"Boko Haram insurgents have so far seized control of over 20,000 square kilometers of territory in three North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, Daily trust reports... The land mass under the control of the insurgents is about the size of Wales in the United Kingdom or the state of Maryland in the United States, and bigger than Northern Ireland. It spanned across ten local government areas and home to more than two million people.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has since declared the annexed territory part of an Islamic caliphate with capital in Gwoza. But Shekau is thought to be holed up in his Sambisa Forest sanctuary, from where he administers his own brand of Islamic law across the areas his fighters hold sway. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the occupied territory and are now sheltering in displaced people's camps in safer areas in the three states. Tens of thousands more have crossed the borders into neighboring Niger Republic and Cameroon. However a great deal of people, who remained behind, including women and children, are now trapped. Many among them are being killed in a systematic manner. First the insurgents seek out and kill community leaders and government officials. Next, they go after religious leaders and youth who don't share their world view.
"Life in Boko Haram land is brutish. They kill, harass and brutalise people for unjustifiable reason. They take away young women and girls; and they treat businesses left behind by fleeing residents as war booty," said a man who fled Bama when the militants struck in september. President Goodluck Jonathan revealed during his recent trip to New York for the UN General Assembly session that over 13,000 people have so far been killed since the Boko Haram violence erupted in 2009. Military authorities wouldn't comment on the number of troops so far killed trying to put down the uprising.
The conflict has taken its toll on all spheres of life in the region. Billions of naira in businesses have been ruined in the North East, especially in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Students have not been to school in many parts of the three states where insurgency is strong. In Borno state the government announced lately that schools will reopen this month after seven months of forced closure. The insurgents began to annex territory on the onset of the rainy season, and today the farmlands lay waste as residents fled for dear life from the affected areas. Commenting on the states of the military campaign against insurgency, two retired military officers told Daily Trust that both the government and the military high command must show greater commitment than they are doing at the moment. "The President must be sincere in his approach to the war. The country is losing territory; soldiers are being killed and losing equipment to insurgents. That does not speak well of the government and the country," said a retired colonel who preferred not to be named."
Daily Trust, Monday, 03 November 2014 05:01
Written by Abdullahi Idris
Please pray with our Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ that the government and military will be able to find and overcome the Boko Haram terrorists so that people in the occupied areas can go back to their homes and normal lives. Pray also for the release of all who are being held and abused by the Boko Haram fighters.
An ambitious project that is on God's heart is the raising up of a whole new generation of leadership for Christ and His mission in our world. Consistently through Scripture and history, the Lord has called children and youth to unique missions in life through encounters with Him in prayer. This was clearly the case with biblical characters like Joseph, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Esther and Mary, the mother of Jesus. God called them through personal prayer encounters with Himself for their particular missions that changed Israel and our world for great good.
Over 30 times in the book of Acts, it was times of united prayer by the early Christians that resulted in amazing signs and wonders and mission breakthroughs that ultimately brought the Roman empire and its emperor to Christ as the early church "turned the world upside down" for Jesus Christ. Connection with God through prayer ignites mission and results in the transformation of both individuals and the nations.
Two years ago, the International Prayer Council in cooperation with the Indonesian and Korean prayer movements and many other international networks and ministries, organized the World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia, It united more than two million believers in that country in 378 cities including tens of thousands of youth and children, and millions more through the Internet and satellite TV throughout the rest of the world. During the WPA, my colleagues and I saw the power of such united prayer.
The "My Home Indonesia" project that came out of the WPA continues to mobilize hundreds of thousands of believers there in practical loving service and sharing Jesus within this largest Muslim country on earth. As a result, many Muslims, including their spiritual leaders are coming to faith in the Lord now. Some estimate that 30% of the Indonesian population profess to be followers of Jesus.
We in International Prayer Connect believe with all our hearts that it is time to bring together the youth and children of our world for an international encounter with Him and one another that will mark and guide them into the unique missions and callings He has for them. In the summer of 2016, in alliance with many other youth movements and networks, we hope to bring together up to 8,000 youth and child leaders (under 35 years of age) along with a thousand senior mission and marketplace leaders to serve as mentors from every nation on earth to the World Youth Prayer Assembly. We believe that bringing together the future leaders of Christ's Church and mission will have an explosive impact on our world even for generations to come.
Many details need to be settled as far as venue and exact timing. Would you please pray with us and if you have any suggestions regarding the WYPA, please write to us.
