How to Pray For Juarez

In a few days, 3 men from our church (myself, Jeremiah Terrell and Dan Taylor) along with 41 others from across Central Missouri will be on our way to Juarez, Mexico on mission.  Our team will be building two homes for two families (The Lara Family and The Salazar Family) in Juarez with Casas Por Cristo (www.casasporcristo.org).  Here’s how you can pray.

Pray For An Upward Focus (Our Mission)

Every mission trip involves a great deal of Spiritual Warfare.  We know it’s coming, we know it’ll be war…and yet we oftentimes forget that we are in battle.  The battle comes when Satan uses our circumstances to distract from our mission, our ministry and our spirit.  Our backs start to hurt, our stomach start turn and our emotions start to leak and before you know it we are standing in a cesspool of sin where we’ve lashed out at others, said things we regret and brought all the attention to ourselves.  It’s easy for Satan to tempt us to focus on our own inconvenience and trials and forget our true mission: Bringing glory to God.  Our ministry is to build a home in the name of Jesus for 2 struggling families in Juarez.  Our mission is to bring glory to God through our acts of worship and ministry.  When our mission fuels our ministry, we stand in victory. When our ministry fuels our mission, we lay in defeat. Pray that we worship Jesus as King, serve Jesus as King and keep our eyes on Him.

Pray For An Outward Focus (Our Ministry)

Over the course of four days in Juarez, 44 people will build two homes for two families who desperately need help.  We will buy the house (paid for through our mission fees), we will build the house and we will bless the house.  While we are pouring concrete, pounding nails and putting up drywall, the family and most of the neighborhood will be watching us.  They’ll notice how we respond to each other, they’ll notice how we handle stressful moments and they’ll notice how we treat each other.  Most importantly, they’ll remember how we treat them.  Pray that we serve others TOGETHER with grace, humility and in a spirit of patience and unity. 

 Pray For An Inward Renewal (Our Spirit)

Mission trips change people.  God will often use a trip far away to fuel the spread of the Gospel and growth of the Kingdom next door.  Pray that God deeply changes the lives of the men from FBC Moberly, and these 41 others form around Central Missouri.  Pray that he brings revival to our own hearts, moves us to a deeper, more solid surrender to our King and puts a fire deep down in our bones that we cannot contain, which will spill over to our church family when we return.   

By praying you are doing more than “just praying”–you are joining us #OnMission, being the command center for the troops the on the front line.  Thank you for being a praying people, for being a sending people and for being a trusting people.  I’m heading to Juarez expecting God to do great things…and I can’t wait to share with you how He delivers.

Together, we are #OnMission.

Brian