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Churches and venues around the nation (and the world) are joining together for a unified evangelistic effort this weekend, Sunday, August 26, 2012. The Harvest America live event will be available on every form of media imaginable: TV, radio, webcast to computers and personal devices, Roku, and of course simulcast into host sites.

One Day, One Church, One Message!

• Pray for thousands to respond in genuine faith to the gospel.
• Pray for the Church to be awakened with a renewed passion for evangelism.
• Pray for a discipleship revolution and ongoing ministry that is both relational and intentional about spiritual growth.

Go to StartToFollow.com for follow-up discipleship resources from NavPress and Greg Laurie for your church. Go to HarvestAmerica.com for more information on how to view, host, and pray for the event this weekend. We hope you will join us in this historic leveraging of technology to proclaim the gospel. "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites." "Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved." Acts 2:38-39,47 (The Message)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 173 | Wed 22 Aug 2012

PAKISTAN: INTOLERANCE GROWS; CHILD ACCUSED OF BLASPHEMY
(plus IRAN: Nadarkhani update)

by Elizabeth Kendal

Pakistan celebrated its 65th birthday on 14 August. Founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a member of the Shia religious minority, Pakistan was initially established on a foundation of secularism and equal rights for all. Today, however, after decades of Saudi-sponsored Islamisation, Pakistan is the exact opposite of what it was founded to be. Abductions of Christian and Hindu girls are on the rise. According to the parents, these young girls are being forcibly converted to Islam and married off to Muslim men. According to the Islamists, none of the conversions has been forced. The rise in incidence has triggered debate in the media and a Hindu exodus from Sindh Province, prompting President Zardari to call for a law banning forced conversions. Sunni jihadist violence against the Shia minority has also increased. On 16 August a bus en route to Gilit was stopped by men in military uniforms just 100km north of Islamabad. The 'officers' then dragged at least 20 Shi'ites from the bus and executed them. It was the third such attack on that road in six months. As a minority throughout the South Asian sub-continent, Christians are the most vulnerable of all.

In June 2009 a Christian woman Asia Bibi (41, married mother of five) was abused before being accused of blasphemy and arrested. In November 2010 a court sentenced her to death by hanging. Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti (a Christian religious freedom activist) were both assassinated in early 2011 for opposing the blasphemy law and publicly supporting Asia Bibi.

On Thursday 16 August 2012 Rimsha (11), daughter of Misrak Masih, a resident of the Meherabadi Christian slum colony on the outskirts of Islamabad, was arrested on charges of blasphemy. Initially, police had been reluctant to act on the complaint because the accused is merely a child. However, hundreds of enraged local Muslims surrounded the police station, blocked the Kashmir Highway for hours and threatened to take matters into their own hands. Police took Rimsha, her mother and her sister into 'protective custody' after they had been severely beaten by the mob. Not only is Rimsha a juvenile, she is illiterate and mentally impaired. Her mental impairment has left her unable to go to school or mix with other children. Consequently Rimsha spends her days wandering through the slum. Reportedly, locals complained that Rimsha had been 'moving suspiciously' in the district, carrying a 'shopping bag'. Actually she had been collecting papers from garbage bins to use as fuel in the family's stove. When suspicious Muslims entered Rimsha's home, they allegedly found her holding burnt pages which had Islamic text and Qur'anic verses printed on them. (They were pages from the Noorani Qaida, a Qur'an reading education program.) At that point, Syed Muhammad Umma was sent to register a complaint against the child.

On Friday 17 August the court ruled that Rimsha be remanded in custody for 14 days, pending further investigation. Understandably, Rimsha is confused and traumatised. Death threats from fundamentalist Muslims have driven over 300 members of the neighbourhood's Christian community to flee for their lives. (Some reports put the figure as high as 1000.) The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) is providing assistance to the displaced Christians. Paul Bhatti, the National Harmony Minister, APMA Chairman and brother of the martyred activist Shahbaz Bhatti, has appealed to Islamic clerics and police to bring the situation under control as there has been widespread looting.

Leading political figures such as President Asif Ali Zardari and opposition politician Imran Khan have spoken out against the 'shameful' and 'un-Islamic . . . abuse' of the blasphemy law. Whether they are courageous enough to take on the Islamists who have martyred previous anti-blasphemy advocates is another matter. However, this is not just about law. The problem is profound, deeply ingrained, ideological, religious hatred. Rimsha and her family - like Asia and her family - will need asylum in the West if they are to survive this.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD WILL -

* be a very real and present source of strength, comfort and protection to young Christian girls who have been abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to Muslim men; may they not lose faith or hope; and may the LORD rescue and restore them for his name's sake. 'For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.' (Isaiah 30:18b ESV)

* intervene for Asia Bibi and her family and for Rishma and her family, so these gravely imperilled believers might be free to live in security.

* redeem all this appalling suffering, and use it to shame and awaken Pakistani Muslims to the ugliness that has engulfed them, softening their hearts to the Good News so that they and even their whole communities can be radically transformed. (Isaiah 2:2-4)


SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE

INTOLERANCE GROWS IN PAKISTAN

Decades of Saudi-sponsored Islamisation have turned Pakistan ugly. Violence against religious minorities is constantly on the rise. There has been an increase in the number of young Hindu and Christian girls being abducted, forcibly converted and married off to Muslim men, whilst the blasphemy law continues to be wielded as a weapon of persecution. On Thursday 16 August an illiterate, mentally impaired 11-year-old girl, Rimsha, burnt papers collected from local bins as fuel in the family stove. She was arrested because the papers reportedly bore Qur'anic verses. Rimsha, her mother and sister have been taken from their home in a Christian colony on the outskirts of Islamabad into 'protective custody', pending investigation. Pakistan is simmering with religious hatred. Please pray for Pakistan's besieged and imperilled Christians.


IRAN: URGENT UPDATE ON PASTOR NADARKHANI

Reportedly, Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (34, married with two sons), who was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010, will be re-tried on 27 August (although some reports say 8 September). This time the charges are 'banditry and extortion'. The regime is possibly seeking to convince Nadarkhani's supporters that he is a criminal unworthy of their support. Alternatively, by launching a new trial with unprovable accusations, the regime may be seeking to 'wash its hands' publicly of Nadarkhani and release him to the Islamists and secret police while declaring itself 'innocent of this man's blood'. This has happened before in Iran. No matter what happens, Youcef Nadarkhani and his family will be greatly in need of our prayers. Please pray for Iran's Christian prisoners.


