Russia: athletics scandal
13 Nov 2015
The World Anti-Doping Agency said the London 2012 Olympics were ‘sabotaged’ by inaction by the world athletics governing body and the Russian federation who turned a blind eye towards Russian athletes with suspicious doping profiles. The IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, is seeking approval from IAAF council members to consider sanctions of provisional and full suspension and removal from future IAAF events by the Russian Athletics Federation. Interpol is now co-ordinating a global investigation into widespread doping in track and field after the former WADA president spent eleven months investigating systemic cheating and cover-up within Russian athletics and the sport’s governing body. He has recommended that five middle-distance runners and five coaches be given lifetime doping bans. The Russian government is accused of complicity in widespread doping and the cover-ups exposed in the 323-page report. On Tuesday, the head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged there is a problem but insisted his country is moving forward to address it.
Gospel advances amid war against IS in Iraq
13 Nov 2015
The coalition units in Iraq during October stepped up military strikes in Ramadi in the west and Baiji in the north. At the same time, Christian workers doing spiritual battle in northern Iraq could barely keep up with area residents' desire to learn about Christ and the Bible. People in northern Iraq's Muslim autonomous region of Kurdistan have long been more open to Christianity than other Iraqis, but they have been especially keen since IS took over parts of the region. ‘They're just sick of Islam,’ said the director of a ministry based in Kurdistan. ‘People are very hungry to know about Christ, especially when they hear about miracles, healing, mercy and love.’ He has heard numerous testimonies every day; churches have emerged and people watch satellite television broadcasts of others telling how they came to put their trust in Christ. It’s an ‘awakening’ among Muslims in northern Iraq.
IS releases 37 elderly Assyrian Christians
13 Nov 2015
The Assyrian Human Rights Network has confirmed that the Islamic State has finally released 37 elderly Assyrian Christians on Saturday morning, following their nine months of travail under the hands of the extremists. They were captured in Tal Talmer, a city in northeastern Syria. The recently released captives were part of a group of 215 civilians who have been held by IS since February. Families of those still being held hostage are hopeful that they will also be released because Saturday’s release of hostages follows recent smaller releases. 88 of those captured are now free, and the Human Rights Network is in ongoing negotiations to free the rest. See also: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/07/middleeast/assyrian-christians-isis-released/
The Heartbeat
12 Nov 2015
Read the recent copy of the World Prayer Centre's print newsletter The Heartbeat, which goes out once a quarter. You can view it here.
We also send a regular email newsletter called The Pulse which keeps people regularly updated with prayer points, prayer events, initaitives and lots of new stuff! Sign up to receive The Pulse.
Small Group study & prayer guides
12 Nov 2015
World Prayer Centre has ten prayer booklets to help people with prayer. These simple study guides can help small groups learn together about a key prayer theme or issue, and then think through how they can pray in new and more effective ways. The approach is simple – read the booklet (takes 10-20 minutes) before your meetings, discuss the content and work on a new approach to prayer together. Here are some guidelines:
WHICH BOOKLETS CAN I USE?
All of them are easy to read and study. There are some practical ones on strengthening prayer – Praying Scripture, The Call of the Watchman, a Guide to Blessing and Prayer Walking. Others are focused on key areas for prayer and you can decide which will resonate most with your small group. Choose from praying for - Children and young people, A Nation, People at work, Persecuted Church, Health Care Professionals, and Unsaved family and friends.
BE PREPARED
You must read the booklet before the study. It is a guide with some ideas, scriptures and practical actions. As you read, make notes on the guide. Where you find something that resonates with you, or you like it, put a tick. Where you want to explore an issue put a question mark. Highlight or underline passages or lines that you want to remember for the future or refer to when you discuss the booklet. Pray before the meeting that God will speak and guide your group into a renewed focus on prayer.
BE VERY PREPARED
Our prime focus at World Prayer Centre is on the Supremacy of Christ. Study, group time and prayer are only worthwhile when we are consciously and deliberately in His presence. Why not start the study by meditating and praising around key descriptions of Jesus.
