Will you help to shape the Destiny of Australia?

WE ARE MEANT TO BE "THE GREAT SOUTHLAND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" AND IT ALL STARTS WITH PRAYER!

Every revival in history has been birthed in prayer.

Australia has a rich Christian Heritage. You can also find out more at www.chr.org.au

Since the middle of last century there has been strong prayer for Revival and Transformation in our nation. In 2001, Brian Pickering, through the Australian Prayer Network (APN), started to bring prayer people and groups together on the internet, and that has opened the door to a new communication system which has made it possible for us all to find each other and communicate better. We have been able to pray into the future of our country in a more coordinated way.

So many prayer groups have sprung up all over the country, and yet we have no way of knowing how many people are actually praying; sometimes people get discouraged when they don't see answers to their prayers, and they give up. In 2015 we are hoping to remedy this with a special plan.

THE LORD IS CALLING TOGETHER A PRAYER ARMY IN 2015

It is all about "connecting the dots" and using modern technology for HIS Kingdom business.

In 1998, God gave me the word PRAYERNET, and in 2008, He showed me a picture of the world covered by a net, which is now the emblem for my 'Global Prayer Connections'...

We are just about to embark on the 2015 National Day of Prayer & Fasting followed by the 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting, which have the theme DESTINY and a focus on Delighting in the Lord. See www.nationaldayofprayer.com.au and www.40daysofdelight.com.au for more details.

It will be a good time to start this initiative in conjunction with these events. Individuals are right now being asked to organise small gatherings around Australia as pre-events in the week leading up to the National Day of Prayer & Fasting on Sunday 15 February which is observed in The Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra and in local churches all around Australia. You can register to be involved in this, as an organiser or an attender of a pre-event, on the National Day of Prayer & Fasting website. It will be then natural to gather as a local group regularly through the 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting from 18 February to 29 March 2015. The 40 Days website will have a list of groups meeting too so others can join you.

 A NIGHT OF PRAYER FOR AUSTRALIA

The Australian Prayer Network is again this year calling its member Churches, Prayer Groups and Individuals to a night of prayer for our nation to be held on Sunday 25th January 2014, the eve of Australia Day.  In 2014 Australians of all denominations gathered in local communities across our nation to join in this national night of prayer. Timing and venue for each gathering across the nation is at the discretion of the organiser and prayer gatherings do not have to be registered with us. Falling on a Sunday evening this year we expect that many Churches will use at least some of the prayer points during Sunday services on 25th January as we ask God to guide our nation into the year of 2015.

Due to the many hundreds of requests we receive each year for prayer points which can be used on the night, this year we have uploaded them to our website so that those who are holding prayer gatherings can download them for their use. There is no copyright on the material which may be freely used/reproduced (with acknowledgment to the Australian Prayer Network as the source) as required. Please go to our website at www.ausprayernet.org.au to download the material.  Thank you for your support of this initiative to undergird our nation in prayer on our national day and at the beginning of another year.

Brian Pickering
National Coordinator
Australian Prayer Network

Source: Australian Prayer Network

GOD'S POWER IS UNLEASHED - WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE PRAY

Annie Cathcart - Toowoomba Regional Prayer Coordinator
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This report offers a brief overview of the EXPOSED - shining a light on corruption - campaign.  EXPOSED was a first of its kind - a truly global Christian response to corruption, supported by Christians from 176 countries, with a thousand public gatherings, close to 150,000 individual signatures, a powerful Open Letter from some of the world's most prominent Christian leaders, representing a billion believers, and a clear engagement with the G20.

The rationale

EXPOSED was a limited duration global Christian campaign that sought to address the problem of corruption, especially as a cause and consequence of poverty, on the global, national and local scale.

It stressed that corruption happens everywhere - in north and south, among rich and poor and in all institutions. Despite the extent of corruption, EXPOSED also wanted to bring a message of hope - that change is possible and that God's values offer a standard for all communities.

The EXPOSED campaign emerged from discussions with many southern and northern groups that expressed concern that good governance was crucial in delivering on poverty goals. It was formed by a coalition of Christian ministries and organisations and aimed to make a strong link between poverty and corrupt practices, which are a major barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's).

The campaign had Isaiah 51:4 as a key verse, "I bring my teaching to the nations; my laws will bring them light. The campaign aimed to bring the discourse around corruption and poverty into the mainstream of the global Church's preaching, theology and action.

Campaign goals

The campaign aimed to empower local action, as well as engage international policy via the G20.  It promoted practical steps for ethical behaviour in business, government and the Church and aimed to see Christians as advocates and practitioners of justice and transformation.

The campaign aimed to be accessible to those of other faiths or no faith[1].  This attitude is most evident in the partnerships with the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Transparency International, as well as the engagement with the G20 and C20.  However, because of the limited duration of the campaign, a decision was made to focus primarily on mobilizing and engaging Christians and Christian groupings as a constituency. EXPOSED was a campaign about corruption but some of the issues under discussion like tax evasion are not actually illegal so the campaign material made the point that some behaviour is legal but not ethical - that we wanted to establish God's standards of integrity. It's not clear that this nuancing was always understood, but most supporters could see that behaviour by some multinationals is just plain wrong...

