Vietnam: laws against Christians
04 Jan 2019
In Vietnam, Christian persecution comes from local and national governments plus tribal culture. Communist laws disadvantage the Christian minority and their implementation at the grassroots level leads to persecution from local officials. Roman Catholics are seen as suspect for their ties to foreign powers. Ethnic group leaders see Christians as traitors to the tribal culture and identity, and villagers often work with them to persecute believers. The Montagnards, Protestant Christians, are viewed with particular suspicion by officials. On 1 January 2018 a new law on belief and religion came into effect, but Christian leaders agree that little has changed. Its potentially positive provisions are being unevenly applied, and completely ignored in remote areas where ethnic minorities continue under heavy persecution. These are anxious times for believers. See https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/vietnam/
Kenya: action to end police violence
04 Jan 2019
The International Justice Mission (IJM) requests our prayers for continued positive momentum in Kenya to bring about reforms that will curb the rise in police violence against the country’s poorest citizens. Dozens of people were killed or have disappeared at the hands of police in 2018, and Kenyan leaders will meet with IJM and other human rights organisations in the new year to develop strategies to address police brutality. Pray for effective reforms that will transform law enforcement from a source of fear into a force for good in Kenya. Human rights organisations now want a task force to be formed, to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
North Korea: Kim Jong Un’s message
04 Jan 2019
In a New Year speech, Kim Jong Un has said that he is prepared to meet Donald Trump at any time, while warning he would pursue an alternative course if Washington kept up sanctions on Pyongyang. He wanted an outcome that would be ‘welcomed by the international community’, but warned the US not to ‘misjudge our patience by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushing ahead with sanctions and pressure’. Kim also said the US should continue its halt to joint military exercises with South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets there. He also called for stronger inter-Korean cooperation, stating that he is ready to resume operations at a jointly-run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and to restart South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort. Neither is possible unless sanctions are removed.
As we move into a New Year as followers of Jesus Christ, presumably we want to see our lives make a greater impact for Him and our world. One of the most powerful,impactful things we can give ourselves to is praying with others for the changes we want to see in our lives, communities, and nations. I have been encouraged and stimulated by rereading a great classic on corporate prayer that I would like to share with you.
Rosalind Rinker, who served in China as a missionary from 1926 to 1940, wrote a provocative reflection on corporate prayer based on her own experience of learning to pray with others. She found herself bored and annoyed by the way prayer meetings were conducted each Friday night as the missionaries gathered to intercede. People would go on and on, touring the world in their praying, while other participants like her would try to stay focused but would wander mentally as they listened to what amounted to prayer orations.
A friend of hers and she later discovered the power of “conversational prayer” when two or more focus on the actual presence of Jesus Christ with them according to His promise in Matthew 28:20- that He would be with us “always”. Counting on His presence, they began to learn to speak to Him from the heart as one who was very much a part of their conversation and wanted to be included. They discovered that they did not need to use flowery, well thought out, theologically correct expressions, but rather like close friends would express their heart desires, questions, and concerns in natural, brief sentences, each giving attention to one subject at a time and then moving on to another when that subject had been covered enough.
Rinker opens her book with these words:
“Group prayer has lost its meaning for many of us, so that any excuse is a good excuse for not going to a prayer meeting. Praying conversationally (that is praying back and forth on a single subject until a new one is introduced by the Spirit) makes prayer such a natural means of “spiritual togetherness” that the healing love of God touches us all as we are in His presence. Meeting the Lord in this way brings us to the anticipated realization of what it means to be consciously with Him, and to belong to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.” (p.10)
Here are some vital principles that can be derived from Rinker’s book,Prayer: How to Have a Conversation with God, that will make our times of prayer with others much more lively and exciting:
- Count on the actual presence of the Trinity-Father, Son and Holy Spirit- when you come together to pray with others. Let the Triune God prompt you as to the things you should focus on together.
- Don’t make prayer speeches but talk things over with the Lord back and forth, including Him in it as we do in human conversation.
- Speak with the simplicity of a child talking to His Father. It is not the exact words but the heart attitude that God is attentive to.
- Be aware of the others in this prayer conversation who have their own heart perspectives to share. Don’t pray a monologue (you can do that when you are alone) but let everyone pray what they are being led to articulate by the leading of the Spirit.
