Hi Friends It was really nice to read the mail from Shimmy about the first meeting with his prayer partner. Yes, I believe many of us have similar good experiences with our prayer partners. I do have a prayer partner (Biju Davies) sitting on the other side of the globe and praying for me !! I am yet to meet him, mostly in the next year !!! Okay now this mail is to invite requests for Prayer partners. Send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to get you a prayer partner. NB: Please make sure that you have entered your profile in the joynet directory. If not please login to http://jesusyouth.org/cgi-bin/joynet/joynet.pl and enter your details there. Before that, just read below what is meant by a prayer partner and what is expected from prayer partners. God Bless Giju ------------------------------------ About Soul Mates ( Prayer Partners) ------------------------------------ In Jesus Youth there are there are various ways of growing strong as the Body of Christ. Prayer groups, small sharing groups called cells and prayer partnership are some of these. In many growing fellowship groups and ministries people are paired into units of two called prayer partners or sharing partners. Usually two persons of the same sex, same state of life (single, married, priest) and somewhat the same age and lifestyle are placed together. How did Jesus train his men and women? The Bible has enough hints to make us believe that this was an arrangement of spiritual growth and mission effectiveness desired by the Lord. Jesus sent the disciples on mission two by two (Lk. 10.1). This practice was very common among his close followers. The two going to the village called Emmaus (Lk 24:13) and the disciples going to recheck the empty tomb account by Mary Magdalene (Jn. 20: 3) are all in twos. A spiritually rich church in Antioch had very good leadership (Acts. 13:1). As they were fasting and leading a session of praise and worship the Holy Spirit initiated a strong wave of evangelisation by asking them to set apart two people for his work, Paul and Barnabas. Another great companionship began. But I think a soul mate is not for ever. Later Silas became Paul's companion in preaching the Good News and also in joyfully enduring sufferings for the Lord. How to go about it? ------------------------ 1. Come to a commitment 2. Some degree of familiarity is important. So share about yourself 3. Share your struggles in growing in Jesus. 4. Pray for the other person daily. Life the person and his or her life situ ation and also the specific needs 5. Share the insights and messages that you receive. Don't advise but gently share. 6. Be a constant encouragement for growth in holiness and zeal for sharing Jesus. A word of caution ---------------------- ? This sharing is not a session of confession ? Should we share everything? ? Don't be a burden to the other. No very long mails, not too many mails ? If you are imprudent you will suffer for it. What all areas to share, how deep you can go. ? Don't be possessive. Some may imagine that as a prayer partner I should have known certain things. ? Don't be too inquisitive. ? Don't use these chats as an excuse for gossip. Respect the privacy of other people. Judging or blaming someone who can't defend is an act injustice. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org **********************************************************************
