Praying for children accused of witchcraft
“May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendour to their children. May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands.” — Psalm 90:16–17.
Bethany Children's Trust's training resource, entitled “the Heart of the Matter”, for pastors and community leaders, has now been piloted in Lomé, Togo. In total 23 attended the workshop, none of whom had engaged openly with this issue before. All have been encouraged and challenged by the training.
Testimony
“It was a wonderful day. The participants are very proactive in the group work and sketches; they are asking questions and humble.” — local trainer.
“Alleluia, thank you for your quality training, your life and your fire that we have received.” — local community leader.
Thank God
Praise God for Gad and Liz Numadi of MECI, Togo, that champions the cause of these children who are accused and abused. Thank God for their vision, passion, and initiative to bring people together to tackle this issue.
Thank God for all who attended this workshop in Lomé, including some civic leaders as well as pastors from the churches.
Please Pray
Ask God to stir all these local pastors and leaders to be change–makers in their community, using their influence to persuade and empower others, and never to become weary or fearful of tackling the issue of witchcraft related child abuse.
Pray that the increased awareness of the harm that these accusations cause will change perceptions in Togolese society, and provoke an active response to protect the most vulnerable.
May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us. — Psalm 90:17
Susie Howe - Director
The Bethany Children's Trust
http://www.bethanychildrenstrust.org.uk
Pray for SureFire Prayer International
We are based out of Atlanta, and have a mission to equip families to pray together in the home. Most of our ministry to date has been in Latin America and the Middle East. We are beginning to make stronger connections in the USA, and are hoping to forge relationships with others to see the Lord raise up children who believe it's normal to have an ongoing conversation with the Lord through prayer each and every day.
Our next large initiative is a partnership with the India Gospel League in 2018. We will be training 250 leaders within their network who oversee 400,000 children. We would certainly like prayer coverage for these children, leaders, and all the families represented!
Here is a video that explains a little more about SureFire Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=FDatx_K3ha0
Paige M. Kolb - President, SureFire Prayer International
www.SureFirePrayer.org | "Healthy Families Make for Healthy Churches"
Modern-day Muslim Saul's story from underground church
A Muslim who says he beat and killed Christians because of their faith and says he was miraculously healed from bullet wounds he received in one of those attacks has not only converted but become the pastor of a home church in an undisclosed Islamic country, according to Bibles for the Mideast.
Zakkir, a pseudonym, and his father lived to uphold the many religious rules governing their solidly Muslim country, one of the strictest in the Middle East. They followed Islamic ritual practices fanatically, and if they witnessed anything or anyone “out of order,” had no reservations about resorting to violence.
Zakkir’s father served in an often-merciless Islamic religious force known as Muttawa, while his son headed up an outlaw gang of angry young militants. All were fully committed to punishing anyone daring to defy the stern laws and practices of Islam.
“If anyone passed along the road by the mosque at the time of Namaz [Islamic prayer], our gang would stop and brutally beat them for not attending,” Zakkir said.
One day, he noticed some Christians distributing sample gospels and, he says, trying to convert several Muslims. The gang determined to put a stop to the evangelical activities.
“We attacked their office,” Zakkir said, “and killed three of them.”
Soon they were back at their post, stopping those passing by the mosque at the time of Friday prayer, insisting they come in. They pulled over one man in the midst of rushing his sick child to hospital.
“I dragged him out of the car myself,” Zakkir confesses. But as he did, the distraught father grabbed a gun from his glove compartment and fired off three shots directly into his assailant’s chest. Zakkir fell to the ground, and the man jumped back into his car and drove off.
Zakkir’s friends sped him to the hospital where surgeons managed to remove only two of the bullets, deciding that taking out the third, lodged in a dangerous position in his chest, would mean certain death.
He remained in a coma for several days, and doctors gave up hope for his recovery. Friends and relatives who had been by his hospital bed from the beginning gave up as well, leaving him alone in the hospital to die.
Meanwhile, Bibles for Mideast director Pastor Paul “just happened” to be visiting the country with several other missionaries at the time. While in prayer, he says he received clear instructions about Zakkir and his condition in a vision, even though the two had never met.
“Not only did the Lord ask me to visit him,” he recalls, “but He told me to bring him back with me from the hospital! We fully trust our Lord, so without any doubts we went. My co-workers suggested we take along separate clothes for him, since he would be in a hospital gown.”
He and three other evangelists headed off to the hospital, found Zakkir’s room, and began to pray over his comatose body.
“At this moment,” Zakkir recalls. “I had a dream that Jesus Christ came to me and said, ‘I am your Lord and Savior, I have been wounded for you, and by my stripes you are healed. I choose you as one of my vessels to bring many to my fold.'”
He says the Lord then touched his wounds with His own nail-scarred hands.
“Suddenly, the remaining bullet jumped from my chest automatically, as I felt new blood flow through my veins,” he said. He opened his eyes to see four people praying over him.
