Displaying items by tag: Praise

Alfie Dean from Babbacombe wanted to do something to help others in his community during lockdown; so the 13-year-old set up a pantry outside his house to help vulnerable people who cannot get to the shops and those struggling to buy essentials. He erected two shelves at the end of his driveway and stocked them with milk, bread, tins, pasta, biscuits, etc. A sign read, ‘Babbacombe Pantry - take what you need, leave what you don’t and donate what you can’. In the first two days fifty people used the pantry. In Buckinghamshire a Network Rail bridge between junctions 16 and 17 on the M25 carries a large graffiti sign, ‘Thank you NHS’ (see). It is not clear who painted the heart-warming message.  In America hundreds of Christians surrounded a hospital and sang and prayed to raise the spirits of staff and coronavirus patients: see

Currently 3,000 children are uniting to pray for the nations on Whatsapp. Royal Kids Ministries, started in Chennai in 1991 with one orphanage, have expanded into Children House of Prayer (CHOP), with prayer rooms at many orphanages. Their vision is Malachi 4:6: ‘He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers’. ‘The aim is to raise up young intercessors as worshippers and as a prayer army to cry out for revival, and also to call forth spiritual parents to support and cover children with prayers: in essence, to bring revival through orphans.’ This vision has spread; today there are CHOP in eight countries praying every day, and in eight more praying once a week. The aim is to have every orphanage turned into CHOP prayer rooms in every nation of the world.

Malcolm Duncan, the key speaker at the recent WPC prayer conference, took 200 intercessors on an encouraging journey of encountering the glory of God. All across the UK churches are being called to prayer as never before. Virtual prayer meetings are taking place as the Holy Spirit raises up an invisible net of prayer, here and in many other nations. Each one of us is part of this! Our prayers for our loved ones, our streets and communities, our nations and their leaders and our world, are part of this. Ask the Lord what He wants you to pray into and follow His leading. Those not at the conference can listen here

David Marshall, of the Meaningful Chocolate Company, launched the Real Easter Egg ten years ago after discovering that not a single Easter egg mentioned the Christian faith. This startling revelation was the springboard for this egg, which, a decade on, still cuts a lonely figure in the sea of chocolate eggs on supermarket shelves that make no reference whatsoever to the Christian origins of the festival. But the fact that it is still on the shelves isn't something David takes for granted: after all, when the egg was first launched, supermarkets were reluctant to stock it. There is little reference to Jesus or the religious aspect of Easter elsewhere, but David’s company continues to provide faith-based Easter eggs that come with a children's book telling the story of Easter.

The Constantine Bay Store, near Padstow, wants older people to be able to shop ‘exclusively and with confidence’. Each day between 8 and 8.30 am, the shop will open its doors only to those born before 1950. The owner said he hoped it would ‘give them a little bit of peace of mind’ in the fight against coronavirus. Nationwide, Sainsburys are introducing a similar incentive. C3 Church in Cambridge gave out 3,000 ‘Love Your Neighbour’ flyers to its congregation to post through their neighbours’ doors, offering to collect groceries, speak on the phone, or collect a prescription for those who are in self-isolation. Church members fill in their contact details on the flyer so that people can request help. See Neighbourhood Prayer Network have produced ‘Help Cards For Your Street’, which can be downloaded free here

Haya was nine months pregnant when she fled from IS soldiers with her family and miraculously reached a hospital just as she went into labour. Fighting was fierce and staff were caring for the wounded as she gave birth. Then bombing increased and everyone had to leave the hospital. Haya couldn’t move. Her temperature was dropping fast; she told the nurses she was dying, and asked them to give her baby to her husband and leave her behind. Not long afterwards she felt a very warm hand touching her, moving her down the stairs, and a voice said, ‘Do not be afraid: I am the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am by your side.’ Upon arriving at the exit doors, she felt a surge of energy and was able to flee the bombing. She is now safe with her family and baby, and says on that day there were two new births: her baby and herself, as she became a strong believer in Christ.

Spring comes late to Nanai country in the Russian Far East. Ice on the river is three feet thick, after winter temperatures of 40o below zero. Anton, Timur and Misha were sent by Wycliffe Russia to Siberia to learn about the Nanai people and their language. When they arrived at a village, they were welcomed by a leader who was a Christian. His mother, however, was not a Christian and she did not approve. The Bible translators demonstrated a Nanai audio dictionary to a small group, including the disapproving mother. She was not a believer, but she was passionate about her language and was surprised to find that Anton and his friends shared her passion; so she accepted them and became their friend. After hours discussing the language using Bible stories, the conversations turned to God. The leader’s mother listened intently, no longer disapproving. Because these visitors were interested in her language, she was now interested in their God. See also the world article on Tajikistan.

She was picking fruit on a sweltering summer’s day in June 2009 with Muslim women when a dispute arose over a shared cup of water because the Muslim women would not drink from a cup that they considered ‘unclean’ as it had been used by a Christian. This culminated in Aasia Bibi being accused of insulting Muhammad. ‘My husband was at work, my kids were in school’, she recalled. ‘A mob came and dragged me away. They made fun of me.’ ‘I am not angry at all, I’ve forgiven everyone from my heart and there is no hardness in me. I learned how to be patient after having to leave my children behind.’ These are the gracious words of Aasia Bibi, the Christian mother-of-five who spent nearly eight years on death row in Pakistan, falsely accused of ‘blasphemy’.

We recently prayed that the preliminary Sudan peace deal with the rebel Sudan PLM would stand and end nine years of fighting and poverty in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan areas. Now the EU is allocating €30 million life-saving assistance to address various humanitarian needs in these areas that have been cut off from international assistance for years. Over nine million people are in need of humanitarian assistance; nearly two million are uprooted from their homes, while the country hosts one million refugees relying on aid for their survival. The EU complements its funding with development assistance that helps communities build resilience to increase people's access to social protection in the long-term.

Last week Prayer Alert intercessors praised God for 115 people rescued from bonded-labour slavery in India. This week we can celebrate the release of 204 people, including 41 children, from two large Indian brick kilns in one of their largest ever joint rescue operations. Click the ‘More’ button for the heart-warming story of recovery.