Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Your prayer support will be all-important to the planning of this event which is intended to be a “new paradigm” for an international congress—carried out Acts 13-style—incorporating listening to God, united prayer, and strategic implementation of world-impacting action that proceeds out of that encounter with the Lord and one another.
Prayer Concerns:
1. Please pray for the eight planning task forces: Program, Logistics, Mobilization (including the Media Strategy Group), Finance, Registration/Website, Youth, Children, and Prayer Support. We need to be led of the Lord, given His creative, anointed ideas, and to all do our work diligently, joyfully, and unitedly.
2. This will not be just another prayer conference. The word “world” adds a great deal of complexity and challenge to the planning process since we hope to have 5000-7000 ministry leaders from all 220 nations. Please pray for excellent organization on the part of the Indonesians and Koreans who are co-hosting the event, for the International Coordination Team, and for the right people from every nation to hear about the WPA and be able to come to Jakarta for it.
3. The WPA Concert of Prayer in Indonesia this year on May 17, 2011. This will also serve as preparation for the WPA that is one year to follow. Please pray for further guidance, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and unity.
4. Some organizers that are key to the WPA process are: the Indonesian and Korean national committees who will co-host the event and the WPA International Coordination Team (14) that provides overall oversight. Please pray for His guidance, protection, and provision for each of us. The spiritual battle, as you can imagine, is intense.
Here are the two Scripture passages that have particularly inspired us in arranging the WPA:
• The Church Becoming United—that all followers of Christ may be one so that the world may believe. (John 17:20-26)
• Our World Being Transformed—that “the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”. (Hab.2:14)
Thanks so much for your gracious help through prayer that will mean so much, not just to those of us doing the planning and organizing, but also to our world that will be affected by the World Prayer Assembly.
Please also help us get word of the WPA out to “ministry leaders of influence” who will represent the “seven mountains” of society (Arts/Media, Business/Marketplace, Church, Development of the Poor, Education, Family, and Government) who should be part of the WPA. Again, for more information, please have them see www.worldprayerassembly.com where they can also register their interest in participating.
Yangon (the capital), Myanmar, was the location for the January 12-14 National Children in Prayer and 4/14 Window Leaders’ Summit. John Robb, Chairman of the International Prayer Council, and Jeffrey Chew, SE Asia Regional CiP Coordinator, served as the main speakers. Present were 240+ participants, pastors, leaders, and children ministry and orphanage directors from various denominations from Yangon and all over Myanmar who enthusiastically strategized and planned out starting Children in Prayer ministries in the regions from which they came. God will use these children to bring about transformation to their society.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (www.csw.org.uk) announced the Burma Day of Prayer on March 12, 2011. The gathering will be in Central London to pray for the people and nation of Burma.
Following street protests in December 2010 going into January 2011 over a repressive government, seemingly lavish government spending, levels of corruption, economic hits, and dismal employment prospects for even the educated, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi was brought into power to replace Mr. Ben Ali. Prime Minister Ghannouchi has set up an interim government until elections can be held mid-year. Many political prisoners have been freed. Demonstrators are still angered that the new cabinet is dominated by the former president Ben Ali’s party. Some protestors feel that long-barred groups such as the Islamist groups or the Tunisian Communists should be able to participate in the government. On January 26th, the interim government issued an international arrest for Mr. Ben Ali and has dismissed cabinet ministers.
Please pray:
1. That peace and stability will come over Tunisia and that God’s people in Tunisia will be an instrument of peace.
2. For an end to violence and looting—many of whom are from higher-educated backgrounds.
3. For a new government with a heart for justice and the righteousness of God and that God would perhaps raise His children to the ranks of governing and to ranks of influence to council and govern in His ways.
4. Repentance in the Church and restoration to the Land.
5. Protection of Christians from persecution as well as material needs. Food and petrol are becoming more of an issue.
6. For the interim government to act with accountability, honesty, and wisdom until the mid-year elections and that the elections be free from corruption.
