Pray Network Forum

hearts (6)

PTAP: Basic Barrier to Faith in Arabia

Posted by Merton J. Hershberger on January 15, 2019 at 13:02
For Muslims in the region most of the very basics of Christianity are a struggle to accept and contrary to their view of God. To think of God as Father is really difficult. The concept of the Trinity is a big obstacle as well. It is believed God does not share his deity with another, so it is hard for them to accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Another difficulty is the sacrifice Christ made on the cross. It is believed that if Christ was God, then he would never have had to die on a cross set apart for criminals. Additionally, it is thought that no man can die for the sins of another, each must make restitution for their own wrongs. The people in this regions struggle with some of the most basic truths that come from God's Word.
 
Pray for the truth about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to be revealed across the region this year. Pray that many in this region would come to understand what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be released over the hearts and lives of people in this region. Pray for a revelation of God's personal touch in this area of the world.
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PTAP: Ramadan in Arabia-Night of Power

Posted by Merton J. Hershberger on May 30, 2019 at 16:28
Laylat al-Qadr (commonly known as the Night of Power, Night of Decree, Night of Value, Night of Measures, or Night of Destiny) is considered the holiest night of the year for Muslims and is traditionally celebrated on the 27th day of Ramadan. This day commemorates the day when the Qur'an was revealed to Mohammed.
This is a day when many Muslims believe that God's abundant blessings are mercy are more accessible on this night. Pray that as they celebrate this night, Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, would show up in mighty ways. Pray that hearts would be opened to the Good News.
Over the next 24 hours, numerous communities of believers throughout the Arabian Peninsula will be gathering to pray for Jesus to show up and move on this night. Please pray for the Holy Spirit's leading, coverage, and protection as many gather together and declare Jesus over the Arabian Peninsula.
Also, on May 31, you can tune into prayercast and join many in praying for Muslims on this day. You can watch the livestream here:
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PTAP: Pray for the Anglican Church in the UAE

Posted by Merton J. Hershberger on June 13, 2018 at 8:53
St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Abu Dhabi opens doors for Iftar
ABU DHABI: St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Abu Dhabi opened its doors to serve Iftar to Muslims in an unprecedented ecumenical gesture during the holy month of Ramadan.

Muslims and non-Muslims alike gathered for the fast-breaking evening meal at the church in the heart of the UAE capital. Khalid Al Ameri, the Emirati columnist and social commentator, was welcomed to St. Andrews by the Reverend Andrew Thompson.
from: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1318176/food-health

Pray for the Anglican Church and all those who are coming to break fast at this church. Pray that God may soften people's hearts and welcome to love of Jesus into their hearts.
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PTAP: Taken Captive by the Devil

Posted by Merton J. Hershberger on January 20, 2016 at 14:59
The devil has been taking people captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26) since the fall of man. The land and kingdoms of this earth are controlled by him (Matthew 4:8-9). As we think about advancing the Kingdom of God we know that there is a fight between two kingdoms. There are places in the Arabian Peninsula that have been controlled for years by the devil. Pray that the AP will be freed from the devil and his control. Pray that the hearts of AP Muslims would be freed from the hardness the devil places there, especially the hardness against knowing Jesus the Son of God and the full truths about Jesus. Pray for a growing movement among people who will seek Jesus to advance His great name in families, villages, towns and cities across the AP. The devil has been in control too long, we are seeking the God of all creation to have a great victory in the AP. 
 
A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. 2 Timothy 2:24-26
 
Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will kneel down and worship me." Matthew 4:8-9
 
What did Jesus respond? "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" Matthew 4:10
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Hearts on Fire in Prayer for the Lost

Posted by Debbie Przybylski on December 5, 2014 at 19:21

“Christ’s power to save, and save completely, depends on His unceasing intercession. The apostles’ withdrawal of themselves from other work to give themselves continually to prayer was followed by the number of the disciples multiplying exceedingly. As we, in our day, give ourselves to intercession, we will have more and mightier conversions. Let us plead for this.” Andrew Murray

How can you and I have our hearts on fire in prayer for the lost? 

A strategic way is to know our Coach and our winning team position in prayer. The intercession of the saints is leading to a great harvest of souls now at the end of the age. Anticipate it, cry out for it, and seek God for this great ingathering of souls into His Kingdom. All over the world as never before individuals are turning to Christ. As we pray for the lost, we need to know in our hearts that we are on the winning team. In watching the World Series, the biggest major league baseball game in the U.S. every year, I could see the discouragement on the faces of the losing team. With the odds against them, they looked anxious, troubled, defeated, and disheartened.

When we think our situation is hopeless, it’s easy to give up and to lose heart. It’s hard to have a heart on fire in prayer when you feel defeated.