To view this RLPB with hyperlinks, visit the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog at

http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com


We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal's blog 'Religious Liberty Monitoring'

http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.

If this bulletin was forwarded to you, you may receive future weekly issues direct by sending a blank email to

<join-rlpb@hub.xc.org>.

       When God called, time after time, after time, Judah failed to respond.  As the prophet of God, Jeremiah was sent to relay to them the message God had for them << Jeremiah 7: 27 - 28 >>.  When you did not respond to your parents, you were in trouble, weren’t you?  When we were kids, out and about in the neighborhood, my Dad used to whistle for us to come home for dinner.  If we failed to respond, we were in deep trouble.  We were disciplined in some way, and sometimes seriously so.  It is a tragedy when you already know the message you are bringing will fall upon deaf ears and hard hearts, because people believed the lie that says it doesn’t matter if they respond.  When any person or any nation refuses to respond to God, judgment and wrath follow inevitably.

       Now, please turn to Jeremiah 9: 12 - 14 << v. >>.  Why has our land been ruined?  We are often asked why our nation seems to be decreasing, diminishing in influence, decreasing in economic and military power, and dwindling in spiritual power as well.  It’s not simply because we had a stock market crash and ran out of money.  One of the sad commonalities between the contemporary American church and temple worship in ancient Judah is, like them, we also have settled for half measures.  They did just enough to get by, but their hearts weren’t in their expressions of devotion.  Like ancient Judah, we also possess a wilful unwillingness to see any personal responsibility for the community where we live.  We figure the problems are just too big and we are too small to matter.

       We use church as means of making us feel good.  If we allowed the Word of God and the Spirit of God to convict us and to assign changes in our lives, then we would change and our communities would actually be better places to live.  Plus, and to me this is the most important argument against this way of thinking, God placed us here to make a difference and to minister to the lost and broken.  We have no business allowing cultural disintegration to paralyze us.

       I have no idea if America will see the kind of military threat Judah faced, one that would wipe out our ability to defend ourselves.  While that is a possibility, I do believe we are facing the disintegration of our society from within.  I do not need to present a laundry list of all our problems and moral failures.  I can refer simply to people I know and love.  I can describe the great pain I see in their lives today.  I look around at the relational breakdowns, foreclosures, unemployment, the inability to deal with the level of stress unique to our day experienced by millions.  Within the last few weeks, three Christian friends called to say between them, three of their adult children and at least one other family member are divorcing.  Another friend called to say his son stands accused of a very serious crime.  It is true, each person makes his own decisions, but as a culture, can’t you see – we in well over our heads!  We no longer possess the ability to come up for air.  If we took seriously the call of God to holiness, I do not believe we would be seeing so many divorces, such a high level of domestic violence and felony arrests in the body of Christ.

       Jeremiah posed the question as to why things are the way they are.  Why are we declining, for example.  Anyone who reads the Bible can answer the question.  Anyone who studies the scriptures, who takes the message to heart, is wise enough and taught sufficiently enough to speak with authority on the subject.  We are decreasing because we have turned away from God.  Our straying is not recent; it did not just begin a few years ago.  Our national sins are historically generational and they reach back well before we were born.  Our treatment of slaves, of native peoples, our use of Manifest Destiny to force our way across the continent, the ego-driven sense of American superiority on the national and international stage all fed into these attitudes.  Didn’t you read The Ugly American when you were in school?

       Our culture worships and focuses on the gods at whose altar our culture worships: workaholism, addictions of every kind, sex, greed, the desire for happiness, and the shameless promotion of self.  The results are an increasingly scattered and fragmented society, filled with broken relationships and on an unprecedented scale.  The violence we are seeing in our communities is only the beginning of our being pursued with the sword.  There will be war, and whether or not it is international in scope is irrelevant.  The truth is, we will experience it.

       You may reject my understanding of these chapters by saying here in America we do not worship Baal.  You’re right, I do not know of any gods currently being worshiped on Cape Cod by that exact name.  However, the word “Baal” is translated as “Lord,” so Baal can be any god, the definition of which is not Biblical.  In Israel and Judah, many people worshiped the God of the Bible and Baal interchangeably.  They believed they were just being religious, worshiping the Lord. 

       Idolatry does not have to mean drooling demon worshipers.  Idolatry is anyone or anything you believe, or you act as though, that thing, that idea, that person, is more important to you than an intimate relationship with the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That idea, person, or thing would be your Baal, your lord, and that is your idol.

       You know when something is mentioned more than once in Scripture, we will pay particular attention and consider it of greater importance.  In these early chapters in Jeremiah, I saw repeatedly this one particular thought which began to resonate in my mind as I read.  I saw it repeated three times in as many chapters.  In Jeremiah 6: 14, 8: 11, and 8: 22, Jeremiah speaks, “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.  ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.”  I keep thinking, we take a cynical view of many things today, believing they are not as serious as we previously thought.  The American revolutionary Patrick Henry quoted that phrase in one of his speeches.  He was saying then what I am saying now: there really is no peace.  We are in a deadly serious moment as a culture.  We are much more concerned with insignificant things than we are in the holiness of God.  We have grown more cynical and world weary as a culture and as a church.  Increasingly, we see everything as relative and every action as falling into some grey area. 

       In Jeremiah 8: 22, the prophet asks, “Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”  The question stunned me.  Why is there no healing?  I realized he wasn’t speaking merely of healing from specific diseases as much as he was speaking of the lives of people are broken, wounded, and festering – and they are neither healed nor are they seeking to be healed.  Why are families continually falling apart with such destructive intensity?  Why are the stressors of life today so deeply and keenly felt?  Given the level of distress, why is there so little crying out to God?  Why is it so hard to get Christians to meet for prayer, to step away from their lives for an hour to seek the face of God?  The incurable wound is a non-healing wound.  Its root is the infection of a wicked heart habitually turning away from God.  Jeremiah 17: 9 speaks of the deceitfulness – and the incurability of – the human heart.  This unhealed wound manifests itself in violence, rebellion, and self-centeredness.  In Jeremiah 7: 26, the Lord calls those who will not listen or respond to God, who suffer from this condition, “stiff-necked.” 

       We can hardly expect people who have no moral compass to behave in the same way as those who share our values.  If we possess Biblical values, we don’t need to shout them – we need to live them.  We need to exemplify godliness.  Instead, there is precious little shame in us as we think about our behavior, no motivation for us to change our actions or our attitudes, or modify our conduct.  There is no need to repent and change – many of us believe those are extremist viewpoints and verge on hate speech.