7. That the Gospel of Christ Jesus advance.
8. For Tunisian Christians to use this time to share their faith and that God would grant to them deeper faith.
One of our colleagues in Mexico reports some answers to prayers for Mexico. In the last months, these events have occurred:
1. The leader of Familia Michoacana, one who has threatened us of kidnapping, fell down in a special operation by the military in Michoacan. He regarded himself as the apostle of the cartel and had 12 “disciples” under him.
2. The leader of the “Santa Muerte” cult was captured because he was laundering funds from kidnappers.
3. The son of a pastor was released within 10 hours after the military conducted a huge operation never seen before in the area where the young man had been kidnapped.
4. A pastor from Chiapas and who defends native people being rejected by their communities for professing Christ as their Lord, had been threatened by local authorities. He and others met with the Governor and close staff in the capital city of Chiapas. The Governor committed to resolving each issue presented, meeting the first Friday of each month to review progress, and to establish preventative measures against religious discrimination.
5. A meeting occurred with the Apostolic Council in Guatemala and a Mexican team to explain what has happened with the November national prayer initiative. Some 80% of Christian evangelical churches were represented. A Forgiveness and Reconciliation Act for violence Mexicans had done against Guatemalan and Central America immigrants trying to get to the USA was conducted and accepted by the Guatemalans.
6. A meeting of some 250 brothers in a metropolitan area occurred. A woman pastor from Jalisco state gave testimony that in the last night of meetings in November that the Lord healed her foot which was in a cast. She felt strength return, took her cast off, and walked immediately. It was supposed to be on for 3 months. The devil was notified that his power over Mexico had come to an end and that he could not touch the lives of the pastors and leaders of the National Prayer Network.
7. One of the kidnappers of another pastor’s son was captured.
All praises to God!
Also, Bridge Builders, Inc., (http://bridgebuilders.org) reports:
1. Flavio Mendez Santiago, a founding member of the Zetas drug cartel, was captured in mid January. He controlled the main overland drug smuggling routes from Central America. Nancy Davis, an American missionary working in Mexico, was shot and in January, 2010, more than likely for the pick-up truck she drove rather than the fact that she was a missionary. The Los Zetas cartel is suspected to be the attackers. Pray for Sam, her husband.
2. Joaquin “El Chappo” Guzman, listed by Forbes to be one of the world’s most powerful people, worth over $1 billion, and considered the most power drug trafficker in the world, has escaped a Mexican high security federal prison. Beheadings with handwritten notes are signed “El Chappo People”. He has not been found in 10 years.
Please pray:
1. Giving thanks for His moving in Mexico to expose darkness (crime, evil plans) and bring justice and for sparing the life of pastors’ sons who were kidnapped.
2. For the relationship between pastoral leaders and the Chiapas government to continue to be positive, and that the Governor will keep his word and work for religious freedom and protection. Pray that God would work through the Governor and in him to bring about inward change as well.
3. For God’s Spirit to bring about personal change, growth, and revelation of what He is doing or about to do in Mexico during this 40 days of fasting and prayer and for renewed vision for Christian Mexicans in faithful prayer support and outreach to their country.
4. For other drug cartel leaders to be captured and brought to justice and for confusion and dissolution of the networking and drug trafficking efforts. That they and others in crime would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Pray that all their evil plans be foiled and people’s lives spared.
Robert Park, a 29-year-old Korean-American, was detained by North Korean authorities when he crossed the Tumen River bordering China. He recalls torture including sexual abuse which made him want to kill himself. But he did not. He felt his life could be used to report the actual crisis of human rights in North Korea and says their suffering is greater than his. Up to now, Park says 3 million or more North Koreans have been killed. Huge financial aid has not reached the people. Park says this is the biggest genocide since the Holocaust. He states the world has a huge responsibility for the fate of 20 million innocent and in hostage in North Korea. Park states that “resuming dialogue with Kim Jong Il is selling a soul to the devil.” The biggest obstacle is nuclear threat.