He is the Good Shepherd – He will guide our ways as we study
He is Sovereign – we are in a place of obedience to Him
He is the Lord of Hosts – when we pray things happen in the heavenly places
He is the Prince of Shalom/peace – He wants strong whole relationships with himself and between us
He is the Redeemer – He is constantly working to bring people to Himself
Proclaim God's sovereignty over the subject you are studying – and praise Him!
GETTING GOING
Check on the level of knowledge and expertise in the room, e.g. if you are studying the children's guide, get names and ages of children/grandchildren, who has worked in a job with children, been a parent or helped in church work or other organisations.
Review the key messages in the book. This can either be done as a whole group or in smaller groups of 3 – 5 people.
- Ask 3 or 4 people to say (one at a time uninterrupted) what they felt were the key messages in the booklet.
- Ask others what additional things struck them as key messages.
- Who do we know on the front line? Who is working in this particular area? How could we pray for them? How could they help us pray?
- What is happening in our village, neighbourhood/town or city? What should we be concerned about? What might be key things to pray about?
- Are there any testimonies from the group? Personal testimonies of God using them or stories of others from books, the internet, friends etc.
- What were some of the issues the group marked for discussion? Pick 2 – 3 recurring issues and ask – what was the concern? What do others think? What is the way forward?
CREATING A PRAYER ACTION PLAN
This should not be rushed at the end. It needs time because many in the group might not have thought practically about praying for a subject in an informed and determined way before. Each of the booklets will give some ideas for action. We encourage you to listen to what God might be saying to you as a group and then to think through some ways forward.
- Listen to God quietly- some people might want to meditate on some of the scriptures in the guide booklets, others might want to just sit in the presence of God and ask God what is on His heart. God may give you a word, scripture or picture.
- Pray together submitting yourselves to God and asking that you might each know His heart.
- Discussion What happen next? What will we do in the next four weeks?
- How can we pray for this issue in the future?
- How can we keep ourselves informed? What more do we want to know or understand?
- Who can we pray for? What situations or places should we pray for?
- How do we keep praying for significant change? E.g. for the sovereignty of Christ, for harvest, for strongholds to be broken.
- How do we make sure we are monitoring on-going issues? E.g. praying protection, releasing blessing, pray for wisdom for key people, etc.
- How do we ensure God gets the glory? Keep watching for stories, answered prayer, testimonies that demonstrate that God is on the case!
- How do we sustain this?
Now put it into action! Visit our store to check out what guides are available and order them for your small group.
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6.18
Dear Praying friend,
In difficult days, even great-hearted Christians can become more self-absorbed, and tend to pray “fix-it” prayers. Such problem-solving prayers ask God to help us get back to what we remember as normal. But now is the time to pray “fulfill-it-all” prayers. These are the prayers that cry out with hope-filled desperation for God to advance His purposes in our lives and communities. God is exalting His Son as He brings life-giving changes by the power of the gospel, even in the face of great evil and worsening darkness.
Seek God for the City helps ordinary people pray beyond their own concerns, learning to pray the scriptures with clarity and relevance for people throughout their communities.
We invite you to examine Seek God for the City 2016. As in previous years, this 64-page, full-color prayer guide is designed to focus and unite prayer through the 40 days leading to Palm Sunday, February 10 through March 20, 2016. Seek God for the City is a proven resource that encourages and unites whole churches in persistent and passionate prayer for spiritual awakening throughout their cities and communities.
We’ve been able to keep the same affordable prices. Quantity discounts make the booklet available for as little as $1.20 a copy. This makes it possible to equip many in your church or community for much less than the $3.00 single-copy price. Check out a couple sample pages at www.waymakers.org or call us at 800-264-5214 .
Let’s pray in these days with our hearts stirred and resolute with the certain hope that God will fulfill all that He has promised. The prayers in Seek God for the City re-ignite faith and expectancy that Christ will be glorified among our neighbors and amidst the nations.
Yours in hope,
Steve Hawthorne
Director
PS: We are offering a complimentary review copy to leaders in recognized positions of pastoral or prayer leadership. Call our office at 800-264-5214 to request a review copy.
