Prayer-Walking Report (Kintambo)

For any of you who have followed missionaries much, you have most likely heard them talk about "prayer-walking." Prayer-walking is simply walking around in an area and praying for open doors for the spread of the gospel and praying God's blessings on the people who live in that community. Some have described prayer-walking in this way: "Praying on-site with insight." There is nothing magical or more powerful about walking through an area while praying for it than there is just praying for the same area sitting on your couch in your living room. However, it does seem to help me pray more specifically for different things that I might not have thought of otherwise while I am praying. For instance, today as I was prayer-walking an area called Kintambo, I passed a school and I prayed for the students inside. As I passed a hospital, I prayed for health, physical and spiritual, for those living in Kintambo. As I passed a ridiculous poster of an "evangelist", I prayed that people would not be lead astray by the "hype" of health, wealth, and prosperity, but would take up their crosses and follow him in their daily lives. These are just a few examples and there are many more.

In addition to the benefit of "praying on-site with insight", prayer-walking gives me the opportunity to look for "sons of peace." In Luke 10:1-11, we find a description of Jesus sending out the seventy-two. He gives them several different instructions. Here is a small portion of the instructions he gave them: "And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him, but if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house." (Luke 10:6-7) As I'm walking and praying, I tend to turn a few heads. This happens for several different reason. The first is the color of my skin and the second is that you don't see many people with my color skin taking public transport and walking to get where they are going. As I'm walking I tend to ignore the usual jeers of "Mondele" or "Chinoise" and I continue on my way. Occasionally, however, someone greets me and they smile and they inquire as to what I am doing. From there a conversation begins and this is where I start to see if they are a "person of peace." So how do I know they are a "person of peace?" There are several things. (1) They are generally kind. They receive you in to their home or place of business and offer you a chair to rest. (2) They are joyful at your presence and show a desire to have a relationship with you. Many times they may have less than pure motives. They may want to put me down as a reference on a visa application or they may think that by becoming my friend I will give them money, etc. I let them think what they want and just give them the Word. (3) The offer of starting a Bible Study at their home is usually received with joy. Sometimes this third one may take more than one visit.

I say all of that to help you all pray with more insight when I tell you I am prayer-walking and looking for "sons of peace." Those are the kind of people I'm seeking when I go out prayer-walking. Today, while in Kintambo I met two potential "sons of peace." Please pray for Dide and Freddie. I met these two men today and they showed some of the above characteristics. These two men represent an opportunity to start two Bible studies, one in Kintambo and another in a place called Limite. So please pray for Dide and Freddie as I follow-up and try to visit them again. Pray that Bible Studies would begin in these men's homes and they would become disciples of Christ and follow him. Thanks for your prayers!