       Those three women died in a hail of bullets in Dorchester last week are a graphic reminder of how violence is growing and shaping the way we respond.  Boston’s only answer to violence is to beg people not to act on their anger.  We have learned to hide in plain sight and to pretend this is not our problem. 

       Out national unemployment rate is over 8% and the economic recovery we are supposed to be experiencing is the weakest of any of the ten recessions we’ve had since World War 2.  Our culture feels badly about it, but it hasn’t stopped killing 1.2 million babies in the womb each year with alarming aplomb.

       Some folks are greatly disturbed by such statistics and news items.  As churches, we allow ourselves instead to be caught up in internet petitions, boycotts, and the like.  Those are the weapons of this world.  They were not intended nor were they designed to take on the principalities and powers responsible for the corruption of our communities.

       The prophet cried out, “Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”  Maybe because we never saw the wound as all that serious.  Maybe because, like Neville Chamberlain, we are more interested in having peace in our time.  Maybe because we’d rather have fun than engage in the hard work of transforming our own lives with a view to transforming the communities around us.  We complain about how tired we are after a long day at work.  Granted, work is tiring and we ought to be tired.  But God says we cannot have it both ways.  We can’t know His blessing and also hope to take the easy way out.  A lot of us want God’s blessing but we’d rather pass on allowing ourselves to be confronted by the Holy Spirit about the way we are living our lives.

       Leonard Ravenhill, an American preacher and evangelist, once said, “I can give you one simple reason why we don't have revival in America.  Because we're content to live without it.  We're not seeking God - we're seeking miracles, we're seeking big crusades, we're seeking blessings.  In Numbers 11, Moses said to God, “You're asking me to carry a burden I can't handle.  Do something or kill me!”  Do you love America enough to say, "God, send revival or kill me?”  Do you think it's time we changed Patrick Henry's prayer from, “Give me liberty or give me death,” to “Give me revival or let me die?”

       Why is there no healing for the wound of my people?  Whenever I read Jeremiah, the Lord stirs my heart with the sense He is speaking to me.  He is speaking to me about my country, not I think the USA is a 21^st century equivalent to Judah.  He is saying to us He called; we haven’t responded.  As a person, and as a culture, as a society, we turned away in steadfast stubbornness.  Any person and any country can turn its back on God.  But equally, any person and any country can make that commitment to turn back to God.  My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will stir more of us to engage with Him so we may be of use in the hard work of seeing Jesus change our community.

INTERNATIONAL PRAYER CONNECTIONS

August 2012

“Globalizing Prayer, Transforming our World”

IN THIS EDITION

1. Authoritative Praying: Changing History and Determining the Politics of Nations
2. U.S. Election Prayer Initiative
3. Call to Prayer for the USA at this Crucial Time in our History
4. Report on the Washington, D.C., Prayer Initiative, August 7-8
5. World Prayer Assembly Video Documentary Link
6. Encouraging Development for the Two Sudans: Bashir and Kiir Hold Face-to-Face Meeting in Addis Ababa
7. Sudan is Ranked #16 on the World List of Persecuted Countries
8. Call to Pray for Liberia
9. Challenge and Change in Egypt
10. Sierra Leone’s National Elections
11. Uganda Forum: ‘EXPOSED – Shining a Light on Corruption’ and Unashamedly Ethical
12. Malaysia: Unity Breakthrough for the Prayer Movement!
13. Burma: Current Crisis in Western Myanmar
14. Afghanistan: Taliban Execute Woman to Send Afghans a Grim Warning
15. Violence Returns to Pakistan’s Major Cities
16. Iran: Update on Pastor Sentenced to Death
17. Iran Close to Nuclear Warhead
18. Syria: Christians Affected by Continuing Violence
19. United Kingdom: Olympics and National Day of Praise and Prayer
20. USA/MEXICO
21. USA: The Summons in Washington, D.C.
22. The E4 Challenge
23. National Prayer Calls – Schedule
24. Global Day of Worship
25. Ramadan and the Night of Power – August 14th
26. WORLD PRAYER ASSEMBLY, 2012
27. IPC Events Calendar
28. The IPC Website
29. About International Prayer Connect (IPC)
30. Donating to IPC through PayPal
31. Contacting the IPC Office

Click Here

I’m an action-oriented person. I like to make things happen and get things done.

God knows this about me, of course. But it doesn’t seem to influence Him much in the way He orders my life. For instance, God currently has me in another season of transition.  He’s moving me out of one thing and into another—but the problem is, He hasn’t let me know yet into what! I am eager to know “the next thing.” I’m ready for Him to give me my marching orders. I want to get started already! Time’s a wasting!

So I try to help Him out and hurry things up. I analyze. I research. I seek counsel. I strategize. And of course, I pray. I practically make a pest of myself, asking Him over and over again what He wants me to do.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that God is not in the big rush that I am. He reminded me of that again this morning when I was reading in Joshua 5. The Israelites had just crossed the Jordan River. The long-awaited Promised Land was finally in sight—it was theirs for the conquering. And conquer, Joshua was ready to do.

As you may recall, Joshua, was Moses’ successor, and the commander of Israel’s army. He was a man of action, a strategist, somebody who liked to rally the troops and get the job done. I like Joshua. He didn’t let grass grow under his feet.

So one day, as Joshua no doubt was planning his strategy to take over Canaan, he encountered a formidable stranger. A mysterious man stood in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.

Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”

“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the LORD’s army.”

At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said.

Then, Joshua said what any action-oriented person, get-things-done kind of person would say:

“What do you want your servant to do?”

I came to a dead stop in my reading. I knew the Lord was speaking directly to me. Joshua’s words could so easily be my own. How very often God hears me asking, “What do you want me to do, Lord?” “What’s my assignment, Father? Just tell me what to do, and I’ll get right on it!”

It was as if I’d never read the story before. I honestly couldn’t remember what came next. So, slowly, I returned to the page and resumed reading:

The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told. (Joshua 5:13-15, NLT.)

Stunned, I let the Bible slip from my lap. This was a call to worship, not to war. There were no marching orders for Joshua. Instead, the commander of the LORD’s army ordered the commander of Israel’s army to take off his sandals and worship. The grass growing under Joshua’s feet was holy grass on holy ground.

And, in those sacred moments in my living room this morning, I realized that God really isn’t interested in rushing me into my next assignment. He wants my worship. He wants me to be still and know He is God. He wants me to sit at His feet while somebody else works in the kitchen for a change. He wants me to let holy grass grow under my bare feet.