1) CiP Track: Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations
(JOEL 2:28; PSALM 8:2; PSALM 127:4)
Led by Ps. Ir. Tety Irwan, M.Th., Leaders of Children in Prayer (CiP) International and also Pastor of Salt and Light Community Church (SLCC) in Indonesia with a team of five from Indonesia.
There were 16 sessions, twice a day for 10 days. The children learned about : Salvation, Praise and Worship, Why we have to pray?, Powerful Prayer 1 and 2, Hearing God's Voice, Spiritual Warfare, God's Character, World Ballet Story, Prayer and Fasting, Prayer Walking, Prophetic Dance, Overlaying Prayer, Praying for the Nations, THUMB, World Changer Generation, Testimony and Commissioning.
There were 70 children participating altogether. Children came from many nations: Israel, Indonesia, Korea Selatan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, China, Taiwan, India, Japan, USA, Latvia, Ukraine, Germany, Ethiopia, Honduras. We could see how the children's track has gone to the next level; the children received the heart of David and the harp and bowl style in their heart was full of heavenly joy. Some of the children learned how to blow the shofar in praise, worship and prayer times. Really an amazing time!!!
The children were very excited to learn about prayer, praise and worship (harp and bowl). They know that they are a House of Prayer for all Nations, that their prayer will transform the nations. They learned how to be watchmen in the end time age. Everyday, they participated in praise, worship and watchman time. They also did the fast in Yom Kippur with adults and young people. They prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, the Middle East, the nations and the fulfillment of the Isaiah 19 highway vision. Every kids got a passport for the nations. Every session the children prayed for one of the 12 gates. They got a stamp after they finished praying for one of the gates. They also did prayer walks.
They had fun time with games, playing time and snack time. Children learned prophetic dance and had a prayer time at the giant map of the world. In prayer, they received heavenly visions from God (downloads from heaven) and wrote them down. Some of them received a vision that if we want the gates to open, we must do worship and spiritual warfare. Some of them received a vision from the Lord that Jesus is coming soon; some received a vision about Samuel hearing God's voice. Children can hear God's voice; God spoke to the children and some of them received a vision about rapture; others received a vision about darkness covering the earth, including Latvia, but because Jesus died on the cross and brought salvation, God will pour out the Holy Spirit upon Latvia and revival will come to Latvia...Amen. Some of them also received a vision about being an army of God, that we must rise up and run for Jesus in the end time age.
2) CiP Training in Papua, Indonesia
We did training, 13-14 October, for 300 Sunday School teachers and pastors from 39 denominations in Jayapura City, Papua. 2 days of training were about Children in Prayer : Why we teach children to pray, How we raise up children in prayer, Curriculum Kids Prayer, how we do the kids prayer class and a concert of prayer for kids. We taught mission to kids, using Curriculum Mission for Kids. We also taught them Creatif and Maximize Children Ministry. There were also Regional Discussion Groups on how to follow up this training with an open children’s prayer class with the material (8 sessions).
15 October, we did Crusade and Concert of Prayer with 3000 children. We did puppet show about Lost Sheep and after that I preached about Salvation, praise the Lord, 3000 children received Christ as their personal savior. After that, we did Concert of Prayer, 3000 children pray for 101 Unreached people groups in Papua. The children did a declaration prayer with Isaiah 60:1 over the 44 districts of Papua. So powerful!
We believe spiritual changes happened in Papua after the children’s prayers. They also prayed for the government in Papua; for Indonesia and the children who have special needs and also for street children. They prayed for the nations with a world giant map. Kids were really enthusiastic and ran to the stage in the concert of prayer. They prayed for revival in Papua Island, Indonesia, and the nations. We also taught the kids to sing "House of Prayer for all nations". Some of the kids were in tears when they prayed.