“I thought they were angels of the Lord,” he says. Pastor Paul made clear they were simply servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that they’d been given instructions to come and pray for him. He also explained to him the way of salvation.
Zakkir hardly needed convincing. He got up, accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The missionaries helped him into his ‘new clothes’ and then secretly whisked him away.
“No one knew about my escape with the pastors,” he explains. As only Jesus could work it, Zakkir now heads up an underground Bibles for Mideast house church in his country.
Zakkir said: “I am not worthy to be a pastor of our Lord’s church, for I was persecuting the church,” he says, sounding like the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians. “But I am pastoring an underground church. We are taking care of the persecuted Christians who were former Muslims.”
Paul, previously known as Saul, had murdered and arrested Christians in Israel before his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus.
In 1 Corinthians 15:9, Paul said: “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/09/modern-day-muslim-saul-story-from-underground-church/#ej8hGtRsPkQfxMsc.99
Pray: That Muslim radicals will encounter Jesus as this man did.
Pray for Awaken the Dawn & Rise Up - Washington DC Oct 6-9
Thank you for your willingness to pray for this unprecedented moment. It is our longing to meet face-to-face with Him on the National Mall. This is America’s Tent of Meetings.
It is our conviction that we must pray like never before as we approach this holy moment before Him. We do not want to show up empty handed. Rather we pray for grace to mobilize a prayer movement now to cover this gathering. What is prayed in secret today before the Father will be seen by all on the National Mall come October.
We want to invite you to pray into these seven themes for Awaken the Dawn.
TENT OF MEETINGS
The Tent of Meetings represent the raw, unfiltered presence of God, unrestrained by cultural norms—extending an invitation to weak men and women to cry out to meet with Him, face-to-face. This is the cry that must arise from the generations as we tabernacle together on the National Mall: We want to meet with you face-to-face!
PRAY: John 1:14 declares that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”—we want Jesus to tabernacle among us on the National Mall in His full splendor.
PROCESSION
The “procession of my God, my King” (Psalms 68:24) is a procession of musicians, singers, worship leaders, evangelists and simply laid down lovers of Jesus from all 50 states converging on the National Mall for America’s Tent of Meetings. Each person in this procession is bringing an offering before the Lord—their very own lives as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) unto the Lord. It will be a procession for the ages: men and women; young and old;
PRAY: Singers, musicians, and worship leaders will respond to this unprecedented call of God to tabernacle before the Lord as they represent their state on the National Mall, and for thousands of praying women to gather at The Call on October 9th.
BEAUTY OF JESUS
In the midst of crying out to meet with Him face-to-face is the need to encounter Him afresh. This is nothing short of the beauty of Jesus unveiled to the human heart. The revelation of the beauty of Jesus causes the human heart to surrender all to His worthiness.
PRAY: The Spirit of wisdom and revelation will unveil the beauty of Jesus to the hearts of this generation.
WORTH OF JESUS
We are going to gather around the indescribable worth of Jesus. The only thing that is adequate to fully communicate His worth is the full surrender of the human heart to Him.
It is our longing to summon a generation to the National Mall to express even out of our weakness the worth that is ascribed to Him—and Him alone!
PRAY: Revelation of His worth—the inexpressible glory of the God-Man, Christ Jesus would be multiplied within the hearts of all.
SACRIFICIAL LOVE
The worth of Jesus compels us out of love to surrender all. Surrender involves sacrifice.
A broken woman broke her alabaster jar containing expensive ointment to anoint Jesus’s feet—this was a love motivated sacrifice. Love sees no sacrifice too great for the One who sacrificed all for us.
PRAY: One aspect of sacrificial love that we must humbly share is the need for financial provision to pull off a gathering of this magnitude. Please pray for surrendered hearts to lavish sacrifices of love at the feet of Jesus.
NEW JESUS MOVEMENT
Jesus responded to the countercultural revolution of the sixties with his own revolution:
The Jesus Movement. This unprecedented move of God galvanized a disillusioned generation into the heartbeat of God. Today we are contending for the unveiling of the beauty of Jesus coupled with the demonstration of signs and wonders to awaken a generation unto the worth of Jesus. There is no backup plan. Only one antidote in this hour will work: the worth of Jesus burning in the heart of the Millennial Generation.
PRAY: Cry out to the Father for a new Jesus Movement to apprehend and capture the heart of the Millennial Generation. Declare Acts 4:30 over this generation: “Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
MISSIONS MOVEMENT
Missions movements historically follow a genuine move of the Spirit as sons and daughters surrender their lives to make Christ known to the ends of the earth. Many in this hour are praying Matthew 9:38—“therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
PRAY: To the Lord of the harvest to send forth—ekballo—laborers into his harvest fields.
Organizers of the Awaken the Dawn http://www.awakenthedawn.org
Pray for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit on each of the 50 plus prayer and worship tents representing all 50 states of the USA. May this lead to a Third Great Awakening that with the revival and transformation of American society and government that so many have been seeking God for!