Movement:

• A change of place or position or posture
• A trend or tendency
• A discernible, measurable and lasting stirring of God’s Spirit in a life, a church, a city or a country

If you follow these kinds of things, you may know by now that there is a genuine movement of God stirring in many cities in the US. This movement is very much still in the early stages, but its presence is undeniable. Here’s what it looks like.

There are multiple cities with:

• Increased unity among churches across denominational, racial and theological lines
• Churches are coming together to address needs in their cities and using their massive volunteer bases to address problems that have previously been unaddressed
• Attendance in churches is increasing in cities that have previously been known for being largely unchurched
• There is significant increased activity by Christians and churches in the social justice arena

Stated more directly, what many of us have been praying for over the past 30-40 years–a third great awakening in the US–is showing encouraging signs on being well on its way.

And that means three very important things for you:

1. Living for Jesus is going to get easier. With movement comes momentum, and momentum means that we will all have an easier time living lives that honor Jesus. Think of it like running with the wind at your back. When movement comes, the wind of God blows to such a degree that crime drops, violence decreases, fidelity and faithfulness increase and morality actually becomes cool. That’s we can look forward to.

2. There has never been a better time to talk to people about Jesus. Depending on where you live, you may find unprecedented levels of receptiveness on the part of people who previously showed no real interest in hearing about Jesus. Movement means that the hard soil of people’s hearts is going to get softer, that they are going to be more open to talking about Jesus, and that countless numbers of them–millions and millions, are going to embrace Christ.

3. Hostility toward Christians and the Church is also going to hit unprecedented levels. Movement produces friction, and friction always comes with true spiritual awakening. As God’s Spirit continues to move across our land, you can expect that the enemies of God will become more vocal and emboldened in their resistance to his movement. Satan will see that his strongholds are being threatened, and he will pull out all the stops to resist the advancement of God’s Kingdom. This is one of the main reasons I believe that true awakening is coming–because those who really are hostile to God are fighting tooth and nail to hold their ground.

Followers of Jesus, take courage. Our best days in this country we love are still ahead. That’s not a political statement, it’s a theological one.

Read more at willdavisjr.com

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 172 | Wed 15 Aug 2012

IVORY COAST: THOUSANDS DISPLACED AMIDST RENEWED TERROR

by Elizabeth Kendal

In early December 2010, disputed elections left Ivory Coast with two Prime Ministers. After Alassane Ouattara declared himself the winner, the Constitutional Council declared Laurent Gbagbo the winner. Alassane Ouattara's rebel forces then moved (with French backing) to take power by force. In March 2011, at the height of the crisis, pro-Ouattara Muslim rebels, whose tribal origins lie in the north, rampaged through western Ivory Coast. They massacred hundreds and displaced tens of thousands of mostly ethnic Guere, the traditional landowners who are predominantly Christian and supporters of Laurent Gbagbo. By early April 2011, the Catholic mission in Duekoue was hosting more than 27,000 severely traumatised, mostly Christian and ethnic Guere refugees.

The displaced Guere have been unable to return home because their homes have been occupied by 'rebels' - i.e. by pro-Ouattara militiamen who have since been taken into the new Ivorian Army, the FRCI (Forces Republicaines de la Cote d'Ivoire). Furthermore, the west remains incredibly dangerous, over-run by armed criminals and undisciplined 'soldiers', as well as with 'dozos' - traditional hunters who work as mercenary enforcers for the FRCI. While many displaced Guere have been able to find refuge with friends and family elsewhere, over 5000 have been settled in the nearby Nahibly camp guarded by UN peacekeepers.

On the night of 19 July 2012 four ethnic Malinke (Muslims) were killed during an armed robbery in Duekoue's Kokoma neighbourhood. The next day, a massive crowd of 'dozos' and ethnic Malinke, along with other Muslim tribes, descended on the nearby Nahibly camp supposedly to enact 'revenge'. (Numbers vary widely, but according to Ann Encontre, head of the UN refugee arm UNHCR in Ivory Coast, the attackers numbered around 3000.) At least eleven Guere refugees were killed and more than 60 wounded as the invaders, armed with machetes, clubs and rifles, attacked the inhabitants, doused the camp in petrol and burnt it to the ground. The UN 'peacekeepers' have explained that they did not fire on the invaders because they wanted to avoid 'a massacre'. Terrified refugees, who fled to 'peacekeepers' for assistance, report being chased away or pushed into the arms of their attackers who then beat them mercilessly in front of the 'peacekeepers'. According to the UN, Ivorian security forces are supposed to be responsible for security at the camp but none were present. The attack forced some 5000 predominantly Christian ethnic Guere refugees to flee into the ungoverned, inhospitable bush.

Bah Leontine, who managed to escape with her family, says the attackers screamed: 'No Guere moves! No Guere moves! If you move we will kill you.' She said, 'The war is over, why are you still pursuing us?' They replied, 'We don't want to see Guere in Duekoue.' Bah managed to get her family safely into the bush, where they hid for three days before finding refuge in the town hall in Duekoue. 'It's God who saved us,' she says. Other survivors fled back to the Catholic mission in Duekoue. However, the priest has reported that the mission has also been threatened by 'crowds of angry youths'. The UN human rights agency has condemned the Nahibly attack which it says was 'clearly ethnically motivated'.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD WILL -

* draw his people close to him, comfort them and increase their faith, answering their prayers and supplying their every need for food, shelter, medical aid, security, wisdom and spiritual guidance.

* revive his Church so that Ivorian Christians will not lose hope but will rediscover the power and grace of God - the very same God who totally transformed their nation 100 years ago.

In 1913-14, when Ivory Coast's population was estimated at less than one million, the Liberian evangelist William Wade Harris baptised over 100,000 converts over 18 months. The population of Ivory Coast today is some 20 million. Pray for revival and that God will send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38). Please pray for two million converts during 2013-14.


SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE

THOUSANDS DISPLACED AMIDST RENEWED TERROR IN IVORY COAST

In March 2011 tens of thousands of predominantly Christian Guere were ethnically cleansed from their lands in western Ivory Coast by Muslim rebels loyal to presidential aspirant Alassane Ouattara. The Guere have never been able to return because their homes have been occupied by Muslims. Some 5000 Guere who remain displaced have been living in the Nahibly camp in Duekoue, which is protected by UN peacekeepers. A massive Muslim mob stormed the camp on 19 July 2012. Armed with clubs, machetes and rifles, they killed at least eleven refugees, wounded 60 and burnt the camp to the ground, leaving the 5000 mostly Christian ethnic Guere displaced yet again. The UN has condemned the attack that it says was 'clearly ethnically motivated'. Please pray for Christians in Ivory Coast.


