Day 25 Forty Day ‘Pray for Iran’ Campaign.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ 2 Peter 3:18

Thousands of Iranians who have recently come to faith in Christ need our prayers today. They need grow as disciples so that they will spread everywhere ‘the fragrance of the knowledge of Him’.

The challenge of discipling new Iranian believers is often greater than winning them to Christ.

Much time needs to be spent to help ground them in the Word of God as they have no previous experience of the Bible or Christian life and conduct. How they are taught at the beginning of their walk with Christ shapes them for the future.

The problem is that there are not enough trained workers who are able to teach and model the Christian life effectively. While the Iranian church does possess qualified and faithful leaders, there are simply not enough of them to cope with the rapid church growth.

The church is not officially allowed to run Bible schools in Iran, though they do their best to provide some training. Traditionally the Iranian church held many one-week training and discipleship conferences, but even these have been stopped by the government in recent years.

Another challenge is that many believers are isolated and have very little opportunity to fellowship with others. For many, their only Christian community may be a handful of other new believers who know little more than they do. There are some new believers who have no regular contact with other Christians.

Let us pray that people will not only hear the Gospel, but that they will have the opportunities to grow as faithful followers of Christ.

* Pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen new Iranian believers with power through His Spirit in their inner beings, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. And pray that they, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
* Pray, according to 2 Timothy 2:2, that more new believers will be taught the Word of God and that in turn they will entrust it to men and women who will also teach others.
* Pray for all efforts to disciple and provide teaching through Satellite TV, radio, and the Internet. Pray also for Iranian believers around the world who are discipling friends and family members back in Iran through emails and telephone calls.
* Pray for those who are faithfully discipline believers in Iran. Pray they will be encouraged and that they will sense the power, presence and protection of the Lord.

Thank you for praying.