Hajj Prayer is a 3-day effort to pray for people going on the Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca) from 21–23 September, 2015. All the Hajj Prayer 2015 information can be found at the Praying Through the Arabian Peninsula website: http://www.pray-ap.info/hajj. There is a Hajj video and also a three-day prayer guide. The day when Muslims are on Mount Arafat, seeking forgiveness of sins is Yom Kippur, the day Jews are also seeking forgiveness of sins—their calendars are aligning to make this happen. We encourage everyone to pray for one-fifth of the world during these days.
The launch of the World Youth Prayer Assembly (UPrising- United Prayer Rising) for the nation of Malaysia went very well. About 70 Christian leaders met the first night followed by 700-800 youth the second night. They were strongly challenged by Pastor Jerome Ocampo, the WYPA convener, to embrace the vision of mobilizing the youth and children to gather in South Korea next July 2016 (26-30). I was also able to share with them.
Please continue to pray with us that the vision will increasingly catch fire around the world as all three generations, children, youth and adults, hear about it. We envision a movement of three waves, starting in South Korea and then building with mobilization and training by the youth for the youth back in their countries, followed possibly by two additional assemblies in other nations until millions of youth and children become involved around the world both in prayer and carrying out their unique life missions. You can see video and other information about the UPrising on http://www.unitedprayerrising.com Please share this vision and website with others you know, especially the kids in your lives and churches.
Report from Royal Kids and the International Children’s Intercessors Conference, Aug. 6-9
Some of us had a wonderful time in Chennai, India celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Royal Kids ministry of Father Anton Cruz and his family with hundreds of children and adults. Yesterday, we concluded on the mount of St. Thomas where he, one of the original disciples, was martyred after bringing the Gospel to India in the 1st century. Flags were given by the older generation to the younger generation as a symbol of them arising to take leadership for the future. We celebrated communion and reflected together on "Doubting Thomas" who became a great apostle of faith and challenged both the kids and the older folks to sow mustard seeds of faith with their lives that God would use to bring millions of times the impact just as real seeds do. We then handed out the seeds and they prayed first alone and then together to discern what unique life mission the Lord had for each of them.
According to a report by Yonhap News, envoys from North and South Korea have reached a deal to end some of the most recent tensions that have plagued relations between the two countries. The agreement ends "marathon talks aimed at defusing tensions on the Korean Peninsula," the South Korean news agency reported. Most recently a standoff involving an exchange of artillery fire had pushed tensions between the rivals to a recent high.
CNBC.com August 24
Let’s pray for His peace between the two nations and that God will use the current tensions for good towards their eventual reunification.
North Korea
As we contemplate the situation in North Korea, we grow increasingly concerned on a number of fronts. For many months now, we have been praying for Canadian humanitarian workers, Kevin and Julia Garratt and American Peter Han being held in custody in China. We have also been praying for South Korean Pastor Jong-wook Kim and the two more South Koreans sentenced to life in prison as we reported last month. Now, we also add Canadian Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to our prayers. Pastor Lim of the Light Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Canada had failed to return from a humanitarian trip to North Korea in January. In March, the North Koreans confirmed that they had taken him into custody. Now, just a few days ago, they released a recorded statement from him and then on Thursday, July 30th, he was allowed to make a public appearance. It is clear that his confession has been coerced from him as has happened to so many others taken by the North Koreans. Our hope and prayer is that, having made a confession, he will be released soon.
Of course, our concern is not only for foreigners who have been taken captive by the regime but also the increasing ruthlessness demonstrated by Kim Jong Un. His reign of terror continues, surpassing either his father, Kim Jong Il, or his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, in the number of high officials that he has had executed. Currently the list contains some 70 names. It is so bad that overseas North Koreans are fearing for their lives and many are seeking asylum. At home the list of people under heightened watch grows and more stringent censorship is being put in place including banning popular songs. In the midst of all this, Kim Jong Un seeks to bolster his own personality cult. He has put his sister, Kim Yo Jong in charge of the effort. Nevertheless, there is a spirit of resistance growing steadily at all levels of society from the elite to the street vendors who are speaking up as never before. It does not help him that he is also downplaying the previous leaders, cutting back on the honor given them.