The Worldwide Day of Fasting and Prayer to stop the North Korean Genocide occurred on January 27, 2011. We are sharing their prayer requests:
1. Please pray for the millions of people in North Korea who are starving, tortured, and enslaved by the Kim Jong Il regime. Please pray for the liberation of all political concentration camps and for a supernatural way to be made for all starving people to immediately have the food and the nourishment they desperately need. (Luke 16-19-31, Jeremiah 32:35, Isaiah 58.6-12, etc.)
2. Please pray for Kim Jong Il’s genocidal regime to be overturned and for new, godly leadership to come that will respect the peoples’ human rights, lives, and fundamental freedoms. (Isaiah 37:14-20, Jonah 3:4, etc.)
3. Please pray for the liberation of all North Korean refugees in China especially for the hundreds of women who have been sexually enslaved by traffickers because China refuses them their rights under international law. Please pray for China to stop repatriating the refugees to their deaths in North Korea. (Isaiah 40:17, Isaiah 61:1-4, Luke 10:25-37, etc.)
4. Please pray for the repentance of South Korea, America, and the international community for allowing the genocide to continue even though we are aware of the horrific reality, which is the worst human rights crisis and genocide in the world today. Please pray for global media to publish, broadcast, and televise the truth about genocide in North Korea and China, and for people around the world to protest and demonstrate so that leaders will be pressured to act and that there will be an intervention to save these millions of lives. (Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 7:12, Ecclesiastes 12:13, John 8:32, etc.)
Please commit to mobilize prayer and to take urgent and specific actions for the lives of the North Korean people to become free and healed. (Joel 2:15-17, Esther 4:16, 2 Chronicles 7:14, etc.)
(This site also includes graphic pictures of the deplorable human suffering: www.stopnkgenocide.com)
Additional requests:
1. Also, pray for the inward healing of Robert Park.
2. Pray at that God would never allow the nuclear threat of North Korea to be realized, that the technology would be foiled, and that a spirit of confusion and division sweep through the North Korean government and scientific leaders who are bent on evil.
Latest news - As of February 8, the Christian Post Correspondent now reports that Said Musa is "facing execution within three days for converting to Christianity. Said Musa, 45, was told by a judge that he would be hanged within days unless he reconverts to Islam. But the father of six has refused to renounce his faith, telling the Sunday Times, 'My body is theirs to do what they want with. Only God can decide if my spirit goes to hell.' He also claimed he was tortured and sexually abused by prison guards and inmates." If this report is accurate, the execution could be carried out by the 11th. Please pray urgently for our brother and his release. See www.Christianpost.com for more details.
In the last IPC Connections, it was reported that Said Musa was imprisoned in Kabul in May, 2010, and Assadullah was imprisoned in Mazar-e-Sharif on October 21, 2010. Their crime was converting to Christianity from Islam.
The following is an update on their situation from within Afghanistan:
"The two prisoners are standing strong, and western diplomatic pressure may discourage execution. They could be released if they were declared insane. One of the men has already been put under six-month s care of a psychiatric doctor. There is major concern with this, however, because the physician is administering some unknown pills, the prisoner is afraid of being tricked into taking some mind-altering substances. Please pray for this, for God's will to be done and that He will protect these two men from any abuse or manipulation. In 2006, there was the case of Abdul Rahman, the situation around him was different but he was also arrested because he openly confessed to be an Afghan Christian. He was declared insane so the court case could be dropped, and he was put out of the country.
Please pray that the situation will be resolved soon, that the brothers will remain strong in their resolve, that those trying to defend them will have godly wisdom and not feel forced to use questionable or even harmful means to obtain their release.”
Compass Direct News (www.compassdirect.org) announced that 11 Christians (including 2 children) were arrested at gunpoint while sharing an evening meal and being charged for conducting a “secret meeting” in a pastor’s home. Three church leaders were included and still remain in custody after the release of the other 8: PastorWanna from Nakoon village church, Chanlai from Tonglar village church, and Kan from nearby Nahin village church—all in Hinboun district, Khammouan Province. Despite government-approved Christmas celebrations between December 5th and January 15th and the fact that Pastor Wanna informed the government of a church gathering in his home January 5th, the arrests on January 4th occurred.