Praying for the media in a post-truth era

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fake news, Post truth, pray for media, Pray for truth

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1-3, cf Heb. 13:7).

An obvious aspect of being watchmen for the Lord in a post-truth generation is to pray for our political and spiritual leaders – but let’s remember too the many who shape and influence our thinking through the media.

The Singing Revolution – Pray for Estonia

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Estonia, Oleviste worship Choir, singing revolution

Recent tensions with Russia in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) have propelled the name of Estonia to the fore many times over the past couple of years. Most of us probably don’t know much about this country, whose total population is little more than that of Birmingham, and which recent reports indicate is one of the least religious countries in Europe, if not the world. As far more reputedly believe in folk lore spirits and ‘life force concepts’ than in Christ, I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to feature Estonia in this edition.).

Estonians acknowledge that years of prosperity had led to a high degree of complacency, but that they are now feeling decidedly vulnerable to Russian aggression – and anything but reassured by the outrageous claim made by a veteran Republican, Newt Gingrich, that, so far as he is concerned, Estonia is ‘just a suburb of St Petersburg’.

Occupied in turn by the Soviets in 1939, then by the Nazis, and then by the Soviets again, Estonia experienced profound trauma and turmoil during the Second World War. By the end of it, a horrifying 25% of the population had either been sent to Siberia, fled the country or been killed.

Music has long played a special part in sustaining the spirts of the Estonian people, especially during the years of upheaval involved in seeking to become an independent nation, free from Soviet control.

I recently heard about an extraordinary event which played a particularly powerful part in this process bringing about this release. It has become known as the Singing Revolution, in which an unbroken chain of two million people held hands over 600 kilometres.

Until very recently this is a story that has not been told outside Estonia, but now a film has been made about it: “The Singing Revolution”  This is a story worth sharing!”

See also

Especially in the light of Russia’s apparent interest in regaining control of these countries, where a fair percentage speak Russia as their mother tongue. (We saw in a previous edition, in Revived Russian Imperialism how this has served in the past as an excuse for Putin to intervene militarily in a region.

Like Ukraine, the Baltic States have been on the receiving end of serious cyber attacks. They are very concerned at how incredibly swiftly military exercises could switch to full blown invasion. It is surely right for to keep this matter in prayer!

Years ago my book Praying Together was translated into Lithuanian, which gives me some highly tenuous second hand involvement in the region.

May the Lord touch the hearts of the Estonian people at this time, and bring about a spiritual awakening that breaks through the complacency – and may He use the power of spiritual music in this process!

I was struggling to find Estonian worship on the web, but you might find it helpful to join with this Estonian choir that was worshipping in Christ Church Jerusalem

and

Love Song for Jesus

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Love Song for Jesus

Saturday 8th April MEC (Malvern Evangelical Church) Malvern 9am-9pm

This is a first call to let people know about a small event we will be hosting in Malvern eight days before Easter . . . As you may remember, I have often been involved in the annual Love Songs for Jesus in Jersey, which James and Jane Horsfall have been facilitating since the Fire from the Isles Conference we organised back in 2008.

Love Song is not a conference, but rather a time when worship groups and representatives from many nations come together to lead worship in one hour sessions, which anyone who has a heart to seek the Lord is welcome to take part in. 

Intensifying our prayer life: Sackcloth and the Day of Prayer and Fasting

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Fasting, Prayer and fasting, prayer call, Sack cloth

Join me in suffering as a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer . . . Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this (2 Tim. 2:3-4,7).

Reading through Hebrews 11, the word ‘better’ occurs three times and it has been standing out to me. Great heroes of the faith were concerned to make a better offering, to search for a better country (a heavenly one!) and to gain an even better resurrection (Heb. 11:4,16,35). In this article, I want to consider ways by which we might seek the Lord to the very level of our ability, and so fulfil His highest purposes for us.

Imprisoned for their Faith

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pray, Pray for the Persecuted Church

I have felt the Lord urging me recently to round up prayer for those who are imprisoned for their faith. Why leave all such praying to ‘Suffering Church Sunday’ in November? Our brothers and sisters in the Lord are held in prison all year round.

