Dave with Pastor Victor Bravo & Sol at one of the church plants we helped start in 2015
I enjoy most things about my job, which is a tremendous blessing. What an amazing privilege it is for me to be a catalyst for church planting on the Border and the Baja! I love the opportunity to help start new churches and support the pastors who lead them.
Yet if I’m honest, there are some challenges to doing this work. These churches are invading enemy territory, so there is backlash. There is a battle going on. My family has felt it, and at times suffered from it. The churches have endured it.
Sometimes I have to make difficult decisions that not everyone is in favor of. My desire is to honor the Lord, and to follow him. Dawn and I seek to pray, and to be sensitive to God’s leading. That’s not to say that we always get it right.
We depend on God’s grace, and seek to repent quickly when we hurt someone.
Prayer Support – Warfare Prayer
Dave with Pastor Ivan Casados & Rocio and Aaron at one of the church plants we helped start in 2014
All this reminds me of the huge need we have for prayer support. As we have served here now on the Border the Lord has brought some wonderful people in to our lives. They are people that are committed to pray for us. We’ve met some friends that are gifted in warfare prayer, and we’ve benefited greatly from them.
This week we find ourselves in a period where we need much prayer and discernment as we move forward. Join us in prayer as we interact with friends and colleagues about the church planting projects that we are getting ready to launch.
I find it interesting in the very verse that Jesus speaks of the abundant life he came to give us, that the verse begins with how the enemy attacks us.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. —John 10:10 ESV
What a contrast! The enemy wants to destroy us, but we have this great promise in Christ. We can have an abundant life in the midst of the battle. Jesus defeated our foe on the cross and through his resurrection. That’s what we celebrate in Easter. Hallelujah!
Even though Christ secured victory for us the battle rages on. We have been given armor for this warfare, and prayer is also a means to protect us and to attack. James reminds us of the power of prayer and confession in James 5:16-18 ESV.
Sunset on the Pacific Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
What a wonderful reminder of how the Lord uses prayer to bring about healing and to change the course of nature! Do not grow faint as you labor in prayer. The part you play with us is huge!
In His Grip, Dave DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org
