Up until now, we’ve referred to Together 2016 as next year. But now next year is here—and as we turn our calendars to January, we begin praying more expectantly. If a million people are going to gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on July 16, there is much that God must accomplish before then—fueled by our prayers!

January is also a month when churches start out the year with an emphasis on prayer. This year, multiple churches and ministries are partnering in 21 days of prayer and fasting from January 10-31. Praying with Jesus: RESET My Generation is a national expression in support of what God is doing through Together 2016 and other national initiatives. We will be uniting with all generations to pray for revival and spiritual awakening in our nation.

I hope you will consider some way to fast and pray with us. In addition to fasting, you can sign-up to receive daily devotionals or join a nightly prayer call. Each call will include a special time focused on Together 2016 and led by Together leaders.

Here are some prayer requests for this month:

• Pray for a sweeping prayer movement through our nation during the 21 days in January—that all generations will be engaged in praying for a reset to Jesus.
• To reach the goal of one million people on the National Mall in July, the word needs to go out through ministries, churches, networks, social media, and word-of-mouth. Pray that the marketing and advertising campaigns for Together will create a buzz around the nation.
• This week, more than 300 spiritual leaders are gathering in Atlanta, for a Solemn Assembly. They will be setting aside time to seek God for spiritual awakening. Pray for a move of the Holy Spirit that is a catalyst for awakening throughout our nation.
• Each member of the Together team has submitted a detailed plan in his or her area of responsibility leading up to July. Pray for wisdom, endurance, and favor from God as the team executes these critical details over the next few months.
• Continue to pray for those who will be on the platform leading in worship and prayer. We are asking God for humble hearts focused on Jesus alone. Pray for the details of the program to come together.
• Several million dollars are needed to support such a large gathering. Pray for the funding to be committed soon so that the team can move forward with their plans. We are praying and believing in faith that God is going to provide all the resources!  

Honored to pray with you,

Carol Madison

National Prayer Initiative

2016 has the potential to bring about a reset of the USA, which has been so hard-hit with economic, political and moral problems over the first years of this century. This year will decide who many of our national and state leaders will be for the next four years, especially for the crucial and powerful position of president. It is encouraging to observe how the Spirit of the Lord is stirring up national prayer efforts of various kinds that will carry us through the year until November’s election. 

Here are just some of them. Some are by invitation only, but those with websites included are open to the public. Please do keep all of these initiatives in your prayers. It is crucial that we flow together and complement one another as we pray. United prayer is what brings breakthrough, not just isolated, independent efforts. 

• January 6-7, Atlanta- Cry Out Solemn Assembly- leaders from a broad spectrum of faith movements are working with Dr. Ronnie Floyd, the current Southern Baptist Convention President, to unite together beyond the boundaries for this significant prayer gathering.  There is a growing excitement as God continues to unite hearts and dreams for a Christ awakening in our nation.

• January 12-14, Washington D.C.- Healing the Land consultation with local prayer leaders (Dave Kubal, Intercessors for America and Ivan and Linda Doxtator, Native American leaders). Purpose: consultation and training regarding breaking of spiritual bondage on our national capital to prepare for upcoming prayer initiatives in the city.

• January 13, Colorado Springs- “As One” coordination team meets to connect various prayer efforts in 2016, especially a nationwide prayer walking effort for the communities with up to 50,000 churches.

• January 23-25, Albuquerque and Gallup, New Mexico- Healing the Land Coalition meetings with ministry leaders and intercessors from the Navajo and other native peoples. 

• January 27-29, National Prayer Committee meeting of prayer network and ministry leaders in Orlando, Fl.

• March 11-13, Washington, D.C.- Alistair Petrie along with the Doxtators to host Taking Back the Land 2016.

• April 9 - United Cry- DC16: Calling on Pastors to Gather, Pray and Repent for Our Nation. Washington D.C. Join 30,000+ pastors and Christian leaders at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC to come together in prayer and repentance for America. http://faithdialogue.org/?event=united-cry-washington-dc

• May 5 – National Day of Prayer, Washington, D.C. and tens of thousands of prayer gatherings across America. http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org 

• July 16, Together 2016- up to one million gather on the Washington Mall to pray for a RESET of America. http://reset2016.com

• October 26-27, National Prayer Assembly, Washington, D.C.- leaders of prayer networks and ministries uniting in prayer for the national election and other issues.

• November 1, Election Day

Prayer Concerns:

• Please pray for the organizers and the effective organization of each of these initiatives. Pray that each will be anointed and guided by the Lord and fulfill its unique purpose in the deliverance and destiny of America.
  
  
• Pray that the prayer movement and the churches across the country will flow together in the unity of the Spirit, transcending old animosities and divisions so that community by community His people will develop new levels of reconciliation and heart unity so that our nation can be revived and saved.
  
  
• Pray that wicked and corrupt politicians and others in influential positions will be removed from their positions and that this nation will be turned around to fulfill its destiny before God and once again become a blessing to the ends of the earth.
  
  
• Especially pray for God’s appointed and anointed person to be elected to lead the nation as our next president. Pray that he or she will be a person of integrity, wisdom who has a heart for the Lord and for the restoration of America.

Thanks for your support in prayer during this crucial year.

We praise God for the year 2015 and for all the long commitments.

