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Don’t Lose Heart

2 Corinthians 4:1
Paul says “losing heart” is a distinct danger for the Christian – the Christian leader even. But he gives us a great reason in this verse to keep going: we have been given a new covenant ministry. This ministry (according to chapters 3 and 4) opens blind eyes, reveals the very light of God, liberates people and transforms them eternally. Don’t lose heart – God is doing something extraordinary through your ordinary words of witness.

PRAY for encouragement to persevere in gospel outreach – God is at work even through our most feeble efforts.

Hunger for the Gospel in Kurdistan

Christian workers doing spiritual battle in northern Iraq can barely keep up with area residents’ desire to learn about Christ and the Bible. People in northern Iraq’s Muslim autonomous region of Kurdistan have long been more open to Christianity than other Iraqis, but they have been especially keen since IS took over parts of the region. Many, unhappy with the troubles Islam has brought them, are very hungry to know about Christ, especially when they hear about miracles, healing, mercy and love.

Source: Prayer Alert; Revival Media

Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

PRAISE God so many people are finding true peace in Christ.

PRAY for His peace to break the bonds of war.

Chinese Intellectual Comes to Christ

Top Chinese intellectual Ran Yunfei, famed for his pro-democracy activism has converted to Christianity, reports say. His wife has been a Christian since the 1980’s but Yunfei says he had “no will to believe”.

A Bible study group has met in Ran Yunfei’s home since 2013, but he only recently became a Christian. A writer, essayist and blogger, Yunfei has previously been named one of China’s ‘One Hundred Public Intellectuals’. After years of distancing himself from faith, he wrote online on October 31: “Today, I decide to follow Jesus”, according to the  China Christian Daily.

Source: Christian Today; China Christian Daily

Reading: John 5:24

PRAISE God for the growing advance of the Gospel amid all sectors of the Chinese community.

PRAY that converted intellectuals may be greatly influential.

Death of Registrar Leaves Legacy

Lillian Ladele, the civil marriage registrar whose landmark Christian freedom case reached the European Court of Human Rights, died last October. Lillian was told by Islington Council that she must perform (same sex) civil partnership ceremonies, even though they violated her Christian conscience. The Christian Institute’s Sam Webster made these comments on 27 October 2015, at her funeral:

“In Lillian, God truly raised up a servant, placing her where she was at such a time as He did. As disciples of Jesus Christ we are called to count the cost, but few are called to do so in such a public way as Lillian Ladele… Ultimately, Lillian did not succeed on her appeal to Europe, but the truth is that she achieved a great deal through her stand.

It is a tribute to Lillian that official guidance now prompts public authorities to explore how they might accommodate those with a conscientious objection, including registrars.”

Source: The Christian Institute

Reading: Revelation 14:13

PRAISE God Lillian opened doors of respect towards Christians in work. PRAY her legacy may be built on.

What is God Doing?

Deuteronomy 8:1-20
What is God doing in the midst of hard times? Deuteronomy 8 answers with seven life-changing verbs: the LORD is leading you; humbling you; proving what’s in your heart; causing you to hunger; then feeding you with His Word and making you know His fatherly goodness.

PRAY through these verbs and ask God to show you what He has been doing in your struggles.

Ending Bible Poverty in Malawi

We have long known and supported Dan and Suzy Dugmore in Malawi. They head up a YWAM base and pour themselves into all kinds of service for the church. Their latest project to distribute 12,000 Bibles in the native Chichewa language is one that Love Africa was particularly keen to sponsor.

PRAY for the Dugmores’ work of raising up leaders, especially for the African Church. PRAY that many from the African context would have the desire, the giftings and the resources to be able to train with them.

Reading: Psalm 100

Zambia Prays and Fasts for Revival

Zambia – currently facing an economic crisis – came together for a day of prayer and fasting on October 18th, to pray for the revival of the nation and ask God to set their country on track.

“I wish to thank the Almighty God for allowing us to assemble and observe the day of repentance, reconciliation, prayer, and fasting,” President Edgar Lungu said in his public address. “I personally believe that since we humbled ourselves as a people and have sincerely cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he has heard our cry, has forgiven our sins, and will surely heal our land.”

Zambia’s faltering economy is blamed on the falling price of its main export – copper, and also on droughts driving up the prices of crops, and to water shortages and the consequently reduced capacity of hydro-electric power plants to produce electricity. Football matches were cancelled, while nightclubs and bars were closed on the day of prayer, in a country where 90 percent of its population is Christian, out of which 68 percent are Protestants, and 21 percent are Catholics. “God is a God of miracles and if we ask him, he will bless us,” International Fellowship of Christian Churches in Zambia (IFCC) President Simon Chihana, told AFP.

Source: Zambia Daily Mail; Christianity Daily

Reading: Psalm 85

PRAISE God that a nation has come before God in repentance and supplication.

PRAY His glory be seen.