To view this RLPB with hyperlinks, visit the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog at

http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com


We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful linkssee Elizabeth Kendal's blog 'Religious Liberty Monitoring'

http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.

If this bulletin was forwarded to you, you may receive future weekly issues direct by sending a blank email to

<join-rlpb@hub.xc.org>.

I would guess that most of us have had some pretty negative responses from people when they find out we are a Christian or address spiritual things in any way. Comments like, "Don't try shove your religion down my throat," or "You're just one of those intolerant radicals," can be commonplace. People just walking away or changing the subject can be the norm much of the time.

However, there is one question I've rarely, if ever, had someone say "No" to or respond to in some other negative way. The question is simply, "Could I pray for you?"  In coffee shops, on airplanes, talking to a neighbor or meeting someone in a hospital have all been fertile ground for opportunities to pray for people. And I'm convinced that those brief times of prayer and care have been used by God to till the soil for people to one day embrace Christ.

In fact I wonder if we Christians aren't often insensitive to what's going on in someone else's world when we try to say too much about Jesus before we've tried to first be like Jesus. Taking a moment to just pray often touches the deep recesses of someone's soul in a way they will remember positively and perhaps never forget.

I was in a Starbuck's not too long ago after a hospital visit having a little time to kill before my next appointment. I ordered my drink relishing a little alone time and sat down in a vacant corner of the coffee shop. Before long a young man sat down nearby holding a big Frappuccino. While wanting to just kick back and leave him alone God seemed to be prompting me to say something so I did. With a frown on his face he told me that he really didn't know what this drink was but a friend had told him to get it sometime.

I wondered in my mind why he wouldn't know about something so common but then he began to tell me that he had just gotten out of prison and was now looking for a job. Now I understood the lack of knowledge about coffee drinks. And before we were done I simply asked if I could pray for him and that he found something quickly. He was more than happy for my prayers.

I'm confident others would be too if we could start there. It's from that kind of care and compassion that longer relationships can be cultivated and conversations about spiritual things can continue and deepen. With people like the young man at Starbuck's we sometimes have to just trust God to bring the next person along who can grow their relationship in the fertile soil of our introduction to Christ through prayer.

So, who in your world today or tomorrow or the next day might need you to pray for them?  Look for chances to do so. Pray for those opportunities. My hunch is that you will not get turned down.

Ema McKinley was in severe pain, wheelchair-bound for 19 years. Read about her meeting with Jesus on Christmas Eve this past year. A true story that was published in the recent issue of Prayer Connect, magazine, it is available for anyone to read at www.prayerconnect.net.

Feel free to Facebook post it or email it to your friends. It will highly encourage you as you seek to grow in faith and effective prayer.

 Are you a new Baby Boomer grandparent or a grandparent looking for resources and/or suggestions to grandparent with a purpose? I am excited to share some resources and suggestions with you that will help you grandparent with a purpose.

For the last five years, I have had the privilege to be the National Prayer Coordinator of Christian Grandparenting Network (CGN). CGN is devoted to challenging Christian grandparents to live intentionally as representatives of Christ for future generations. It is committed to providing a network of resources and opportunities for grandparents to have powerful opportunities for inter-generational dialogue to strengthen grandparent-grandchild relationships and spiritual growth. Go to www.christiangrandparenting.net

 As the Prayer Coordinator for CGN, I have developed two prayers cards: Scriptures to Pray for Your Grandchildren and Suggestions to Pray for Your Grandchildren in School: Preschool, Elementary, Teenagers, and College Students.        

God has also given me the opportunity to write the book GRANDPARENTING WITH A PURPOSE: Effective Ways to Pray for your Grandchildren. The book challenges grandparents to stand in the gap for their grandchildren by living a godly example and being their prayer warrior. It provides creative suggestions for prayers based on Scriptures, and helpful tools, utilizing everything from cell phones to photo prayer journals. This book is available on this website.

Last year CGN proclaimed the second Sunday in September as Grandparents Day of Prayer, coinciding with National Grandparents Day designated by a Senate proclamation in 1978. It is a way of engaging grandparents to unite in an intentional day of prayer for their grandchildren. Many participants reported how they were blessed as they united in prayer with other grandparents with a common cause. There are only 31 days until the upcoming Grandparents Day of Prayer on Sunday, September 9, 2012. I want to challenge you to participate with grandparents all other the world for an intentional day of prayer for the next generations.

It has been exciting for me to invite grandparents to participate in small groups called Grandparents@Prayer (G@P) to pray for their grandchildren. Just as Esther stood in the gap for her people, the Jews, when they were threatened, likewise grandparents can stand in the gap with prayer for their grandchildren today. G@P groups are meeting in many areas of the United States and England praying together for their grandchildren on a regular basis. Anyone desiring information or would like to become a part of a group may go to the CGN website mentioned above or email me at info@grandparentingwithapurpose.com.

 A new book for grandparents, NOT ON OUR WATCH! A Call To Radical Grandparenting For Turbulent Times, written by Cavin Harper, Founder, and Executive Director of CGN, is available at www.christiangrandparenting.net.

 CGN recently started a weekly radio program Not on My Watch hosted by Cavin Harper, Executive on radio station KRDO (Colorado Springs) 105.5 FM & 1240 AM at 7:30 A.M. MST. If you would like to listen to my recent interview on the radio program on June 17, or the other weekly programs go to www.christiangrandparenting.net podcast link.

 CGN also provides many other resources for grandparents such as weekly blogs on their website by Cavin Harper, and me, GrandCamps in Colorado, mission trips for grandparents and grandchildren, seminars, and conferences for grandparents.

 I enjoy my grandchildren very much and God has given me a passion to intentionally pray for my grandchildren, especially in the moral and spiritually deprived world we live in today. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be a part in a grandparenting ministry to influence our future generations for Jesus Christ.

 If you have any questions or would like to contact me please email me at info@grandparentingwithapurpose.com

By Lillian Penner

• Have your Friends sign up for Intercessors Arise here!
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Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise 
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
http://www.intercessorsarise.org
 

I don't remember if anyone in particular invented it, but I do recall when something labeled Conversational Prayer became popular. It was the idea that in group prayer people would engage God in an ongoing conversation together about one topic for a time and then move to another after that topic was "covered." It was a welcome change from the boredom and distraction often experienced waiting for others to stop praying so you could join in.  It's something that many groups still do and I and many others happen to like the idea to this day.

