We praise God for the exciting week we have had ministering in South Africa with our dear friend of 30 years Udobong Idemetor!!
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Dear Prayer Warriors, God has greatly blessed your ministry of intercession on this trip. I realize that “pray for me” has become almost a cliché, but Eleanor and I take your ministry very seriously. That is why we post weekly ministry blogs, post almost daily Facebook ministry reports and send weekly prayer dispatches with extensive prayer requests.
The great missionary Paul, under the divine inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, instructs intercessors in this area throughout the Epistles.
Ephesians 6:19-20 “and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Colossians 4:3 “praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;” 1 Thessalonians 5:25 “Brethren, pray for us!” 2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you;” Hebrews 13:18-19 “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you the sooner.”
Personally, I think one of the best teachings on the ministry of intercession given by God the Holy Spirit is found in 2 Corinthians 1:11 “you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.” Here we learn three key truths concerning intercessory prayers for missionaries: #1 “you also joining in helping us through your prayers…” In God’s value system, those who labor in prayer and those who labor on foreign fields are co-laborers together. They share equally in the ministry and in the rewards. No one need feel guilty that he cannot be physically living in another country, ministering, because God has created a way for all to minister with missionaries through prayer. This is not mere promotional hype, for God the Holy Spirit never resorts to salesmanship. Instead, He explains clearly to Christians how they may minster effectively with missionaries. #2 “so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf…” Through your prayers, prayers of thanksgiving abound. Not only do your prayers assist missionaries but they multiply praise and thanksgiving to God throughout the world. Thus, you minister to the missionary, you minister to those on foreign fields and you minister to God. What a fantastic ministry!! #3 “for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.” This is a very real truth. Missionaries for whom you pray are blessed in ways that they would otherwise not experience. Doors are opened, ministries are blessed, the Word goes out in power, they are protected in numerous ways and sustained in times of trial and illness. This is truly an important ministry to which you are committed. No wonder the Apostle Paul pleaded with the church in Thessalonica “Brethren, pray for us!”
Arrival: On our arrival we were sustained and protected by your prayers. Right at touch down the pilot gunned the engine and we took flight again. Severe winds were buffeting the plane and there was a bird strike, causing him to abort the landing. On the next landing it was one of the roughest, most turbulent and harshest landings that I can remember. As El and I prayed, I can remember thinking – “My intercessors will bring us through” and you did!
At the airport, all of our boxes and bags made it through and, when we passed through passport control and customs, my longtime friend of 30 years, Udobong Idemetor, was there to meet us with his team. What a joyous reunion we had.
The First Night Waiting for us at Udobong’s home were a group of pastors and ministry leaders. They wanted me to share key lessons of life that had enabled me to walk with God from my conversion in 1968 till today. I emphasized that some of the decisions I thought were crucial turned out to not be that important, while others – to have a daily quiet time, to memorize Scripture, to do a Bible study that entailed preparation, to learn how to witness, to submit to the Lordship of Christ in fellowship and relationship with the opposite sex, to marry a godly woman, to continue to walk with God and minister after college, turned out to be the most important decisions of my life.
The Second Day The next day we had lunch with a business executive, who was first ministered to in Zimbabwe, by Navigator missionary Mark Lewis. This was a particular blessing as I once led Mark in Bible study when he was a student and Eleanor led his wife Janet in Bible study,too. Now I was ministering the Word to the fruit of Mark’s missionary zeal. It was very humbling. Later that night, I met with a leadership study comprised of pastors, generals and staff where I spoke on “The Lordship of Jesus Christ.” One South African Air force General was particularly excited to hear that my son Sam had made a stand for Christ as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force.
The Family Discipleship Conference – Day One I was really humbled by the turnout to the Family Discipleship Seminar. Many were there because of the testimonies of those who had attended the FDS and Marriage Covenant Seminar three years ago. Others had accessed material on the website, still others had come across the many CD’s which we left behind. The result was that the turnout was greater than expected and stayed constant throughout. I was especially humbled by the number of pastors who attended.
Worship Service My message for the worship service Sunday was on the “Spiritual Development of Children” with an emphasis on the father’s role. The key passage was Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” GCI has an uncompromising commitment to the ministry of the church. Ephesians 1:22-23 “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
The Family Discipleship Conference – Day Two Following the morning worship service, the FDS continued into the late afternoon. There were a number of high points beyond the enthusiastic reception of the lectures. First, throughout the conference, men played a key role, both in leadership and attendance. In fact, in all meetings there was an equal number of men and women and, in some, the men outnumbered the women. The cultural lie that African churches are filled with women and crying babies is nothing less than slanderous and I fight this stereotype whenever I have the opportunity. Meal times were especially fruitful—onetime a pastor and his wife, another time a young professional couple, then another a professional football star, who had come to Christ and now found his family values very different from his wife’s. All in all, the second day’s ministry exceeded the first.
Space does not permit a true understanding of how blessed your prayer ministry was this past week in South Africa and I do hope that you will visit our Facebook page and go through the various albums to see the fruit of your ministry of intercession.
I hope this gives you a little idea of how the ministry went in South Africa. It was a time greatly blessed of God and we know that it was your prayers which have empowered our ministry these past two weeks.
By His mercy, II Corinthians 4:1 Rev. John S. Mahon Director – Grace Community Int. – Pretoria, South Africa
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