In sports, people often talk about being "in the zone.” This is the place of optimal, peak functioning when athletes perform to their absolute maximum and have the perfect game. Performance can be influenced from anything from the amount of sleep, nutrition, relationship status, training, coach input, and a number of other things. Individual player’s methods for attaining peak performance vary. Self-talk, how to deal with mistakes, and effective goal-setting must be considered for peak performance. Music that calms the mind and relaxing, positive self-talk are important.

When athletes are "in the zone," they are fully immersed in feelings of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. They are completely absorbed in what they are doing with single-minded immersion. Their motions are positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. There is the feeling of spontaneous joy while performing the task with a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one’s emotions. There is an intense concentration on the present moment, a merging of action and awareness, and a loss of reflective self-consciousness.

Intercessors praying for the harvest need to know the importance of being "in the zone” in prayer. So many of us can get disheartened with feelings that we have lost the battle. Others have lost their joy in prayer. Many of us do not have energized focus and are often distracted and preoccupied with our problems when we pray. We may have lost our deep focus on the task of intercession and may feel that the world is totally out of control, as well as our personal lives.

If you feel that the world situation looks bleak and hopeless, look carefully at these exciting statistics of what God is doing. The important thing when you feel that you have lost heart is to get back "in the zone" and realize that God is winning! Your prayers are making a worldwide impact, and you are on the winning team. I encourage you to shake off all of that end-time gloom, fear, anxiety, and feelings of defeat. Your team will win. 

The Winning Team

“Christianity is openly mocked in all media: television, movies, print. Nightly News portrays a world seemingly in despair with no hope. The U.S., Canada, and Europe continue their downward slide away from God in their rejection of anything having to do with Christ and the Bible. Even common sense and tenets of basic human morality are regularly attacked and vilified. Yet the truth is that, in our time, worldwide, God is winning. The Holy Spirit is greatly moving in what was once called "the Third World". We need to be thankful and even amazed at what God is doing!”

The following statistics are from several different sources and change continually, but regardless of the exact numbers, we can see that God is up to something big! See operationworld.org for the latest updates. Also see www.prayerfoundation.org.

  • There are as many as 200 million Christians in China with between 10,000-25,000 converts a day. Some say there are over 30,000 conversion per day (Open Doors)
  • The number of Christians in Indonesia has grown from 1.3 million forty years ago to over 23.5 million today. (Operation World)
  • The Jesus Film has been translated into nearly 1271 languages in 220 countries and over 200,000,000 people have indicated decisions for Christ as a result of the film. (Campus Crusade)
  • No Christian was officially allowed to live in Nepal until 1960. Now there is a church in every one of the 75 districts of Nepal with estimates of over 850,800 believers. (Operation World)
  • In A.D. 100, there were 360 non-Christians for every true believer. Today the ratio is less than seven to every believer. (Vision 2020).
  • Every day, 20,000 Africans come to Christ. Africa was 3% Christian in 1900 and is now over 50% Christian (Vision 2020).
  • Bible translation has been accelerated by over 100 years and is now on pace to be completed in 2025 (Wycliffe).
  • About 500 Muslims come to faith in Christ every month in Iran - a country ranked among the top ten persecutors of Christians in the world. (Vision 2020).
  • Every day 50,000 people in countries served by Asia Access come to Christ (Asia Access).
  • The government of Papua, New Guinea mandated Bible teaching in every school in the country. (Vision 2020)
  • In 1900 Korea had no Protestant church. Today Korea is 30% Christian with 7000 churches in Seoul alone with several having over 1,000,000 members (Vision 2020). Today, six new churches open every day.
  • After 70 years of oppression in the Soviet Union, Christians number about 100 million - 36% of the population.
  • In Nepal, the world's only official Hindu country, over 100,000 Hindus have met the Savior in the last two decades.
  • Every month another 15,000 in India are baptized as new believers in Jesus.
  • Millions of Buddhists have come to Christ.
  • Of over 400 million Latin Americans, more than 50 million have become evangelical Christians. 
  • In Africa the church is on fire. It's the first continent to become majority Christian (over 50%) in a single century. There are over 25,000 new believers per day.
  • More Muslims in Iran have come to Christ since 1980 than in the previous 1000 years combined.
  • If only 1 out of every 6 believers "reproduced" themselves one time each year, the entire world would be reached for Christ by the year 2020!
  • Christianity is by far the fastest-growing religion in the world today.

All the turmoil that is presently happening—terrorism, natural disasters, and lawlessness—leads people to seek for something beyond this life. Their attention is drawn to look for an anchor of stability and hope, something more than the uncertainties all around them. Our hearts are made for eternity, and we will not be satisfied unless we pursue it with all our hearts.