Conversational prayer can keep prayer times from just becoming the reciting of requests to God with little extended thought or involvement by others when they are not praying. It's also a very special time when the conversation focuses only on praise for a time.

However, the older I get the more I enjoy and am enriched by my own individual conversations with God, ones that go on throughout the day rather than merely during one devotional moment or session. It's when I find Paul's admonition to pray without ceasing to really come alive.

And there are several benefits from those talks, inspirations to my growth as a person and one who prays.  First, I find that when I talk with God more informally that I am more likely to bring Him the gritty, everyday things that I'm wrestling with at the moment. I talk more readily about my pride, temptations that I may be experiencing or the disappointments that just occurred in my work or home life.

I also find myself praising Him for the small things that I often forget to thank him for other times. I praise Him more for the provision that He's given all around me, for the car I'm driving and the ministry and work that I am headed to that I love and which pays our bills. I tend to forget those things when I only pray at home or in church.

I pray more for individuals whose homes I drive by or who I see on the street. I am reminded to pray for businesses nearby and for other churches in our city.

And for some reason, I tend to listen to God more or at least I seem to hear Him better. Maybe it's the prompting of the needs around me that God speaks into, I don't know.

Nonetheless, I encourage you to consider more of your own all-day-long conversations with God as you play and work. You can't go wrong speaking with your Father on a regular basis!

Introduction:  Hannibal Smith (of the A-Team) used to say that he loved it when a plan comes together.  Today I would like to report that a plan has come together.  Not my human plan, but one that God has been working on for some time.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 Solomon reports that in order to hear from heaven that one of the criteria is to humble yourself before the Lord.  Humility is not an easy thing to define and even harder to do.  To accomplish a definition of humility and to become humble has been a massive struggle for me.  (I would rather be large and in charge – it’s my way or the highway – you get the point.)

Just recently I was reading in Psalm 25 and the Lord lifted out some questions for me to answer.  Here are those four questions:

1.  Do you think that the Lord is good and right all the time?  A humble person says yes.  One not so humble has a few reservations and can cite time and place where it doesn’t appear that the Lord was good and right.
2. Do you think the Lord can show you the right way to go in life?  A humble person says yes on the spot.  The one who has not arrived at this place yet says, Um, I’d like to make my own choice about what to do with my life.
3. Do you think the Lord can show you how to do what’s right?  A humble person says yes without a doubt.  One who struggles with humility gets uncomfortable, not wanting to give up the right to make their own decision about what is right and wrong.
4. Do you believe that the Lord can teach you His ways?  A humble person has faith that whatever the Lord brings is the right thing and responds absolutely.  Those who wish to be self-determinant say I think I’ll look for a new way or a deeper or hidden meaning to what the Lord is saying there.  

Here are five statements that a humble person would make to lead to the healing of their spirits:

1. I believe the Lord’s ways are loving and true.  They humbly follow whatever He leads you to do.
2. I repent of my sin for the sake of Your name.  The humble know that a sinning follower is besmirching the name of Christ.
3. I respect the Lord God because I know that He will lead me in the very best way.  The humble do this is faith.
4. I will keep my eyes on the Lord.  The humble know that He will keep them from traps.
5. I will turn my ways to Him.  The humble know that He will have mercy on us.  When a humble person does this the Lord comes along side them and helps them with their loneliness and hurting.  The humble know that the only source for real help is in the Lord.  He will help with the suffering and trouble that comes our way.

A thought: Being humble is hard.  Being self-sufficient is harder.  Giving up is deadly.

Prayer:  Lord, lead me to be more humble today.  Show me the way to do this.  I desire healing from you for the stuff of life.

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 171 | Wed 08 Aug 2012

EGYPT: CHRISTIAN VULNERABILITY GROWS AS SECURITY DECLINES

by Elizabeth Kendal

The rigours of Ramadan observance ensure that as Ramadan progresses frustration accumulates. This, merged with religious zeal, produces an incendiary mix. On Wednesday 25 July a dispute erupted in the village of Dahshur on the southern outskirts of Cairo, after a Coptic launderer inadvertently singed the shirt of his Muslim client. The Muslim agreed to return in the evening to settle the claim but returned in the afternoon with a vengeful mob. With a large crowd of armed Muslims besieging his home and laundrette, the Copt threw a Molotov cocktail from the roof. It hit and severely burnt a Muslim youth passing by. When he died in hospital on 1 August, Muslim Brotherhood clerics, instead of rising up as peacemakers, incited Islamic hysteria and vowed collective punishment. The ensuing Islamic pogrom left 16 Copts injured, numerous Coptic homes and businesses torched and the only church in the village vandalised. This violence included threats to shoot all Christians dead and convinced some 120 Christian families they had no choice but to flee. Only one elderly Christian woman remained, receiving sanctuary in the home of a Muslim neighbour.

Whilst a wide range of independent sources - local and international, religious and secular - corroborate this version of events, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) press release presents a different picture. It denies the pogrom was sectarian, claiming 'the Christian [deliberately] poured acid and gasoline over the Muslim' to kill him and falsely boasts that the MB immediately intervened to 'contain people's anger'. Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said the Copts' exodus from Dahshur should not be considered a 'displacement' as the Copts left their homes willingly! The Shoura Chamber (Parliamentary Advisory Council) is forming a committee to go to Dahshur 'to reconcile the citizens'. But the senior vice president of the National Council for Human Rights, Mohammed Fayek, notes: 'One reason [for] the sectarian tension in Egypt is impunity. The continuation of treating . . . sectarian incidents . . . through what is known to the media as "reconciliation sessions" enables criminals to get away with it and [contributes to] the recurrence of such incidents.' At this point, three Copts and no Muslims have been arrested.

On Sunday evening 5 August some 35 Islamic jihadists raided an Egyptian military base in north Sinai, killing 16 Egyptian soldiers and stealing two armoured vehicles. One vehicle exploded as it crashed into the border fence while the second vehicle, laden with suicide-vest-wearing jihadists, penetrated into Israel. There it was eventually neutralised by an Israeli Armed Forces air-strike close to the Kerem Shalom border crossing. (Movements through the Rafa Crossing are monitored at Kerem Shalom which is close to where the Gaza, Israel and Egypt borders meet.) President Morsi, who has spent months building bridges with Hamas, had little choice but to close the Rafa Crossing into Gaza. Ridiculously, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists have accused Israel of staging the attack to force the closure. Anti-Semitism, on the rise in Egypt, goes into overdrive on Egyptian TV during Ramadan. But as anti-Semitism grows increasingly fashionable and is associated with Egyptian nationalism, it will become increasingly difficult politically to counter terrorism.

