Displaying items by tag: prayer

JUNE 29 - JULY 2    TIPSPORT ARENA, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

“Even though it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world outwardly, to my heart it seemed like Nineveh, caught in the valley of decision - not knowing where to go. There are many cities like it all across Central Europe and now it's the church's time to enter the valley and show them the way out.

Since then we have been praying as a team daily for this and we found out this year (2017) will be the 500th year anniversary of the Reformation through Luther. It will also be around 600 years since the Czech Apostle Jan Hus was martyred, and l have personally been gripped by God that it's now time for a NEW REFORMATION.
This Reformation won't be one that divides us though, but rather unites us for the purpose of our cities turning back to God. Sure we could have more conferences - more training - but at some point what we are learning has to affect our nations' future and cause thousands to turn back to God. We don't need to wait anymore, we need a move of God right now. 

Luther said: "If I don't pray for 1 day, I feel it. If I don't pray for 2 days, the church feels it. But if I don't pray for 3 days the whole nation feels it". That's exactly where we are at. It's not the time to be asleep, but to be gripped with prayer and to bring mass outreach into this continent.

At this event you will be trained to go back to your nation and city and reach it for Jesus. There will also be a huge emphasis on bringing the lost into the stadium as we call them home to our loving Father. Well known speakers and bands are flying in from all over the world. Men and women of God and churches from all around Europe are bringing bus loads of people to see a NEW REFORMATION this year. The hunger is astounding to us.

We are calling you, too! In fact we need the strengths you carry. Let's once again believe for God's people to be filled with life and for our cities to be shaken by heaven. If Luther and Hus can see it happen, then why can't we? From Charismatics to Catholics, let's move together as a united force from all denominations and bring the power of heaven to Prague, a city in great need.
 

With a burning heart and many tears over Europe,

Ben Fitzgerald 

AwakeningEurope.com

Please join in prayer for a mighty work of the Spirit in the city of Prague, the Czech Republic and throughout Europe, bringing His revival and breakthrough so that indeed there may be a “New Reformation”!

Activists descended on Westminster for a ‘Day of Rage’ protest on 21 June, as Theresa May set out her legislative programme for the next two years in the Queen’s Speech. The demonstration, organised by Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary (MFJ), saw protesters marching to Downing Street, with the aim of ‘bringing down the Government’. Mrs May became the first prime minister in decades to lay out a legislative programme without a guaranteed House of Commons majority, as the Conservatives have yet to reach a deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. The MFJ said the protest was in reaction to ‘brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks’, and last week’s Grenfell Tower tragedy in which at least 79 died. Some condemned the protest for politicising the anger, or thought it was inappropriate. A different approach was taken by London City Mission and the Message Trust, who organised a day of prayer and fasting in Kensington.

Like so many of us at this time I have been asking the Lord, "Why are these horrific violent, deadly and disastrous things happening in our nation?"

I believe the Lord has shown us that a door has been opened through the recent two elections and Brexit referendum where sadly many Christians were dictating how people should vote. There have been so many people who have verbally attacked others who have different opinions. This has opened a door for a political spirit to come into our nations which brings division, disunity and so much wickedness. Let me be clear this is not saying people should not be involved in politics but that we are to be led by God and not a wrong spirit.

Kris Valotten recently said, "The Signs of a Political Spirit"

1) The political spirit always needs an enemy! This spirit is more concerned with winning an election than with solving a problem.
2) The political spirit demonizes anyone who doesn’t agree with them. In other words, we don’t just see them as wrong on an issue, we view them as evil.
3) The political spirit imprisons our minds and reduces us to partisan opinions. This spirit separates people into two categories; winners and losers. In this environment, straw polls replace practical wisdom and success is measured in media bits rather than real solutions.
4) True governance is displaced by political polarization in which, people are expected to support a party rather than legitimate answers. This political spirit replaces national patriotism with loyalty to a party. This attitude creates a culture where we don’t have permission to think for ourselves but it’s “decision by affiliation.”

We need to repent where we have done that, where we have grumbled about our government and not prayed for them. We need to make a decision to seek God for the best for our nations at this difficult time.

1 Timothy 2:1 is a clear mandate to us, "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Wherever we are let us choose to pray FOR the government the electorate chose to hear God for the strategies to take us forward.