Our great responsibility and joy is to pray for the ingathering of this worldwide harvest.

There is a cathedral in Milan, Italy with these three inscriptions spanning its great arches. Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, under which is written, "All that which pleases is but for a moment." Over another is sculptured a cross with the words, "All that which troubles us is but for a moment.” Underneath the central entrance to the main aisle is the inscription, "That only is important which is eternal." If we will remember these three truths, we won’t worry as much about the daily troubles we face. We won’t seek after temporary pleasures. We will live for that which is eternal and seek to pray and share the eternal Christ with those who are lost. It's time that we have a heart on fire in prayer for the lost.

God wants us to be “in the zone” on His winning team in prayer. He wants us to function optimally in prayer for the lost. To be "in the zone" with hearts on fire in prayer and to stay there, practice the following daily:

  • Look at God’s statistics around the world for an accurate picture, not the news.
  • Ask God to keep you in “His winning zone.” Pray for grace to perform to your absolute maximum in prayer for the lost.
  • Repent of discouragement, fear, anxiety and all negative emotions and beliefs.
  • Cast your cares on Him and ask for His ability to concentrate in prayer.
  • Pray for energized focus and single-minded, full engagement in prayer.
  • As God's athlete, get enough rest and eat healthy. Practice the Sabbath rest.
  • Deal with your mistakes. Repent of personal sin daily.
  • Pray for harmonious relationships. You are a team player and pray-er with others.
  • Set prayer goals and focused prayer times for the lost. God's athletes live a disciplined life.
  • Listen to peaceful worship music that relaxes your mind. Think on things above.
  • Watch for negative thoughts and speech. Seek a holy optimism as a winner.
  • Ask God to bring you into enjoyable prayer. Pray for spontaneous joy.
  • Pray for your prayers to be aligned and energized with God’s Word.
  • Follow your Coach carefully every day. Listen and obey His instructions.

Remember that you are partnering with God and are on His winning team. This is the perfect game, and there is no reason to lose heart. You already know the final score. At this point in the game as we pray for the lost, losing is absolutely impossible. Keep in mind daily that one day every knee will bow and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11). That day may be soon!

“The Lord Jesus has united us in partnership with Himself in carrying out the great work of intercession. He in heaven and we on earth must be of one mind. We must have one aim in life. That aim is that we should love the Father and the lost by consecrating our lives to intercession for God’s blessing. The burning desire of Father and Son for the salvation of souls must be the burning desire of our hearts, too.” Andrew Murray

Intercessors Arise

Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
www.intercessorsarise.org

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Healing Our Wounded Hearts

Posted by Debbie Przybylski on May 16, 2014 at 20:48

“The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

 
I doubt if very many of God’s people wake up in the morning with the amazing thought, “I am made in God’s image!” Instead quite the opposite often occurs—many feel down about themselves with feelings of insecurity, insignificance, and a lack of self worth. If we want the freedom to pray wholeheartedly, we must understand some of the things that are hindering our wholeheartedness in prayer. When there is negative traffic in our hearts, we are distracted in prayer. We are consumed with our own needs. We are not free to fully serve God in every area of life, especially in prayer.
 
How did we get into such a difficult place?
 
Let’s look back to creation and the garden where it all started. Yes, we are made in God’s image. The very origin of relationship was the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were in perfect relationship—they were in perfect harmony, with perfect communication and respect. And they said, “Let us create man in our own image.” 
 
God’s original intention for our world was that our needs would be met through our family, society, and creation. Our parents are supposed to represent God’s character. Children are to know they are loved, cared for, and provided for in every way. They are to be secure in who they are (identity), who they will be (destiny), and in their relationships (belonging). Even in society our relationships and government should be characterized by love, unselfishness, wisdom, mutual respect, and appreciation. There should not be injustice, greed, and abuse.

Unfortunately this is not true. We see the breakdown of society and the family in every dimension of life. Many of us are appalled by what is happening with human trafficking, murder within families, school shootings, and the rise of immorality and pornography worldwide. The nearly 300 young girls recently kidnapped from their Nigerian school by terrorists, many who are probably being sold into human trafficking, has shocked the world. Over 9000 girls are kidnapped annually in sub-sahara Africa!

This is not what God desires. In creation everything should work together in harmony under His Lordship. Can you imagine our world with no disease, no abuse, and no disasters? This is how God made the earth and what He wanted. 
 
But man rebelled and everything changed. Our world went completely out of control, and what once was a perfect world is now one in complete disarray because of sin.
 