President Morsi is appealing for tolerance, demanding justice and promising to improve security. He has labelled the jihadists 'infidels' and appealed to Copts to return to their homes. In a state of chronic decline, Egypt is surviving on aid. It cannot afford to offend donors lest it runs out of money, fuel and bread and erupts in massive internal unrest. As it is, sectarian clashes are escalating, Christians are emigrating, tourism is plummeting, violence (especially against women) is pervasive and the Sinai is slipping out of control. The MB and Salafis will react strongly against the closure of the Rafa Crossing and any attempt to prosecute Muslims for 'punishing' Christians. As poverty and insecurity escalate, the plight of Christians can only deteriorate.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT -

* as escalating hardship leads to disillusionment and despair, Egyptians will not turn to rioting and killing their neighbours, but to reflection and a search for truth with open hearts and minds.

* God will bless and multiply all Christian witness and ministry to Arabs through radio, satellite, internet, literature and personal witness.

God has promised that Egypt will know the LORD. 'Among those who know me [Yahweh] I mention Rahab [Egypt] and Babylon . . .' (Psalm 87:4a ESV). Then the LORD will say, 'Blessed be Egypt my people . . .' (from Isaiah 19:25).

* God will draw Egypt's vulnerable Christians close, hear and answer their prayers, provide all their needs and perfect their faith; may the Christians of Dahshur be able to return to their homes in security, and may justice be served on those who incited and led this sectarian pogrom. Pray Psalm 23 for Egypt's Christians.

To see this RLPB with hyperlinks go to http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com.au


SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE

CHRISTIAN VULNERABILITY GROWS IN EGYPT AS SECURITY DECLINES

On 1 August a massive Islamic pogrom occurred on the outskirts of Cairo. A Muslim took offence when a Coptic launderer accidentally singed his shirt. Rejecting the Copt's offer of compensation, the Muslim returned with a large mob and attacked his business. The Copt threw a Molotov cocktail, unintentionally hitting a young Muslim bystander. When the youth died a few days later, Islamic clerics incited the pogrom as collective punishment of the Copts. The violence and death threats forced virtually the entire local Christian community of some 120 families to flee. Elsewhere, on 5 August Islamic jihadists based in the Sinai killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and penetrated into Israel. Money, fuel, bread, tourism and security are all in decline in Egypt. Tensions are high. Please pray for Egypt's vulnerable Christians.

TWO URGENT UPDATES

IRAN: Imprisoned Protestant pastor Benham Irani (41) (see RLPB 169) has developed a blood infection. His life hangs in the balance. Please pray.

NIGERIA: On Monday evening 6 August some 10 gunmen stormed a Bible study in the Deeper Life Church in Okene, Kogi State, 250km south-west of Abuja, cutting off the lights and opening fire with assault rifles. At least 19 believers including the pastor are dead with many more wounded. Please pray.


We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal's blog 'Religious Liberty Monitoring'

http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.

If this bulletin was forwarded to you, you may receive future weekly issues direct by sending a blank email to

<join-rlpb@hub.xc.org>.

The Syllabus for the Praying Together Course is posted here for those not in the course, who may wish to take the course.

Praying-Together Course

Syllabus

Lesson Plans

     Module 1 Praying Together         

          Lesson 1  Class Purpose, Prayer Basics, and Foundation

          Lesson 2  Prayer, Tying into God’s Purpose Using Keys Found in the Scriptures to Help Us Pray 

          Lesson 3  What Does Prayer Involve, and Why Can it Be  Difficult?

          Lesson 4  Head Prayer? Or Heart Prayer?

          Lesson 5  Preparing Yourself for a Prayer Partner                            

          Lesson 6  Personal Preparation Before Prayer with a Prayer Partner

          Lesson 7   Finding a prayer partner

          Lesson 8   Encouraging People to Pray    

          Lesson 9   Developing Relationships and Prayer

          Lesson 10 Groups

          Lesson 11 Group-Praying Formats

          Lesson 12 Power of a Praying Church

          Lesson 13 Developing a Prayer Culture in the Church

          Lession14 Course Reflection week (was lesson 18)

A Note from the Facilitator/Writer of the Praying Together Course:

A few month’s ago, we completed the first offering of the first module of  the above course on Pray!Network.  About 2 months ago more wanted to take the course, and now we are reposting the reflection questions with a link to the lesson.  The reposting of the reflection questions is done to help a person to move forward in working the lessons.  We are not very far into the course, and it would not take long for any who want to take the course to catch up with others already started.  To allow some time for catch-up, the next scheduled posting will be around the first of September. 

I would like to share from my observations of those who have gone through the course, what has helped.

• First--commit to working the whole course--those who made the commitment to work EVERY lesson—learned the most.  This commitment took humility to come and ask the Lord to teach them through the lessons of the course; and to let the Lord worked in their hearts in a manner that helped them in their relationship with the Lord; and help them in being able to pray with others. 

• Work every lesson—look up the scripture—some in the course have tried to just read the lessons, but reading lessons is not enough—the best way is to work every lesson, even if some lessons seem very elementary to you.  This may be true in some of the first lessons designed to take those with little training and help them.  Still the Lord can use those lessons will help you, especially as you move from one lesson to the next.  Again—those who worked the lessons, learned the most, and the Lord used that learning to help them grow in their Christian life, and in prayer.

• Work the Reflection Questions--I highly encourage anyone taking the course to take the time to respond to the reflection questions.  Putting your thoughts down on paper and responding in the comment sections of the Praying Together Course discussion on Pray, can be a challenge for some.  However, I personally have found much encouragement when I have done the same in sharing my reflections.  There are those in the past who took time to work the reflection questions and humbled themselves before the Lord.  They found the Lord helping them grow in their Christian walk with the Lord.

• A Completion Certificate is Available—when the course is completed, for those who have taken time to work reflection questions, and completed the course.   This Certificate is from Wheatland Ministries, who developed the course.

I encourage all of you to take the challenge, and take the course.  My wife and I wrote this course to encourage others to pray together, which is what we believe that Christ wants.  I know the Lord will take the scripture in the course and course instruction to work His plans for each of us in Praying-Together as we work through the course.

