His faithful ones

Greetings Prayer Warriors 

For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake His faithful ones. They will be protected forever.  Psalm 37:28

Thank you so much for your prayers for the family and friends of Hands. Bind us together Lord, bind us together in love.

Today we need prayer for:

Nello Regusa (Hopes and Dreams) Australia - He has had a total hip replacement. Pray for complete healing and strength for mobility.

ZAMBIA 

For the bookkeepers, Mary and Luckson, as they learn new ways to keep their books and do the finances for their service centers.

DRC

Mentoring  George (field  coordinator) and Ruth (administrator) to be able to be effective in the service center. Several communities where there is huge potential for growth  this year.Pray that the churches will take on the Biblical mandate to care for the orphans and widows and that the care workers will have the heart for it.

NIGERIA

Pray for a bank account to be opened in Lagos. This is urgently needed. Pray  for favour with the Nigerian International Affairs Office in regard to Hands Family and partners having an open door to come to Nigeria.

Pray for long term intensive training for volunteers. Pray that the right leaders will be identified, pray for volunteers that will have compassion for the orphans and wisdom to identify those in need. As to date we have no funds available and trust for financial aid required for the training.

In God we trust.

Be blessed

Oumie. 

World AIDS Day - Pray for AIDS Victims and for Zambia

Hello prayer advocates,

Today on World AIDS Day we think of all mothers and fathers who have passed away due to AIDS, leaving behind broken families and orphaned children. And we ask you to lift up in prayer the broken families and, in particular, any orphaned children that you personally know of.

Ask the Lord to help your church be an example of the Lord’s love for orphans as written in Psalm 10:17-18, “The helpless put their trust in You. You are the defender of orphans Lord, You know the hopes of the helpless. Surely You will listen to their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so people can no longer terrify them.”

Today we’d also like you to stand in prayer for our family in Zambia. Below is a letter from them: 

Thank you for wrestling in prayer with us. May the Lord remember you for all this work and we pray that the He strengthens you and gives you deep insight as you spearhead His work.

Here are some of the things that we’d like to bring before our Lord:

• Please pray for unity and understanding in everything and for everyone. In particular in our 3 Hands at Work offices in Zambia: Kitwe, Luanshya and Kabwe, in the communities that those 3 offices support, and in our Regional Support Team located in Luanshya, Zambia that supports our Zambia, Malawi and D.R.C. offices.
• Pray that because of God’s mercy, He will continue to provide caregivers and counselors for children who have been orphaned. Pray also for those children who have been abandoned and abused that they would find courage to open up to a loving caregiver or counselor and in doing so find healing.
• Please pray for wisdom and zeal for all the Hands at Work team in Zambia
• Also pray for God's guidance as the team moves forward in new areas in Zambia
• Pray for Todd, Katie, Alicia, Tyler, Chris, Morgan and Margie (6 Canadian + 1 South African mid-term volunteers) who are in the region visiting, encouraging and providing support where they can.
• Lastly pray for more international partners and individuals with generous and willing hearts in order that we may find support to care for all the children in the communities we are currently working in.

Thanks and may the Lord be with you.

James

Prayer for Mozambique

This week please join with us in prayer for Mozambique.

We praise God that after years of delays and challenges the registration of Hands at Work as a foreign NGO in Mozambique is within view. Also we thank God for His provision in finding a Hands at Work office and accommodation for visitors and volunteers in Chimoio, Mozambique – which is a larger center than where we were previously located now we also have high speed internet!

Please stand with us in prayer for:

• The work in Mozambique among the poorest-of-the-poor.
• Carlos, Manuel and Timossee and their families as they transition to community leadership roles.
• Those serving in the communities of Gondola, Nhamatanda , Amatongas and Dondo and their families.
• For Abel, who is the coordinator for Dondo community. He and his 2 small children are grieving the death of wife and mother who recently passed away.
• Dara, an American volunteer who is serving in our office in Chimoio and going through the process of adopting a child from Mozambique, that nothing will stand in the way of God’s will and for Dara and Nede’s (her adopted daughter) for their new mother-and-daughter relationship.
• Marc Damour, a Canadian volunteer who is managing many projects in the area.
• Our ongoing relationships with all those whom we are serving in Mozambique.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers! Check our prayer room daily for updates this week as we prepare for our 24 hour time of dedicated prayer.

Prayer for our work as God's servants

This week in our Monday morning prayer meeting we reflected on the following scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (The Message) 

Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us… Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all…

I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. … The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.... Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

This week let us pray that we are all able to enter in to the wide-open spacious life God is calling us to; to receive this blessing of life by not giving up, by continuing through hard times, tough times, bad times, when we’re praised and when we’re blamed. Let us remember that God desires so much more for us then we could even imagine but we must trust Him through the circumstances before us, not giving up because in due time our perseverance in these maters will reap a harvest of freedom in our lives.

Let us continue because our work is validated in the details. God loves that we have chosen to serve Him in this way—choosing to see those who are vulnerable, to speak and care and pray on their behalf—but we’ve only fought half the battle by showing up to do this work. Let us pray that we can go all the way and choose to do it through His power and strength, never giving up, working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love, in sunshine and in shadow.

Prayer for George

Hello prayer advocates!

Thank you again for your continued prayers for us. If you've been following along in our newsroom you've seen that George Snyman has been traveling the last couple of weeks in the UK and has just landed in North America for another month of visiting, encouraging, and challenging individuals, churches and groups with the message God has laid on his heart.

Please stand with us in prayer:

• for those that George has already met and spoke with, especially in the United Kingdom, that the words he spoke will fall on fertile hearts, ready to receive, and that the message won't be choked out by the cares and troubles of this world (Luke 8:4-15)
• for his health and continued stamina; for a fresh wind of your spirit to blow over him each day giving him strength and enthusiasm during these days of back to back meetings and speaking events.
• for words that will break down the walls of apathy built around hearts
• for fresh words to drop in to his spirit for specific people that he's ministering to
• for favor with those that he is meeting with, that they will know his heart's desire to do the will of God, to care for and love strangers and those in need as Jesus did, and to encourage others to do the same (1 John 3:16-18)

Please Lift Up Swaziland

Hi everyone, I am forwarding a request for prayer from our sister Samantha who is assisting our Swaziland community. As we lift up this family may we also pray for Swaziland as a nation. It has the shortest life expectancy of all the countries we work in: just 37 years. HIV/AIDS has hit Swaziland hard and there are many orphaned children, families are overwhelmed. Especially for the poor, rural area surrounding Ka Phunga help is not readily available. Clinics and hospitals are literally out of reach. 

Please pray for wisdom for the care workers to know how to care for these children and for a renewed sense of calling and renewed love for those they are caring for.

Hi everyone,

I spoke to Nomsa, our coordinator for the Ka Phunga, Swaziland community and she passed on some sad news…

Remember at the  conference Thulile spoke about 3 children that she found eating mud (you can read story here)…they were then placed into a family who took them in and showered them with love and acceptance, they blossomed under their care… sadly this past week their new “mom” was hit by a taxi that lost control. and killed instantly.

Please pray for this family especially the 3 children, Sandile, Myxoli and Lindlwe who have once again had another devastating loss, the father who has a daunting task of looking after 9 children.

A huge blessing  is that he is still happy to keep the 3 children living with him.

Also keep Thulile in your prayers as she is really working with the poorest of the poor in KaPhunga and this is such a blow to her.

Thank you

Sam