The fall brought serious disruption to everything—the family, society, and all of creation. The result was woundedness—we now have broken relationships, fragmented nations, and decay and disorder everywhere.  I once heard it said, “Be kind to everyone for everyone is going through some kind of battle.” The truth is that everyone struggles because we live in a fallen world.
 
Many people hop from one job to another, from one marriage to another, or from one church to another, hoping to find fulfillment and completeness. The truth is that we won’t be fully satisfied until Heaven. We are made for something so far greater than what earth can offer. We are made for eternity, and God has set it in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
 
Imagine a secure and perfect world without sin. If we felt secure we would have a greater ability to withstand difficulty in life. It would be far easier to make long-term friendships and have good relationships with parents and authority figures. We would be able to trust on a far deeper level. We would have a good self-esteem with a positive and hopeful belief system about ourselves, our family, and about society.
 
But the problem is that many, if not most of us, feel very insecure in a broken and wounded world. Our basic human needs are often unmet, and there is a huge increase of fear all around the world. 
 
Our Basic Human Needs
 
We all have the same basic human needs. These needs are God-given. They are the need for:

  • A sense of worth - We need a sense of identity and self-esteem. Everyone is worth loving and has intrinsic value. We are made in God’s image.

    So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

  • A sense of significance - We all need meaning and purpose in our life. We need to feel that we matter and our contribution is valued. God has promised us an abundant life.

    “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10a).

  • A sense of belonging and security - We need to know we are loved and accepted. We need a family. God has said that we are His children. We belong in His family.

    Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

Unmet needs become apparent in our relationships. When our needs are unmet, there is a lack of security, a lack of significance, and a lack of self-worth. When we are insecure we can have a sense of rejection, a sense of not belonging, and of feeling unloved and insecure. When we lack significance, we can doubt our purpose and meaning. If we lack personal self-worth, we can have self-doubt, self-rejection, and self-hated. 
 
Look around your world. How many feel this way in their secret heart? Why is there so much violence in families and society?  
 
The Wounded Spirit
 
 “A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness but a wounded spirit who can bear?” (Proverbs 18:14)
 
Our unmet needs lead to wounds. A child who is not cherished, fed, and affirmed will have wounds. The spirit is impacted by neglect, rejection, and maltreatment. Having a wounded spirit leads to physical illness and disease, emotional and personality disorders. Wounds lead to isolation, a sense of rejection, abandonment, or violation. This can lead to the conclusion, “There must be something wrong with me.” 
 
What is the answer to our broken hearts? Who can heal our deepest wounds?
 
Jesus Came to Heal the Wounded Heart
 
“The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
 
God is the answer through Jesus. His love has become visible through Christ. God gives us a purpose for living, a job to do (Gen. 1:28, Jn. 15:16). We are sons and daughters with God being our Father. We are a chosen race and a royal priesthood. We belong to God and are made in His image (Genesis 1:26). We are accepted by God and are not condemned (Romans 8:33,34). God demonstrates a heart of compassion and a desire to restore us. Jesus has come to give us an abundant life (John 10:10).
 
We can come to God and ask Him to heal our wounded hearts. Take time to be still before God and let Him touch your heart. Put on some soft worship music and let Him speak to you. Tell God about any wounds in your heart. With pen and paper beside you, write down anything that comes to mind. Here are some things you can do that will help facilitate God's healing in your heart:

  • Face your pain with Jesus and bring it to the cross - You can transfer your pain to Jesus. He went through everything on the cross and he understands all your hurts (Isaiah 53:4).

  • Forgive those who have hurt you - Healing always involves forgiveness. Forgive and ask God to forgive you for any way you have hurt others. Receive His forgiveness (1 John 1:9).

  • Know and meditate on God’s Word - God’s truth sets us free (John 8:32).

  • Develop a daily dialogue with the Holy Spirit - He will teach you the truth about your life and about others. The Holy Spirit helps us to deal with our past and our unmet needs (John 14:16, 26).

  • Ask God for a revelation of His heart - Listen to His voice. He may speak through a verse, a word, or a picture. When you get a revelation of His heart for you, everything changes (John 10:27).

  • Make a new commitment to seek intimacy with God - Discover your redeemer in a deeper way (Meditate on Psalm 42).

Be encouraged because God is in the process of healing our wounded hearts. We have so much to live for and all eternity is before us. In God and through Jesus we have worth and identity, significance and purpose, and security and acceptance. We can be wholehearted in prayer. We are children of God and in His family. Our God wants to heal our wounded hearts!

This video will bless you - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGFBYuCdQ-8

"There is nothing that transforms our hearts and satisfies us more than when the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us." Mike Bickle

Intercessors Arise News

 
Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
www.intercessorsarise.org

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