New Project, New Partnership, New Privilege to Serve!

Praise the Lord for His awesome power to change lives! We have some news that is unfolding as we speak. A new project, a new partnership, a new privilege to serve. But, we'll share more about that when all the details are worked out. In the meantime, however, we want to share a recent report from Chaplain Chris (US Army) from Iraq. We'll be sharing more testimonies like this as time goes on ...

Praise our Mighty God!

What an incredible blessing and encouragement from the Lord. He is so good. All I can do is thank Him for His amazing grace and great faithfulness. I also wanted to pass along another awesome testimony from this week: I often travel off the FOB to the remote patrol bases and Joint Secutiry Stations where our Soldiers work with local Iraqi Police and Army forces to bring order and protection to the cities around us. We also have numerous Arabic speaking Interpreters who accompany us on every mission and help us interact with the local citizens, political leaders, and of course insurgents.

Well, the other night I was holding a service for our guys and several interpreters came in because they heard me playing guitar and as usual, are drawn to live music. They stayed for the remainder of my preaching and afterwards one came up to me and told me that he wanted me to explain to him why he felt to so good and had such peace, but also sadness when he heard the preaching and singing. He related to me how he doesn't agree with Islam anymore and doesn't believe in the Koran because when he goes to the Mosque all they talk about is killing, violence against other Muslims and jihad. He can't believe in a "God" who is behind that. He told me that he wanted to know about the Christian God and about Jesus.

Let me tell you that I almost couldn't contain myself as he was speaking. He is coming to see me in a few days to talk about the Lord and I am quite certain, recieve salvation through faith in Jesus Christ! Hallelujah! This is not the first time that Iraqi interpreters have visited my services. There is another one who also asked about becoming a Christian not long ago because some of his friends in Northern Iraq have also recently became Christians. He said that he wanted to become one too because of the problems he has with Islam. What more can I say?

God is moving in the hearts of Muslims to reject their empty, twisted teachings and embrace the truth of the Gospel of life and peace. In response to this I am requesting prayer and also a few Bibles in Arabic if any are available. As we say in the Infantry "I want to 'action this' while we have optimum target opportunity".

Blessings again from Iraq in the Name of our Risen Savior,

Chaplain Chris

So, you see why we're excited? These reports coming out of Iraq need to be shared with everyone. Watch this blog for more reports like this and for more news about what God is doing through Heart of God International Ministries.

Jan Ross
jan@heartofgodinternational.com

Swahili Bibles

Dear Partners,

I recently shared with you a request to pray for Chaplain Chris and the opportunity given to us to help provide Swahili Bibles to 200 Ugandan Army forces serving side-by-side with our troops in Iraq. I wanted to bring you up to date with the project so you will know how to continue to pray.

Arrangements have been made through Pastor Fred in Uganda to purchase the Bibles, package them, and ship them to Iraq. It has been decided to ship the 200 Bibles in four separate shipments of 50 Bibles each.

Please pray for Pastor Fred as he takes on this responsibility by making himself available to help with this project. As you know, he is very busy with the ministry in Uganda, but is excited to be able to help. He has blessed me so much with his enthusiastic response to our request for help.

Pray for the Ugandan soldiers who are experiencing a true miracle as the Lord is revealing the Messiah to them through dreams and visions and instilling in them a hunger to know Him and turn away from their Muslim faith to embrace the one and only Savior.

Pray for Chaplain Chris as the Lord uses him to minister to these men who are obviously being stirred and called of God for purposes we cannot even begin to understand. All too often we forget the huge responsibility carried by chaplains – not only in their daily responsibilities of encouraging and ministering to the troops, but their responsibility before God to not only live with the troops but to be a shining example of Godliness under the most adverse conditions.

Continue to pray for our troops, for their safety, that God would protect them and keep them from harm. Pray that God would use their circumstances to reveal Himself to them in the times of danger and fear. Pray that these young men and women will reach out to the Lord and find Him as their Refuge and Strength, a Shelter in their time of need, as their Strong Tower, their Fortress, their Shield and Defender. I can’t imagine a greater time of need than being faced with their own mortality 24/7 on the battleground.

Finally, pray for these men who have made it their mission to supply the Swahili Bibles to the Ugandan soldiers. The money is coming from private funding. Working with them has been an incredible experience and such a blessing to me personally and to this ministry. Pray that God would bless them and increase their influence as Ambassadors to the Kingdom of God, not only in Iraq but in every way, everywhere. Thank the Lord for their sacrificial giving and their committed service to our King!

It is so incredible to watch the Body of Christ at work – not “their ministry” or “our ministry”, but the Body working together in unity to fulfill the Great Commission. We must always remember that we are part of the corporate Body of Christ which goes beyond our connection to the local church or fellowship. The Body is a living “organism” that, when working in unity for one single purpose, is unstoppable, undefeatable, and totally and eternally victorious through the Head, Jesus Christ. The very thought of this makes me want to shout!

As always, thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. God bless your ministry of intercession and prayer.

Love,
Jan