Vehicle – we are praying for a vehicle to meet family and ministry transportation needs. We need to raise $5000 to buy a used car. Public transport has become more and more difficult to depend on as family and ministry grow. We solicit your prayers and generous donations. Pray that other brethren will be willing to give generously as well to this cause. ·                              

 Funding – Funding has become our biggest challenge on the field. Pioneers
Africa now manages to give us about a third of our funding in salaries and work funds. The need for us to obtain regular financial support is greater than ever. Cost of living has basically doubled following sociopolitical upheavals at the beginning of the year. ·                              

 Ministry – in response to the field needs identified, we plan to set up a discipleship center as the heart of the work here. Please pray for us as we think through the various issues necessary for an effective center that will meet the needs of disciple making in this setting

Please pray for us as we look for new accommodation. We have been hunting one for the last three months.

We are looking for new accommodation because:

v     Our current place has become too small

v     Our landlord does not favor our faith and activities (prayer times, discipleship, etc…) Not that we are noisy or rowdy. He recently adopted the wahabi sect.

We struggle to find one because:

Ø      All the decent housing we have seen so far fall way beyond our budget. House rents have increased tremendously in recent times.

Ø      Some landlords demand several months rent advance, again beyond our reach

Ø      A few times we have been refused on religious grounds, especially because Djenabou is Fulani and a Christian. It is not acceptable.

Please pray that we will find new accommodation very quickly. That we will be able to find the means to pay for it and that it will be suitable to meet family and ministry needs.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Testimony time is one of my favorite times in church. For one it breaks the liturgical monotony. It is also spontaneous on subject matter. Folks testify to financial breakthrough, promotion and opportunity in job place, healings, divine provisions and safety from danger, travel opportunities, news from or on long lost family members etc… oh! I cannot afford to leave out love and marriage.

In Luke 10:17 –18, 72 disciples return from a mission trip with much joy. They had seen even the demons submitting to them in Jesus’ name. Jesus justifies their testimony with the declaration that He had seen Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

But should we only testify when things are looking up? Does Satan fall only when the skies are blue, and the sun is bright? Can we remain committed and grateful even when the evidence is to the contrary?

Habakkuk ends his short book with a prayer. His prayer demonstrated the resulting convictions of his dialogue with God. Habakkuk had asked God why evil people prosper while the righteous suffers. He couldn’t understand why a just God will allow so much evil to go unpunished. God answered that they won’t; not in the long run. God answered Habakkuk’s struggles with words of hope. That is what inspired his prayer at the end of the book, and more so at the end of his prayer.

Failed crops and dead animals would devastate Judah. It couldn’t get worse than that. But Habakkuk affirmed that even in the period of starvation and loss, he will still rejoice in the Lord. It is true his affirmation does not make sense. Yet his feelings were not controlled by the events around him but by faith in God’s ability to sustain him. When nothing makes sense, when troubles strangle you, when it seems to get more than you can bear, remember that God is the One who sustains. Take your eyes off your difficulties and look to God.

In Luke 10, after Jesus affirms the disciples’ testimony, He continued in verse 20, “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” NIV.

In Romans 8:18, Paul says, “I consider that our present suffering are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” NIV.

If we take our eyes off the things we see and hear and feel, if we focus our sights on eternity and the God of our salvation, then we will cause Satan to fall from heaven not once not twice but always.

God will give His followers surefootedness through difficult times. They will run like deer across rough and challenging terrain. At the right time, His justice will be seen and the world will be rid of evil. Meanwhile, as God’s people, we need to live in the strength of His Spirit and the power of His Word.

I’m not moved by what I see

Halleluyah!

I’m not moved by what I hear

Halleluyah!

I’m not moved by what I feel

Halleluyah!

I’m only moved by the word of God

Halleluyah!

Meet Martha (not real name). She is a family friend, is about 24 and married with one child. Martha is a Muslim by birth and upbringing.