Lecture for Parents (May, Oct and Nov)

 Leadership Training

National Congress of Renaci - 5-7 June

Intercessory of Children Conference - November

In 2015, we also had an increase of Coordinators. Renaci now has 25 Leaders in Brazil.

For the year 2016, the Renaci has some commitments, mainly Intercessory Children Conferences. The first will be in March in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

We count on your prayers! We wish you all a blessed New Year!

The love of Christ,

Arlety Calemi R. Nieto (National Coordinator of Renaci - Brazil)             (www.redecriancas.com.br - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Address: Rua Rozendo de Brito, 195 - Jd. D. Pedro I

14.802-269 - Araraquara – SP, BRASILCULTIVATE 2016

AFP     December 31, 2015, 10:55 pm    

Freed Afghan village reveals key to Taliban 'success'

QARA GHOILY (Afghanistan) (AFP) - Flanked by shaggy-haired gunmen, commander Ghulam Farooq peered out from a hilltop at the biggest military prize of his fabled career as a warlord -- a mud-walled Afghan village captured after five years of Taliban control. The village of Qara Ghoily in the remote northwestern badlands bordering Turkmenistan offers a rare glimpse into life under Taliban rule and encapsulates governance failures that have helped the Islamists gain ground against NATO-backed Afghan forces. When Farooq, a powerful anti-Taliban militia commander in Faryab province, wrested control of the village in August after a scorched-earth offensive, he found a population deeply disaffected with the government despite years of hardline Taliban rule.

"There," said Farooq, pointing down to a patch of clay dirt surrounded by fields of wild grapevines and deserted village roads. "The Taliban had no prison. They didn't need one. They beheaded all their prisoners over there." They also kept a chokehold on social freedoms, a throwback to their 1996-2001 rule that made them international pariahs, including a ban on music, shaving of beards and hip Hollywood hairstyles.

But despite their austere vision of Islam, the Taliban shored up support by restoring a modicum of order in the village through an effective sharia-inspired judicial system, filling a vacuum left by a Western-backed government seen as inept and corrupt. Unlike the official legal system, built with millions of dollars of foreign aid, the Taliban's informal court dispensed swift justice on all matters, from adultery to robbery. And one thing in particular set them apart from government officials: they never demanded a bribe. "If you go to a city court, the judge will take your money, the clerk will take your clothes and the guards will take whatever is left," remarked a village resident, requesting anonymity for fear of retribution. "People prefer to tolerate the cruelty of the Taliban than be robbed of justice and everything they own."

The testimony highlights the anguished choices faced by a population seemingly trapped between two evils and helps explain the insurgency's stunning rise despite a decade of costly Western intervention. The Taliban remain largely unpopular in urban centres, but in many rural areas the puritanical movement has entrenched itself among alienated groups, competing directly with the government for public loyalty.

The Taliban now control more territory than in any year since they were toppled from power in a 2001 US-led invasion, with the UN estimating that nearly half of all districts across Afghanistan are at risk of falling. NATO-backed Afghan security operations that claim to kill scores of militants on a daily basis are causing the "displacement of the insurgency, not its eradication", a Western official in Kabul told AFP. The Afghan government has frequently lashed out at neighbouring Pakistan for nurturing the Taliban, while ignoring their local support base, which the official stressed cannot be uprooted by military force alone.

- 'Taliban's advantage' -

"Insurgency is like a fever," said Sarah Chayes, author of "Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security", which looks at how Taliban propaganda appeals to graft-weary Afghans.

"Focusing only on violent insurgents might bring down the fever, but unless you treat the whole patient -- by paying as much attention to improving governance -- you will never durably stabilise the situation."

Commander Farooq, 49, is part of a constellation of informal militia groups seeking to bolster Afghan forces struggling to beat back the lethal insurgency as they suffer record casualties and a growing spate of desertions.

Unregulated and unaccountable, such groups are often accused of banditry and predatory behaviour that in some areas has driven Afghans into the arms of the insurgents, seeking protection.

But Farooq, a Soviet-era warrior who fought alongside the legendary resistance fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud, styles himself as a formidable bulwark against the Taliban.

He managed to do what government forces could not for five years -- dislodge the Taliban from Qara Ghoily in an offensive that left an entire terraced hillock in the village gutted after being slammed by rockets.

The insurgents escaped on motorbikes, villagers recalled, planting landmines and booby traps in their homes and backyards as they fled. Joining the Taliban exodus were around 60 families from the village of 2,000 people, which is hemmed between caramel-coloured hills that cut through a hotbed of insurgency. Those who stayed back are distrustful of Farooq's forces, but also fear the wrath of the Taliban if they return. Pro-government forces have a poor track record of holding territory seized from the Taliban.

"I have assured them 'I will be with you when you harvest your grapes, when they shrivel into raisins, when you cook the sacrificial meat of Eid'," said Farooq, sporting a luxuriant silk turban.

"We are here to stay."

Farooq gazed from the edge of the wind-swept hill, surrounded by loyalist gunmen who were amused as their handheld radio crackled with the voice of an eavesdropping Taliban fighter hurling profanities and threats.

"It is hard to gain trust as the gap between the people and the government grows," Farooq conceded, impassive to the chuckling.

"That works to the Taliban's advantage."

This report will help you to understand and pray for those suffering under the scourge of the Taliban. Pray for the government to become effective in caring for its people and for the discrediting and overthrow of the Taliban and ISIS forces in the country so that the people of Afghanistan will finally be free.