{"id":26417,"date":"2024-05-28T10:56:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T16:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/?p=26417"},"modified":"2024-05-28T10:56:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T16:56:28","slug":"june-2024-prayer-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/prayer\/june-2024-prayer-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"June 2024 Prayer Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sward Family | Serving in Cambodia<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cTeacher, please pray for me.\u00a0 I recently believed in Jesus, but I have no peace whatsoever!\u201d<\/p>\n

The young tribal man had quietly listened to the Bible lesson, and the discussion that followed, but he couldn\u2019t contain himself any longer. He was desperate and confused.<\/p>\n

\"\"Not knowing this young man, I asked him a few questions and prayed for him.<\/p>\n

After praying, I asked him, \u201cHow do you feel now?\u201d He slowly opened his eyes, and then blurted out, \u201cI feel even worse!\u201d Everyone\u2019s eyes were now on me.<\/p>\n

In the course of our brief interaction, I\u2019d manage to piece together that this young man, Bunla, had made a profession of faith a month or so ago. However, as the small church in his village was less than one year old, and most of its members are illiterate, he hadn\u2019t received any follow-up teaching or personal discipleship since then.<\/p>\n

Because of the occult practices, illnesses, alcoholism, and overall chaos that characterizes many tribal families in NE Cambodia, usually, it\u2019s necessary to lead new believers through a process of spiritual deliverance and inner healing prayer shortly after they make a profession of faith. However, before this is possible, it\u2019s important to lay a solid foundation of core biblical truths. And that takes time.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Sitting across from Bunla, I knew I didn\u2019t have the time necessary to really help him. So, I told him, \u201cBunla, I don\u2019t know how to help you tonight. But Jesus does. He\u2019s here. He sees you, inside and out and he loves you. Why don\u2019t you ask Jesus about your problems?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bunla agreed. He closed his eyes and sat silently for a minute or two. When he opened his eyes again, I asked him if Jesus had revealed anything to him. Bunla\u2019s demeanor had visibly softened. He looked at me and said, \u201cJesus said I don\u2019t have peace, because I claim to believe in him, but don\u2019t obey him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was shocked. Bunla had never touched a Bible before and had received almost no Christian instruction apart from the simple gospel message. And yet, the Holy Spirit spoke directly to his heart, \u201cconvict[ing] the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment\u201d<\/em> (John 16:8).<\/p>\n

Not long after, Bunla enro\u00a0 \u00a0lled in our Discipleship Training School (DTS)\u2014a three-month residential program for Christian youth in our province. Since then, Bunla\u2019s understanding of scripture, his love for the Lord, and his eagerness to serve others has grown tremendously.<\/p>\n

During these three months, there have been some tough times too. But through it all, Bunla continues to testify to the joy and peace that come from Jesus.<\/p>\n

In a few days, Bunla and the other DTS students will return to their villages. Please pray that \u201cin the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,\u201d<\/em> which accurately describes their society and ours, these young people would, \u201cshine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life\u201d<\/em> (Philippians 2:15-16).<\/p>\n

Scott Sward<\/p>\n

Download this month\u2019s full prayer letter here<\/strong><\/a>...<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sward Family | Serving in Cambodia \u201cTeacher, please pray for me.\u00a0 I recently believed in Jesus, but I have no peace whatsoever!\u201d The young tribal man had quietly listened to the Bible lesson, and the discussion that followed, but he couldn\u2019t contain himself any longer. He was desperate and confused. Not knowing this young […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"full","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[424,368,223,15,367,373],"class_list":{"0":"post-26417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-prayer","7":"tag-424","8":"tag-cambodia","9":"tag-pray","10":"tag-prayer-letter","11":"tag-sward","12":"tag-sward-family","13":"entry","14":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26422,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26417\/revisions\/26422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}