The gates of Hell shall not prevail against us...

First this is a quick call for prayer. We spent this afternoon hanging out with Emmi at the Lighthouse ministry here in Chiang Mai. She shared her testimony with us, which you can read on their website, and gave us some good information on how we can partner with them in their ministry to Thai students and in the red light district. Late tonight (starting at around 10 pm) we will be partnering with a YWAM Berlin team that has been here for about a month. We will worship and pray with them and then the four of us will stay together and prayer walk through the streets. The girls will remain open to opportunities to speak with the Thai prostitutes and Luca and I will remain open to speaking with the Western men who come to use the "services" that they provide. Our main focus on this first night though will be to prayer walk through the streets and be interceding for the long term work that is going on here. This is not the sort of area or ministry to enter into ligthheartedly or unaware of the dangers so I am asking for an increase in specific prayer as we go out tonight. Pray that God would give me wisdom and great spiritual discernment, particularly in knowing how to protect the students from any attack, be it spiritual or physical, that may come against them. Pray also that I would know how to prepare our team appropriately and how to debrief afterwards. For each of us, but Luca and me especially, please pray for a guard over our eyes and over our minds as we enter into an area dedicated to sexual immorality and seek to be "in the world but not of the world". Pray that we would take every thought captive to Christ. Pray that we would be a light and a blessing and that God would give us His genuine love for each individual person, both for the "workers" and for the "tourists".
Please check out the information on the Lighthouse ministry. They are doing a great work here and they desperately need our prayers and support. It was such a blessing this afternoon to hear some stories and testimonies of people who have come to know Christ through this ministry.
Just a quick update on a few other things: Yesterday was one of my favourite days so far. I felt very blessed to have all of my desires met and prayers answered for the day. Luca, Malori and Becky had a great time at the cooking course and were able to share testimonies with several people there. Pray for seeds to be watered, particularly in Pam, from Canada... I think, who is deeply involved in yoga and holistic healing. Pray that she finds true SPIRITUAL healing in Jesus Christ. I was able to have about a three hour conversation with my friend Johann, from Belgium. We lay back in comfy chairs at the rooftop bar and he smoked half a pack of cigarettes while we enjoyed good conversation on just about every topic under the sun. Mainly we talked about spiritual matters and I was able to lay out the gospel quite boldly and shared a lot of scripture with him. Long story short, he is still quite happy in his casual Buddhism and isn't really seeking answers to the deeper questions in life. I am praying hard that he will have a vision of Jesus Christ during one of his times of meditation. Please join me in praying for him. I hope that some of the things that I said to him stick with him and that the Holy Spirit will do His good work in bringing him to conviction of sin and a realization of the riches of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I'd better go. Thanks for praying! God bless!