Global Prayer and Missions Leaders from around the world are linking together in unprecedented ways. There is a great need in this season to see how we can collaborate together in more effective ways. We would like to share this opportunity with you. As a part of this conference there will be a Prayer Track
You will be fully engaged and embedded in this influential and impactful network conference (Ephesians 3:20). We will look at how to be more effective and intentional together (Luke 10:2).
Global prayer and missions leaders will be sharing on the value of collaborating together (John 17:20-23). You will hear from top mission leaders as they share current stats, trends and prayer needs of finishing the task (Matthew 24:14).
As we spend the week together we will become familiar with what is still needed to see a shift from NO Scripture, NO Missionary, NO Church, NO Known Believers, to adoption and an intentional strategy toward getting the Gospel where it has not been previously (Revelation 5:9 & 7:9).
Who Should Attend?
If you identify with one or more of the following categories, this conference is for you!
Sending Organization/Church
You want to send (or help send) gospel workers to plant multiplying churches among Unengaged, Unreached People Groups (UUPGs).
Resource Provider
You indirectly engage UUPGs by gathering resources (i.e., finances, training, or media tools).
Mission Mobilizer
You promote the engagement of UUPGs by increasing awareness, vision-casting, and connecting potential gospel workers and resources with engagement opportunities.
Prayer/Prayer Leader or Mobilizer
You promote the engagement of UUPGs through prayer in building a platform of prayer, awareness building, vision casting and connecting prayer as a foundational aspect and resource with opportunities among UUPGs.
Registration Information:
Early Registration: $175/person (ends November 14th)
Registration: $200/person
Note: Registration cut-off is December 2, 2017
Register and find out more information about travel, lodging, transportation, etc. by visiting: www.finishingthetask.com
The NEW annual Hindu World Prayer Focus calls Christians and churches worldwide to take 15 days October 8-22 to learn about and pray for our world’s over one billion Hindu friends. That period also encompasses the significant Hindu Festival of Light (Diwali). The informative prayer guide booklets will help Christians to know how to pray for the people(s) growing up within this major and very diverse world religion.
Diwali (or Deepawali) is known as the Festival of Lights, and is one of the most important annual celebrations for Hindus, lasting about 4-5 days. While (similar to Christmas celebrations in the Christian world) it has historical and religious roots, Hindus celebrate it by lighting and displaying rows of small oil lamps, participating in family gatherings, consuming special sweets and watching fireworks.
It is not our intention with this prayer focus to disparage India or the Hindu religion in any way. We recognize that both are far too complex and too full of great traditions to simply or easily condense, explain or take lightly within a mere booklet.
At the same time, as Christians, we long that all the world’s people(s) will have an opportunity to freely see, hear and understand the grace of God incarnated in Jesus Christ. To this end, we inform ourselves, pray for and want to support opportunities to make that grace known also within the world’s Indian and Hindu communities.
Won’t you join us? For more information and a short introductory video www.pray15days.org Already in a growing number of languages/nations, if you don’t see yours, why not offer to translate and/or distribute in yours? Email+ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Russia: 755 U.S. Diplomatic Staff to be Expelled, President Says. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will expel 755 U.S. diplomatic staff and could consider imposing additional measures against the United States as a response to new U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported July 30. Moscow ordered the United States on July 28 to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff and said it would seize two U.S. diplomatic properties after the U.S. Congress approved new sanctions on Russia. Putin said in an interview that the diplomatic and technical staff would have to leave Russia by Sept. 1. When it comes to responding to Washington's actions, Moscow has creative options for retaliation. U.S.: Bombers Fly Over Korean Peninsula. The United States flew two supersonic B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force on July 30 after North Korea's recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the U.S. and South Korean air forces said, Reuters reported. The bombers took off from a U.S. air base in Guam, and were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets during the exercise. The flight was in direct response to the July 28 North Korean missile test and the previous July 3 launch of the "Hwansong-14" rocket, a U.S. statement said.
Another successful THAAD test as tensions over North Korean threat grows. NBC reports the U.S. conducted a test of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) defense system in Alaska by launching a ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean. The target was fired by a U.S. Air Force plane and intercepted by THAAD, according to the Missile Defense Agency on Sunday. This was the second such test in a month by THAAD interceptors. The U.S. has deployed THAAD in South Korea to guard against North Korea’s shorter-range missiles, an action that angers China, which claims the system’s radar can probe deep into its territory.