We need to pray for the media and those who have agendas to disrupt and increase the chaos. Please pray this week as the Queen's Speech takes place on Wednesday to signal the start of the Parliamentary year. There are many aiming to cause trouble and there are many hurting angry people who can be easily mobilised without realising they are being manipulated.

Let us pray that God will refresh Prime Minister Theresa May, those in government, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the Police, Fire Service, Ambulance Services and Health Services who must all be completely overwhelmed and exhausted by all that has happened.

Please pray for your community and let us join together to pray for London at this vulnerable time. Pray that every plan and scheme of the enemy will be exposed and stopped in it's tracks before it comes to fruition.

Let us turn our eyes upon Jesus, the HOPE of the world and watch to see what He is doing in our nations at this time.

Jeremiah 29:7 "Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

God bless you mightily as you stand before God for our nations.

Source:  Coastlands & Gateways

When we pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit’ we don't immediately think of Mary! Yet, when we reflect on Luke 1:35 it reminds us that praying ‘Come Holy Spirit’ will bring all sorts of changes and disruption into our lives! It is through Mary's welcoming of God's Spirit that transformation on a global, even cosmic scale was enacted.

(written by Lynn Green, general secretary, Baptist Union)

During the Herrnhut Consultation, we had a strong focus on praying for revival in Germany and Europe. Here is an encouraging word. Eric Metaxas notes some trends that point to an increased spiritual hunger among Europeans and asks: “Has the demise of Christianity in Europe been greatly exaggerated? There are some encouraging signs of life.”

“It’s become customary to refer to Europe as “post-Christian.” But this is an overstatement—and it obscures large differences in religious practices across the continent: For instance, Poles are far more likely to attend church on a weekly basis than Scandinavians—and even more likely than Americans. Still, it’s difficult to dispute the idea that Christianity’s influence in Europe, on both a personal and societal level, is in decline.

But a pair of recent stories suggests that this may be changing.

The first story was a column in the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper. The headline read “Our politicians are more devout than ever—so it’s time we started taking their faith seriously.”

In it, Nick Spencer, whose just-released book is entitled “The Mighty and the Almighty: How political leaders do God,” notes that rather than European politics becoming a “God-free zone,” one of the “most striking trends of the last generation or so is how many Christian politicians have risen to the top of the political tree.”

Whereas in the thirty-five years following the end of World War II, only one Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, could be described as “devout,” since then, at least three of his successors—Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and now Theresa May—could be described that way.

And it’s not only Britain. As Christianity Today recently told readers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christianity is “deep,” “genuine,” and “important” to her life.

Even in France, the country that invented and institutionalized modern secularism, what the French call “laïcité,” Catholicism has become a kind of “X Factor” in the upcoming presidential elections.

And that brings me to the second story. In the most recent issue of the Jesuit magazine, America, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry told readers that a few years back, he noticed that “Whenever I was less than five minutes early for Mass, I had to go to the overflow room.” His church “was filled to the gills every Sunday, with young families and children most of the time.”

He decided to see how widespread this phenomenon was, so he visited parishes all over Paris and found the same thing: Sunday high Mass is packed in most parishes in Paris. The same is true in France’s second largest city, Lyon. It’s even true, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent, in his family’s home village.

What was once a revival that “you could fleetingly smell in the air,” has become more tangible, nowhere more so than in the movement called La Manif Pour Tous, “protest for all.” La Manif got 200,000 people in Paris alone to march in protest against legalizing same-sex marriage.

This in turn spawned other Christian movements in a country that supposedly had moved beyond that sort of thing. What these movements share is an opposition to liberalism, which in the French context means “a drive for ever-greater individual liberty.” As Gobry writes, “Liberalism, in this view, is responsible for sexual depravity and the culture of death,” and “leads both to abortions and to quasi-slaves in third world factories making disposable consumer items of questionable worth.”

While French Christianity still has a ways to go, what Gobry describes brings to mind the “cloud as small as a man’s hand . . . rising from the sea” Elijah’s servant saw in 1 Kings 18. Secularism has left Europeans “in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Let us pray that God sends much-needed rain to both sides of the Atlantic.”

Eric Metaxas, Breakpoint Daily, May 2, 2017

“Two people were reportedly killed in Afghanistan and another abducted from a Kabul guesthouse late Saturday, the BBC reported citing a spokesman for the interior ministry.

