Exloring Life Eternal

The major international press has not noticed what has been happening in Rio city just lately. According to the media here, an army base was invaded by bandits late last week and some guns were stolen. In retaliation, and reportedly in an attempt to recover the weapons, the army has surrounded and invaded about ten of the major slums in Rio, with 1500 troops, tanks, armoured cars and helicopters, with another 1200 troops on standby. An apparenty innocent sixteen-year old boy was killed yesterday during one of these operations. (To put this operation, which is the largest in Rio in ten years, in perspective, the international peace keeping force in Haiti, which Brazil leads, has a total force of only 1200 troops). Fortunately, this is all happening a couple of hours drive away from us, although we should be visiting Rio city on Friday.
- from a Christian Worker (P.C. in Brazil near Rio de Janero)

PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF CHRIST JESUS TO REIGN

Monday, December 12, 2005

"Let us hear you some more on this later ..." - Acts 17:32

PRAISE THE LORD:
We are thankful for the powerful visit a dear brother from a neighboring country had in ours. He shared stories of locals coming to Christ by the handful. We thank you – the world-wide PTAP prayer teams diligent who pray for the men and women serving the Lord on the front lines and also that we get to be part of your eternal work. God is so gracious!

PETITION:
Please pray for the local man whose family members are about to find out about his new faith. He has suddenly started doubting. Please pray the pressures of this dark world don't rob him of the joy of knowing the truth.

Please pray for a nominal Western Christian covert to Islam who is now questioning what she has agreed to. May she have dreams and the courage to pursue the truth.

Two tentmaker families are almost turning the corner in making sales in their business after endless obstacles. God has been faithful in the entire process. This is a key time for their future as sales need to start taking place and more investment needs to come in. They also have a third family joining them soon. Please pray that God will bless their business and give them opened ears which will listen for their life in Jesus. They meet many locals that others would not normally meet.

Pray for the MBB brother that is under ‘house arrest’ by his parents. They recently found some Christian material in his home and have banned him from interaction with any of his friends. The group of believers caring for him have heard nothing for over 2 weeks. Pray for God’s spirit to work mightily in this intense time of trial. Pray that he would ‘count it all joy’ in this situation.

Pray for the MBB brother that was unjustly denied his share of sales commissions by his company. The company has not treated this strong Christian man well in the months he has worked for them – no work visa, only partial salary and many responsibilities. The boss says he is a Christian but is such a poor witness to his Muslim and nominal Christian employees that they cannot accept that Jesus is alive and changing people’s lives.

TESTIMONY:
Praise the Lord for the opportunity a tentmaker in the lower Gulf had last week. She was with a group of National Muslim ladies when the conversation turned to religious topics. Katarina was holding up under the pressure of 12 ladies all questioning her about why she was a Christian and why won’t she accept Islam. This was the perfect opportunity to introduce the Injil (new testament) to these ladies. She was able to get through the standard objections to the Trinity, their belief that the Bible had been changed, and that Christians believe the God & Mary had a physical union to be able to call Jesus the Son of God. When all of the questions were answered or they simply grew tired of asking, Kattarina had a chance to ask them some questions about Islam and their prophet Mohamed. Few answers were given to her well thought out and presented questions. It was clear to these ladies what the major differences between Islam and Christianity were. Afterwards, several of the ladies expressed interest in meeting with Kattarina and finding out more. Praise the Lord!

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Finally, pray for us that the Lord would fill me & those I meet with the mercy of Christ as He emboldens the saints & clothes us with His grace. Pray also that the PTAP team would see many more join in prayer with us for the glory of our Father. This season, remember that gold, frankincense, and myrrh are all found in the Arabian Peninsula indigenously as you honor our King born, crucified, and risen long ago, now interceeding for us all before the Father. He is our Advocate!

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Praying Thru the Arabian Peninsula
www.pray-ap.info
USA #: 800-376-5876 (Eastern Time)
Encouraging & equipping believers & churches everywhere to pray through the heart of the Muslim world so that church planting movements will spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and beyond for the Lord's glory.

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To learn how you can support this & other work in the Middle East, visit:
http://www.srginc.org

Or write:
ptap@srginc.org

Or:
PTAP
c/o Strategic Resource Group
P.O. Box 1809
Easton, MD 21601
USA

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Old PTAP & Related News: http://mertaka.openweblog.com

Saudi Arabia - Pray for courage, wisdom and protection over all Christians living in Saudi Arabia which ranked No. 2 in the world for the persecution of Christians. Pray that Christian Believers will sense the presence of Christ as they live and minister in an environment hostile to them.

Western Sahara - Pray that all Christian Believers in the occupied territory as well as in the refugee camps will find fellowship and discipleship. Pray for greater acceptance in the society of national Christian Believers. Pray for renewed efforts to effectively resolve the sovereignty of Western Sahara which is presently a disputed territory.