Pray for South Sudan

We encourage you to submit your own stories to chris@spiritofjoy.us.

It can be anonymous. Looking forward to seeing how God is working in all of our lives.

Pray for South Sudan!

Bobby Bender

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

Colossians 1:9-14

In many ways, life is going well in South Sudan. God is definitely working in this place.

At the same time, however, the people and politics keep getting in the way. 

I keep wondering how God still loves us (mankind) after all the atrocities that we allow to occur to one another. Mostly it just makes me sad that people allow business, money, and greed to swallow our call to love and care for others. But this is nothing new. It has happened throughout the ages. 

For me, however, it would just be really nice go back (even occasionally) to being naïve. Honestly, I don’t like realizing how the world really works. Everything is so contradictory to what is right in the eyes of God.

On the positive side, I am realizing more and more how great God’s forgiveness is!

I am also learning that to help fix something that is broken, we must understand how it became broken in the first place. The answer goes back to sin. It broke us. It continually destroys our world. Therefore, since we are sinful by nature, the only fix is our humble acknowledgement of our own sin and our faith-filled acceptance of the incredible sacrifice that was made for us by Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

This world needs to know this now more than ever!

In the midst of this storm that we call life, it’s getting hard and harder to discern the right direction. We must remember that God is the lighthouse and Jesus is our light. This is the only true guidance we have. Indeed, this is our only hope to make it safely back to HIS shores. 

My only hope in this place of hunger and corruption is to hold true to these facts. I can’t be blissfully naïve anymore. My sanity depends daily on my ability to realize how crucial Christ is to my life. I must conduct myself according to his truths, if I am going to be of any lasting help as I try to help others.

Remember the silver lining — or perhaps gold lining: God loves us! I don’t think I will ever fully understand his love and forgiveness, but I rejoice every day that I am loved. 

I may not be able to fix or help everyone, but God hasn’t asked me to. Instead, he takes my burdens and asks me to simply reflect his love toward the people he puts in my life.

I love you guys! Pray for us in South Sudan.