Zoom prayer event for children
On Monday 3 August, at 7pm (UK) / 2pm (EDT) / 11am (PDT), intercessors are gathering for an hour to pray for vulnerable children around the world. Participants will hear some updates from Viva Together for Children’s partner networks to inform their prayers and praise, before breaking into small groups to intercede together. May many hundreds gather to plead with one heart and one mind for the situations that desperately require prayers at present, with the coronavirus affecting the whole world in many different ways. Now is the time to gather and pray with one heart and mind. To find out more about Viva and the prayer hour, click on the ‘More’ link.
Israel: Netanyahu - Hezbollah is playing with fire
Following an attempted cross-border attack on 27 July by Hezbollah, Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Benny Gantz addressed the nation, threatening the Lebanese terror group and its host nations with a decisive counter-strike. ‘Hezbollah is playing with fire. Any attack against us will be met with great strength,’ said Netanyahu. Lowering his face mask, Gantz also addressed reporters, stating, ‘Israel is determined to prevent any threat to our sovereignty, our soldiers, and of course our citizens.’ They spoke after Hezbollah operatives tried to breach the Israel-Lebanon border, exchanging fire with IDF troops during an hour-long stand-off. We can pray, according to Psalm 44, for God to deliver His people from their oppressors, and put to shame those who hate Israel. May Israel praise God all day long and give thanks for ever.
Asia / USA: floods
Last week you prayed for South Asia’s humanitarian crisis with 9.6 million people affected by monsoon floods (three times more deaths than last year). This week floods took a turn for the worse in Nepal. In China relentless heavy rains have pummelled areas for a month. Yangtze River areas are overwhelmed, causing anxiety along the world's largest hydroelectric power plant, the 2.3-km Three Gorges Dam Already, 40 million people have been uprooted and 400+ rivers have overflowed. The dam, 300 km west of Wuhan, threatens to flood the first city to have been hit by coronavirus. In Texas, Hurricane Hanna has left some areas ‘totally under water’ and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases. Pray for communities with strained health care systems caused by coronavirus now airlifting patients to larger cities or areas away from floods.
Muslim-background believers
Since the 1960s, there has been considerable growth of conversions from Islam to Christianity. Most of these conversions have been to forms of evangelical or Pentecostal Christianity, and some converts claim to remain in some way both Muslims and followers of Jesus. Pray for the continued growth of mission agencies taking the good news to those who have not heard it. Muslim-background missionaries are vibrant Christians even though most of them are hated by their home countries and Muslim leaders, and are ostracised, beaten, and murdered by their families and neighbours: see Pray for God to continue to strengthen the endurance of new Christians as they evangelise, preach and demonstrate God’s love into the darkest corners of Islam. Converts from Islam face insurmountable questions on an almost daily basis, such as ‘I have more than one wife, what do I do?’ or ‘How can I support myself now my family has rejected me?’ See
