Essentially, pray for God to bless you first, and then pray for others.  It may be a surprising way to think about how we are called to pray for Chad.  Doesn’t Psalm 115:1 say, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us”?  Aren’t we supposed to deny ourselves for the sake of others?  Yes, but the type of denial and servanthood we are called to as Christians is only effective in as much as it is an overflow of our abiding in and being blessed by Christ himself.  As Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Not surprisingly, Psalm 67 follows upon biblical precedent.  Genesis 12 verse 1 lays the foundation,
 

And I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you
 and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
 

I love the “so that” statements in the Bible.  It is God giving us his reasons and purposes for why he does what he does.  Clearly, God wants to bless his people,

so that (his) way may be known on earth,
(his) saving power among all nations.
Psalm 67:2
 

The end goal is God receiving the praise of “the peoples” (vv. 3-5) from all nations.  Yet, mysteriously God has chosen that the good news of salvation offered, come through a people who have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3).  That’s a lot of blessing and it’s been lavished upon us. Therefore, please pray for us, existing believers in Chad, your local church and yourselves, that the face of Christ “may……..shine upon us” and “bless us” (verse 1)

 
……so that…..
 
“the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6) may be uniquely displayed in us and his salvation declared by us unto the making glad of many Chadians.

- Those serving in Chad sometimes feel like there are innumerable barriers to reaching people in Chad, like immovable walls.  Pray for the Spirit of God to erode and soften hearts to hear the truth and live.

- Please pray again for a woman in a remote village who has taken great interest in hearing stories about Jesus.  She is asking frequently for more stories to be told to her in her language.  Pray for these story tellers as they communicate the truths of Christ with clarity and a reliance on God.

- Pray for a recent business venture launched by one of our workers in order to provide employment and business opportunities for ostracized new believers.  Pray God’s favor upon both this business start-up and those it hopes to provide for.

- There are some very exciting things happening in Chad relating to the use of digital media to connect online seekers to on the ground disciple makers.  Many have questions about Jesus and our faith, but they are too fearful to ask them openly or they don’t know whom to ask.  Please pray for God to bless us as we reach out to those with questions so that God may more clearly reveal himself to them.