On a more positive note, it appears that the worst of the drought is past and food production is picking up while fast food stalls are fast becoming ubiquitous…
As we pray for North Korea, I would like to draw your attention to "Adopt 815", a prayer movement focused on August 15th, Korean Independence Day. Each day, a short essay and prayer topic is sent out to subscribers. I should have alerted everyone to this last month and apologize for not doing so. But it is not too late. The daily prayer concerns include a lot of valuable information about North Korea…
In His Name,
Ben Torrey
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
Pray for the liberation of the foreign captives inside North Korea as well as for the liberation of the North Korean people from the oppressive tyranny of Kim Jong Un and his regime.
From: LIFE Today [mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]
“In the August 13th edition of the New York Times there was an article titled, “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape.” It is the most disturbing piece I have ever read. We are familiar with the atrocity of rape in our nation, but here the perpetrator is hunted down. It is a crime punishable by imprisonment. Not so in Iran and Syria, where it is now perceived in ISIS circles as an act of worship! Recently, twenty-one women and young girls escaped the Islamic State and one of them, a twelve-year old girl, agreed to an interview, if her identity were hidden.
She told the reporter that just before he raped her the Islamic fighter explained to her that what he was about to do to her was not a sin. As she is not of the Muslim faith, the Quran not only gave him the right but actually encouraged him to rape her. He then gagged her and bound her hands. He prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her. She cried out, but he ignored her cries. When it was over, he knelt in prayer again.
When I read such a report I’m drawn back to Psalm 10:
‘They lurk in ambush in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They are always searching for helpless victims. Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets. Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked. The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”
Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed.The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them. (Psalm 10:8-11, 15-18 NLT)
As a mother I am heartbroken to imagine such a barbaric act carried out on one who is basically still a child. As a Christian I am called to rise about the heartbreak and do something. I have a friend, Lisa Bevere, who is in contact with someone in this part of the world. Her contact recently told her that “the broken, abused and deeply assailed women … all they are asking for is women to pray for them.”How can we fail them? We have been placed on the planet in this hour for a reason. My friends and fellow warriors Christine Caine and Pastor Bobbie Houston have put out a call for sisters around the globe to set their alarms for noon every day and stop what they are doing — even for a few moments — and pray for our sisters in Iraq and Syria. I’m in! Will you join us?I believe that all across the world God is calling an army of His daughters to rise up and let our voices be heard. There is no place where we will be more powerful than on our knees!
KHAAMA PRESS - Thu Aug 13 2015, 8:54 am
The Taliban carried out many deadly remarkably vicious attacks in Kabul in recent days which claimed many innocent lives. These attacks may be an apparent attempt by the Taliban leaders to portray unity, boost the morale of the cadres and to show that the jihad against government forces and their foreign backers continues despite internal chaos. The Taliban has been in turmoil since it confirmed that its leader Mullah Omar, long hidden from the public eye, was dead. The death of Mullah Omar takes away the main centre of gravity in the jihadi movement that competes with Islamic State it’s now rival. Taliban since its inception enjoyed monopoly of being only jihadist group but now it faces a tough competition from Islamic State. Many analysts believes Mullah Omar’s death poses an existential crisis for the Afghan Taliban potentially presaging a splintering of the movement as the Islamic State group gains a toehold among insurgents enthralled by its battlefield prowess. The group has suffered a string of recent defections to Islamic State, with some insurgents voicing disaffection with the current new leader Mullah Mansor which is not at all as charismatic like- Mullah Omar. So now Taliban is feeling unsecured in lack of unifying leader like Omar. So to unify the movement and cadres these deadly attacks were carried out in Afghan capital….
Now the Taliban can see a potential cost associated with the slow collapse of the Afghan government and the country. Gradualism begets disorder, a power vacuum and internal Taliban strife. In other words, the longer it takes for the Ghani government to fall, the greater the chances for Islamic State to undermine the Taliban. The Taliban want to avoid a situation in which, having won their long war against the U.S. and its Afghan regime, they have to fight another civil war against an Islamic State offshoot for control of the country. Hence new Taliban leadership wants to project themselves hard on the battlefield and negotiate with the position of strength in the peace talks. But Taliban has to rethink about this strategy as with so much civilians casualties’ Afghan government will be in intense pressure from the civil society to stop all peace talks with the group and announced a full-fledged military operation against Taliban. In that scenario equations for Taliban will change drastically.