This is a project has been gathering momentum for some considerable time.  I was originally inspired to write the music as the result of a book by two young Iranian women who had endured imprisonment in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

I subsequently had the privilege of meeting and praying with these remarkable women. They have reached many across the nations in ways they could never have dreamed of during the dark days of their imprisonment.

Justin Coldstream provided enormous support by orchestrating the different sections, as well as composing the saxophone solo. The oboe music at the start is taken from a concerto by Vivaldi, and we have also woven in a well-known Czech folk song ‘Dobru Noc,’ which Justin arranged for string quartet. We recorded it at the New Year 2014 in St Cecilia’s church Kidderminster while Rosalind was in Australia.

The New Testament Greek word for prison is phulake, which means ‘a keeping watch’ as well as a literal prison where captives are kept. This is our offering to help us keep watch in prayer. I have based the presentation around the story of another believer from Iran, but it is an offering on behalf of all who are experiencing persecution for their faith.

Do share it with your friends and prayer networks.

Those taking part were:

Flute – Nicola Gerard
Oboe – Vanessa Hanson
Clarinet and Sax – Mike Halliday
Violins – Shirley Richards and Teresa Brasier
Viola – Nick Evans Pugh
Cellos – Jo Garcia and Anna Frazier
French Horn – Peter Richards
Keyboard – Justin Coldstream
Percussion – Keith Entwistle
Vocals – Janey Peterson, Harmony Greenwood
Text Narration – Colin Owen, Robert Weston, Elizabeth Hume, Rosalind Weston

Sound Engineer – Colin Owen

Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
‘Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.
(Luke 6:21-23)

‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – along with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’ (Mark 10:29-31)

Copyright 2014 and 2016 Ruach Breath of Life
This presentation may be freely played without specific permission, provided no monetary gain is involved.

The story the presentation is based around can be found at http://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/stories/iran_160420.php

Pray for all the excellent work that organisations such as Open Doors do on behalf of Christians experiencing persecution.

In naming a few of the many countries where Christians are persecuted in the presentation, I inadvertently said Azerbaijan instead of Uzbekistan. There is indeed intimidation of believers reported in that country, but less so than in Uzbekistan. See http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/country_profiles.php

The Lord’s Prayer

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Belgium, Brussels, France, Lord's Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer in Flemish and French.

Flemish

 

Onze Vader, die in de hemel zijt geheiligd zij uw Naam uw rijk kome uw wil geschiede op aarde als in de hemel. Geef ons heden, ons dagelijks brood en vergeef ons onze schulden, gelijk ook wij vergeven aan onze schuldenaren. En leid ons niet in bekoring maar verlos ons van het kwade. Amen.

French

Notre Père qui es aux cieux, Que ton nom soit sanctifié, Que ton règne vienne, Que ta volonté soit faite, Sur la terre comme au ciel. Donne-nous aujourd’hui Notre pain de ce jour. Pardonne-nous nos offenses, Comme nous pardonnons aussi À ceux qui nous ont offensés. Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation, Mais délivre-nous du mal. Car c’est à Toi qu’appartiennent le règne, la puissance et la gloire pour les siècles des siècles. Amen.

On the Wider Front – A Summary of Pointers for Prayer

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Bombing, Syria, Venezuela

Some of the Complexities involved in bombing Syria

Sally Mowbray is strongly aware that what happened in Paris has had the effect of releasing a spirit of militancy across much of the world. Russia in Syria; France lurching to the far right in its regional elections, the comments of  Donald Trump Donald-Trump-responds-to-criticism-over-banning-muslims-from-US and David Cameron’s unrepentant outburst against any who oppose the bombing campaign. e.g. David-Cameron-calls-Jeremy-Corbyn-a-terrorist-sympathiser-for-opposing-Syria-air-strikes

What a difficult job politicians had as they debated the Syrian question! One misplaced bomb can so easily turn the people in a region completely against the Allies, as has happened in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, a country where ISIL have apparently invaded and taken over the eastern province in the past few weeks.

Isis-spreads-to-afghanistan-as-1600-militants-pledge-allegiance-to-terror-group

I must admit I couldn’t help wondering (perhaps rather cynically!) whether the coalition did not “leave” a convenient oil field for the RAF to blow up on their first night in action as an easy target to make an impressive headline catching statement. There is nothing easy about any of the options. Try searching in Google, for instance, for the words Isil + bombing + trap + Syria + The Independent.