- Make use of sentence prayers, expressing just one angle of a subject. God knows more about the subject already, far more than we will ever understand anyway!“Now remember the Lord is here. We are speaking to him. Pray in short sentences and then let someone else have a chance. He will guide us.” (p.26)
- Keep focused on the same subject, taking turns to pray about it until there is a sense of completion and the Spirit nudges you to move on to another issue.
- Be in tune with when you should jump in and pray, being patient and letting other members of His Body play their part, trusting God to move them to bring out other aspects that should be addressed.
- “We don’t learn how to pray in six easy lessons, we learn to pray by praying… Go ahead and stumble in your prayers, go ahead and cry. Out of your very weakness your brother is made strong. Out of your own weakness you are made strong by Christ. Out of the inadequacy of your prayer, the inability to express yourself, the shame of your tears, and the urgency of your need, you meet the Savior who understands you. You are comforted and your brother is strengthened.” (p.47, 49)
- Some things we can ask for by ourselves. Other things, she writes, are like great mountains and we need the faith and prayer of others to help us when we pray. “If two of you agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever (anything and everything) they ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18-20, Amplified) (p. 63)
- “Have faith in the One who is able to answer… God has given us power over our imaginations, so that by the positive use of that imagination, we can picture ourselves receiving the answer. This is the way to believe in one’s heart, and to believe that what one has asked for, he will receive.” (p.73)
Rinker concludes her short but profound exploration of united prayer in this way:“After all, prayer is conversing with God, and to converse with someone we must be with that person. And in His presence is fullness of joy.” (p. 88)
If I may add to what Ms. Rinker has said, we in the IPC have also found how powerful, even history-changing, such united prayer orchestrated by the Holy Spirit can be. Let us all go deeper in this wonderful adventure of conversing with the Lord together and through united prayer watch Him bring His transformation into our hurting, problematic world!
John Robb
IPC Chairman
More:Prayer:How to Have a Conversation with God (Zondervan Publishing House, 1959)
Dear Prayer Family
It was about this time in late December 2015 when God gave me a wild vision for a prayer relay on New Year's Day, the vision was of people holding 'Olympic Relay Torches' (flames) at seven high points around the Illawarra, the vision then zoomed out and I saw the flames spread across Australia, and then around the world, I immediately knew this was a prayer relay and I shared the vision with Warwick Marsh from National Day of Prayer (Australia). With only 12 days until New Year's Day 2016 we shared the vision and many believers joined us to pray across Australia and around the world, then on New Year's Day 2017 believers prayed in over 23 nations, and on New Year's Day 2018 the relay continued to grow with believers prayed in at least 50 nations, including 172 public locations in Australia.
In November this year I completely laid this vision down at the altar and the Lord quickly told me to pick it up again with two fresh instructions; "SIMPLIFY" and "SOUL FOCUS", a couple of weeks later He gave me a sentence to help explain what this looks like practically;
"WHEREVER YOU ARE AT SUNRISE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, PRAY FOR SOULS TO BE SAVED."
So, I invite you to join me at sunrise on New Year's Day wherever you are around the world, to pray for souls to be saved, I am convinced that the number one priority of heaven is the salvation, and reconciliation of sons and daughters back into the intimate relationship with God that we were all created for. Jesus described in Luke 15:7 and 15:10, a joyous celebration in heaven when just one sinner repents, I believe that it is God's will for every person to be saved, our part to play in God's plan is to pray for souls to be saved, and to preach the good news so that people may hear, believe, and call on Jesus to save them (Rom 10:13-17).
You can organise to pray as a group at a public location lookout, landmark, or a church in your city or town, or you can also pray privately in your home, we suggest you start around 15 minutes before your local sunrise time and pray for around 30 to 60 minutes, or longer if you feel led.
Watch the latest video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAq7YT6eXoE
We encourage you to pray 'The Lord's Prayer' (Matt 6:9-13) aloud as the sun rises, and make a declaration that Jesus is Lord of your life, your family, your region and your nation, then contend in prayer for souls to be saved, pray for our unsaved friends and family to know Jesus in 2019, you may also like to make a declaration over your nation like “Australia for Jesus”, or “America Shall Be Saved”, these declarations are the cry of God’s heart, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), so let’s pray in agreement with His will and contend for our nations to be saved.
Your group might like to include praise and worship in your time of prayer, you could also include communion, a time of fellowship e.g. breakfast, and then go and share the good news.
