Displaying items by tag: prayer

The German elections have weakened Chancellor Merkel’s leadership authority. Weeks of Brexit talks will be lost while Germany forms a government that can command a majority in its parliament. In the UK there are disagreements between Westminster and the leaders of the devolved parliaments/assemblies over which powers should eventually be ‘taken back’ from Brussels and the continuing failure to reach a Northern Ireland border agreement. Much more could be written, but the key thing for us all is to keep praying for those involved in the Brexit negotiations. May they make agreements that will speedily remove the fear and uncertainty faced by UK citizens in Europe and EU citizens in the UK, and bring clarity to businesses employing thousands who need to plan ahead for the next twelve months and beyond.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most unreached nations in the world. A partnership between Windows International, Saudi Advocacy Network and Pray for Saudi has designated 23 September as the international Saudi Global Day of Prayer. The group are dedicated to reaching Saudis for Christ, and know that prayer plays a crucial role. They are inviting Christians and prayer groups across the nations to unite and participate in a thirty-minute prayer slot. The vision is a circle of prayer from around the globe praying for Jesus to reach into the hearts of many Saudis and bring them to salvation. There will be live prayer times broadcast from different locations across continents. Resources and more information can be found by clicking the ‘More’ link.

Christians are being killed and imprisoned in Iran, Tajikistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, and Nigeria, to name but a few and persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Asia is forcing tens of thousands of families to flee for their lives. In India, for example, violent persecution of Christians in 2016 was over 800 and there have been hundreds of attacks so far this year. It is time to pray for charities and organisations that are working in dangerous conditions to provide corridors of escape to safe havens, for those providing aid and support to those living in camps, for those training and educating families for a new life, for those giving medical and counselling services for those who have been tortured and imprisoned for their Christian beliefs. We can pray also for those speaking out on behalf of the persecuted church in the media, at the UN and in government circles. See also articles 3 and 4 below.

Fr Aidan Troy, of St Joseph's, Paris, has called for prayer following a suspected Paris terror attack on 9 August. A car drove into a group of six soldiers from the 35th infantry regiment in Levallois-Perret.  The soldiers served in Operation Sentinelle, created to guard prominent French sites after Islamic extremist attacks in 2015. The terrorist was arrested on the A16 highway in northern France. A counter-terrorism investigation was launched. Fr. Aidan said people should pray for Paris, saying that all who care about our world have to keep praying ourselves, and also saying to others 'will you pray with me and we will offer up a prayer for peace’ and I'm convinced that it will happen.’

Prayer is about God and His purposes for our world. It is not just a devotional activity or punching the clock to satisfy a sense of religious duty. It is getting in sync with Him for the joy of that most intimate of relationships and out of that prayer partnership to see our personal situation, community, nation, or far-off people groups changed in favor of His kingdom and values. It is the way we transact business with God to see His kingdom manifested in our day-to-day lives, our own neighborhoods, and at the other side of the world where there is pain, suffering or lostness.

Jesus taught that we should pray that His “kingdom come” and “will be done on earth as in Heaven”. He gave staggering promises about the power of prayer to groups of people, always using the plural “you” to underline the importance of united prayer for seeing breakthroughs to transform our communities and world. In Matthew 18:18-20, He affirmed that “whatever” we bind or loose on earth, even just two or three of us, will be bound or loosed in heaven. In this way, whatever we agree about, “anything”, can be affected deeply by such praying. Prayer with others is therefore the most powerful thing we can do as His followers. It is the most important way we become agents of His transformation for our darkened and desperate world because it brings the God of the impossible into situations that are way beyond human solution.

United prayer was the culture of the early church. They “joined constantly together in prayer” (Acts 1:14). All the breakthroughs, from Pentecost on, came out of this culture of prayer agreement as the Spirit led them.  In order for us to see modern-day breakthroughs in reaching the remaining unreached peoples, we also need to start with God in prayer. Missions is a supernatural business, involving His intervention in the calling of the right people to go as missionaries, the binding of principalities and powers that hinder, and the receptivity of the target people to the Gospel. The integral involvement of the Spirit of God all the way through is of paramount importance, and that is why engaging in prayer for His clear guidance, strategy and help is so essential. If we want the same results of the early church that “turned the world upside down” through their mission efforts, we need to connect with the same source of power and wisdom they had.