Among the two people dead, are a German woman and an Afghan guard. The woman abducted meanwhile is reportedly from Finland. This comes after an Australian aid worker was kidnapped in the capital of Afghanistan, last November…

Afghanistan, which is in the grip of an ongoing insurgency by the Taliban Islamist militant group, has witnessed several foreigners kidnapped in the past few years.

The British government have warned of a high and constant threat Westerners face of getting kidnapped in Afghanistan. About 100 people have been kidnapped since 2001, reports said…

“The threat of kidnapping and hostage-taking continues to be very high,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its website. It added that the attempted kidnapping targeted several expatriates, including an American citizen, who were riding in an aid group’s vehicle…

The Afghan police believe the purpose behind the majority of the kidnappings of foreigners is ransom, and these are carried out by criminal gangs. It is feared these criminal groups could sell their hostages to extremist organizations,the New York Timesreported.

International Business Times, May 21, 2017

Please continue to pray for an end to the Taliban insurgency that is causing such widespread harm to the nation and that these wicked, violent Islamic terrorists will be defeated and brought down. Pray for the protection of the humanitarian community working with great love at the risk of their lives to serve the Afghan people. Pray that those still being kept as hostages will be liberated quickly, especially this young Finnish woman that was kidnapped only several days ago.

Just received news of a terrible bombing in the diplomatic area of Kabul that has killed over 80 people and injured hundreds. Pray for His peace and deliverance for this tormented nation and that the Afghans will turn to Christ through these horrors.

During our time in Herrnhut, some of us met with a former Tibetan Buddhist monk from the Himalayan nation of Bhutan that we will call “K”. K has come to Christ and has a deep burden to share the Gospel with other monks back home. Please pray for him and others on his team as they conduct a prayer walk around their beautiful but spiritually dark country for 10 days, starting from August 17-26 and also again in September 11-20. Next year they hope to do the same.

They invite people who are really interested to pray for the Buddhist world to support this initiative. He writes: “We really want to see nation change by power of prayer. Bhutan need lots of prayer. Please join us.”

With love from your brother in Christ,

Paul Eshleman

Herrnhut Consultation

May 2017

During the wonderful Prayer Conference in Herrnhut, we introduced several lists of unreached people groups to give us all an introduction to the work of prayer and missions that still remains throughout the world. Our thesis was that when we pray specifically, we can see specific answers to our prayers. And, when we concentrate our prayers toward the unreached peoples and nations we see remarkable results.

We finished the conference with the following suggestions for carrying out our desires to work together more closely toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We suggested some objectives for each of us involved in the consultation, and we acknowledge that each of our groups had much to learn from the other. Here are some of our suggestions:

