“Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.” 1 Corinthians 1:9-11
“Wake Up Call”
In the latter part of 2006 Flame International had a “wake up call”! Firstly, 2 people fell ill while in Sudan in September. They were unable to continue on to Uganda with us as planned, but instead had to convalesce in Nairobi, one of them being in hospital. Then in December it became clear that the timing for the Mission to South Sudan was not right due to the deaths of 150 people in a nearby town a month before the trip was due. As the Trustees met to make a very difficult decision to postpone the trip, it became apparent that more dedicated and organized prayer support was required. We have always had excellent prayer support during missions from a small but dedicated team of intercessors, but we now realise that wider prayer cover is required.
While we were waiting on the Lord at the Trustees meeting someone had a picture of a carpet of reeds with a pit underneath housing wild animals. The reeds could not sustain a person’s weight and therefore anyone walking on it was vulnerable to falling into the pit! We felt that this referred to the overall prayer cover of Flame International – that although prayer cover was in place, it was not necessarily enough to prevent us from falling, in the light of dangerous and sometimes extremely difficult working conditions. We believe that the Lord is saying that we need to build up our prayer support at this time.
Carpet of Prayer
Encouraged by the Chairman of Trustees, it was felt that we need a “carpet of prayer” permanently covering the ministry. To this end we are now seeking to organise prayer cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
How will it work?
We are asking people to commit to praying and fasting for half a day (12 hours) a month. This does not necessarily mean praying all the time but instead committing the needs of Flame International to the Lord from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm or 8.00pm to 8.00 am. It would mean fasting during that time – but if you cannot fast from food then you could fast from something else – perhaps the newspaper, the TV or the internet! This does not mean that you do not sleep if you have a night shift but it would mean listening to the Lord and if he wakes you up, then to pray, as well as praying before you sleep and after you rise. We also hope to have people praying around the world from different time zones, which will help the night cover. If you have a day shift, you can still go to work or do normal activities, but just pray through the day when you get a chance.
A Prayer roster would be set up and would give people set days i.e. the 1st of every month during the day or the 30th of every month during the night. We will endeavour to update people either by email, phone or letter every 2 months about prayer needs. However, we do not want this to be a life sentence and you can opt out at any time just by letting us know.
This would give us prayer cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
We hope to start on 1 March 2007. We are also hoping that as people pray that they will hear from the Lord and feedback any words, verses or pictures to Jan. We are very keen to stay in tune with what the Lord is saying and welcome your input.
Volunteers required!
Are you willing to be part of the prayer carpet for Flame International? Do you want to know more before you commit to praying? Ask us about it!