This year at the Finishing the Task event, for the first time ever there will be a specific track dealing with this issue-- the linking of prayer and mission. We will deliberate together as to how we can achieve a greater convergence between the prayer and mission movements and how an ongoing culture of prayer can become practically integrated in efforts to disciple the remaining unreached peoples for Jesus Christ. Please pray with us for an effective time towards these ends.

Even now, let’s obey Jesus and pray to Him, the Lord of the harvest and the Lord of breakthrough. Enlist others to pray with you. Let’s also be encouraging churches, prayer groups, and especially the younger generation of youth and children, to adopt these peoples for ongoing prayer until they are reached. (Excellent prayer cards for this purpose can be found at https://joshuaproject.net/resources/prayer.)

John Robb
IPC Chairman
www.ipcprayer.org

Pray for Canadian young people to experience a true move of God, calling them to faith. Cry out for the new edition of Youth Alpha which will be launching this autumn; may the Lord use this tool and many like it to encounter a generation. Intercede also for businesses which are dedicated to kingdom purposes to have favour, breakthrough and supernatural activity. May they have divine strategies for wisdom and timing. It is vital that the Church becomes more Christ-centred. Pray for this summer to be a season of restoration, health, relationships, unity and faith. May whatever has been worn down over the past season receive supernatural restoration. It is time to see signs and wonders following and confirming gospel preaching. Cry out for these powerful, supernatural confirmations to be released from heaven. May healings be as common in the Canadian Church as they were in Jesus' day and the Book of Acts.

A weekend to make God’s love known to those around you. On your street, in your community, with your prayers. We believe that local people praying for their community can change lives. The idea is simple. The National Prayer Weekend is an opportunity to gather prayer requests from people in your local area and introduce them to a God who loves them through the power of prayer.

Jesus clearly commissions us to love those around us, He tells us to love our neighbours and the National Prayer Weekend is a direct response to His command. We want to show God’s love to everyone around us. We know that God can do immeasurably more than we can even imagine and are been really excited to be hearing from Christians all over the world who are joining in with the National Prayer Weekend 29 September–1 October 2017.

The following testimonies were sent in from people who took part in the National Prayer Weekend last year and prayed for people in their local communities:

‘I visited the little shops, hotels and businesses in our village and handed out prayer requests. I went back a few days later and collected the prayer request. I am delighted to say I was received well by all who I spoke to.’

‘The National Prayer Weekend has inspired us to consider making this a more regular offering to our community.’

‘It was great to know that here in our small community of around 5,000 people in the South West corner of Australia that we were sharing in prayer with thousands of others across the world.’

Do you want to join in?
Visit www.national-prayer-weekend.com to sign up. Access free resources, to help plan your prayer weekend, get your pin on the prayer map and make your mark on your local community for God’s glory.

SPREAD THE WORD:
Follow the National Prayer Weekend on Facebook and Twitter to add your voice to a worldwide praying community sharing stories, pictures and prayer ideas.
We believe that local people praying for their community and neighbours can change lives. One life, one street, one community at a time.

The G20 results will influence the world. It is the first time that leaders like Trump and Putin will unite and attempt to create a major shift to nationalism and individualism with regards to hunger, climate, war, terror, and refugees. All kings and powers are installed by God and we, the body of Christ, have the responsibility to intercede for our leaders. Will you join us to pray while our political leaders meet together? The presidents of China, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia will be there. Danger is also coming from international protest movements. Anti-fascism, anti-capitalists, militant socialist, Marxists, communist, militant Kurds and people against President Trump are preparing to block the summit and bring violence and chaos to the streets and infrastructure. Nearly all of Hamburg's denominations and prayer movements will be praying in churches and on the streets. We also need your prayers for peace.

Religious leaders have achieved a truce between rebel groups in the Central African Republic through a ‘spiritually inspired’ method.

JUNE 20, 2017 —One of Africa’s worst conflicts may have finally ended through a rare type of diplomacy. On June 19, more than a dozen armed groups in the Central African Republic signed a peace accord. Yet they did not do so through an official negotiator. Rather a religious group in Italy used what it calls a “spiritually inspired” method – building empathy and compassion – to help forge a truce.

This diplomatic feat was achieved by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Roman Catholic lay group that works quietly and discreetly around the world to end conflicts. It puts prayer at the heart of its mediation. Its efforts have been so successful that the United Nations formally signed an agreement on June 9 to cooperate with Sant’Egidio in ending other conflicts. Its president, Marco Impagliazzo, says the group’s success lies in being seen as a neutral party that relies on patience and shared values to create trust between foes.

