Prayer Requests

Pray for France

Jesus did not expect to carry out his Father’s work successfully without praying consistently. We need people to pray that we would be faithful in prayer, so that we can hear the Father’s voice.

We have experienced a challenging year in 2015 as a result of Martyn’s illness. He had bacterial endocarditis which damaged his aortic and mitral valves. Martyn’s aortic valve was replaced, the mitral valve repaired and his aorta was reinforced. We have been under attack and would appreciate prayer for protection and complete and continued healing for Martyn.

Please pray:

• Our house in Poway, in California. Please pray that we will always have a good tenant in the house.
• We would be united in our relationship with each other, our family and our church.
• Martyn would continue to be healed and would maintain a healthy coagulation level (essential so that he doesn’t develop stroke inducing blood clots which can be caused by his artificial aortic valve).
• Help in managing the bureaucracy surrounding the association we have formed to teach English (and hence develop connections in the community with non Christians and the un-churched).
• There would be effective communication between ourselves and both the American church and the French churches that we are involved with.
• We are thankful that many kind people are supporting us financially. We cannot survive for long without much  prayer as well as financial help. We pray that Jesus would continue to bless us through monetary gifts, as well as providing us with opportunities to support  ourselves in France.
• That many Christians would pray for our family and our ministry. Great things happen when we pray!
• That the new church that we have joined recently  would be an opportunity to bless and be blessed. That we would work well together and be united in vision.
• That we and our daughter Alice would  together  earn enough money to pay  for her  living expenses to complete her four year Bible College degree.
• That all of our children would cope well with their parents living in France, while they are students in America.
• That we would have sufficient finances available for us to see our children sometimes.
• Give thanks that we found a lovely house after we were forced to leave the previous one.

Our prayer is that we should pray “at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” This means a life devoted to prayer! (Ephesians 6:18 ESV)

Paul adds that to achieve this prayerful focus, we must ” keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”

This means that we must also pray for you. You are “all the saints”, and so are we! So, please let us know your prayer requests, as we want to pray for you too.

Contact us at martyn.whittaker@billyfire.com or sian.whittaker@billyfire.com

Read below to see how you can pray  for our family!

Our family at Tom’s wedding

Our Family. Please pray for each of them!

A major challenge is that we have left behind our three children who are all college students in the U.S. Please pray that our relationship with Tom (and wife Kara), James and Alice will flourish despite the distance between us. Tom and Kara are living in Boston. Tom is doing his Ph.D. in the history of Christianity at Harvard. Kara is teaching special ed in a Boston elementary school. Alice (20) is  in Chicago, studying Bible and elementary education at Moody Bible Institute. James (22) is at the University of Virginia Law School for two more years before becoming a JAG (army lawyer).

Of course we miss our children a great deal. Any difficulties with our kids can distract us from ministry in France. Please pray for faith, godliness and stability for each one of them. We are thankful that we have seen Tom, Kara and Alice, but we have not seen James for a year. We look forward to seeing him at Christmas.