December 2002
Two suns rise on my every December: one illumines
the year just lived — the other throws a shaft of light
forward into the year just dawning.
In retrospect 2002 has been difficult and discourag¬
ing: hatred and violence and suffering have had too
large a part. In prospect though, 2003 looks even more
challenging. Possible war looms on a large if not global
scale and the joy of growing hunger for God among so
many peoples is countered by growing opposition to
Him and His Son, Jesus, the Savior. In our own nation,
and even among Christians, God's glory is compro¬
mised by the allure and acceptability of sin. Despite the
new national prayer, "God, bless America," we must
accept that He cannot as long as we will not — repent
and return. Rather than the blessing we selfishly desire,
judgment is the only sure result of our obstinacy.
Our only hope is prayerful repentance. If we will
humble ourselves, He will draw near. If we will pray,
He will answer.
As we give thanks for God's great gift of the Savior,
I invite you to join me (and, we pray, 1 million others)
in making 2003 a year of prayer for personal repentance
and cleansing. To make this commitment go to http://
namb.net/evangelism/dev/prayer/l_m_a_million.asp
or to CompassionNet http://imb.org/ CompassionNet/
and hit the One in a Million button. Then ...
Randy Sprinkle, Director
International Prayer Strategy Office
P.S. Thank you in advance for your sacrificial gift to the
Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® for International
Missions. God bless you.
1 INDIA (south Asia). Graduates of theological and
Bible schools in India sometimes choose to go into sec¬
ular work or work for para-church organizations after a
short time in the ministry. The rate of turnover may be due
to these new pastors struggling with how to communicate
the gospel in oral format. They are trained to use the liter¬
ate format, when 95 percent of the population of India is
more skilled in oral-format learning. Textbooks, technical
articles, sermons, most Bible study materials and lectures
are in the literate format. Movies, plays, novels and daily
conversations are in the oral format. Pray that theological
and Bible school administrators and curriculum planners
will understand the need for their students to be trained in
oral format skills. Ask God to use these schools as His tools
for sharing the gospel with the oral-literate masses of India.
2 SWAZI OF SWAZILAND (SWAH-zee). Be¬
cause of the AIDS epidemic in Swaziland and the inability
of extended families to care for additional children, many
mothers are "dumping" their children in hospitals and on the
streets. There are and will continue to be many orphans as
people continue to die of AIDS and parents continue to aban¬
don their children. Pray that God will provide for these chil¬
dren whose parents have died or abandoned them and that
they will know of the love of our Lord and Savior.
3 TAIWAN (east Asian coast). R is a fourth-
year geography student at ShrDa University in Taipei.
For quite some time now, the Lord has been moving his
heart to hunger after righteousness and read large portions
of the Word. Ask the Lord to give special wisdom to jour¬
neyman Vip Vipperman as he meets weekly with R in the
BodyLife cell group (a home-based congregation), answer¬
ing his questions about the Way, the Truth and the Life
(John 14:6). Pray that the seed planted in R's heart will be
united with faith (Heb. 4:2).
4 BHUTAN (south Asia). In the villages of Bhutan,
raising a pig provides a source of income. The pig is fed
on a wild plant and grows to a very large size. Villagers do
not realize that the wild plant is the narcotic, marijuana. The
pig eats the marijuana and the narcotics cause the pig to
sleep a lot, which in turn keeps the pig from expending much
energy, thus the pig gets fat. The fatter the pig, the more
money the owner gets when the pig goes to market. The
spiritual life can be similar; Satan feeds the unsuspecting
soul a diet of intoxicating lies, making the soul reluctant to
seek out better things. The soul becomes lazy, and the layer
of spiritual fat grows around the heart until Satan only has
to lead the soul by a rope into the butcher's slaughterhouse
of hell. Pray that the people of Bhutan will not be blinded
by Satan's lies, that they will seek out truth and be led to
feast on spiritual abundance from the Heavenly Father.
5 REUNION, INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS. In
the June 2002 issue of Global PrayerGram you prayed for
the daughter and son of missionaries Ron and Lisa Jones,
who are now 18 and 17 years old, as they shared Christ
with their classmates at the French school they attended in
Reunion. They were the only Christians. Eventually,
through "Soiree Video," a Saturday evening of watching a