A Dutch scholar, Gerrie ter Haar, explains such faith-based diplomacy: “Bringing the spiritual dimension into the peacemaking process can create access to the more deep-seated, affective base of the parties’ behavior, enabling them to examine critically their own attitudes and actions.”

The conflict in the Central African Republic erupted in 2013 when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels took power, triggering violent reprisals by militia groups that are nominally Christian. As many as 6,000 people have died. From the start, however, local religious leaders – Islamic, Catholic, and Protestant – played a key part in protecting civilians and initiating talks. They described their “weapons” as “prayer and dialogue.”

As fears of genocide grew, however, the UN, France, and the African Union sent in troops to quell the fighting. This allowed the election of a new president last year, although his influence barely extends beyond the capital. When fighting erupted again in May and more than 100,000 people had to flee, Sant’Egidio was able to bring 13 rebel groups to Rome for talks and reach a deal.

Many details of the pact still need to be implemented. And victims of the violence await the establishment of a commission to document the atrocities and achieve a level of justice and social reconciliation.

But the country, which is one of the poorest in Africa, is now rebuilding. And that is due in part to a type of conflict resolution that uses spiritual qualities to transcend divisions and end wars.

Let us rejoice that united prayer can be used of the Lord to heal conflicts and begin to pray for those areas of the world where there are ongoing conflicts.

We need you prayers at this time here in Australia. Please pass this important Call for Prayer & Fasting 1 – 3 July 2017 for Australia and for the preservation of Marriage in Australia.

YouTube Video with Ps Tim Edwards:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmFs3ioT4D0

Facebook Video with Ps Tim Edwards:  https://www.facebook.com/warwick.marsh.9/videos/10211311607844398/

Much Love

Warwick Marsh 

MEDIA RELEASE

3 Days of Prayer & Fasting: 1 – 3 July 2017

International Prayer Request for Australia’s Government Leaders

On Thursday 29 June, Australian Prayer Leaders, during a national teleconference, confirmed a proposal to call the Christian churches in Australia to pray and fast from 1-3 July 2017 for the nation of Australia, its leaders and government. It is also a call to pray that marriage in Australia will remain between a man and a woman, as it always has been. This prayer call was initiated by an Indigenous Elder working in partnership with a Catholic Christian leader in our nation’s capital, Canberra. 

Ps Tim Edwards, an Indigenous Christian leader, said, “I am deeply concerned about the state of our nation and our government and the revelations that have become known in the last few days. The call to prayer for our nation, our government and for the future of marriage in Australia has been in part motivated by a secret speech  recently given by senior cabinet minister Christopher Pyne MP to the ‘Black Hand’ (left wing) faction of the governing party. He claimed that the left-wing faction is 'winning' and that same-sex marriage could be legalized 'sooner than people think.' This call for prayer is on very short notice, but in a spiritual battle you have to move fast!”

Rev Matt Ransom, Deacon in the Catholic Archbishop’s office in Canberra said, “The biblical precedent for this call to prayer and fasting for Godly government and for our leaders and our broader populace to find Christ as Lord and Savior is found in 1 Timothy 2: 1-3: “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.”

Jenny Hagger, Australian House of Prayer for All Nations, said, “A scriptural precedent for this nation changing three day period of prayer and fasting is found in Esther 4:16. Queen Esther’s call to prayer changed history. This prayer and fasting is above party politics because the church must take responsibility for our nation. We as the church need to engage in a deeper level of repentance for this period of prayer and fasting for our nation to be truly effective.”

David Rowsome, Canberra Declaration, said, “It is great that Australia is able to join with Canada, our sister nation in the British Commonwealth, who is celebrating Canada’s first National Day of Repentance, Prayer and Fasting on the 1 July 2017. The foundation for any national call to prayer and fasting is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, ‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

Warwick Marsh, National Day of Prayer & Fasting team said, “Tim Edwards and I have been greatly disturbed by the malicious persecution of Ps Margaret Court, one of Australia’s greatest sportswomen and a world champion tennis player. She has been publicly vilified very unfairly for her stand for the biblical truth of marriage between a man and a woman. Australia is in desperate need of Godly leadership and that is why we are requesting prayer support from around the world.