their "routine" of life in their villages, would you pray that they would be ever aware of the lostness that surrounds them? Would you pray that everything they learned & memorized would propel them forward with boldness & excitement to preach the Word with every opportunity they meet? Would you pray that they would continue to grow in their love for the Lord & their faith in Him? And would you pray that when (not if) the persecution comes, they would stand strong & cling to the One that has saved them & called them?

The task they've been given is not an easy one. They can't roll out of the village in a 4x4 truck when persecution comes. They can't hop on a plane & go back to another country when life gets tough. They can't drive to the nearest Christian bookstore & pick up a book on "how to survive persecution" when their faith is faltering because everyone has rejected them. And most can't even call on their nearest brother in Christ to share a cup of tea (or 3!) when they feel like they are the only one in their village who believes ... because the reality is, they ARE the only one. Their nearest brother may be a 4 hour bush taxi drive away & they don't have the extra resources to even take a trip like that.

So will you pray for our friends & your brothers in Christ? You may not understand their life on a day-to-day basis but you cling to the same God when life starts to falter & you pray to the same Father when all hope seems lost. You know what it's like to need encouragement in the daily grind, so will you pray that our brothers would receive it too? Will you pray that they would be a light in the darkness & stay faithful no matter how black the night may seem?