After the training and crusade, the Television of Papua/TVRI broadcast the seminar -Day 1, How to raise up children in prayer, and Day 2, how to raise up mission kids and also our teaching about salvation and the concert of prayer. TVRI Papua broadcast this program to all 44 districts of Papua, also in villages. Please pray the CiP Movement that what happened in Papua Island will be for God's glory. Joel 2:28, Psalm 8:2.
Gloria in Exelcis Deo !!!
Ps. Tety Irwan
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A watchman call to rise and build for America
Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” Nehemiah 4:19-20
Need: America is at a tipping point requiring stronger relationships and strategic intervention and communication to turn the course of the nation.
Vision: A watchman call across the time zones of America for spiritual awakening, transformation and preparation of an alert and ready bride.
Mission:
- Awaken the body of Christ in prayer for the critical needs of the times.
- Build through relationship to bridge the time zones in worship/prayer
- Connect time zones through effective communication infrastructure
- Disciple to equip and empower the watchmen to take their place on the wall
- Expect God to move through prayer and raise a culture of prayer in our cities and regions
Call to the Wall USA gatherings:
Short term: Initial time zone “Trumpet Call to the Wall” gatherings for Mountain, Central, Eastern time zones. These gatherings would focus on the following:
- Fellowship and relational atmospheres that connect the time zone N-S, E-W (This likely will be a remnant that responds)
- Repentance of key spiritual issues
- America’s redemptive call
- Understanding of the 4th watch and potential into 7 sphere influence
- Communication infrastructure to assist in mobilization
- Inspiring mobilization messages like “ekklessia”
Structure, small team will work initially with the time zones
- Develop national team from these gatherings
After initial time zone specific gatherings, vision is to have national gatherings once a year for ongoing visionary inspiration, testimony, and encouragement
“Ignite the Night” focus on the 4th watch
The 4th watch 3am-6am is the New Testament version of the Old Testament night watch (2am-6am). When mobilized as a corporate call in cities and regions, it carries a lot of spiritual weight and can pave the way for stronger prayer environments to arise. Biblically strategic events take place on the night watches:
- Jacob wrestled with God and met Him face to face, Gen 32:22-31
- The Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Exodus 14:25-36
- Gideon defeated the Midianites, Judges 7: 19-24
- Saul defeated the Ammonites, 1 Samuel 11:11
- Angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, Luke 2:8
- Peter and Jesus walk on water, Mt. 14:25-26
- Jesus was resurrected from the dead, Mt. 28:1
Benefits of 4th watch mobilization:
The advantage of corporate agreement towards this strategic time to pray carries the following potential for cities, regions:
- Participation builds relational connections between people, churches, and regions in the time zones promoting powerful agreement
- Promotes accurate discernment through relationship and accountability
- It is doable and sustainable. Most cities/regions can sustain with a small group of committed “watchmen”
- It promotes unity and breaks down barriers that have divided cities and regions
- No church/ministry is too big, or person too small to participate
- It releases creative strategy for further prayer/worship advance
Furthermore and more importantly, God is simply doing it. He is waking many people up between 3am-6am. We just have to understand why it is happening and respond.
Expected outcome:
- Culture of prayer and worship to increase in our cities and regions reflected as corporate HOP, communities of prayer arise.
- Stronger collaboration between regions, prayer streams and ministries as barriers are removed and relationships develop
- Testimony of God’s intervention to rise across America through salvation, healing, restoration
- Realignment politically, socially with biblical values.
- Prayer ministries to increase and expand within churches as a functional identity of the church and increased support of HOP efforts from local church bodies
- Creative strategies released for needed social, political, and cultural intervention
- America to develop a model that will feed into the nations: Psalm 132:17
Participation possibilities:
- Simply commit to a time to worship/pray, preferably one day a week on the 4th watch 3am-6am, do it and allow God to work on your heart
- Engage with others in your spheres of influence
- Mobilize your city with those who will fill in the gaps 7 days a week and develop communication infrastructure that encourages relationship
- Mobilize Trumpet Call gatherings for time zones.
Contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
661-747-2996
Fred and Susan Rowe
Co-founders "The Living Wall"
Transform World Celebration Challenge Facilitators, Trumpet Call to the Nations