Growing up, Martha’s worldview of Christianity was informed by Islamic teachings and her interactions with catholic schoolmates. She thought of Christians as unclean (religiously), worshippers of idols and several gods (the cross, the image of Christ, Mary and the Trinity). Then she had the privilege of watching my family closely for a couple of years. For a while she complained that we were different, as her expectations were not met. We seemed religiously clean enough and she did not see all the moral vices she associated with the Catholics she knew (her observations). Then she dared to enquire why it was so with us. So we told her that if there was anything different, we only tried to do what the Bible told us, in obedience to the teachings of Christ. Besides we depended on the power of the HS to remain obedient to God.

Her interest was aroused. She asked for a Bible so she could see what was therein. She kept her Bible secret from her husband and family; it was not acceptable for her to even touch it. She has read large portions of the NT. Time and again she comes up with various questions. We try to answer her best as we can. Sometimes there are steps in the right direction, other times she moves backwards. As at now, it is hard to gauge how close she is to believing. Even though she seems convinced sometimes, we know she has to struggle with a number of issues:

• Pride – how could she have been wrong all this while, and her parents too

• Fear – what if her husband found out
• Isolation – what if her extended family found out
• Uncertainty – what if we were leading astray

We continue to pray for her. We continue to interact with her. Do remember her in your prayer times, and others like her. Pray for us too that we will have the right words and message for her at every moment.

I love the name Andrew. Besides sounding really nice, it means a lot to me personally. As someone observed, wherever you meet the original Andrew in the NT, he is bringing someone to Christ; a true evangelist and missionary.

This other Andrew is one that I know personally, a neighbor to be specific. He is the guard at the house next to ours, and he comes from Sierra Leone.  When Andy came, he presented himself as a believer. He was faithful in church and sometimes even led the singing time. But his master is a staunch Muslim.

Soon it was Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting. Andy’s master insisted that he converts to Islam and imposed the name Mohamed on him. Regretfully, he had no choice but to comply or loose his job and livelihood. He was barred from going to church, had his head shaved and forced to participate in the Muslim fast and prayer.

We wished we could have helped by making him independent of his remuneration at his guard job, but then it was even more complicated than that, his boss doubled as a distant relative so that even if he was not in his employment, he still held a certain sway over him.

Then Mohamed had a dream. I did not catch the details of the dream but it came to something like a celestial being warning him that he was going down the wrong road. We had been praying for him all the time, and continued to encourage him even though he felt he had betrayed his faith and brethren. Following the dream, he explained to his boss that he could no longer continue to be a ‘Muslim’ and was ready to quit. This time it was the master who had no choice, though he threatened and warned and cut off almost every fringe benefit. He became very strict and exacting too.

He is still called Mohamed in the household, but he has since returned to church and even assumed a leadership role. We praise God for answered prayer through the dream and courage that He gave to Mohamed, sorry Andrew.

Is he Mohamed or Andrew? It doesn’t matter any more, does it? He belongs to Christ.

This is the typical dilemma that many face as they dare to respond to the grace of God. Some never get the dream and courage of Andy. Others’ are met with violence and isolation. As you praise God for the victory in Andy’s life, remember those in similar predicaments in prayer, moral as well as material support.

God bless and keep you.

Charles Swindoll inspired me when I read the following. See if you will be inspired too.

I know no greater need today than the need for encouragement and joy. Just look around-ours is a world of bad news and sad faces. Our stooped shoulders and deep frowns convey the heaviness of our hearts. If music and films are the pulse of society, then little more needs to be said. Our plays and movies and television dramas depict despairing messages and themes. Watch any late-evening newscast. Read tomorrow morning’s newspaper. Pick up the majority of best-selling novels. Listen to a radio talk show. Believe me, for every positive, joyful sound you hear there will be dozens of depressing and discouraging messages coming through loud and clear.

The longer I live the more convinced I become that the most magnetic quality of the Christian is not faith or mercy or courage or loyalty or even love, but joy. Those other qualities are often seen more clearly after we’ve gotten to know another person, but joy is the contagious magnet that draws people to one another. Joy takes the grind out of life. It is the oil of the machinery of life. Joy is the main quality that keeps the missionary on the field. The missionary without a sense of humor is the one who must come back often for furlough. There is nothing like a superlative sense of humor to get you through the day-to add joy and various dimensions of happiness to life. A joyful person is a balm of healing to hurting hearts. This is an important message for those Christians who sometimes seem to look and act more like basset hounds on the way to the pound than heaven-bound saints on their way to glory.