1. The Prayer movement could:
   1. Consider sending prayer warriors to every remaining unengaged, unreached people group in the world. They could team up with indigenous intercessors whose churches might eventually send workers to the group(s) they are praying for.
   2. Send similar type of intercessors to the 150 people groups that currently need the most workers.
   3. Pray specifically for each of the global networks that are currently launching initiatives toward their part in the Great Commission. This would include 20-30 global networks and 100 geographic networks.
   4. Help prepare prayer intercessors for all network meetings scheduled for the next 3-5 years.
   5. Help mission leaders to set up a prayer plan for their ministry, their workers, and the people they are trying to reach.
   6. Disseminate very specific requests to all of its prayer leaders that outline:
      1. Peoples, places and leaders where the cause of the Gospel is being blocked.
      2. Praise reports from each of the five strategic elements involved in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
   7. Develop a prayer calendar where people will pray each day for a different Christian leader or Christian organization, much like the Master Media Prayer Guide. Much like the Master Media Prayer Guide, prepared to help us pray for leaders in the entertainment industry
   8. Be a continual encouragement to mission leaders to live lives of holiness and dependence on the Holy Spirit.
2. The Missions Movement could:
   1. Provide a speaker/reporter for every major prayer conference. Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer, for the NATIONS”. We should have a report on the Nations at each prayer meeting.
   2. Provide a listing of all major evangelistic outreaches planned for each six-month time period.
   3. Make sure intercessors are invited to every strategic meeting being planned.
   4. Bring in leaders from the Prayer Movement to help church planters teach their new church leaders to pray more effectively, specifically, and scripturally.
   5. Provide contacts of mission and church leaders that intercessors could contact with when they go to a country to pray for the unreached, and unengaged people groups.
   6. Provide 2-4 reports annually on:
      1. The number and list of people groups still without a missionary.
      2. The number of workers still needed in the people groups with large populations.
   7. Provide reports twice per year on:
      1. Progress in reaching Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc.
      2. Language groups still without any scripture translation.
      3. Progress on scripture distribution efforts.
3. Ideas for both groups in combining prayer and “connection work” to hasten the fulfillment of the Great Commission:
   1. Begin by praying for the people groups you received in the materials packet at Herrnhut. If you want profiles on additional groups, write to Lara Heneveld Finishing the Task at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
   2. Send copies of the groups profiles to all of the members of your network.
   3. Ask if any of the people in your network have contacts in the country of your UUPG, or if any are planning a visit to the country in the next year or so.
   4. Become an international “Connector” for an unengaged people group.
      1. Definition – Connecting with Believers in the country of the Unengaged, Unreached people group (UUPG) to tell them you are praying that someone will take the gospel to your people group.
      2. Tell your contact that:
         1. Your prayer group or church is praying for this people group and might want to partner with them.
         2. Ask them if they know of a Christian National that could find this group and do a 3-day survey trip to find their needs.
         3. Suggest that you might help with the transportation expenses for someone to go and survey the people group.
         4. Pray for their current ministry and their personal needs.
         5. Set a time to call them, Skype, email, etc.to get a report on the people group.
   5. Call Dr. David Pope at the Finishing the Task office for help on the next steps in encouraging your church to commit to a partnership with a local church or ministry (760)260-5070.
4. Along the way, there are practical things you can do to encourage your local church.
   1. Talk to your pastor about Prayer for the Nations
   2. Find out what countries your church is already sponsoring missionaries
   3. Talk to your church about praying and giving toward a people group in one of those countries.
5. The Prayer Resources: During this conference, you were given several resources to use during times of prayer. If you do not have these, write to the Finishing the Task office, and ask for the prayer conference materials.
   1. You have the PRAISE REPORT capsule on page 8 from the first day’s handout which lists what has been happening to engage unreached people groups since November 2005.
   2. Secondly, you have the chart of the Elements of the Great Commission showing WHAT God wants us to do regarding the Great Commission and how we should go about it. These are 17 passages of scripture that are the essence of our Lord’s message to us relating to the Great Commission.
   3. Thirdly, you have a short listing of WHO the leaders and networks are that are contributing to the completion of each of the elements involved in the Great Commission. You will add your contacts from many other Christian ministries as you pray for each part of the Great Commission task.
   4. Finally, you have two lists of WHERE we need to pray that the Lord will send workers.
      1. List #1 shows all the people groups that have no known workers.
      2. List #2 shows all the people groups that with not enough workers to reach that portion of the population.
6. Summary:

In summary, if we in the body of Christ can work together off the same Biblical priorities and objectives, then we can think about what our specific prayers should be for the elements of the Great Commission that are still not being addressed.

As we look at scripture translation, or church planting, or evangelism, we can see the people that are being neglected or the languages that are not funded, or the geographic areas for which there are no workers. When we know who the people and organizations are that are attempting to play a significant role in any of these areas, we can pray for them specifically by name.

Finally, we can look at the geographic areas of greatest need and pray specifically for workers to go to those places.

Thousands of children from India and Indonesia along with others prayed for the Consultation that happened in the little town of Herrnhut (the Lord’s watch), May 8-12. Thank you if you were part of that intercession. The Lord did far more abundantly than we could have asked or imagined! It was such a joy and blessing to be with 120 key leaders from across the world, who are on the cutting-edge of His Kingdom’s work. YWAM younger missionaries in training and members of the Jesus Haus community in the town also took part. Powerful, heart-stirring presentations from the most conflicted, challenging countries brought tears to our eyes and a strong response in united, fervent prayer.

We focused on three main themes:

1. Reaching the Unreached- focusing on those unreached people groups that are still without a witness to Christ or those larger groups that are underserviced due to lack of mission workers. There are over 1500 unengaged people groups that are on the “Finishing the Task” list which you can get from their office plus prayer profiles to help you and others “adopt” them for prayer until they are reached. Please write to Lara Heneveld,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to get connected. A fuller article by Paul Eshleman, the leader of the Finishing the Task initiative with valuable suggestions on how you, your organization, church or prayer group can get involved in this Matthew 24:14 challenge that is so much on the Lord’s heart-- enabling a witness to go to the remaining unreached peoples before the end shall come-- is attached below.