John Robb
IPC Chairman
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I was recently in Nairobi, Kenya as one of speakers invited by the Prophetic and Intercessory group that wants to see Kenya reclaim its destiny as a nation. One of the strongholds that we are contending with in Kenya and Africa is the insurgence of extreme Islamic terrorist groups and the "oppression of women". You may be aware that recently, Kenya has been at the center of bloody attacks by the Al-shabaab, a terrorist group from Somalia which is linked to Al-qaeda and other international terrorism groups.
At this conference, I represented Southern Africa. There were other leaders from East and West Africa as well. We were all invited to speak on behalf of our continent and to help birth a new move of God in Kenya and East Africa. I was the only woman amongst the speakers, except for the local Host. I was also the youngest amongst them all. It was clear that God wanted me there for a very specific assignment so I prayed and trusted Him for a message to share with the believers in Nairobi, Kenya.
Africa is predominantly a patriarchal society. Women are usually found in subservient roles and in most cases, very oppressed. Any culture or nation that oppresses its women and children are "agreeing" or "subscribing" to the very stronghold that rules in some of these wicked terrorist organizations.
I had a sense God wanted to speak into this area, but I was also aware that it is usually a very touchy subject that may create tension if not handled well. So, I waited for the right time and for the right instruction from God on how to speak.
During one of the sessions, the Lord impressed on my heart that it was time to speak into this area of the nation. I spoke briefly about how God used the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of our faith to birth a new nation in the book of Genesis, and that if the nation of Kenya was to enter its divine destiny, men and women have to be released into their God-given destinies first. God then led me to do a prophetic act. I invited all the men to come forward, and face the women who were sitting down in the congregation. I asked the men to raise their hands towards the women and release the blessings of God upon them, and to call forth their destiny as mothers of the nation of Kenya. After the men prayed collectively, I asked if one of the men in front would pray out blessings over the women. A certain Pastor took the microphone and started to pray and asked for forgiveness on behalf of men for how women have been treated in the history of their nation. He cited rape cases, maltreatment of the older women and many more. It was so powerful. The women started weeping.
After that, I asked the women to rise where they were and raise their hands and voices towards the men and also pray for the men of Kenya to take their rightful place in God's plan. There was a senior and well-respected spiritual mother in the meeting, so I asked her to pray over for the men. She took off her shoes, fell on her knees and prayed a very potent prayer over the men.
After this, I felt God teaching me that what we did was a process of re-alignment and re-positioning. If He was going to move in a nation and birth new things, He needs the men and women working together side by side.
Here were some of the lessons I learnt through this process:
- Staying sensitive to the Holy Spirit - We need to learn to wait for the right time to release the word that God gives us during times of prayer and intercession. Sometimes we have the right message to share but the timing that we choose to deliver the message may not be appropriate.
- Sometimes we need to do things in the natural to help us shift in the spirit. This could be either a physical posture or doing prophetic acts like corporate prayer of identification and blessing.
- Boldness to share the word even if it doesn't make sense. It may make sense to someone else. This is where trusting the Lord is crucial. In order for us to be used of God on prayer assignments, we need to lay down our thoughts, imaginations and ideas for how things would or should work.
- Obedience to God - An example for me was when my husband and I felt strongly that we must travel together for this event, and initially we didn't understand why. When we got there and God started giving me the direction for what I needed to share, it was very clear that it was a picture that He wanted to portray to the nation. Without even saying much, so many people came up and told us that our marriage and standing together was a great witness. Let's trust and obey God as He guides us in small or big ways when going on prayer assignments.
We have prayed that these two nations can become united in their battle against the Taliban terrorists. Unfortunately, it took the tragic attack on the Pakistani school and the slaughter of many children to bring this cooperation about. Let's continue to agree in prayer that Pakistan and Afghanistan will work together closely and will subdue the Taliban in both countries effectively and totally this year.
25 December 2014 BBC News
[The military chiefs of Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to co-ordinate military operations along their border.
The move comes a week after Taliban fighters attacked a school in Peshawar, killing more than 150 people.
Afghan army chief Gen Sher Mohammad Karimi and his counterpart Gen Raheel Sharif met in Islamabad on Tuesday and announced their plans to co-operate.
In the past the two countries have accused each other of allowing cross-border attacks by militants.
The two generals met in the presence of US General John Campbell, who heads Nato coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Gen Karimi and Gen Sharif agreed their subordinates would meet immediately to discuss operations targeting Pakistani Taliban (TTP) bases along the border.