ISIS claims attack on U.S.-backed troops. The Atlantic reports ISIS claimed on Friday to have attacked a U.S.-backed formation near Raqqa, the group’s de factor capital in Syria. The alleged attack against Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a Kurdish group allied with the U.S. – took place in the Homs province. ISIS claims it destroyed two armored vehicles and killed 53 Kurdish fighters. Meanwhile, SDF claims to have captured 40 percent of Raqqa and ISIS jihadi are in retreat.
CONSEQUENCES
Iran’s expanding influence across the Mideast. BuzzFeed reports Iran has tens of thousands of Shi’a representatives who are armed and decisively engaged across the Middle East seeking the regime’s singular objective of growing the Shi’a crescent, stretching from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean Sea. Those jihadi form a dominant force in the region, enabling Tehran to execute its coherent strategy, upstaging a coalition of Sunni dominated nations and the White House’s strategy for the region. Much of Iran’s success is attributable to the secretive Quds Force of the IRGC and its commander General QassemSuleimani.
PACOM commander focuses on three major regional threats. The Military Times reports Navy Adm. Harry Harris said his command is focused on three major threats: North Korea, China’s interactions in the South China Sea and the spread of ISIS to the Philippines. These distinctive threats are a serious challenge to the command’s reach and stretch its resources in the vast Asia-Pacific. Adm. Harris told the Japan-U.S. Military Statesmen Forum in Washington, D.C., on Friday that North Korea is an “immediate threat to our alliance.” “While I don’t know if those missiles can actually hit what they’re aimed at, but like in horseshoes and hand grenades, getting close is all that’s needed when you’re dealing with nuclear weapons.” Note: I’ve twice visited the Asia-Pacific command this year and I have seen the growing anxiety there over the many challenges on their plate.
U.S.- Iran tensions rise as Washington imposes new sanctions on Tehran. Agence France-Presse reports Iran vows to press ahead with its missile program in spite of new U.S. sanctions, fueling the rhetoric between the two countries. Meanwhile, Tehran and Washington accused each other of the latest provocative manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf where a U.S. helicopter deployed flares. The U.S. Navy said it responded to an IRGC vessel that raced at high speed and came too close to one of its vessels. An Iranian government spokesman said his country “will continue with full power our missile program….We consider the action of the U.S. as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable, and it’s ultimately an effort to weaken the [2015] nuclear deal.”
North Korea celebrates latest ICBM Launch and warns U.S. against sanctions. Yonhap News Agency reports North Korea on Sunday warned of “a stern action of justice” if the U.S. seeks more sanctions in response to the Friday’s ICBM test. “If the United States sticks to its military adventurism against us and super-intensive sanctions schemes, we will respond with a stern action of justice as we have already declared,” a North Korean spokesman said.F
South Korea asks U.S. for more powerful ballistic missiles. The Atlantic reports South Korean president Moon Jae-in asked the U.S. to open negotiations that would allow South Korea to build more powerful ballistic missiles to counter North Korean aggression. Evidently Pyongyang’s Friday launch of yet another ICBM nudged President Moon to make the request which evidently was welcomed by the U.S. national security advisor H.R. McMaster. This is a remarkable turn-around for Moon who won his office on a platform that favored dialogue with North Korea and opposed to hosting U.S. missiles. Predictably the request upset China which issued a statement saying that “THAAD won’t solve South Korea’s security concerns, won’t solve the related issues on the Korean Peninsula and will only further complicate issues.”
RELATED ISSUES
Iraq: Shiite Leader Muqtada Al-Sadr Visits Saudi Arabia. Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr arrived in Saudi Arabia on July 30 in what is his first visit in nearly 11 years, Al Arabiya reported. The Saudi minister of state for Gulf affairs greeted al-Sadr on his arrival. Al-Sadr enjoys a wide base support as leader of al-Sadr political movement. Al-Sadr last visited Saudi Arabia in 2006. The trip highlights Saudi Arabia's interest in Iraq, which has developed ties with the kingdom's regional rival, Iran.