To register your participation in the New Year’s Day Sunrise Prayer Relay 2019 and receive the prayer resources, including prayer points, and info on how you can continue to pray daily for souls to be saved in your nation, and updates please visit http://www.sunriseprayerrelay.org/registration
This year WE WILL NOT BE PUBLISHING A LIST OF PUBLIC LOCATIONS, if you are hosting a gathering at a public location we encourage you to promote locally by inviting people you know and sharing in local churches, prayer groups and via social media, we also recommend that anyone considering hosting a public location make sure you have at least one or two people you know well that have agreed to be there with you for accountability and safety before you promote the location publicly.
Please post photos, videos, and testimonies from your location on social media and use the hashtag #SunrisePrayerRelay
Let’s awaken the dawn together in 2019 with prayer for souls to be saved.
Now is the "right time", now is the time of salvation (2 Cor 6:2).
Thanks & Be Blessed
Pat Steele
More:http://www.sunriseprayerrelay.org/
Important milestone achieved towards finishing the Great Commission and reaching the Unreached Peoples: Finishing the Task 2018
Aliso Viejo, CA: Finishing the Task (FTT) and The Issachar Initiative are delighted to report the achievement of a major milestone in the effort to fulfill Jesus’ command to “make disciples of every nation.” At this year’s Finishing the Task Conference, every remaining known unengaged, unreached people group (UUPG) was adopted for gospel engagement in the coming two years. A UUPG is a group of people without a single known worker doing evangelism and church planting in their people groups. In many cases UUPGs don’t have a single believer and have never had an opportunity to hear about Christ’s love and forgiveness.
The conference started by presenting 343 UUPGs to those in attendance. Leaders asked the over 600 missionaries, strategists and pastors in attendance to “roll up their sleeves” and spend the week praying, planning and working to get laborers to each of the 343 UUPGs on the FTT list. “It’s time for the Church to stop debating the Bible and start doing it,” said Rick Warren of Saddleback Church. The mood in the room was one of action and urgency.
When final commitments were made, organizations and churches far exceeded the faith goals for the conference. In all, 603 unique people group adoptions were indicated. Many UUPGs were adopted twice, three times and even four times, increasing the likelihood of the people group receiving a team of missionaries soon, or even multiple teams of missionaries.
Those in attendance also experienced many moments of Spirit-filled unity. All-together 280 different organizations attended FTT, each coming in a spirit of cooperation and partnership for the greater glory of Christ. Perhaps the best illustration of this was when a young 30-something missionary from East Asia came to the microphone and said “I’m only one man. I don’t lead hardly anyone compared to most in the room. But I would like to adopt all the remaining people groups in my country if you will help me.” Four mission agencies followed this young man’s faith and approached him to partner together to see every group in that country reached. The young man and the four agencies stayed overtime at the conference to continue praying and strategizing together.
Perhaps it was the increased focus on prayer and repentance that led to this unity. Within two hours of the event kicking off attendees spent an entire session praying through the Lord’s prayer together. “Who have you harmed? Who do you need to forgive? What needs to be made right in your heart today?” the prayer leader asked. On the second day of the conference attendees removed shoes and walked on a near football field-sized map of the world to pray for every person in every nation. In some instances, pools of tears were seen on the map as God led people to cry out for those who’ve never heard of Jesus in their land.
The body of Christ will now take the next steps in the work; that of recruiting, training and sending nearby workers into these 343 people groups. The commitments of these first missionaries will begin the process of making disciples in those people groups, thus hastening the day when the Apostle John’s vision of “a great number of people” “from every nation, tribe, people and language of the earth” “standing before the throne” of God is finally realized.”
Dusty Hoffman This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more information on the Finishing the Task effort, seewww.FinishingtheTask.com
Please note: There are still over 5000 Unreached People Groups that are less than 5% Christian and a hard core group of about 4700 of these that are less than 0.1% Christian (one believer per thousand) that need our prayer and attention in mission outreach.
Please pray for the efforts of the FTT coalition of mission agencies and also that all the remaining UPGs will be adopted for prayer and mission engagement.
…one of the Longest-running conflicts in the world.
Afghan Forces' Losses May Not Be Sustainable, U.S. General Warns
“The death toll among Afghanistan's security forces will no longer be sustainable unless urgent measures are taken to address recruiting and training issues, a top U.S. general has said.
"They are fighting hard, but their losses are not going to be sustainable unless we correct this problem," Lieutenant-General Kenneth McKenzie said on December 4 at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee amid frustration among Congressmen over a lack of progress in the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan.