Last week Gen Sharif met Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul. The two countries agreed to "jointly take effective actions against terrorism and extremism".
Separately, Afghan officials said more than 150 Taliban militants had been killed in military operations in the border province of Kunar.
Turning point?
Taliban militants burst into Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December, shooting children and staff members.
Security sources now say a total of 152 people were killed. Media reports suggest the attack could have been co-ordinated from Afghanistan.
Following the attack Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to rid his country of terrorism, and said there would be no distinction between "good and bad" Taliban.
Pakistan has previously been accused by the Afghans and Nato of allowing al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban to seek refuge and garner logistical support in Pakistan.
The city of Peshawar is close to the Afghan border, in a region that has seen some of the worst of the violence during years of Taliban insurgency.
HK New Wave Citywide United Monthly Prayer Gathering -2nd anniversary review
Kingdom Harvest Ministries
NWHOP
The Foursqure church in Sri Lanka struggled to grow this year unlike in the past years. This was due to open persecution and lack of freedom to express our faith openly. Below are a few statistics of our growth patterns this year:
- We had 7,186 people receiving Jesus for the first time
- 457 obeyed in water baptism
- 748 became new members
- 3151 were baptized in the holy spirit
- 13,651 were healed
- 40 new churches were planted around the island
We now have 1,864 churches and meeting places, 520 credentialed Pastors and Church Planters and over 1,000 young people being trained in programs for evangelism and Church planting.
Our 4 children's homes, 2 vocational training schools, 2 widow centers and the school for children with special needs are doing well despite the financial support we face to sustain them.
We thank you for your prayers and partnership in the work God is doing in Sri Lanka and appreciate your renewed commitment for prayer and financial support these coming years.
Please uphold us in the following prayer request:
- Our nation for a fair and free election as we face our Presidential election on the 8th of January 2015.
- The ongoing floods all over the Island have affected many thousands; we need material and prayer support to minister to the needs of those in refugee camps.
- Persecution continues unabated against the churches in Sri Lanka, many churches and Pastors are constantly threatened of physical attacks,
- Christian parents find it almost impossible to enroll their children to schools they are not admitted into most institutions run by the government.
Please see this video with others in your church or prayer group. Let your heart be broken for the plight of those suffering under the brutal, genocidal regime of Kim Jong Un, one of the most wickeddictators of history in the ranks of Hitler and Stalin along with his father and grandfather. Let's continue to pray with persistence and hope for the liberation of North Korea and especially the protection and release of those whose lives hang in the balance in the death camps where many tens of thousands are languishing, suffering torture, deprivation and death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkOsxGgSDUE
Let's pray for the following:
1 That the UN and international community will ramp up the pressure on the North Korean regime to release its citizens from the death camps. Pray that the regime will be afraid to harm or kill them.
2 Pray that the regime will implode and be removed so that North and South Korea can be reunified, even this year.
3 Pray for those who are translating and publishing a book about the genocide happening that they can overcome the spiritual warfare they are facing and that it will be published and distributed widely in the USA and internationally. May it have a strong impact in mobilizing the international community to take united action against the North Korean government.
4 Pray for the organization of a second Prayer Initiative for North Korea (PINK) in April.
Here are some articles by Robert Park, the Korean-American activist who has been trying to alert the international community about the atrocities happening in North Korea. A few years ago, he spent months experiencing torture in a prison there because of his deep burden for the deliverance of the people there.
Please read, pray and act as God leads you. Anything you can do will make a difference for North Korea's liberation.
