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PRAYER LETTER OF CHALLENGE LITERATURE FELLOWSHIP |
APRIL 2009 |
 DEVOTIONAL
| | MY LIPS SHALL PRAISE YOU
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Psalm 126:5-6 “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He
who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts
of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Winners of souls are first weepers for souls. When our hearts are so burdened
for the lost and our love for them is so great that it causes tears of sorrow,
we shall then do whatever the Lord calls us to do in winning souls.
What connection there is between sowing in tears and reaping in joy?
There are tears which are seed that we must
sow; tears of sorrow for sin, our own and others; tears of sympathy, tears of
compassion and tears of tenderness in prayer
A joyful harvest is God’s promise of a sorrowful seed time. Let the hope
and prospect of this joyful harvest encourage us under all the glooms and
distresses of these tears.
| 1. |
There must be sowing before reaping: 1 Cor 3:6-8 “I have planted,
Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he who plants
anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. So he planting,
and he watering, are one…” |
| 2. |
What men sow they will reap: If they sow precious seed, they will reap a
precious harvest. Gal 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For
whatever a man sows, that he also will reap”. |
| 3. |
The quality of the work and motive of the heart will be tested: 1 Cor
3:8,12-13 “So he planting, and he watering, are one, and each one shall
receive his own reward according to his own labour ... And if anyone builds on
this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each
one’s work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it
shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one’s work as to
what kind it is.” |
| 4. |
In proportion as they sow, they will reap: 2 Cor 9:6 “But I say this,
He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully
shall also reap bountifully.” |
| 5. |
The sowing may be with sorrow, but the reaping will be with joy: John
4:35-37 “Do you not say, It is yet four months, and the harvest comes?
Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are
white to harvest already. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit
to life eternal, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice
together. And in this is the saying true, One sows and another reaps.” |
| 6. |
Prayer over the harvest and for the labourers: Matt 9:37-38 “Then He
said to His disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are
few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out labourers
into His harvest.” |
We are now reaping what we have sown over the past. We have sown atheism,
humanism, violence etc. We have reaped people who no longer believe in God,
Jesus Christ, the Bible, creation etc
And what will be the reward for those who in this busy time stand idle?
Until we Christians start to change our heart
attitude and sow with much tears and prayer then the harvest will continue to
decrease. If we start sowing faithfully now we will see the joyful harvest in
the future.
 PRAISE POINTS
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Honduras (Central America) — A short-term mission team
from an American church tell us God used the American
‘Challenge’ Hispanic edition to bring in 170 first time
commitments to Christ and 100 re-commitments. The
team members tell us the streets went silent as people
stopped to read the papers! Glory to God!
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Thank God for the personal commitments that continue to
come into our offices all over the world, as well as for the
many people who contact a local church.
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Praise God for our faithful supporters, both prayerfully and
financially.
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For new opportunities that are presenting themselves
globally.
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For churches and individuals who see the importance of
sharing the gospel.
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For finances that have come in.
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Praise God that His timing is always perfect.
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 PRAYER POINTS
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USA — Carl and Graeme are currently travelling through
USA to share about the work of Challenge globally. They
are working to raise support for this work and also to
promote the use of the paper by churches in USA.
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Australia — For an increase in the effectiveness and impact
of the Australian edition. As the work expands globally, we
have a great need for more office staff, especially an editor
and desktop designer.
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South Africa — Please pray for Harold Peasley, Director of
partner organisation Multi-Ministries, as he recovers from
triple bypass surgery.
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Globally — That God would appoint translators as needed
for future entry into more countries in South Africa and
South America (eg. Portuguese).
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Challenge Literature Fellowship Bank Account direct deposit details
BSB: 066162 / Account: 00900455
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AROUND THE WORLD
WITH CHALLENGE
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The potential for Malawi is enormous.
The potential of Challenge newspaper in Malawi is simply enormous. Malawi is a
country where free literature will be read by everybody since it remains one
of the ten poorest countries in the world. Malawi has a population of almost
14 million, and is among the world’s least developed and most densely
populated countries
There is a large potential readership for a Christian newspaper that is half
in English and half in Chichewa, especially since Malawians love to read their
secular newspapers. The Challenge format, with its simple clear testimonies
with whom the readers can identify, along with short articles of Bible
teaching and attractive quizzes and a children’s section all make the
newspaper very successful in contemporary Malawi. In a nation where there is
still a very small proportion of the population who read books, the short,
attractive, clear and interesting format of Challenge is simply excellent for
those who might never read a book, but who do want to read something that they
can understand and is relevant to them.