Robert Maginnis
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.facebook.com/RLMaginnis
We are sharing this word about North Korea, from Rick Ridings who many readers will remember from the World Prayer Assembly:
My friend Dutch Sheets sent out a call to prayer and prophetic word concerning North Korea yesterday on July 7th. That same day, I was with a team at the border of North Korea to pray. I had been speaking for a conference in Seoul, and the Lord had spoken beforehand to go after my speaking to the DMZ, the “Demilitarized Zone” along the cease-fire line that became the border with North Korea. I have ministered in conferences in South Korea many times in the past seven years, but never felt I had a release from the Lord to go to the DMZ. But this time, I felt a compulsion to go there for a specific ‘prophetic action’.
We went as a group of five, including a pastor who had escaped from North Korea, and who leads a church in the area near the DMZ. Two other local Korean pastors joined us there, making a team of seven praying on 7.7 on the Gregorian calendar and during the year 5777 on the Hebrew calendar.
I felt strongly that I was to drop a plumb line there, and proclaim from Isaiah 28:14-18 over the regime of North Korea. These verses speak of floods of water ”overflowing” hidden lies, exposing them and sweeping them away. It says that the flood will come in waves like a whip against those evil rulers, and annul their covenant with death.
When I proclaimed the same verses in Washington, D.C., in January 2016 (Patti and I were leading worship in “David’s Tent”, a place of 24/7 worship and prayer at the base of the Washington Monument), I stated that flooding would happen in Washington as a sign that the Lord would do this spiritually. Immediately afterward, heavy rains started, and the next day the Washington newspapers reported flooding there, and soon after that many political secrets were exposed.
The same thing happened along the DMZ region bordering with North Korea! As I finished proclaiming these spiritual floods to expose the lies and sweep away the North Korean regime, a heavy downpour of rain started (during a time they had been experiencing unusual drought), and the next day, the news reported flooding in that area along the DMZ.
I had taken a small piece of the Berlin Wall that I threw over the barbed wire face declaring that the same LORD who brought down the Berlin Wall and Soviet communism in a sudden surprise, would bring down the barrier between North and South Korea to reunite them and bring healing to the Land.
I was in prayer conferences in Germany during the time preceding the reunification of Germany. I had heard their sincere confession of the sins of their forefathers and their nation towards the Jewish people. And we proclaimed at that time, as they had humbled themselves in many corporate gatherings and confessed the sins of the nation (as in 2 Chronicles 7:14), that the LORD would heal their divided land as He promised.
I have now been in, and know of, many conferences where South Koreans have confessed the sins of their nation, and felt this was the time I was to proclaim that the LORD has heard and will bring about the reunification of Korea with a sudden event. Only afterward, did I find out that Dutch Sheets had sent out on the same day we prayed at the DMZ (July 7th) a prayer alert where he explained that he had recently prophesied in South Korea that “…the man-made barrier between North and South Korea would be removed, and the rebirth/rebuilding/ restoration of all of Korea would happen so amazingly fast that it would be a sign and a wonder to the world”.
I believe that Satan would love to use North Korea to bring great devastation upon the world, and to hinder the LORD’s calling on all of Korea to be a great missionary sending nation, especially impacting the Middle East. But our God is greater! Let us pray for His plumb line of justice and righteousness to continue to be extended over North Korea, for His floods to expose their regime’s lies, to “annul its covenant with death”, and to bring about its collapse and the liberation of North Koreans to worship the LORD. Let us pray for all of Korea to be one reunited, healed and mighty missionary sending nation!
Rick Ridings
http://www.succathallel.com
Prayer is about God and His purposes for our world. It is not just a devotional activity or punching the clock to satisfy a sense of religious duty. It is getting in sync with Him for the joy of that most intimate of relationships and out of that prayer partnership to see our personal situation, community, nation, or far-off people groups changed in favor of His kingdom and values. It is the way we transact business with God to see His kingdom manifested in our day-to-day lives, our own neighborhoods, and at the other side of the world where there is pain, suffering or lostness.
Jesus taught that we should pray that His “kingdom come” and “will be done on earth as in Heaven”. He gave staggering promises about the power of prayer to groups of people, always using the plural “you” to underline the importance of united prayer for seeing breakthroughs to transform our communities and world. In Matthew 18:18-20, He affirmed that “whatever” we bind or loose on earth, even just two or three of us, will be bound or loosed in heaven. In this way, whatever we agree about, “anything”, can be affected deeply by such praying. Prayer with others is therefore the most powerful thing we can do as His followers. It is the most important way we become agents of His transformation for our darkened and desperate world because it brings the God of the impossible into situations that are way beyond human solution.