See also this article by a former hostage of ISIL who explains the extreme worldview of ISIL (very much along the lines we set out in the last edition), and warns that the winner of this war will not be the party that has the newest, the most expensive or the most sophisticated weaponry, but the party that manages to win people over. Nicolas-Henin-the-man-who-was-held-captive-by-isis-for-10-months-says-how-they-can-be-defeated

Since truth is always the first casualty when war is in the offing, pray for informed and reasoned debate and for wise responses from the nations of the world: for France as it completes its regional voting this coming Sunday, for America’s leadership, the EU generally, and the risky situation with Russia, where further miscalculations could so easily lead to fresh accidents and escalation as a result of the massed numbers of fighter aircraft above Syria. See this article from the New York Times over precisely one such episode.

The “emptying of Syria” continues to cause immense suffering for would be migrants in Greece and elsewhere, and much heart searching in the EU. Countries such as Norway are now paying asylum seekers to go back home
again.

As Brian Mills reminds us,

As we ponder all this, it is vital that we pray for peace, and not war. Behind what we see happening it is clear that there is a greater power at work than that of merely human alliances. Satan is orchestrating things through various networks to try and frustrate God’s purposes on this planet. He is doing this at a global level, as well as regionally. He has always worked through false religions and false worship to replace the worship of the one true God.

But it is not only through the religious systems of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and many others that he works, but also through the one that Western peoples have placed their faith in – secular humanism . . . We see the radicalisation of the youth and the exposure of them to extreme violence and trafficking as Satan’s attempt to oppose God’s plans.

 Please see this important initiative. www.ipcprayer.org/news/category/world-youth-prayer-assembly-2016

Climate matters

I’m sure I am not alone in wondering if the present bout of environmental crises are not a timely reminder to world leaders at the Paris Climate Conference? First came the terrible floods in Chennai, as well as the terrible storm in Norway, not to mention the floods in Cumbria, along with the air pollution crisis that has more or less paralysed Beijing. Beijing-smog, red-alert-issued, schools-and-businesses-to-completely-shut-down.

At this late stage, pray for world leaders in Paris to have the courage to make wise and far reaching decisions.

Remember Venezuela in prayer

Following the recent elections, it feels promising that change is coming to Venezuela, a country where there has been much unrest and poverty, but where God is also working deeply.

See these articles as an encouragement to remember Venezuela in prayer.

Christiantoday.com/article/venezuela.a.prayer.revival.in.the.midst.of.chaos.htm

Blog.godreports.com/tag/revival-in-venezuela

Jordan Visit – Individual details

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Jordan, Refugees

Imagine if you were in the huge queues of people waiting every day for food in Damascus, or for help in Jordan.

Here are pictures of some of these people, leading to a link with details about them.  Can we encourage you to choose at least one of these families to pray for and to “visit,” first by printing out this page and then by taking time to become familiar with their details? Tip: please take time to do this, otherwise everyone will end up praying just for the first people on the list …. there is a particularly lovely story of the Lord’s faithfulness on the very last visit. (Click on their names).

Global Hope team:

The team acknowledge that their work is very hard and tiring. Compassion fatigue is a very real danger. They really appreciate the support of people like us coming alongside them to encourage and energise them. It is not just Global Hope who are encouraged; we bring real hope to the families themselves.

Every family we visited gave us the best hospitality they could find, sometimes a Turkish coffee or a tea, most often a glass of water. Every family thanked us profusely for coming and above all asked us not to forget them and to tell the world about their difficult situation. In all this we are making family across the world.

Here is a link to all the families at once, or click on each picture title to see details of each separate family.

Sarabyon and Nahrain

Nahrain’s brother and extended family

Amar, Khalida and family

William, Egclas and Maria

Ahmad, Anwar and her sister Rannah

Hassu Jacob, Imama and Muntahah

Bashara and Marie, George, Rana and Salaam, Vivienne, Merna and Nuur

Rohaid and Celine Onella (7) and Ebair (31/2). Nahla and Bashara

Salaam, Moayad, Nadra, Salaam’s wife Nadra and baby Namer – ‘Tiger’ and Mukelos

Haithem, Tamara, Farah (13) Fehmi (10) and Karam (8)

Affaf, Imas, Sabine, Riyam, Ruqia

Selwa

Nebil, Riva and Lara (and granny!)

Samma, Insam and Sermont and daughter Carmen – (aged 1 year 4 months)

Raed, Affrah, Andre and Andra

 

Michael and Esther Ross Watson

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Indonesia, Michael Ross Watson, National Prayer Breakfast

Increased Muslim militancy In Indonesia has been leading to considerable persecution of Christians with many churches being burnt down and other pressure being applied, but there are far reaching works of God at work that are not so often reported. In recent conversations between our friend Michael Ross Watson and Patrick Johnstone, the mastermind between the Christian Prayer Resource Operation World and with a leading General in the Indonesian armed forces, (one of six committed Christian Generals out a total of fifteen),  it may well be now that something like 17% of all Indonesians attend church – a huge increase on previous estimates. (Government figures, of course, are always manipulated downwards)

The Chinese in Indonesia make up a mere 6% of the population but own 84% of the economy. In August Michael, who has done so much sterling work in Indonesia, had dinner in Surabaya with his Javanese family and two Chinese pastors of a large church in the city. They wanted to know how they were able to relate so closely to our Javanese family, because, in Indonesia the Chinese Christians tend to look down upon other Indonesians and treat them as servants. These pastors asked him to come next year and speak on this subject of seeing these barriers broken down.

May the Lord bring this wonderfully about! In the meantime, however, we need to pray for both Michael and Esther’s health. On a visit to the oncologist on 1st September Michael was given some new medication which he should never have been given. Among its other side effects are that it induces diabetes, causes serious eye problems and causes damage to the kidneys. He has been in a bad way since he stopped taking this medication after ten weeks. He is gradually improving and hopes to be completely restored, but he still has awful tiredness and his vision beyond a few feet is blurred. Two doctors have confirmed that this is the result of taking  the wrong medication. Esther meanwhile has a nodule on her vocal chords and is struggling with her voice. It is not malignant, but annoying. The ENT specialist wants her to see a speech therapist before considering the option of an excision. They are both trusting God for full healing and restoration, but let’s get behind them in prayer!

Michael has written several devotional publications.

Acts of Prayer

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M1, M1 Prayer Initiative

Acts of Prayer
Praying for the M1 Corridor
Saturday 14^th November 2015 – dawn ‘til dusk

Introduction

Over the summer of 2015 I had a growing sense that God was asking me to encourage prayer for the M1 Corridor in the UK. Having spent months pondering this and praying about it I now have a clearer idea as to why and how this should be done.

Why pray for the M1 Corridor?

The M1 was the first motorway to be built in the UK. It connects the north of England (Leeds) to the South (London). On a map it clearly runs through the heart of England. For these reasons I believe the M1 Corridor is a symbol at the heart of these islands that God wants to touch with the reality of His kingdom.

What to pray for the M1 Corridor?

• For God’s Kingdom to come and God’s will be done in the lives of all who live in the communities (large and small) near the M1 Including: Leeds, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Nottingham, Derby, Loughborough, Leicester, Rugby, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Luton and London.
• For all who work on and use the M1 including the emergency services.
• That God would heal the heart of the UK.
• For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit across the geographical area of the M1 Corridor where many may come to faith in Jesus Christ.

How to pray for the M1 Corridor?

There are many different ways of responding to this call to pray including:

• Praying in a church building or home near the motorway.
• Standing over or beside the motorway (on a bridge).
• Driving on the motorway, perhaps for just a few junctions and back.
• At one of the many service stations on the motorway.
• Praying in numerous locations in one of the communities that straddle the M1.

A pray for the M1 Corridor

Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, as the M1 Corridor runs through the heart of England, we ask you to renew the heart of these lsles.

Touch the lives of all who live by, travel or work on the M1. May many come to faith in Jesus Christ and know the life, love, light and liberty of His saving grace.

We pray especially for all who live in poverty, the homeless, the exploited, orphans, the bereaved, those bound by addictive lifestyles, all who are poorly, the dying and this generation of children and young people. Bless them all with your protective healing peace. May many receive a direct touch from You, and come to look to You as their Lord and Saviour. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Contact: Rev Tim Sumpter – tmsumpter [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk

If you organise a prayer event, please let me know; thank you and blessings!!