When we printed the first edition and produced 10,000 copies we simply could
not satisfy the demand. The next edition of 20,000 did not satisfy the demand
either, but it will enable us to expand the distribution network to
include Lilongwe (the capital city) as well as Blantyre-Limbe (the largest
urban centre). In truth, across all the towns in Malawi the paper would have a
large readership and great potential for touching many lives. God-willing, it
would be our hope that in the future we could reach the capital of the
Northern Region of Malawi — Mzuzu.
A crucial point to grasp about the importance of Challenge in Malawi is that
there is a real problem with free literature from the cults in the country.
Almost everywhere and in every office one can find Jehovah’s Witness
literature and material from other cults. Sadly, Christians will read this
material because it is free and they don’t have access to anything else
to read. The Challenge newspaper can counter this problem by offering them an
evangelical alternative to the literature of the cults that has infiltrated
Christian homes and work places.
We have formed a committee here in Malawi to work with Challenge in Australia,
to “tailor” the excellent basic package of the Challenge format to
fit Malawi and its readers. This makes the paper that much more effective, by
becoming more identifiably “Malawian” in terms of its content and
general philosophy. We thank the Lord for the openness of the people at
Challenge, Australia to this development because there is no doubt about the
paper’s current and potential blessing.
The beauty of Challenge newspaper for contemporary Malawi is that it can be
read and then passed on to somebody else either in the office, in the home, at
the market, on the bus or on the street. As such, it will continue to
circulate and pick up readers, unlike First World nations where many free
papers now are simply thrown into the bin.
JONATHAN NEWELL, Christian Brethren Missionary,
Blantyre, Malawi
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STAFF PERONAL PROFILE
CARL CARMODY
Managing Editor
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I grew up in Ireland in a very strong Roman Catholic home
and spent my early years in a Catholic boarding school. After my
family moved to Australia in 1969, I began to have a growing
desire to find out what it meant to really know God. Being a devout
Catholic, I continued going to church and mass, but I had
this niggling concern that I wasn’t really experiencing the reality
of what it meant to know God.
When I graduated from university, I couldn’t get work in my
area of radio journalism, so I took up a position as a gardener
with the Education Department. It was there that I met a lady
who talked to me about what it meant to have a personal relationship
with Jesus. Trish managed the school canteen and we
got into regular discussions about God. Around that same time I
watched a TV show called ‘The Word’ — a three part 80’s blockbuster
about the discovery of a supposedly authoritative ‘book of
the Bible’. Eventually, it was exposed as a fraud, but millions of
people worldwide had already bought it. Strange as it may seem,
God used this to speak into my life because, like the people in
this show, I wanted to find answers, I wanted to know God.
The next day I went and asked Trish for a Bible. I began with
the gospel of Matthew and it made sense to me. Each day, I read
a little more and then I would talk to Trish about it. On August
16th at around 1.30pm we had been discussing the things of
God, when she asked me out of the blue if I would like to commit
my life to Christ. There in that school canteen I prayed a
very simple commitment of my life to Christ, not realising for a
moment that it would change the whole course of my life. That
prayer translated me from being religious into having a personal
relationship with Jesus.
From there I met with the founder of Challenge, Eric Evans,
and started working in this ministry in July 1982. It was out of
that, I had a growing burden and desire to be able to get out the
good news of Jesus Christ that had transformed my life, to those
who had never heard. Today, we have the privilege of not only
getting the paper out around Australia but also to places like
Southern and Central Africa, Latin America, North America and
this month into India for the first time. It is amazing to see what
God is doing and how He is doing it.
One of the growing needs in our ministry is the area of personal
support. It is never easy to talk about money, but unfortunately
we can’t do anything unless we have it. So part of the reason
I am sharing my testimony and some personal insights is to
raise some personal support for Carolyn and me. We would love
to have our friends pray with us and where possible contribute to
our monthly support to help cover our ongoing needs.
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We are enormously grateful to the many who give so generously
to the work of Challenge. What Challenge has realised is
the need to maintain the general giving to the work as well as
personal support. If you feel you can support Carolyn and me
we would love to hear from you. We look forward to an ongoing
relationship as we chart new waters in the development of the
Challenge ministry.
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My Response
Post to: Challenge Literature Fellowship, PO Box 978, Cloverdale WA 6985; or Fax to: (08) 9453 3006
Name: __________________________________________________________________________________
Address:___________________________________________________________ Post Code: ______
Email: _________________________________________________ Phone: ________________
With God’s help I would like to be a partner in supporting the ministry at Challenge in the
following way(s):
__ Prayer: Please send me updated prayer information.
__ Financial: Please receive my: __ Monthly __ Quarterly __ Yearly __ One time contribution of:
__ $50 __ $75 __ $100 __ $200 __ Other (Please specify): $ _________
Credit Card: __ VisaCard __ MasterCard
Credit Card #: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Expiry Date: __/__
Name on card: _______________________________________
Signature: ____________________________________
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