One of the countries that we often pray for is Afghanistan. This Central Asian land that has known awful invasions and bloodshed for hundreds of years has made considerable progress in national development since the Taliban were overthrown in 2002. Women have been able to go back to work, children back to school, and many other encouraging changes such as the opening of hospitals and universities and the building of new roads and infrastructure have occurred over the last decade. These gratifying changes have been brought about by the democratically elected government and a committed international humanitarian community. However, unfortunately, the Taliban have regrouped and with the drawdown of American and Coalition forces, they have become far more bold and aggressive in attacking the army and police as well as in launching suicide attacks in the capital.
We need to really adopt Afghanistan into our hearts for ongoing prayer so that the Taliban, so deranged and deceived by their radical Islamic ideology, will not be able to retake the nation and once again deprive its people of their hard-won freedom and dignity. Please join us in praying for the following:
1.Pray that the Taliban and those from ISIS that are increasingly coming into the country will continue to be divided and to fight one another until both these movements are devastated and driven out. That the Taliban’s current internal struggle over who should be their new leader will continue to undermine their efforts. May they become disillusioned and give up their destructive bid for power and control.
2.Pray for the Afghan government to be united and effective along with the army and police in combating the insurgents and also apprehending their leaders. Also, that a good defense minister will be agreed on and put into office ASAP.
3.That the Pakistan and Afghan governments will be reconciled and fight the terrorists together with full cooperation and sharing of intelligence and military resources.
4.For the local believers and those with the humanitarian community to be strongly protected and greatly strengthened. May they be encouraged to continue praying and working together for His breakthrough in the nation and for the Gospel of Christ to spread far and wide among the population.
5. For individuals and teams going in to serve and to pray in the coming months, that they will be kept safe and used in a mighty way to pray for the healing of the land and the breaking of strongholds caused by the centuries-old defilement of idolatry and the shedding of innocent blood.
May the Lord bring about an amazing, divine reversal of fortunes for this long-suffering country and may the hopes of its people for peace, healing and restoration be fully realized!
In the USA, prayer network and ministry leaders are feeling led of the Lord to connect in intercession for our nation every week by conference calls until October. October 18-20, as many of them as possible will gather in Colorado Springs for a face to face time of standing in the counsel of the Lord together to hear presentations on the current national security threats, to pray in response and to seek God for a united strategy of national spiritual preparedness. The details are attached below if you are a prayer network or ministry leader and would like to take part.
In our calls, we are utilizing 2 Chronicles 20 as the basis for our times of intercession, remembering how the Lord delivered His ancient people when they were attacked by a combined force of three enemy armies. The wise response of King Jehoshaphat was to seek the Lord first and then to call a fast and united prayer response. There are many wonderful and helpful principles from their experience that can guide us in praying for the security of our own nations in this time of special vulnerability to terrorism and other possible dangers.
Intercessors are the “last line of defense” for a nation as we see in 2 Chronicles 20, Isaiah 62 and Ezekiel 22:30. It is as if a mighty rampart begins to mount up larger and stronger each time we unite to pray together for our nation and the specific threats it faces. The Lord builds up a wall of protection, an invisible shield that disempowers the principalities and powers that under the “prince of this world” seek pretexts to sow chaos and destruction if they can. The discerning, Spirit-led prayers of intercessors keep them at bay and are used by God to even change the atmosphere and history of communities and nations.
These are some of the issues that we have been praying about in recent weeks and ask that you join us in this intercession for the peace and protection of our world:
1.For the church and its leaders and especially the prayer movement to become alert, listening to God and watching on the wall through prayer as Isaiah and Ezekiel remind us to do (Isaiah 62 and Ezekiel 22:30) to fend off the attacks of the enemy and the destruction he wants to bring on our nations.
2.For real clarity and good coordination among defense and intelligence agencies in our governments to perceive and counter threats of terrorists or other states with evil and aggressive intentions.
