(Written by: Shelby Carson)
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise Him up on the last day” John 6:44 (NASB2020)
The time to leave for the Czech Republic is almost here! I cannot believe that in just 3 short weeks, I will be getting on an airplane to fly to the place and culture and people that I have been praying for, for two years.
Up to this point, my main involvement in Czech ministry has been leading the prayer teams for the short term trips. I have been unable to physically go to the Czech Republic for the first two years because of nursing school and starting my job as a nurse. But I am so thankful God provided me a way to still be a part of this ministry even though I could not physically go, and He has taught me so much about the importance of prayer through this! And even though I am now able to physically go to the Czech Republic, I still want to remember the importance of prayer in this ministry as I go on my journey.
Leading up to leaving for the Czech Republic, I have been focusing on memorizing John 6:26-63. This is a passage in scripture after Jesus has fed the five thousand people and He is teaching that He is the Bread of Life, and everything we need can be found in Him. The reason I chose to memorize this passage was because of verse 44, which says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise Him up on the last day” (NASB2020). Pastor Doug brought up this verse in a lesson he gave to our youth group (Crossways) at Family Bible Church when he was talking with them about Czech missions. Since then, I have thought about this verse often.
It is my greatest hope and prayer that the students we meet with this summer during camp will come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior and that He will change their lives forever. But this verse from John is a humbling reminder that it is not me or my words or my actions that will lead the students to a saving faith in Christ. Instead, it is the work of God drawing their hearts to His. We are but God’s humble servants seeking to come alongside Him in the work that He is already doing in the hearts and lives of the people in the Czech Republic. If you haven’t noticed yet, in our blog prayer requests, we are consistently asking for prayer that God will draw students to camp. The heartbeat of that prayer comes from what Jesus says that God is the one who draws people to Himself!
This is a prayer that I pray often for the people in the Czech Republic, and I hope you will join me in this prayer! Thank you so much for all of your prayers already. I know God is working and I am excited to watch all of the cool things that He does on our trip and come back and share them with you!
Prayer Requests and Praises
- Pray for Aidan and Andrew as they serve in their internships
- Pray that preparation for the rest of the team goes smoothly.
- Pray for health of the mission team and our Czech counterparts.
- Pray that God draws students for two full camps this year.
- Pray for the remaining support and supplies for our team.