As our church has been praying and fasting for what is happening in Haiti and Afghanistan, and as I have been reading over different resources, it seems like the need in both countries can be distilled down to the following four categories: 

1. Physical Protection and Physical Provision

The people of Afghanistan need both, as do the people of Haiti. Both are facing scarcity and lack. The people of Afghanistan are also needing protection from impending physical harm from the Taliban. The people of Haiti need more provision in terms of homes and medical assistance. But they all need both.

So let’s pray they receive this protection and this provision, and may they receive it in part from us as the Lord leads us to make sacrifices for them. We will be taking a special offering this Sunday for them. Let's pray lots of money comes in!

Let's also be praying for our military and civilian NGO's that are doing everything they can to get relief supplies into Haiti and people out of Afghanistan.

2. Spiritual Strengthening

There are believers in Afghanistan and in Haiti who need spiritual strengthening. They need the God of all hope to fill them with peace. They need the grace to endure hardship as well as persecution. They need the Holy Spirit to testify with their spirits that they are indeed children of God, adopted sons and daughters, and remind them that God is still God and is still on the throne despite what they are feeling and suffering.

3. Gospel Advancement.

In both countries there is a need for the gospel to go forth. There is darkness -- two different kinds of darkness perhaps -- in each country that lays like a blanket over them. But it is in the darkness that our God loves to shine forth. It is in the darkness that he sends his people to proclaim the good news of his kingdom. It is in the darkness that he loves to get a hold of stubborn hearts like that of the apostle Paul. May he do that for those who practice voodoo in Haiti and for those who are part of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and may he give his people boldness to be used for this end. 

4. For God to be Glorified

Finally, there is a need – or rather an opportunity -- for God to be glorified in both nations and in all the suffering. May he be glorified through the sacrifices of his people, through the serving and the caring and the provision. May he be glorified through the advancement of the gospel. 

May God do such miracles in both countries that people are not even tempted to point to human beings or human institutions. May God do such a mighty work that the watching world says, “ Wow. Something supernatural happened there.“

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I am personally gripped by a vision of Afghanistan filled with Jesus followers, and the Taliban existing no more. We know it will happen after Christ returns, when the whole earth – including the land that we know as Afghanistan – will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14), and where everyone will praise Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of lords. But may it also happen in part before Christ returns.