Today we pray for Attendees: Amy, Andrea, Joyce
Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2:4-5)
Dear Father,
Women who are newlyweds and women who have been married decades will be at the Thrive Furlough Retreat. There will be healthy and hurting marriages, marriages gone stale and marriages alive and thriving. Yet, every marriage, not matter how happy it is, always needs your help.
You give the gift of love to couples. Often, marriages lived in a challenging setting can fail or struggle because there are so many obstacles to overcome. Lack of community, lack of family support, and the strangeness of a faraway place can work against the most loving couple.
Please encourage the wives at the Thrive Retreat to seek Your help in being the wives You desire them to be. Teach them to live with their husbands with love and respect. Renew and restore the marriages at the retreat with Your grace, mercy and forgiveness.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
©2017 Thrive
Attendee Country of Service Prayer Focus Nation: Laos
Challenges for Prayer:
The suffering Church has recognized that persecution is one factor in its growth – persecution keeps them praying and relying on God. The situation has improved very slightly; but at the local and village levels, Christians still find themselves to be targets. Persistent social pressure and the prevention of building new church buildings are two primary opposition strategies. Persecution takes personal forms as well, with strong spiritual opposition compounding family and social pressures to continue practicing traditions. Pray for:
a) Perseverance and grace for those who must endure, especially those singled out by persecutors. Property has been seized, and ministers arrested and even killed.
b) Increased openness to evangelism, church planting and building – not illegal, yet still obstructed by the government. Much growth, by necessity, takes place “underground” in house groups, since the more formal congregations are watched and must be cautious. Pray for continued boldness to share the gospel.
Excerpts taken from Operation World