More specific prayer and praise items may be found on our "Checkpoint" page.
What is prayer?
"Because of His love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His children - this was His pleasure and purpose." Ephesians 1:5 (TEV) What an incredible picture of God's desire to DELIGHT in a relationship with us! This is the essence of prayer - a purposeful enjoyment of the presence of the living, personal God. Do you enjoy His presence on a daily basis? Do I? Do we go to Him first when we need company, or comfort, or when we are happy or having a great time?
It has been said that "prayer is the practice of God's presence." Why would we want to live in His presence? Because He is the only one who knows us inside and out and still loves us completely and infinitely. Because He is the only one who can provide what we most need and protect our hearts and minds. Because He is the only one who can hold the universe in His hand, maintaining the laws of physics, and whisper in my heart "I love you".
Prayer is a change in our perspective of His world. Prayer opens our hearts first to a relationship with Him. Then as He opens His heart to us, we begin to see with His eyes the world around us. We begin to long for His presence to fill the void in the hearts of others. We begin to love them as He loves them because we begin to understand their needs. It is at this point that our prayers for others become effective because we start to see others as He sees them.
Join us in living out the primary purpose for which God made us - enjoying His presence. Join us in praying for the needs of individuals and specifically their need to know the love of Jesus Christ and experience His delight in a relationship with them.
Specific Items:
We enjoy communicating in several ways with our support team and one of the primary purposes of this is to inform and motivate you in your commitment to prayer. for our regular prayer-letters or e-mail updates, or make a habit to look on line for new and specific requests.
Prayer Items:
Pray for us to be faithful in our personal relationships and most of all in our daily relationship with Jesus.
Pray for our relationships with youth to be meaningful and effective in encouraging spiritual growth and new understanding of God's love for them.
Pray for our relationships with neighbors to continue to grow in mutual trust and for them to see Jesus in our daily living.
Pray for a growing spiritual hunger in each person we connect with here in Spain and a restlessness to know if there is a God and if He is actually concerned about us as individuals.
Pray for us to have wisdom in balancing our time and effort between tasks that must be completed and people who must be valued and loved.
Pray for our relationships with those who support and pray for our work here, and for us to be able to communicate to them their value in our lives and ministry.
Praise Items:
We have begun our Spanish youth ministry weekend events! EJE (Spiritual Youth Encounter) now takes place twice each year and is serving as a tremendous tool for Christian youth to impact their peers!
Praise Jesus for providing for our personal needs. He continues to work through others in surprising ways to assure us of His continuing provision.
Praise Jesus for the opportunity to develop young leaders who are confident in their faith and calling. The children of missionaries who we work with at Evangelical Christian Academy are realizing their value and potential for ministry now!
Praise Jesus for the opportunity to share Him with our neighbors. Many new relationships have been built as we talk over dinner together or out on the street.
Praise Jesus for the incredible blessing of our little boys, Silas and Timothy. They are a joy and keep us laughing every day!
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Focus on a Country
The more you know about a country, its history, people, culture and spiritual condition, the easier it is to really be involved in effective prayer for that country. Make a point of researching the country your missionaries work in. Look through both secular and Christian sources of information. Pay attention to news items. Encourage your missionary by asking informed questions and communicating how you have been praying for the people they work with daily. Develop your own plan to pray for the people of that country based on their needs.
A picture of Spain
Spain is an incredible land of contrasts - Roman ruins and modern skyscrapers, snow covered mountains and rugged coastland, fertile plains and densely populated cities, church traditions and a spiritual vacuum. The Catholic Church faces an incredible decline in active membership, from 70% down to 27% of the population in the last 20 years! There are at least 300 cults active in Spain. The evangelical church movement is viewed by many in Spain as a cult. Out of 42 million people in Spain, less than 1% knows Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord!
How we pray for Spain
This is a spiritual conflict. It must be fought on our knees as we intercede for the people of Spain who are in tremendous need of the knowledge of God's love, His provision for salvation by faith, and desire to have an intimate and personal relationship with them.
Pray for us as we work to build relationships and demonstrate the love of Christ in our daily lives. This daily living out of Christ in us speaks much more clearly than theological arguments.
Pray for opportunities to minister to people in crisis. Often Spaniards are more interested in our faith when we can reach out to them at a crisis point in their lives.
Pray for revival. There is so much history and religious tradition in Spain that there is very little thought of a God who loves and cares for a relationship with individuals. Pray that God’s Spirit will move in hearts, drawing them to Himself.
Our promise from Scripture for Spain
Pray with us claiming God's promise in Isaiah 65:24 "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear."