Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.03.14

Hello from Macau. Psalm 57:1 says, “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.” (NLT)

A news article published last week describes how the difficult life of Guest Workers can lead to harmful behaviors. See <https://macaonews.org/social-affairs/macau-macao-domestic-helpers-migrant-workers/> Some of the Guest Workers we know are under tremendous pressure in their local work place and due to their family obligations back home. These hard working people don’t often have access to resources that can help them cope with the pressures. This is why we are so thankful for your prayers:

1. May local agencies and organizations, churches and community associations have a burden for being hospitable to our Guest Workers.

2. We are traveling to Indonesia for a week long meeting. This meeting was first scheduled for March, 2020. Better later than never. Please pray for our travel and health along the way.

3. A local friend is in prayer about going to another Southeast Asian country to live and serve. May the Lord reveal the timing and make clear the path for their going.

Where Psalm 57 begins as a cry for help and protection, it ends in a declaration of praise: “I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (NLT) May you always reach the point of praise even in the midst of danger.

Trees in a local park reaching to the skies like the love of the Lord.

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.03.07

Hello from Macau. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire people to work in his vineyard. …” (Matthew 20:1-16) This past Sunday, a visiting missionary using that text for his sermon asked us, “Do you think you need the work, or does the work need you?” (The work being serving in the vineyard of the Lord.) Such a great question. The teaching of the parable is that we need the work and it is the Lord who comes looking for us to help us get to work in the vineyard. Being invited to work in the Kingdom is a privilege and an honor. It doesn’t matter if it is for a long time or a short time. To join in the Lord’s Kingdom work will always return blessings. When you pray with us, you are taking up the work in a real and meaningful manner. Thank you for keeping the people and circumstances of Macau before the Lord’s throne of grace:

1. We recently had supper with a couple from our local church. They are faithfully giving their lives to the next generation in ways big and small. They shared the need for wisdom in helping young people navigate a changing world and society. May the Lord bless them with wisdom.

2. We met with some people this week to discuss an expansion of the Guest Worker Medical Assistance ministry. May we have wisdom for taking next steps in building a sustainable way of helping the health needs of Guest Workers.

3. Loneliness is a struggle for people in Macau. May the Lord guide them into loving and healthy relationships.

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

A view of the Vineyard in Macau.

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.02.28

Hello from Macau. As you can see in this week’s photo, Macau is once again experiencing a rising flood of tourists. This is good news for the local economy, and challenging for the local population. Changes are happening so fast it is a bit shocking. As you pray for Macau, please pray for people’s attitudes and emotional adjustments to all the changes.

Please pray for:

1. A long time Christian friend had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor this week. May the Lord heal his body, and give peace to his family.

2. We know a Christian struggling with sadness and disappointment. May the Lord bring encouragement and hope to this person.

3. Some friends are traveling to visit family they haven’t seen for years. May they have safe travels. May they have grace to share the love of Jesus with their family members.

In “God on Mute” Pete Grieg says, “Faith in God comes from getting to know God’s faithfulness. It is a gift He gives to us when we spend time in His presence. It is a reflection of His character in our lives. … It is a relational posture of trust that enables us to receive the will of God in a way that others can’t. Faith is a pair of open hands.” (p. 145-46.) As we pray, may this faith grow in us. We come to the Father with open hands, trusting that He will give what we can’t possibly accomplish on our own.

The Way to the Ruins of Saint Paul's

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.02.21

Hello from Macau. Today (Tuesday) is Shrove Tuesday or “Pancake Day” - the last day for a bit of indulgence for millions of Christians around the world who will begin Lent tomorrow. Lent prepares our hearts to remember the sacrifice of Jesus. One way to prepare for Lent is to give up something that hinders our relationship with Jesus or others. Another way is through special focus on a discipline, like the discipline of gratitude. (For instance, we’re especially grateful that our whole family is reunited for the first time in 6 years.) I am taking this season to consider if there is something in my life that I need to give up in order to be a better friend to those around me.

Being available to others is an important aspect of being friends. We thank you for choosing to be available to the needs of others in Macau as you pray with us for the people and circumstances here.

1. Macau continues to crawl out of the Zero-COVID hole dug over the past three years. May many people orient their hearts and minds toward Jesus as their source of help through this time.

2. Henry is a young Christian who deeply desires that his father also can know the love of Jesus. Pray with us for Henry’s father to have faith to believe.

3. A regular participant in our Sunday morning Bible study recently told us she wants to be baptized. May her faith grow and her witness influence many others.

Thank you for allowing us to share with you and for your prayers. May you be filled and satisfied by the presence of the Holy Spirit as you bring these prayers to the Lord.

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.02.14

Hello from Macau. With the celebration of the Spring Festival behind us, Macau really seems to be in a period of change and renewal. Hopefully, people will seek out more than an end to COVID restrictions. Pray for the people of our city to seek new life in Jesus. Life that is renewed daily through the working of the Spirit. Life based on the true, trustworthy love of Jesus.

Please lift these items before the Throne of Grace:

1. A church member’s mother is struggling to overcome tuberculosis. She has lost her appetite and a lot of weight. The medication causes her to have itchy rashes. May she be healed.

2. On Friday this week, Alice & Nathanael Ballew travel to visit us in Macau. We haven’t been together for 4 years. May their travels be safe, free from problems. May they remain healthy throughout their time with us.

3. This Friday and Saturday night, the Macau Baptist Association will hold special city wide training meetings. May the voice of the Lord be heard and the people of Jesus be energized for service.

Thank you for your prayer support.

Please feel free to let us know how we can pray for you.

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” — Revelation 21:5 (NLT)

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.02.07

Hello from Macau. “Would you rather a god who listens or a god who speaks? Be careful with the answer. … Oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious, the answer is both. God should be both. If a god isn’t, that is no God.” — Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Prayer, as an act of faith, affirms our Lord who both listens and speaks/acts. Of course, while we can’t control or dictate the acting, yet we can be sure of the listening. Many times that is more than enough. Jesus hears us. Jesus makes intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25), hearing and speaking. May you feel heard as you share the good and the bad of life through prayer.

Thank you for remembering these needs:

1. Guest Workers in Macau are eager to see loved ones after more than three long years. May they be treated with mercy and grace by their employers so they can have time off to travel home.

2. Pray for Larry as he prepares for preaching on Sunday, 12 February. May his Cantonese be clear and his teaching helpful.

3. Friends and their family members need healing. May the Lord’s resurrection power bring healing to their bodies, wholeness to their souls. Thanks for our Nepali friend’s recovery.

In Macau, the Spring Festival is giving way to routine and business as usual. May the Lord speak into the lives of us all, helping us to choose to be a people who listen as well as speak.

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.01.31

Hello from Macau. Doxology: an expression of praise to the Lord. “To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in the darkness.” (Brennan Manning in “God on Mute” by Pete Greig, p. 37)

Arriving at our street level door with our grandson in tow, we were surprised by the sudden approach of a mother and daughter, our friends. The daughter launched into telling us that her father wasn’t there. Yes, we saw that her father wasn’t there. No, my father has left. “Oh, no, no, no how can that be?” He passed away in December from COVID 19. He was a 60 year old husband, father, grandfather. His wife still distraught, tears flowing in the pain of her loss found smiles and joy in seeing our grandson. Hugs, words of care, faith, and hope in the Lord offered there on the street as prayer, as doxology.

Thank you for praying with us:

1. May the Lord bring healing to all the broken hearts, and families facing the absence of loved ones.

2. This past week a Nepali Guest Worker friend was hospitalized with severe anemia due to a gastric ulcer. He required nearly 1 liter of blood transfused. May the Lord bring healing to his body, peace to his heart and mind.

3. Last Wednesday a young couple in our church got married. It was a joyous beginning to what we pray will be a lifetime of love and testimony to the Lord’s grace.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all Comfort.” 2 Cor. 1:3

Maranatha!

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.01.24

Hello from Macau. [新年快樂!] Happy New Year, Year of the Rabbit! With the Spring Festival comes new hopes, an anticipation of better days ahead. Macau is full of decorations and tourists from the north. Many families are being reunited. Some haven’t seen each other for 3 years. We rejoice with them and look for the hope of spring to grow into a wonderful summer.

Please pray with us for the following:

1. Last week our church family had three funerals. On Friday, a church member’s father passed away. This has been a difficult time for so many. Pray for the resurrection power of Jesus to fill people with hope.

2. Sonny is a Guest Worker from the Philippines. He hasn’t been home in over 3 years. His mother is in poor health and hospitalized with a leg injury that won’t heal. Pray for her healing, and peace for Sonny.

3. Our friend Crystal is visiting Taiwan for a couple of months. May she encounter Christians who love and care for her while there. May she know that Jesus loves her.

This past Sunday our morning Bible study was from Matthew 22:23-33. It is a passage that starts off talking about death, a very uncomfortable and somewhat inappropriate topic for the first day of the New Year. Thankfully the passage ends talking about life, resurrection life. Jesus proclaims that “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” May the Living God of the living fill us with His life today and every day.

Maranatha!

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.01.17

Hello from Macau. We trust that you are doing well. Here, we are preparing for the Spring Festival, Lunar New Year week that begins on 22 January. Somehow, the city is trying to be in a festive mood. It feels like our city is trying to ignore the pain and loss of the past few weeks, yet the funerals continue apace and family celebrations will be less bountiful this year.

I recently read that, “sadness does not sink a person; it is the energy a person spends trying to avoid sadness that does that.” (Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 80.) A friend said, “People in Macau have spent three years like caged animals, pacing in the same circle. Even with the cage open, many are still pacing.” The only way out is to face our sadness, sit in our sadness.

Thank you for sitting with us as you pray:

1. With the influx of tourists, there is the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 sickness. May the Lord protect people through wisdom and good choices.

2. Pray for our friend Crystal to know that Jesus loves her. She is a kind, caring person yet often is full of fear. May the Peace of Jesus be for her.

3. Guest Workers in Macau face extended hours and pressure to keep working when others are on holiday. May they have good health, strength and times for rest.

As we pray, may we all know the reality of Psalm 6:9, “The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer.” (NLT)

Maranatha!

Holding the Ropes in Prayer - 2023.01.10

Hello from Macau. Like the swallows to Capistrano, and the Monarch Butterfly to Mexico, the tourists are flocking back to Macau. Government and news sources report numbers like we haven’t seen in about a year with hope for a prosperous Lunar New Year holiday. Of course, the sad reality is many people in Macau are still dealing with sickness and the death of loved ones. The death rate in Macau was 3 times normal in December. A good friend said, “They told us it was like a cold or the flu. I have two friends who died and I’ve been struggling for weeks now. This is not a cold or the flu.”

Please keep praying with us for:

1. The families who have lost parents this past month. The father of another church member passed away over the weekend. May the family be comforted in their time of loss and grief.

2. The Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) is less than two weeks away. Many businesses and their workers are caught between the need for improving business and health concerns. May they have wisdom and protection.

3. Give thanks with us. So far we have stayed COVID negative. We are careful with masking and social distancing. We also thank the Lord for protecting our health.

Our devotional this morning was from John 1, Jesus the Word, the Light that shines in darkness. Psalm 139 reminds us that even darkness is as light to the Lord. May you know the Light of Life no matter what condition you are experiencing this week.

Maranatha!