"The forgotten genocide in North Korea" (April 20, 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-will-we-stop-the-genocide-in-north-korea/2011/03/29/AFqXaMEE_story.html
"North Korea and the Genocide Convention" (September 9, 2011): http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MI09Dg01.html
"North Korea and the Genocide Movement" (September 27, 2011): http://hir.harvard.edu/north-korea-and-the-genocide-movement
"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea" (November 9, 2011): http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/192623-responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea
"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea" (December 7, 2011): http://hir.harvard.edu/responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea
"Battling a system of starvation" (December 9, 2011): http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/battling-a-system-of-starvation-1.400446
"South Korea must act to save the lives of refugees from the North" (December 27, 2011): http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/27/robert-park-south-korea-must-act-to-save-the-lives-of-refugees-from-the-north/9/
"Time to End North Korea Genocide" (February 2, 2012): http://thediplomat.com/2012/02/02/time-to-end-north-korea-genocide/
"North Korea: The World's Principal Violator of the Responsibility to Protect" (February 6, 2012):
http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/north-korea-world's-principal-violator-"responsibility-protect"
"Genocide in North Korea (February 6, 2012): http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012/02/06/genocide-north-korea
"The case for genocide in North Korea" (February 8, 2012): http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120208000741&cpv=0
"Robert Park: North Korean refugees face slaughter when China repatriates them" (February 28, 2012): http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refdaily?pass=463ef21123&id=4f4f1b425
"The Ongoing Human Rights Tragedy Occurring In North Korea" (June 14, 2012): http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/14/the-ongoing-human-rights-tragedy-occurring-in-north-korea/
"US silence on North Korea" (November 14, 2012): http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/11/197_124692.html
"President Obama's Broken Promise to the North Korean People" (November 26, 2012)
http://www.christianpost.com/news/president-obamas-broken-promise-to-the-north-korean-people-85544/
"Shining a Light on North Korea's Human Rights Crisis" (December 12, 2012): http://thediplomat.com/the-editor/2012/12/12/shinning-a-light-on-north-koreas-human-rights-crisis/
"Memo to UN Security Council: The human rights emergency in N. Korea can no longer be ignored" (December 12, 2012): http://www.worldtribune.com/2012/12/12/memo-to-un-security-council-the-human-rights-emergency-in-n-korea-can-no-longer-be-ignored/
"North Korea's Rocket Launch Highlights the Deliberate Nature of the Famine" (December 14, 2012): http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/14/robert-park-north-korea-uses-hunger-as-crowd-control/
"North Korea's Overlooked Atrocities" (January 28, 2012): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/north-korea's-overlooked-atrocities
"Policy on North Korea needs to give a higher priority to human rights abuses" (March 22, 2013): http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/commentary/north-korea-policy-human-rights-abuse-political-risk-conflict-zones-diplomacy
"North Korea's Legacy of Terrorism" (June 7, 2013): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/north-korea's-legacy-terrorism
"The Forgotten Genocide: North Korea's Prison State" (July/August 2013 Issue): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/forgotten-genocide-north-korea's-prison-state
"A Srebrenica-esque Massacre Has Recently Taken Place In North Korea's Killing Fields" (October 11, 2013): http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/11/a-srebenica-esque-massacre-has-recently-taken-place-in-north-koreas-killing-fields/
"A Srebrenica-esque Massacre Has Recently Taken Place In North Korea's Killing Fields" (October 11, 2013): http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-nsc-a-srebenica-esque-massacre-has-recently-taken-20131011,0,1827534.story
"It's Time to Aid North Korea Dissidents" (December 20, 2013): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/it's-time-aid-north-korea's-dissidents
Since October 2014, in the Beni territory there has been a recurrence of attacks against the civilian population by rebels who enter the villages with knives and similar weapons to massacre the population, men, women and children. To datemore than 250 have died, creating more than a hundred widows and more than
a thousand orphans in the streets in addition to the already considerable number of orphans. Because of these attacks, at least 80,000 families have fled their villages, leaving their property and homes. This amplifies an already precarious humanitarian situation in the area Beni is a city located at about 450 km North of Goma in North Kivu province. Currently, civilians are living there in the psychosis and fear of the continuation of the massacres according to the climate of general insecurity in the Area of Beni.
North Kivu civil society have called for social dialogue, all politicians and religious leaders from the area to reflect for three days to find a solution to this crisis affecting innocent civilian populations.
Prayer requests:
1 Pray that those who are responsible for the safety of people in the Beni will make all efforts to relieve suffering and ensure the protection of civilians.
2 Pray that God gives wisdom and intelligence to all who participate in social dialogue in Beni, so that the ideas that come out to give the solution that civilians living in peace and recover their dignity.
3 Pray that God gives the necessary for humanitarian actors to help the distressed population so that the population can have good assistance.
Children's Ministry
In Christmas day, we have organised activities with children and Youth in the objective to let them grow in God. We have gathered 500 children and Youth, with 25 Churches leaders and 10 children teachers.
Please pray for us, for 2015 we get some support to lead children and Youth activities. For now in Goma we have more than 15 churches who agree with the vision and they try to accompany our activities. As you know, we have accomplished more than four activities in 2014 with our small grant in 2014 but we have not been able to accomplish all our plan. Please, keep as in your prayer for 2015, then God can open door for us to help Children and Youth grow in God is Ministry.
Thanks and still united in prayer.
Desire Kajabika
+243 99422 3575
Skype desire.kajabika
Goma-DR Congo