Special Lesson:   Prayer for Government and Prayer for the Nation

Anytime we have a major election in our nation, many wonder how they should vote.  This lesson does not tell anyone how to vote, but focuses on scripture that can help us pray God’s way in upcoming elections.  It also challenges us to search the scriptures as the Bereans did in Acts chapter 17. It is important to let the principles in scripture guide us as we come to important elections. 

Module 2

Lessons on Praying for Your Children and Grand Children are Planned—stay tuned!

Active Shooter Preparedness

Sunday, August 5^th, in a suburb of Milwaukee, a lone gunman entered a Sikh temple, opened fire and killed six people before he himself was shot and killed. Reports say that there have been at least three other men who were shot but will recover. The investigation, led by the FBI, is currently ongoing and more information will be released as it is made available.

What’s the Christian Response?

The first step in the Christian response should be to pray. God is the only one who can fully understand the implications of the event on the individual. Pray for his wisdom in how to minister to those around you. Pray for strength, guidance and wisdom for the responders who respond to the incident. (To read more on a Christain Response: http://community.christianemergencynetwork.org/blog/active-shooter-preparedness.html)

Mission America Coalition (http://www.missionamerica.org/Brix?pageID=12737) is working with CEN (http://www.christianemergencynetwork.org) and BASICS Milwaukee (http://www.basicsinmke.org) to unite the Church to Prepare, Pray, Care and Share!

Thank you for your prayers. Please prayerfully consider how prepared your community, church and individuals are for a disaster.

“One Nation Under God “

God – Morality - Our Nation

Christianity and Politics

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord

The people he chose for his inheritance

Psalm 33:12

Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate. Rick Warren

After all of these years of prayer for our nation I believe that we are finally seeing more and more Christians rising to the cause of Jesus Christ and the world does not know how to handle that.

Hopefully it is not too late for our culture. As soon as we speak convictions and moral absolutes it obviously riles people because it confronts them with a just and righteous God. As one pastor recently said, if sinners feel comfortable, warm and toasty in my church then I wonder if I am preaching the same gospel as Jesus, Peter and Paul.

It is amazing moment when you pick up a book or listen to a sermon on a subject that God has already been speaking to you about over the past months or years. All of a sudden that sermon or book solidifies and seals what God himself, has been trying to speak with you in the past months or even years.

To me this happens all of the time.

Several years ago I was in a large mega church in New York City and the message that was spoken was exactly what God had been speaking into my heart for months and even back into the early days of my Christianity. But that morning there in New York City it all came together. It was a moment that changed my life and I made a permanent change in yielding to what God had already been speaking to me most of my life as a Christian.

Most recently reading the book “ Radical “ by David Platt, one of those moments happened again, where we are reminded that our calling in life was not just to live the “ American Dream “ but to live out the “ Great Commission “, every day of our Christian lives. It is easy to say that we are all doing that today by just simply living a quiet Christian life and not yielding to the worlds ungodly desires – but is there more?

One of the hardest tasks here in the DC area and in America is to awaken churches and Christians to seek God and to pray for our Nation. Prayer and intercession is not a big Christian crowd gatherer, but yet when done right, we have seen thousands and thousands show up in our churches to pray all across this Nation. We as Christians are all commended for attending church and church related activities and even commended for volunteering in our communities, but as soon as we pray, seek God and speak publicly on behalf of Jesus Christ then we are labeled as bigots, narrow minded and we are labeled as uncompassionate people.

“The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer” – John R Mott

"Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces”.  S.D. Gordon

We can only pray that God awakens his church in this critical year of 2012. A political party or a new President will not make this Nation a Christian Nation. It is time for the church to rise and speak. It is time for Christians to shake off the intimidation of the world and to come forth and boldly proclaim the gospel with faith and compassion for the world.

Pray that this year 2012 that Christians and churches would pray and stand more vocal than ever before.

Ephesians 6:12 says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities, rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. If we practice activism without prayer we become nothing more than Christian activists with a cause. And here in DC there are hundreds of groups with just a cause. We do not want to be just another one of them. But if we begin first on our knees before the almighty and omnipotent God with prayer and intercession, we can then be assured that our voices will be heard and our actions will have a permanent effect upon our Nation and our Nations culture.

As S.D. Gordon says - "Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces”.

In 2012 we are facing cultural changes that could change the Godly culture of this Nation for decades to come. Abortion has the potential to reach record epidemic numbers; traditional marriage is being challenged at a rate like we have never seen in our American history; and the removal of God from every aspect of our culture is under attack like we have never know in the foundation of America. The push to make this Nation a neutral Godless society is being challenged and thrown in our face on a daily basis and we as Christians and the church have said little. History tells us over and over again that other Nations have risen with a strong Christian heritage and then only to slip in mediocrity when they strayed away from God and moral absolutes. Many feel that this is impossible and this could never happen to the United States of America.

But has it already begun? Is it too late to change?

The good news is that it is never too late to change.

Pray that the American church and Christians would arise to their call of the Great Commission. Pray that the churches of America would not get trapped into being a self serving church and that they would not be consumed with ministering just to their own. Pray that our churches would not succumb to a social gospel of only community service.

As you are probably aware, we pray all across this DC area from Capitol Hill to Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinics on Saturday mornings to the steps of the Supreme Court. We have seen a few churches here in the DC area arise to the call of the Great Commission with prayer and seeking God over the past few years, but most prayer has been formed outside of the local church structure.

Pray that more and more churches would hear the call of God to the Great Commission to seek God, to pray and then take action that will have a  permanent spiritual effect on our cities and our Nation.

May God awaken more and more churches all across this Nation to “Stand on behalf of Him “.

God Bless.

Ron Brumbaugh

“ Building a Culture of Faith, Prayer and Action “

Mark 8

38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,

the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Dear Fellow Prayer Leader,

Dr. Rick Shepherd, the SBC Director of Prayer and Spiritual Awakening for the state of Florida, is offering resources being used in his state to call Christians to pray for God's honor, for neighbors, and for our nation this fall. The resources include a calendar document with prayer prompts for September 16 - November 10, a leader's notes document, and a sample pastor's letter to a congregation. Rick is offering these for your use in your sphere of influence as you see fit. His contact info is in the content if you have any specific questions for him.

There are many calls to prayer this fall and many tools available, this call to prayer deserves a look.

For God's glory,

Elaine Helms

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2012.PrayerCalendar.56%20Days%20of%20Praying.LEADERs%20NOTES.docx

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