United prayer was the culture of the early church. They “joined constantly together in prayer” (Acts 1:14). All the breakthroughs, from Pentecost on, came out of this culture of prayer agreement as the Spirit led them. In order for us to see modern-day breakthroughs in reaching the remaining unreached peoples, we also need to start with God in prayer. Missions is a supernatural business, involving His intervention in the calling of the right people to go as missionaries, the binding of principalities and powers that hinder, and the receptivity of the target people to the Gospel. The integral involvement of the Spirit of God all the way through is of paramount importance, and that is why engaging in prayer for His clear guidance, strategy and help is so essential. If we want the same results of the early church that “turned the world upside down” through their mission efforts, we need to connect with the same source of power and wisdom they had.
This year at the Finishing the Task event, for the first time ever there will be a specific track dealing with this issue-- the linking of prayer and mission. We will deliberate together as to how we can achieve a greater convergence between the prayer and mission movements and how an ongoing culture of prayer can become practically integrated in efforts to disciple the remaining unreached peoples for Jesus Christ. Please pray with us for an effective time towards these ends.
Even now, let’s obey Jesus and pray to Him, the Lord of the harvest and the Lord of breakthrough. Enlist others to pray with you. Let’s also be encouraging churches, prayer groups, and especially the younger generation of youth and children, to adopt these peoples for ongoing prayer until they are reached. (Excellent prayer cards for this purpose can be found at https://joshuaproject.net/resources/prayer.)
John Robb
IPC Chairman
www.ipcprayer.org
Dr. Jason Hubbard, Director, LOWPC The International Prayer and Mission Leaders' Consultation, May 8-12th convened together 120 of the world's top prayer and mission's leaders from 34 nations. We partnered together with the International Prayer Council, www.ipcprayer.org led by John Robb. In John's words, "Together, we transacted business with the King of Kings for His world."
John Robb and the IPC council asked us at Light of the World Prayer Center to administrate and organize the event, together with his oversight and leadership! John is an amazing leader and it was truly an honor to work together with him! Jamie Frey, one of our full-time staff members, and I started planning back in August of 2016. Over the next number of months we helped create a vision statement and set goals for the event, drafted an invitation email to key leaders, launched a website to share vision and process registrations, and put together complete color program booklets for the each of the delegates.
The impact of the Moravian community, both the intercessors and missionaries, is undoubtedly one of the greatest stories in church history! We have patterned our house of prayer and prayer strategy in the 'spirit of the Moravians.' Our vision is become a modern-day expression of this inspiring community, linking together night and day prayer, revival and mission to the remaining unreached, unengaged peoples on the earth!
It was a such a joy to travel together as a family, Kristie, Gracelyn and Joshua. It was the first international trip for Gracie and Josh! Kristie connected much with our amazing friend Sue Williams, sharing tea together and praying for one another. Sue served with us for a year at LOWPC as our staff development leader and now is one of the primary leaders at the Jesus Haus (house of prayer and retreat center where the Consultation gathered). Gracie sang with Sue on the worship team on Wednesday night, and Joshua helped Michael Lienau in capturing the Moravian story on video. We are praying for the provision to produce a full-length documentary on the history of the Moravians!
Mark Iblings, LOWPC board president, and Tim Scott, one of my prayer partners and our Education sphere leader both came to help serve the 120 leaders, carrying bags and escorting/driving many of them around during the event! They were such a huge help!
Tom Victor, director of the Great Commission Coalition, who serves as one of our advisory board members also joined us. From Tom's perspective, "The International Prayer and Mission Leaders Consultation in Herrnhut was, from my perspective, one of the most powerful mission and prayer gatherings of our day. Bringing together key leaders from the global prayer and mission movements as well as leaders of the children in prayer and youth prayer movements was so strategic, especially in light of the history and heritage of the Moravians and Herrnhut."
Paul Wemmer, author, historian, and one of our original leaders at LOWPC, was also with us and donated a copy of his book on Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians to each of the 120 delegates.
Serving together with Jamie Frey, Mark Iblings, Tim Scott, Tom Victor, Paul Wemmer, Sue Williams, and our on-site intercessors in Whatcom County...What a joy! I am so proud of our team...All for the Glory of the Lamb!
The vision for the consultation was to gather key mission and prayer leaders from around the world to ask God how the global prayer and mission movements could unite in our day - to accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Commission. I have personally never been in a gathering before with such humble men and women of God, young and old, who truly longed to encounter the Lord together, and grow in loving and serving one another!
Dick Eastman, the president of Every Home for Christ, was one of the 120 leaders. The ministry of Every Home for Christ sees about 20,000 decisions for Christ every day around the world, giving Dick a unique perspective. After the consultation he wrote, "I am more convinced than ever that the Moravian movement of prayer and missions was the greatest such movement in the history of missions, especially in light of the challenges they faced in that unique time in human history."
Dick shared that this gathering was "the most personally significant gatherings he had been a part of in his 5 decades of full-time ministry." Wow!
We sensed the Lord's leading to gather in historic Herrnhut, Germany to learn from the Moravian story of a canopy of 100 years of continual prayer, beginning in 1727, which launched the start of a Protestant Missions Movement across the earth! At its core, the motivation and watchword of the Moravian prayer and missions movement was this: "May the Lamb who was slain receive the due reward of his sufferings!" He is truly All-Deserving!
As we walked through the Moravian cemetery (pictured here), we were on historic ground. The graves here honor 6000 intercessors and missionaries who had fully embraced God's heart for missions. They had joyfully taken the gospel to those who had never heard, many at the cost of their lives. These radical Moravian missionaries launched over 5000 missionary settlements around the world!
The legacy of Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian prayer and missions movement, is astounding. Zinzendorf was famous for saying, "I have but one passion, and that is Jesus, only He." The seal of the Moravian church has in its center the white Lamb of God . He holds a staff with a victory banner displaying the cross. In a circular band on the outer edge it says: "Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow Him!"
During the consultation, descendants of the Moravians shared with us about the lifestyle of prayer and missions that emerged in Herrnhut, and the powerful role that children and youth played in the movement. It was truly an honor to be with the elders and leaders of both the church and the Jesus Haus. We love them and stand with them as they continue to see day and night prayer and worship established together with the sending of missionaries to the ends of the earth to share the good news of Jesus!
A request went out to leaders of children in prayer around the world, asking them to pray as we met in Herrnhut. 1,000 Royal Kids in Chennai, India, committed to pray for 100 hours and then added another 50 hours while we met!
We were so aware of the prayers of thousands of children around the world. It was an honor to meet and learn from Anton Cruz, the leader of this amazing orphanage in Chennai, India. Here is a powerful video clip of the children praying for our gathering!
Paul Eshleman,with Campus Crusade for Christ, (CRU), founded the Jesus Film Project, the most watched movie in the world. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Finishing the Task Network and as President of the Issachar Initiative, passionately calling us to make our lives Count for Zero, that there would be Zero unreached people groups without a witness for Christ.
Paul challenged us with research showing that, with more than 2.7 unreached people, Asia is the focal point for the global mission challenge. While other regions of the world have on average one missionary for every 1,000 unreached people, Asia has only one missionary for every 46,000 unreached people! There are currently 1570 remaining unreached/unengaged people groups yet to hear the good news of Jesus, and 521 of the largest remaining unreached people groups on the world map have over 500,000! We also learned that 90 percent of the missionary force and finances today goes towards the reached world. We came away with the passionate conviction and cry, "Lord of the Harvest, send forth laborers into the remaining harvest fields of the world!" (Matt. 9:37)
A final personal highlight for me was gathering together at the Bertlesdorf church. This historic church, known as the church of reconciliation, is where the Holy Spirit was poured out among the Moravians, young and old, in a powerful way during a communion service on August 13th, 1727. We celebrated communion together there, and reconciliation took place on several fronts! I truly believe we experienced a 'baptism of love' for one another. Coming away from the gathering, we had such a sense of family and affection for one another, desiring to continue to partner together in prayer and mission across our various denominations, generations and nations! The Lord truly knit our hearts together and I believe much fruit will come in the generations to follow!
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).