2. Another important emphasis was on empowering not the Next Generation but the “Now Generation”, the youth and children, each of whom has a special, unique calling from the Lord that they will discover as we encourage them. They need and want to be included them in the prayer and mission force for the transformation of our world NOW!

3. The third major theme was on authoritative prayer for breakthroughs in territorial deliverance. We heard from Christian leaders who have led authoritative prayer initiatives that God has used to liberate places and people from demonic influence and broken through spiritual enslavement and deception so they can come to Christ.

Valuable connections were made among the participants and they engaged in productive times of deliberation and strategic planning according to the three foci just mentioned. All in all, it was an outstanding time that we believe will impact our world significantly.

Part of the success of the event was the venue. Indeed that is why we chose to have the gathering there. It was here that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Moravians almost three centuries ago. As a small community of praying people, God used them way beyond their insignificant number to impact our world. After the revival in 1727, they continued in prayer with a 24/7 chain that lasted over 100 years and sent out the first Protestant missionaries to the ends of the earth, affecting whole nations for Christ and His Kingdom. There is still a sense of hallowedness about the town and the nearby graveyard where 6000 of these dear saints, very ordinary people with an extraordinary love for Jesus, are buried.

Here is the Accord that came out of the consultation and that we commend to your continued prayers that the mission and prayer movements will fully converge, working closely together around the world until every people group and person is reached with the Good News of the Gospel:

Herrnhut Accord

International Prayer and Mission Leaders Consultation

at Herrnhut Germany, 8-12 May, 2017

In this historic place where, 290 years ago, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave birth to 24 hours of continuous prayer by both children and adults for 100 years, and which also launched what became known as the era of modern mission movements to the world,

We, as representative leaders of both prayer and mission movements from many nations on all continents of the world, now commit ourselves to this historic agreement and join forces and partner as the Lord leads and connects us to

Encourage, nurture and develop prayer and mission movements in the nations, with prime focus on the children and youth, preparing them to be warriors of faith, to be listening constantly to the voice of God, to be bold and courageous in the face of increasing challenges, and to reach out with the Gospel of the Kingdom, to plant churches and be agents for God´s kingdom.

Out of a place of unity with all true members of the body of Christ, regardless of denominational distinction, we commit ourselves to the unfinished task so that

Every nation, people, tribe and language group will have a sustainable and growing church,

Every enterprise in all walks of life will be served by representatives of the kingdom, with the biblical goal that "the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord and that all nations be transformed by the Gospel and become servants of the Kingdom of God".

We commit ourselves to pray, plan and prepare for the coming of the Lord and to gather in a global harvest, that He might receive the reward of His sufferings.

We commit ourselves not to speak ill of one another but in a spirit of Christ-like love to welcome, respect and affirm the gifts and callings of each other.

We commit ourselves to help one another across the world and between the generations, to fulfil God's unique call through all means available to us, particularly where prophetic and timely calls to go to the nations are being obeyed, aiming to complete the Great Commission of our Lord.

In this context, we recognize and want to honour our older brother Israel, the first recipient of the Word and the promise. As Gentiles and first fruits of the Gospel, we are committed to love and serve Israel until we are reconciled as one new man, sharing the covenental promises.

We, from the North to the South and the East to the West, who are all "One in Christ Jesus", invite the Lord of Glory to help us fulfil all that is on His heart, through all the resources of heaven, the empowering of the Holy Spirit, and the unique gifts and callings He gives to His church, His bride.

Our Lamb has conquered. Let us follow Him, around the throne, around the clock, around the globe!

Herrnhut/Germany, 12 May, 2017

A declaration posted on Passion for the Nation states, ‘In the Name of Jesus, we release hope, healing and comfort to all those affected by Monday's terrorist attack: victims, families, young people and all the emergency services. We come into agreement with God’s word in Job 22:28, ‘You shall declare a thing and it shall be established’. As Your Ekklesia, we stand and declare over our nation that ‘God’s plans are for good and not for evil’. In the Name of Jesus, we enforce God’s original plans for peace, mercy and hope over and against every plan and purpose of Satan to bring death or destruction and we declare this nation will be a place of safety. We declare that You, Lord God, are the one in whom we put our trust. We declare to every enemy cell, group, network and structure that exists within our communities, regions and nation – your relationships will falter, arguments and disagreements will increase and funding structures, recruitment structures and internet connections will dissolve.’