3.Radical Islamic groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda that are seeking to penetrate into many nations to cause chaos and disruption through terror attacks. That both lone wolves and cells of operatives will be discovered and stopped from undertaking such destructive plans.
4. Russia’s insecurity and attempts to bring former Soviet states like Ukraine back into its circle of control and influence are causing a showdown with the USA and its NATO allies. Its hundreds of muscle-flexing incursions into the airspace of Western nations with its strategic bombers.
5.China’s enormous military build-up and increasingly aggressive behavior in the Asia Pacific region that could spark conflict with SE Asian countries and the U.S. Navy.
6.North Korea led by Kim Jong-un, an unstable and possibly maniacal leader who routinely threatens South Korea and the USA with nuclear missile attack.
7.Greatly increasing cyber attacks by rogue nations, criminal and terrorist organizations on government and private sector computers and vital infrastructure like the national power grid.
8.Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction- North Korea’s export of ballistic missiles and related materials to several countries including Iran and Syria. Iran’s effort to build and deploy nuclear weapons on missiles that the recent deal does not prevent.
Thanks for your help in covering these matters in ongoing prayer. Here is the call information if you would like to participate each Wednesday.
Weekly Prayer conference calls with God's principles from 2 Chron 20: Wednesdays, 12 Noon CT,, 11 am MT, 10 am PT continuing 8/12, 8/19…through 10/1 712-432-0075, code 4961322#
By invitation only if you are a prayer network or ministry leader. Registration and hotel link for Colorado Springs gathering: http://nationaldayofprayer.org/event
In our monthly IPC leadership team conference calls, because of His promises in Matthew 18:18-20, we always have a good time of sharing and prayer and know that such agreement in prayer will make a crucial difference across the world. What can be more strategic for His Kingdom than to connect the leaders of international and regional prayer networks to share and pray together?
Here are some current prayer concerns that were raised that we would like to share with you:
1. Thanks be to God for the 40 senior Christian leaders from the nations of South Asia that met together in Sri Lanka a couple weeks ago to pray and share about the issue of confronting spiritual darkness and shining His light upon the massive, still unreached populations in that region. Praise the Lord that a good network was laid for future cooperation in the ministry of territorial deliverance prayer, and the participants hope to meet again in the next year or two. Please pray with them for His breakthroughs as they continue to work with others for His deliverance and salvation to come in their particular areas of the region.
Praise God also that the Sri Lankan election went very well with a peaceful environment and good outcome as we prayed with the locals for this. We now pray that a good cabinet will be appointed as our friends there have requested.
2. One of our colleagues is working to connect children’s ministry leaders and build up the Children in Prayer ministry across the vast nation of India. This is such a vital endeavor that is so full of God’s heart for the next generation. Please pray that he and others will be successful and get the support of a strong network or organization.
3. There are already about 100 registered for the European Trumpet Call, a Europe-wide prayer event to be held Aug 31 to Sept 4 in Timiosoara, Romania. It is not too late to register to participate if you or others you know would like to come.http://www.europeantrumpetcall.org
There are huge problems in Europe that will be prayed over during the ETC. One serious current issue is that tens of thousands of immigrants are coming into Greece and Italy, with thousands also having died on the open sea coming across the Mediterranean. Some of those coming are Muslim missionaries or terrorists. Please pray the authorities and humanitarian organizations to know what to do to help these desperate people and stop the human trafficking that accompanies it.
A prophetic word about the ETC from one of our leaders was received. He saw a cordon of God’s glory around the event and that it was going to be used of the Lord to “unleash a glorious future”. The Lord was saying, “Move on, I am with you… What you need to know, I will reveal…My word, power and presence will be there with a prophetic anointing…A great ingathering of people and angels, empowering you for something great.”
Let’s pray for the ETC leaders as they provide leadership for this crucial event and for the participants from across Europe that it will be a powerful time that God uses to bring breakthroughs in that continent.