We only love to the degree that his love, most fully revealed at the cross, is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Just as Zinzendorf and the Moravians were compelled by the Glory and Love of the Lamb, to pray 24/7 and go on mission, I believe the Lord is calling forth a "Lamb's Reformation" in the church in this hour - a new reformation that will lead to a great transformation!
Prayer: "Father, I believe that the hour has come for your Son, the Lord Jesus to be honored, and treasured as the Worthy Lamb who was slain! Even as the Lamb is in the center of the throne in Heaven, we declare and decree that it's time for the Lamb to become the center of the throne on the earth! Father, we know that you are always looking at the wounds of your Son and we ask for a Lamb's Reformation in the church that would wake us up again to his cross, to bring your Son the reward he deserves for giving his life as a Lamb!"
"Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (Rev. 5:11-12).
For the Supremacy of Christ in all things,
Jason Hubbard
As our whole city of HK is celebrating the 20th anniversary of returning to China, many wonderful historical things are fall unto place at the same time! Yet, July 1 is indeed a new era for our City as our new Chief Executive is inaugurating into the 5th Special Administrative Regional Government for China. President Xi will also be coming HK this week and we are now greatly mobilising our city to pray like never before to turn the enemy's scheme of dividing Hong Kong from China into something godly.
Gloria Au Yeung
Kingdom Harvest Ministries
Please pray for the overthrow of division and any violent demonstrations being planned; that the Gospel of Christ will touch the public officials and all the different classes and occupational groups, especially the younger generation; and that Hong Kong will indeed enter into its destiny to be a great blessing to the world!
Vision Document and International Invitation
www.10DAYS.net
Already this year we're aware of over 30 locations around the US and the world that are planning 10 Days. No doubt, we'll be adding new locations in the days and weeks ahead. More than numbers, I'm encouraged by the quality of what is emerging. At our recent 10 Days Summit in Northfield, there was an incredible manifestation of love (John 13:34-35) and unity (John 17:20-23) in the Spirit. This isn't just an endless quest--by God's grace, the Church is going to fulfill Jesus' prayer "let them be one as we are one." And I think we're making progress!
Check out these 10 messages that were shared at the Summit!
Do 10 Days in your area...
Many of you are already planning 10 Days in your area. If you haven't already, would you take a minute to email Vi Tran (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and me about your plans? As last year, we can provide you with a city-specific page on the 10 Days.net website.
...or join us for 10 Days at Northfield
Some of you may want to get a better sense of 10 Days before you bring this vision to your nation, state, or city. As a second option to launching in your city, we invite you to come and experience 10 Days for yourself with believers from around the world in a retreat setting at the Northfield campus (MA, USA) founded by evangelist DL Moody in 1879.
Introduction to Northfield and 10 Days.
Our hope is that 10 Days Northfield will be something of a "model" 10 Days, where people can come from around the globe, experience what this is all about, and then take that experience back to their nation, state, and city. 10 Days will be culminating in the "Restore and Revive Conference (Sept 29-Oct 2) with speakers RT Kendall and Heidi Baker.
Share this Vision with your city...or internationally!
Finally, I'm attaching this year's "10 Day Vision" document. It's a great 1 page document to use in introducing 10 Days to others in your city. In addition, I've attached an "International Invitation" that can be used for introducing 10 Days to friends in other nations. Other Resources for sharing about 10 Days are available at 10Days.net.
Thrilled to be partnering with you again in prayer this year. I'm going to seek the Lord, but it's so much better when we do it together! (Zech 8:20-23)
Blessings,
Jonathan Friz
The story behind Ceaseless http://ceaselessprayer.com
I’ll be the first to admit that I can be pretty selfish. Prayer isn’t something you’d normally think of as self-centered, but there was a time in my life when I managed to make it about myself. All of my prayers were about me—my anxieties, my problems and my desires.
I wanted to pray for others too, but it was hard and usually felt impersonal. Also it’s overwhelming! There are just too many people and needs to keep track of, much less pray for. And, let’s be honest, I knew that I couldn’t count on self-discipline to manage prayer lists that in the past would quickly be forgotten.
I was thinking about my selfish prayer dilemma one day, when I realized that I had easy access to a list of people to pray for: my Facebook friends.
And instead of praying for everyone in general, I could specifically pray for a few friends each day, which would eventually lead me to pray for everyone, including friends who would never ordinarily ask me to.
