Personal opportunities: It’s a really great thing to be praying for ministries that reach out to our community with the gospel. But perhaps the first thing we should be praying about regarding our local mission is the opportunities for gospel witness in our own lives and situations. Who can you be reaching out to with the gospel in your own life, and how? Pray for these opportunities.
Local
Please pray for barriers to the gospel to be torn down in Lismore. Please pray:
- For many people resentful towards Christianity after hurtful experiences with the church. Please pray that the love displayed by Christians in our town would adorn the gospel and soften the hearts of many hurting people.
- For those turning to atheism in reaction to the idea that it brings freedom from the oppression of religion. We pray that many people would see that atheism in fact brings more bondage, and that true freedom is found in Jesus.
- That the many misconceptions and stereotypes people in our town hold towards Christianity will be shattered by the bold witness and loving lives of Christians in our town. Pray that people in Lismore would base their decision about God on facts, and that they would choose to trust in him.
- For Christian witness that’s both faithful to God’s Word and relevant to the culture of Lismore and it’s many subcultures. Pray that people would hear the gospel in ways they can easily understand and relate to.
Global
Praying for Orissa, India
Orissa State is the ninth largest state in India. The population is about 37 million. About 95% are Hindus. About 2 % are Christian.
Over recent years, there have been many brutal attacks on Christians.
Our own fellow Presbyterian minister Rev Richard Wilson has just been appointed Pastoral Coordinator full time with Indian Reformed Fellowship—Australia, and writes:
“Could I ask you to pray . . . India is yet again at a crossroads that is probably as significant as the turbulent years of the blood letting of Independence in 1947.”
December 2007 that left a swathe of destruction and many thousands of Christians displaced. Hindu folk have been urged via mobile phone messages to burn the homes and churches of Christians.
Numerous Christians have been burnt, beaten, raped and slashed with swords. The violence has spread and 50,000 Christians are estimated to have fled their homes ahead of violent religious cleansing, and are now displaced across Orissa, with many hiding in dense jungle.
Hundreds of churches have been vandalised, looted and torched as have thousands of Christian homes.
We have been urged to pray:
- that God will be a shield around his children, protecting them from violence, and intervening to bring it to an end, pushing back the enemy.
- that the Holy Spirit will ‘lift the head’ of every terrified, displaced, grief-stricken, confused believer, filling their hearts and minds with peace through an assurance of his eternal love and presence, and giving them comfort and hope despite their circumstances.
- that God will draw each frightened believer to Himself in prayer, and then answer their prayers so that faith may be enlarged and be ratified, and that knowledge of his perfect love will drive out their fears, and that He will be glorified in them.
- that the Almighty Sovereign God will save his people and bless them once again.
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