Praise God for bringing us together as a faith family. Ask Him to grow our devotion to His Word, to fellowship with one another, to loving hospitality among all peoples, to the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer. Pray for God to grow us close to one another as we grow closer to Him and to increase our unity within Brook Hills. Pray for our knowledge of God to grow and as a result for our awe and worship of Him to increase. Ask God to help us be bold and consistent in our witness of Him to the world around us, and pray for Him to grow our church by adding to us those He is saving that we might disciple one another as we follow Jesus together.

This week, in observance of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, we are interceding on behalf of human trafficking victims in the Greater Birmingham area, especially those who are minors. Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that involves the recruitment, transfer, or receipt of an individual by means of force, coercion, or deception for the purpose of exploitation, many times involving minors. Research over the past few years has shown that this is a $110 million industry annually in the Birmingham area. We’re also praying this week for Meadow Brook Baptist Church and Pastor Chris Jones.

Day 1: Pray for God to protect, rescue, heal, save, and restore human trafficking victims in our own city, especially those who have been unable to escape their circumstances. Ask God to send his Holy Spirit to comfort the afflicted and be a very present help for them in times of trouble.

Day 2: Pray for awareness in the Body of Christ concerning human trafficking, and for God to awaken the community, nation, and world to the personal and societal destruction caused by this exploitation.

Day 3: Pray that the Church would be compelled by the biblical mandate in Scripture to seek justice for the oppressed. Ask God to speak through His Body in word and deed. Also, pray for local government authorities as they seek to combat slavery in all its forms. 

Day 4: Sex trafficking and pornography are closely linked. Pray for sexual purity within the Church. Pray for individuals struggling with sexual sin, and for ministries like Awaken that are helping adults find freedom in Christ.

Day 5: Ask Jesus for an awakening among all offenders of human trafficking. Pray that they would repent of their sin, turn to Jesus, and become forces for freedom. 

Day 6: Pray for our partners, The WellHouse and Blanket Fort Hope, and other organizations in Birmingham that God has called to serve victims of human trafficking.

This week we are praying for the Hausa people of Nigeria. Nigeria has a total population of over 186 million people; over 30 million of them are Hausa, making them the largest ethnic group in all of West Africa. Although English is recognized as the country’s official language, Hausa, the native language of the Hausa people, is rapidly becoming the chief language of northern Nigeria. The Hausa are very influential in West Africa, both culturally and politically. The culture is strongly linked to Islam, which makes it difficult to engage them with the gospel. There is a lot of prejudice against the Christians of southern Nigeria, and there has been intense persecution of the Christian Hausa. Join us this week as we pray for the Hausa.

Day 1: Less than 1% of the Hausa population are Evangelical Christians. Pray for God to open the hearts of the Hausa to the gospel.

Day 2: Ask God to encourage and sustain the small number of Hausa believers. Pray for them to be bold in the face of family pressures and persecution.

Day 3: Thank God for the translation of the Bible into the Hausa language. Pray for the power of God’s word to transform the Hausa.

Day 4: Pray for a healthy, multiplying church to be raised up among the Hausa people.

Day 5: The Hausa have many physical needs and life can be difficult in Nigeria. Nearly one-third of the people are unemployed and life expectancy is only 56 years. Pray for God to open opportunities for believers to influence and meet the physical needs of the Hausa in Jesus’ name.

Day 6: Ask the Lord to raise up and call out more believers who are willing to share Christ with the Hausa.