Broken Hearts Ministry

Jake – Seven-days-sober, please pray for continued sobriety as Jake seeks rehab. Jake is a brother in the Lord with whom we’ve had a relationship for some time. Please also pray that during this time he would feel the nearness of God and would know God’s love for him as he wrestles through the issues that have pushed him toward crystal meth.

Max – Thursday night’s Refuge message was on breaking out of harmful cycles. After hearing the message, Max approached Jeremiah and said he wanted help getting out of the cycle he found himself in. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work as Max reflects on what happened Thursday.

Louis – Also came to the Refuge, but has a lot of anger and pride. Please pray the Holy Spirit would heal whatever hurts Louis has, and in so doing that God would draw Louis into relationship with the Savior.

Praise – God has brought about a few new members of the Broken Hearts team recently, and may also be providing a way for some of the Orange County team members to move up to the Hollywood community. Please pray for God’s continued provision and direction.

A more full update of this week’s Refuge service will be posted tomorrow, but this one is a bit urgent so please keep it in your prayers today:

Jake – Seven-days-sober, please pray for continued sobriety as Jake seeks rehab. Jake is a brother in the Lord with whom we’ve had a relationship for some time. Please also pray that during this time he would feel the nearness of God and would know God’s love for him as he wrestles through the issues that have pushed him toward crystal meth.

Nick - Please pray that the Holy Spirit would fill him to overflowing with a message for
this Friday’s knXshn service.

Also, please pray that God would bless our ministers with divine appointments to empower and encourage the community we serve.

Lastly, please lift up the Wilcox LAPD station. Pray that God would provide them
with them with the protection, wisdom, resources, and grace necessary to police the
neighborhood.

Prayer:
Jake - needs continued prayer as he wades through rehab. Pray that he would continue to lean on the Lord for strength to stay sober, and not on himself. Pray also for our brother Jamal for continued strengthening in the Lord.

 ”Sammy” - who came to the Refuge service and was excited about God’s Word. He’s an older gentleman who has a lot of experience with the church. Pray that he would continue to be open to the Holy Spirit. For “T“, a guy who came with Sammy and seemed interested in the service and in conversation.

 ”James” – who also came with Sammy. James is caught in the lifestyle of escorting and meth addiction. Please pray for him, that God would call him out of prostitution and into the love of Christ. Pray that the Broken Hearts team would continue to see him on the streets and have interaction with him.

 Marco - once hostile toward the Broken Hearts team, he’s been opening up more lately. Please pray that he would see God’s love in us.

Adam - who doesn’t see a way out of prostituting. Pray that he would be able to find another source of income, and that he would be willing to step forward in faith that God can provide. Pray that he would trust God.

Pray for “Bob” and his wife, as they have been living in a hotel for a while, and the wife has been sick. Pray also for their pregnant daughter.

Praise:
Praise God for our growing relationship with the security guards in the area! The last four weeks have seen a real boost in interaction with them. Please continue to pray for their salvation.

Praise God that when the police who patrol the area hear about what we are doing they don’t ask us to leave. Pray that we would continue to have opportunities to witness to them, as well as to our friends on the street.

This week I was paired up with Jennifer (and Han as our prayer support) to go out on the street and share the love of Christ. After a few minutes of walking up and down our stretch of Santa Monica Blvd, we found a man who was prostituting wearing a miniskirt and high heels standing alone in the cold waiting for his next customer to drive up. Jen and her bubbly personality got the conversation rolling quickly and so it took mere moments to learn that his name is “Natasha” and that it was his birthday.
We also learned that he is writing an autobiography detailing the various hardships in his life and how he has overcome them. He volunteered to us that he has spent a lot of time alone lately just reflecting on his life and considering ways to improve it. Very early on in the conversation, Jen asked Natasha what he would like prayer for. Natasha quickly suggested that we pray for God to help him with his book. Well… we spoke with Natasha for roughly thirty minutes and most of that time was focused on empathizing with Natasha’s pain and frustration with things like the self-perpetuating prison system and parents who abuse and neglect their children instead of loving them. Natasha had lots of things to say and we were there to listen… and agree. At the end of the conversation, we asked again what he would like prayer for. This time, he was too choked up to give a proper answer. With tears in his eyes, he said, “Just that God would give me…” But Natasha couldn’t finish his own sentence because even he wasn’t sure what it is exactly he is searching for.

As we said our goodbyes, I gave him a hug and wished him a happy birthday. We invited him to the Refuge service and he said he would join us shortly. Later, he did actually come by for a few minutes but he left shortly after getting a plate of pizza.

Please pray that Natasha keeps searching for and eventually finds God.

-Jeremiah

As Friday night has come into a season of new growth, I am all the more appreciative of my ministry mates as well as the community that we serve. Praise Jesus for like-minded saints of bosom interest, conviction, and passion.

Please pray that our Broken Hearts ministers would: 1) have understanding of the ways of the Spirit and will make room for God; 2) be sensitive and flexible to flow with whatever new thing God wants to do; 3) be taken over by the fear of the Lord and released from the fear of men; 4) recognize that fear of the Lord is the source of our much needed wisdom; 5) be given a deep desire to be
radically real and to repent of all hypocrisy.

I came across this prayer exhortation in one of my study bibles and thought, ” WOW! That’s the kind of stuff that makes changes.” So that’s my prayer request for the time being. The heart of it is that as we minister in the community, “man-pleasing” or
“reputation” would not be more of a concern than “preaching good tidings to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, and proclaiming liberty to the captives.”

-Nick

Curly Sue trailer

Thank you for the prayers. Recruiting has been going well for Friday nights as people have been showing more interest, our Friday night prayer team has been faithful in interceding for us and the community, and Basileia took up a collection for our ministry in general. Praise Jesus! Please continue to lift up the Thursday and Friday night street church services and our relational evangelism efforts. Specifically that God would bless our Broken Heart ministers with understanding of the times and the community so that we can better serve the needs of Hollywood in Word, prayer, and deed. Also, please lift up our efforts to plant a Friday night bible study at Magee’s (a donut shop on Las Palmas and Santa Monica). Thanks.
- Nick