McKenzie, who has been nominated to lead the U.S. military's Central Command that oversees wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, also warned against an abrupt withdrawal of American forces or change in strategy.
The Western-backed government in Kabul has struggled to counter attacks from the Taliban and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO combat troops in 2014.
In October, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Afghan forces had more than 1,000 dead and wounded during August and September alone.
And Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last month said the death toll among Afghan security forces since 2015 was close to 29,000 -- a figure far higher than anything previously acknowledged…
McKenzie said that Afghan forces are still unable to effectively withstand the Taliban fighters, who now number about 60,000 in Afghanistan.
“If we left precipitously right now I do not believe they would be able to successfully defend their country," he said.
Some 14,000 U.S. soldiers are currently serving in Afghanistan, mainly training and advising the Afghan security forces, and McKenzie couldn't say how much longer the United States will remain in the country.
"I do know that today it would be very difficult for [the Afghan security forces] to survive without our and our coalition partners' assistance," he said.
"The operational military situation is largely stalemated," said the U.S. general, who also voiced optimism over invigorated U.S. efforts to settle the Afghan conflict...
BRUSSELS - A senior U.S. diplomat has called on the Taliban to seize a "moment of opportunity" to open formal peace talks with the Western-backed Afghan government and negotiate an end to the 17-year conflict.
Alice Wells, the U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of South and Central Asian affairs, told RFE/RL that the "door had opened" for a possible peace settlement with the Taliban following President Ashraf Ghani's offer of unconditional talks in February and an unprecedented cease-fire in June.
"The Afghan government is ready," Wells told RFE/RL on November 29 in Brussels, a day after she attended a UN-sponsored two-day conference on Afghanistan in Geneva. "The Afghan people, and by that I mean the Taliban also, are ready. It's a question of whether the Taliban leadership is prepared to take up this offer."
ZalmayKhalilzad, an Afghan-born former U.S. ambassador to Kabul and Iraq, was appointed in September to the U.S. State Department team that is leading the reconciliation effort and peace talks with the Taliban.
Khalilzad, who has held several rounds of preliminary talks with Taliban officials in Qatar, told reporters in Kabul this month that he was optimistic a peace deal with the militants could be reached before the presidential election in Afghanistan in April 2019.
Moment of Opportunity
Wells, who met with Taliban representatives in Qatar in July, said there was no deadline but "there is a sense of urgency because we think this is a moment of opportunity."
Ghani, speaking in Geneva on November 28, said his government had formed a 12-strong team to negotiate peace with the Taliban, but he warned that any deal must fulfill certain conditions, including respecting the constitutional rights of women.
In February, Ghani offered to allow the Taliban to establish itself as a political party and said he would work to remove sanctions on the militant group, among other incentives, if it joined the government in peace negotiations. In return, the militants would have to recognize the Kabul government and respect the rule of law.
The Taliban has refused to deal directly with Kabul, saying they would negotiate only with the United States. The militants have also said NATO forces must withdraw from Afghanistan before negotiations can begin.
Wells said the militants were "suffering enormous casualties" and "there's war fatigue among the Taliban."
In June, the government and Taliban declared a three-day cease-fire coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr holiday, the first ever cessation of hostilities between the warring sides.
Wells said the cease-fire demonstrated that the sides want to "find a way to live in peace."
"They've always said publicly that they seek peace and they don't seek to dominate Afghanistan as they did in leading up to 2001," said Wells, referring to the Taliban, who were in power from 1996 until the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. "Let's test that proposition about whether or not they're prepared to actually sit and negotiate a political solution."
Efforts to open peace talks with the Taliban come as Afghan security forces struggle to fend off attacks from the militants, who control more territory than at any time since 2001.
Afghan forces are suffering record casualties, with Ghani saying that nearly 29,000 Afghan police and soldiers have been killed in the country since the start of 2015 when Afghan troops took over primary responsibility for security.
During the same period, 58 American had been killed, he said.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/senior-u-s-diplomat-calls-on-afghan-taliban-to-seize-moment-of-opportunity-for-peace-talks/29628847.html?ltflags=mailer
The recently concluded negotiations in the UAE were promising according to the US Afghan envoy. Let’s pray that this war-weary land will finally find peace and that both the Afghan government and the Taliban will be able to negotiate directly with one another at this pivotal point in this longstanding conflict.