Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Operation Christmas Child October 2017 Prayer & Praise

NEA Area Team Praises and Prayer Requests:
  • We are partnering with Chick-fil-A for the first time in Jonesboro October 17th and 24th from 3-6pm 
  • Our team is growing – we have had several people interested in year-round volunteering with OCC! PRAY for TEAM COORDINATORS! 
  • Pray for us to have new church partners so that we may find a new drop-off for Clay Country next season (2018). 
  • Pray for our NEA Goal of 11,500 Gospel Opportunities!!!! 
  • Pray for our upcoming WHOLE NEA TEAM MEETING, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29TH..
Mid-South Praises and Prayer Requests: 
  • Thankful to God for the productive and inspirational Speaker Tour Events which have already taken place throughout the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
  • Praise the Lord for the establishment of a strong collection network for the 2017 collection season. 
  • Thank God for the selection of new Area Coordinator Jennifer Barnett to lead the Northeast Arkansas Area Team. 
  • For the upcoming Regional Speaker Tours in Kentucky and Tennessee between the 5th and 16th of October. 
  • The Mid-South goal of 850,000 Gospel Opportunities. 
  • For peace and a time of spiritual refreshing for our volunteers amidst the busyness of the season. 
  • For leader volunteers to answer God's Call in developing areas.

South America
International Prayer Requests
General Prayer Requests each country faces:
·            Wisdom to recruit, select, lead, and develop new and/or transitioning volunteer leadership team members.
·            Provision of resources and the person who leads this area so they are able to reach their God-sized goals for the current year.


WEEK 1: October 1-7


Argentina
·            Pray for God to open a door with customs and government officials so that we can once again import containers into Argentina.
·            Pray for the children and families who will be reached this season through the ministry of Operation Christmas Child.
·            Praise God that even through difficult situations and setbacks, the ministry of Operation Christmas Child has continued, for His glory.
·           
WEEK 2: October 8-14

We praise God for the opportunity to meet with government officials regarding opening up customs.


Peru
·            Pray for the regional teams that are serving in the Native Communities, that they can complete The Greatest Journey with these children.
·            Pray for wisdom, grace, and strategy for the National Leadership Team as they look ahead at the work the Lord has placed in their hands.
·            Pray for the new volunteer coordinators in each different region that are joining the Operation Christmas Child family. Pray for strength, teamwork, and a lot of love.
·           
WEEK 3: October 15-21

Praise God because he has allowed us to recruit two new Regional Leadership Teams in Peru, one in Ica, and another in Arequipa.


Uruguay
·            Pray for the Lord to strengthen, guard, and train each volunteer who serves in this ministry.
·            Pray for the spiritual growth of the new children and families that are fruit of this season of ministry.
·            Pray that we can take this ministry to the areas of difficult access.
·            Praise God for each volunteer who serves in this ministry, for their love and gift of service to the Lord.
·            Praise God for his faithfulness and provision, and for the entrusted task.
·           
WEEK 4: October 22-31

Praise God for each child and family that received the gospel through the ministry of Operation Christmas Child this season.


Paraguay
·            Pray for the commitment of the churches and for unity among them each time we gather.
·            Praise God for the season that we had with outreach events, because God provided the resources needed to take the shoebox gifts to secondary delivery sites (hard-to-reach locations). Also, praise him for forming strong prayer teams.
·            Praise God for the schools that were reached in the department of Paraguarí. These schools also completed The Greatest Journey.
·            Praise God for the Vision Casting presentation to the ministry of Association of Evangelical Pastors of Paraguay. It was received well and the pastors and leaders committed to share the vision and missions of Operation Christmas Child to their churches.

Getting Real with David in Prayer
The Holy Spirit has included over two-hundred separate prayers in the Bible.  These prayers are from many different people in many different situations of life and death.  It’s not surprising that the prolific psalmist David has the most prayers recorded in the Scriptures at more than seventy-five. As we read through David’s many prayers, one pattern we notice is that he had no problem getting real with God!  David believed that God knew him thoroughly and that God discerned all of his thoughts and that greatly affected the way he prayed.
David’s prayers are very real and raw as he spills out his heart before the Lord.  Listen to how David describes pouring out his soul to God, “With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him; I tell my trouble before Him.” Psalm 142:1-2.  We can feel everything inside of David come rushing out in wave upon wave of emotion, grief, questions, and pleading before the throne of God.  There doesn’t seem to be much filtering or hesitation here but instead the freedom to be transparent with the Lord.  Let’s also notice that even though David is real and raw in his prayers, he never crosses over into flippancy or blasphemy.  Though he asks lots of questions of God he never questions God’s character, and we shouldn’t either.
As we are growing as disciples of Jesus and we are learning more and more about prayer from the Word and Spirit, at times there can be the tendency to slip into “paralysis by analysis” in our daily prayer lives.  We want to make sure we say everything right and in the right order and prayer becomes much more a stiff, religious duty than the delight and freedom of a relationship.  Really good friends can spill their hearts out to one another without worrying about a filter.  This is exactly how our Heavenly Father is inviting and exhorting us to communicate with Him, real and raw.  Remember, He knows us thoroughly and He has called us His friends!
Country Highlight
Paraguay

There was a 12 year old girl who had little resources and didn’t have a father. She lived with her grandparents and her working mother. She told us that she was studying to become a manicurist but that she couldn’t buy the accessories and the nail polish she needed. When she opened her box, she was so excited that she even shed tears because the box had everything she needed. We saw the power of God!