I spent a few weekends building an app that integrated with Facebook and sent me an e-mail with several friends to pray for each day. After spending some time using it, I was surprised at how easy and helpful it was. Every morning, I would look forward to discovering who to pray for that day. In a couple of cases I even felt prompted to reconnect with friends I had not spoken to in awhile.
Is it useful?
I named the product Ceaseless and shared it with my friends to see if it could help them too.
After about 6 months of praying for friends, I discovered that with 70 users we had prayed for over 20,000 people. Mind blown. I did a bit of math to see how high this number could practically go. Assuming everyone had completely unique friends (math stuff here), 10 million Christians could pray for the 1.3 billion people on Facebook in less than 2 months. How? 3 friends a day. Beyond that, it isn’t hard to see that if we can do this for the 1.3 billion people on Facebook, we could also pray for the 7.2 billion people on earth.
This realization opened my mind to thinking of Ceaseless as more than a product. It could be the start of a something much bigger. What would God do if we prayed for people we have never prayed for before? What might He do as we pray regularly for others with all the breadth and depth that he invites us to?
I’m excited to find out. You can too.
How:
Step 1: Pray for 3 friends a day
Download Ceaseless for iPhone or iPad and start praying for 3 friends each day! Without you, a lot of your friends may not be prayed for. But it’s more than just a responsibility—I’ve found praying for others to be a refreshing source of joy and love as well. (Add your name to this list if you need Android. Use this form if you need something else).
Step 2: Share your joy
If after using Ceaseless you’ve experienced more joy in God, the next step is to share it and invite others to join.
Step 3: Going above and beyond
Finally, if God moves you to support this mission beyond just praying for your friends, please let me know. It is my passion to see believers unleashed in using their gifts to advance the gospel and whether that be through financial investment, volunteer effort, collaboration, access to platforms to share the vision and inviting brothers and sisters to the task or anything else, I would be delighted to talk with you.
I close this letter with an invitation to joy. Jesus said:
“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
(John 16:24, NIV)
Paul also taught:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV)
God wants us to be joyful and prayer is one way He shares His joy with us. Can you imagine the awesome experience of seeing God publicly respond to our prayers in ways we didn’t think were possible? Can you hear the inspiration of story after story of God’s abounding grace spreading to others through our prayers? Can you feel the deep satisfaction of knowing that God heard you and granted your request for someone else because He loves you?
The invitation to pray for others is nothing less than an invitation to joy. Let’s share it.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Christopher Lim
Founder, TheoTech
http://ceaselessprayer.com
The burden to pray in Europe was born around the year 2011 during one of my prayer journeys in USA. I have been praying in USA since 2009 following a burden placed upon my heart during a visit to the grave of David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. But my visit to Europe came about only this year, 2017. Lord miraculously provided a family in Hamburg, Germany – Pavan and Hanna - to host me during my visit. This enabled me to attend the International Prayer and Mission Leaders Consultation in Herrnhut, Germany from 8 – 12 May.
Immediately after the Herrnhut meetings, I left on a six-nation prayer walking tour. I was able to visit 10 cities – Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Geneva, Zurich and Copenhagen. I also had the opportunity to visit Wittenberg and of course I spent four days in Herrnhut earlier, the birth place of the Moravian Movement. It was a very solemn experience to be in Herrnhut and to reflect upon the vision, the commitment and the life of Count Ludwig Nicholas von Zinzendorf.
This was my first visit to continental Europe and I could only visit six countries in Western Europe. I have no idea of how Eastern Europe is and its needs. Therefore it must be stated that this is by no means comprehensive of the situation in Europe. And I wish to add that it is more through the eyes of one from India, called to preach and teach the word of God and of one who has been following the Lord for nearly 44 years and has been involved in preaching and teaching the Word of God for almost the same number of years.
At the outset I must state that, as in USA so also in Europe the main focus of my prayer was not so much those who do not know God, but my focus was the people of God, the Church – for God’s people to live lives worthy of their calling. If the Church is as she should be, then the world would be reached too. In my opinion the church at large has lost her witness and her authority as well through compromise with the world.
- Before leaving for Europe, I asked the Lord what I should be praying for in Europe. Lord answered that I weep for these cities and the people. This is what I did in each city I visited.