From the very start of the campaign, there was a clear understanding that addressing corruption can contribute towards the eradication of extreme poverty. Two frequently used statistics during the campaign stressed this link:

1. $1 trillion goes missing each year due to corruption
2. tax evasion robs US$160 billion from Africa each year - 25% of the continent's GDP and more than the total Africa receives in development aid
3. it's estimated that 230 little children die each day in developing nations due to corruption

What EXPOSED looked like around the world

EXPOSED had two phases - during the week of 14-20 October 2013 the campaign aimed to involve 100 million people in 100 countries to participate in three campaign actions:

    sign the Global Call to end corruption addressed to the G20 leaders and to be presented in Brisbane Australia in November 2014.
    organise or join a Global Vigil against corruption.
    take personal or collective action against corruption (for which 'toolkits' were developed for churches and business).

The second phase concentrated on the journey to Brisbane for the G20.

A total of 176 countries were involved in the 2 phases and millions were reached by direct communications, media articles and updates from partners.  1,000 Vigils were held in over 50 nations - hundreds were registered on the EXPOSED campaign website and there were many more that were not formally registered.

Other highlights of the campaign included a 1000 strong march against corruption in Cape Town, a Lent Bible study series called '30 pieces of silver' that was produced by the Bible Society and used throughout the world, eighteen letters to ambassadors ahead of the G20 meetings in Australia[2], a meeting of 200 Christian leaders in the Republic of Benin to take a stand against corruption, the trillion dollar note and one-in-a-million actions, an open letter from campaigners in Malaysia to their Prime Minister, an act of public witness and engagement with the state in Nepal, prayer gatherings in Toronto, Canada, and a service of public witness at St Paul's Cathedral in London, as well as the world's largest 'Mock tax haven' in Brisbane just before the G20 meetings.

A total of 147,902 people signed the 'Global Call' to end corruption.

Impact

Throughout the 2 years of public campaigning, millions learnt the extent, complexities and injustice of the problem around the world.

Prayer was a key focus with prayer guides produced for October 2013 and November 2014, which were used by many thousands. It is difficult to assess the impact of prayer but two examples may be evidence of God's intervention - the money that flowed into the campaign just when it was desperately needed and the fact that Micah Challenge gained one of the rare media accreditation passes for the G20.

The campaign reported 32 stories of hope and transformation to be examples of what can be achieved. Some stories had a big impact across the world - Bishop Zac in Uganda, Goodwill Shana in Zimbabwe, the face of corruption in Switzerland, the elections in Malaysia, whistle-blower Michelle Harding in South Africa, Gisella Schneider on missions work in Africa, work across Nepal on integrity, and Haiti's rural corruption watchdogs.

It was heartening to see campaigns develop clear and defined national policy asks (often in practical coalitions with groups like Transparency International (TI), Tax Justice Network (TJN), Public What You Pay (PWYP) and Tearfund). The international asks of EXPOSED were designed collaboratively with Tearfund, Christian Aid, PWYP, TJN as well as Micah Challenge. The process worked well - thanks to the expertise of partners who contributed staff time.

There were significant policy wins at the G20. Leaders committed to on-going work to addressing all the policies at the heart of the Campaign - global tax dodging and corruption.

There are still more steps to take but that is the beauty and curse of the G20 - it is small enough to have honest discussions but large enough for those discussions to end in general promises that need meaty detail at the national level.

G20 nations have agreed to share tax related information with each other and have established high level principles for ensuring that more is known about the true owners and beneficiaries of anonymous companies and trusts. In a bid to consider the interests of low-income countries, the G20 have also communicated plans to support the administrative skills and systems of developing countries' tax systems through 'capacity-building'.

It was possibly confusing to talk about tax issues, which are not technically corrupt. The broader message of integrity and God's ethical standards did however help to focus the campaign messaging a great deal.

EXPOSED had action at its heart. Some partners understood this but few were comfortable to be in campaigning mode. Heartening participation came from Nepal, UK, Malaysia, South Africa, France, Germany (in 2013) Australia (in 2014), Bangladesh and Benin. All these were led by Micah Challenge.

Conclusion

The EXPOSED campaign was the largest and most significant campaign of its type to date.  It was able to mobilize an unprecedented number of persons across the world in a short space of time, to witness and act against corruption. However, its true impact is difficult to measure concretely at this early stage and there are some areas of disappointment. It would be good for a comprehensive review to take place in 2015. And it will be interesting to see how issues of governance and integrity feature in the ongoing work of partners in the years to come.

Praise God for the excellent work of the Exposed team on this arduous and challenging assignment. Let's pray that this effort will continue to bear much fruit around the world.

'We encourage people to pray for the safety of these families and for these kids'

http://www.wnd.com/2014/12/christians-on-verge-of-extinction-in-iraq/

Report: ISIS beheads 4 Christian children

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3938474276001/report-isis-beheads-4-christian-children/?#sp=show-clips

We , Myanmar Intercessors' Network, are organizing a conference called, THE TRUMPET CALL, in 6-8 January 2015. The purpose is vision impartation and motivation for 24/7 Tabernacle of David Prayer Houses which are doing Intercessory Worship day and night and interceding for Myanmar and all over the globe. (Amos 9:11)

My vision is that God will raise up 24/7 prayer houses in every township and city all over Myanmar.

We are expecting 500-700 participants who are pastors, prayer leaders, intercessors and who are involved in worship.

Please pray that:

1 Potential leaders from all states and districts will join.

2. The Trumpet Call would be a life changing and inspiring encounter with God and His love for those attending and for Myanmar. (Zec 4:6)

3. That it woud bring transformational shift in the hearts of all those attending.    (Ephe 3:9-10; 1:17-21)

4. Those leaving would be more uniquely joined in fellowship with one another and strengthened in the Lord (Ps 133;Mt 22:37-40)

 5.That God would provide for every expense. Our estimated budget is 13,000 usd.

6. God will give us wisdom and anointing and protection to all the organizing committee and who are teaching and sharing.