International Prayer Connect write: ‘As worship and prayer have begun to rise across the Middle East, an unprecedented harvest is taking place among Muslim peoples. We hear the same testimony in multiple nations. “As soon as we started the House of Prayer, we saw more salvations, healings and deliverance than ever before.” “We have been doing 50- and 100-hour prayer and worship gatherings in Turkey and north Iraq.” In 2018 many Middle East nations joined our symphony of prayer and worship for 50 hours. From 11 to 13 April, Christians in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Egypt will be praying for five promises that the Lord has been speaking to us over recent years. We invite you to join our intercessions for children/youth revival across the region, for the rebuilding of devastated Syrian cities, for joy and strength for pastors, leaders, and indigenous church planting movements, and for a great harvest among unreached peoples.’

Journalist and church deacon of Early Rain Covenant Church, Zhang Guoqing, was missing for several days before it was discovered he was being held in police custody for ‘provoking trouble’. He had published a story of how the pastor’s mother, Chen Yaxue, had been beaten up by a policeman, and how one officer had grabbed her hair and kicked her. Also, eight Christian families from the same church were evicted from their homes and two fired from their jobs, after police pressured landlords and employers. Twelve Christians are currently being held in criminal detention, and one is missing. Pray for them all, asking the LORD to be a shield of protection around them (Psalm 3:3). Pray for the Lord’s provision for those who have lost their homes and jobs. Ask also for mental and physical healing for Chen Yaxue, after the cruel police assault.

Stoning to death and amputation as punishments - including for children - are provided for in newly-implemented sections of the Brunei Darussalam sharia penal code that came into force on 3 April, according to a discreet notice on the attorney general’s website. ‘To legalise such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself. Some of the potential “offences” should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender’,said a researcher at Amnesty International. These abusive provisions received widespread condemnation when first discussed five years ago. Amnesty expressed grave concerns: ‘This penal code is a deeply flawed piece of legislation containing a range of provisions that violate human rights. As well as imposing cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, it blatantly restricts the rights to freedom of expression, religion, and belief, and codifies discrimination against women and girls.’

Before Cyclone Idai devastated 1.7 million lives, Mozambique was known as the ‘Land of Smiles’. Now there is no electricity, no running water, homelessness, cholera and many still awaiting aid. But the greatest tragedy is that many of these souls were unprepared to face eternity that day. In fact, many in Mozambique have yet to even be reached with the Gospel of Jesus. In recent years spiritual responsiveness has increased, and many are turning to Jesus. But the urgency remains. Rampant disease, natural disasters, and widespread poverty were there before Idai. The time for people to hear about Jesus is now. Pray for true freedom for those in bondage to poverty, disease, witchcraft, and animism. Pray for the Church in Mozambique and neighbouring nations, for its leaders to grow in spiritual maturity and Biblical understanding. It is believed that 40% of the world’s unmined rubies are in this poverty-stricken country. Pray for honest investment into underdeveloped resources to strengthen the fragile economy.

Esther refused to deny her faith when she was abducted by Boko Haram as a teenager. She was forced to marry one of the militants and faced horrific abuse at his hands. Soon she became pregnant. When she finally escaped and returned to her village, her community mocked her for being a ‘Boko Haram woman’. Even her own relatives called her daughter ‘Boko’, not Rebecca. There are thousands of women like Esther, who are doubly at risk of persecution, both because of their gender and because of their faith in Jesus. We, the global church, cannot allow the persecution facing our sisters to go unseen and ignored. We can pray for an increase in resources to be available for those who are giving them support and hope for the future God has prepared for them.

Over sixty people have died following floods across Iran. 78 intercity roads are blocked, 2,199 rural roads and 84 bridges have been washed away. 141 rivers burst their banks, and 400 landslides were reported. Floods have damaged nearly 7,500 miles of roads (36% of the country’s network). Government and aid agencies came under severe criticism for their efforts being too small in scale and unable to cope with the acute needs of tens of thousands of flood victims. Emergency services sent four helicopters to Pol-e Dokhtar because land routes to the city are cut off. Many people are in tents. A parliament member warned President Rouhani, ‘People facing a tragedy urgently need food, drinking water, medicine and warm clothes’.The lack of order and planning is widespread. Pray for the thousands sheltering in the open with little food, clean water or warm clothes in often rainy weather.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo extended condolences to the victims of the floods in Iran, and said his country was prepared to help. But in a sign that the offer may have been less than serious, he did so in a statement blaming Iranian mismanagement for the flooding, and without explaining how assistance could be directed to Iran without violating US sanctions. Pompeo rejected a claim by Iran that the sanctions were preventing donations to its Red Crescent. He said the USA was ready to contribute to international charities which could then forward the money to the Red Crescent for relief.

The Iranian Church is growing with increased momentum, with daily encouraging reports. Despite persecution, Christians are courageously preaching Christ. Hundreds who have received training through mission agencies are teaching the Gospel. Over one million Scriptures have been distributed to Iranians since 2003. Christian TV is beamed into millions of homes, reaching families who otherwise may never have heard the Gospel. Thousands respond to programmes every month. An estimated 28 million have access to satellite TV as dishes (officially banned) are hidden in upper rooms and lofts. ‘Underground’ house churches serve people from all segments of society. Former hard-line Islamic mullahs and drug addicts worship Jesus together. Highly educated university professors, lawyers, taxi drivers, street vendors, and nomads follow Christ together.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram captured 76 Muslim-background Christians. Four men were told at gunpoint to renounce Christ and revert to Islam. When they refused, they were shot in front of their families. Later the men’s wives were ordered to renounce Christ, or their children would be executed the next day. In the morning the children ran in, saying Jesus told them in the night that ‘all would be well’. Then Jesus appeared to them all and told them He would protect them. When the mothers again refused to renounce Christianity their children were lined up against a wall. As the soldiers took aim they suddenly grabbed their heads, screaming ‘Snakes!’ Some ran away, others dropped dead. A captive grabbed a gun and was about to fire at the fleeing militants but a child put her hand on his arm and said, ‘You don’t need to do that. Can’t you see the men in white fighting for us?’

On 27 March, MPs voted on a series of eight different Brexit options and rejected them all. The next morning Conservative MP Stephen Crabbe said, ‘We would have been leaving tomorrow had people rallied round and supported the prime minister. Instead, different groups of MPs were all holding out for their own versions of Brexit, and that’s a recipe for chaos.’ Our God who rules the nations is not a God of chaos. We can pray for the UK to be ruled by people with the discernment to maintain order (Proverbs 28:2). We should remember that the debate now is focused on the terms of the UK's exit from the EU. The conditions of the future relationship between the country and the bloc, assuming the UK leaves at all, still have to be negotiated.