- My first stop after Herrnhut was Leipzig. I attended a Bible study with a small group of young people, all of them were in their 20s. After the study, I asked the group if there was one thing that I could pray for Germany, what that would be? One of the young men answered, “Pray for the burden of guilt that we carry. The guilt of what our ancestors did in the past.” This threw a totally different perspective for me on what some of the Germans might be going through. Another young man at the same group said that there were many who do not see any need for God in their lives and that there was a total lack of knowledge and belief in God or in Christ, These two statements expressed by two men in their 20s gave me an idea of what to pray and this became my focus in Germany.
- One scripture passage that was brought to mind constantly as I walked through these cities, was Romans 1: 18 – 31. These classic words of Paul in Romans tell us the spiritual history of man. I began to understand how this probably came about in Europe, especially regarding the ‘suppressing of truth’ and the consequent ‘revealing of God’s wrath’ – God giving them over to: idolatry, irrationality, immorality and impurity of every kind. I then understood, why Lord wanted me to to weep for these cities and their people.
- In Amsterdam, as I was looking for the hotel where I was booked to stay for the night close to the Central Station, I strayed into the red light area. (I am not sure if this is the famous red light district of Amsterdam). As I walked through and prayed and observed the people, I began to have a sense of foreboding and a palpable sense of the presence of evil all around. It felt as if some one was driving me away to leave the place. I wept. I had the same feeling of foreboding in Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark. I felt totally uncomfortable and out of place walking through. I strayed into the place and did not know what it was until I read about it later.
- While travelling by bus from Brussels to Paris, I felt the Lord telling me, “Speak judgement upon these cities”. All along the journey from Brussels to Paris, the route was dotted with small farming villages. And practically every village had a structure with a steeple. Obviously those were small cathedrals and that means there are or were Christians there. This gave me no joy. Unless there are dynamic groups of the body of Christ, cathedrals and physical structures of any kind were of no use. I wept.
Practically everywhere one can see tall physical structures, probably chapels and cathedrals. All these structures as well as the institutions they represent have actually obscured the knowledge of God. They neither represent Him nor His Son, Christ Jesus. The urgent need of the hour is for dynamic groups of followers of Christ, who would truly represent Him in their lifestyles and not in their programmes and projects. I, then understood why I was to speak judgement upon these systems, structures, cities and people – they were not true representations of God. It was as if man erased God’s glory in His creation and built structures which represent his own image – the image of his fallenness. I wept!
In general that was the burden of my prayer all over Europe – that God would raise not bannered groups but living and dynamic groups who would live as the Body of Christ, the way Christ lived. I believe unless such groups arise the world over, there is no hope for the world and the church as well!
- As I walked in Geneva, Zurich, Frankfurt and Copen Hagen and as I looked upon the huge buildings – the financial houses, banks, malls, store-fronts, museums, the art and the architecture, Lord began to say to me, “These are the temples in these nations.”. These have become the source of sustenance, security and identity for hordes of people and thus have supplanted God in their lives. I wept!
Idolatry in the West is not the same as in the East. In the East, they rejected God’s general revelation in His creation and began to worship the creature rather than the Creator. In the West, people seem to have rejected God’s revelation both in creation, His word and His Son and have begun to worship the creature. The only difference is that the gods were different. These gods were gods of money and matter. Ostensibly they appear neutral and innocuous. Yet these demand no less devotion and allegiance and one is as enslaved to these gods as the gods in the East. All these gods blind the eyes of the people from seeing the glory of God in the face of Christ.
I began to sense the presence and the power of Mammon all around. And I began to wonder if Mammon has overtaken us all, both in the West and the East by surprise including many Christians and many churches. We seem to revel in our riches and our material affluence. We do not see money or Mammon as the single greatest rival to the worship of God, as Christ taught in the sermon on the Mount.Instead we think that money is needed to serve God and in the bargain we give more time to making money than to worshipping or serving God. Ofcourse we justify it by super-imposing our work upon worship lapsing into the eastern mindset of ‘work is worship’. I wept!
- Finally, in the midst of it all I prayed for the remanent faithful people of God, who already there sincerely living and following Christ all over Europe – that they would be a potent witness for His Kingdom. I believe they are already there. AMEN, LORD!