4. The World Youth Prayer Assembly “UPrising” (United Prayer Rising) was successfully launched within the country of Malaysia a few weeks ago with approximately 70 Christian leaders and 700 youth participating in two gatherings in Kuala Lumpur. Please pray for Jerome Ocampo, the WYPA convener and the International Dream Team of youth leaders that are in the process of planning the event to be held next year in South Korea, July 26-30. You can find out more details and see a video about it at http://www.unitedprayerrising.com
As you can imagine, the evil one does not like such gatherings of young, on-fire Christians which will represent an enormous threat to his influence over the nations in the future. There are obstacles and battles that the IDT are experiencing as you can imagine in organizing such a world and generation-impacting event as this. Please pray for His close protection and clear guidance; that the right venue will be finalized soon; and that God will give His favor and wisdom in all the discussions and planning with the Korean leaders.
Thanks so much for your support!
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:15)
In December 2001, close to the time of the first IPC gathering near Ground Zero in New York, I was arriving with a team of prayer facilitators for a national prayer initiative in Monrovia, Liberia. As I entered the hotel entrance, a man selling mahogany wood carvings of all kinds, mostly of various African animals, excitedly handed me a different-looking one. “This one’s for you,” he proclaimed, no doubt anticipating he would make yet another sale to a foreign tourist.
The beautifully sculpted reddish wood depicted the large hand of God reaching protectively over the head of a small child and as I looked at it, I sensed the Lord was speaking to me again. On the same trip, I had become convinced that He was calling us in the international prayer movement to give special place to children and youth in the various initiatives that my colleagues and I were organizing around the world. This seemingly accidental reach for one of hundreds of different wood sculptures became one of many subsequent confirmations to me that the Lord was serious about this new focus.
After that time, both in World Vision International, the organization I served during those years, and in the wider Children in Prayer movement that I discovered had begun some years before, we began to prioritize the involvement of children and youth in various initiatives, both internationally and in nationally. Each time, we wondered at how God used the kids as His “secret weapon” in so many ways. They prayed for nations in conflict and suffering, with ambassadors at the United Nations, as well as for political leaders when we got that opportunity. Always, the Lord showed up in moving experiences so that we have been increasingly learning that tri-generational prayer is the way to go for the future-- adults, youth and children praying together for their nations and our world.
This became the guiding philosophy that led us during the World Prayer Assembly in 2012, in which tens of thousands of young people participated. Now, in the IPC and under the leadership of Pastor Jerome Ocampo from the Philippines, we are working with a team of international youth leaders to plan the World Youth Prayer Assembly. Supported by the prayers of children and the advice of the older generation, the WYPA will be called “UPrising” (United Prayer Rising) and will be held in Seoul, South Korea, July 26-30, 2016. Please see http://www.unitedprayerrising.com for more information.
Getting back to that 14 year-old Liberian wood carving. A couple weeks ago, it was my joy to present it to Father Anton Cruz and the Royal Kids, a wonderful ministry to thousands of orphans and children from poorer families in India and now other nations. As I was preparing to make the presentation that evening in honor of their 25th anniversary, I reflected again on the verse that was so roughly imprinted on the bottom of the statue- Isaiah 49:15. God’s reassuring words to His ancient people Israel in the midst of their great hardships that His love for them would go beyond the strongest of all human affection, that of a mother for her nursing babe, hit me powerfully. However, this time, I was especially struck by the next verse that I had hardly noticed before—“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” Suddenly, I realized that the hands of God Isaiah was describing were those stretched out for all of us on the cross of Calvary. The engraving was carried out with sharp iron nails in the sensitive palms of God the Son. Our faces and very lives were then and are now still engraved on His hands. You and I whether as a child or older adult will never be forgotten no matter what hard times we endure. When the Lord looks at His hands, He sees each of us in them- His exceedingly precious and beloved children. Whether we are cognizant of it or not and no matter what befalls us, we are always encompassed by those nail-engraved yet all-powerful hands, guiding us through life and into eternity.
John Robb
Invitation to pray with WPC for five nations
We would invite our readers to join the rhythm of prayer at the World Prayer Centre this coming week, by praying for the countries listed below on the allotted weekdays:
Thursday 20 August: Persecuted church in Afghanistan More 1: | More 2:
Friday 21 August: Benin More 1: | More 2:
Monday 24 August: Persecuted church in Sudan More 1: | More 2:
Tuesday 25 August: Bermuda More 1:
Wednesday 26 August: Persecuted church in Iran More 1: | More 2: