November 9th

Pr. Silvana Neto

Prayer Campaing: Day 23

Praying for Revival
"This is why it is said:'Wake up,sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you'."(Ephesians 5:14)

We must pray for an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

A Revival is like a shock! A spiritual shock!

A Revival is the way to make our hearts pulse strong spiritually!

A Revival brings back to life, to live this earthly life abundantly with God!

Pray for this renewal! Search for it! Cry out for it!

(If you want to read more, read about William Seymour and The Azusa Street Revival)

Prayer Campaign: Day 22

Praying for the confirmation of your calling

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving,  then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully." (Romans 12: 4-8) 

Today, we invite you to pray for your personal calling.

You should know that you were created as image of God and with specific characteristics according to His will. 

Yes, you have an specific place to occupy in the world.

There are things God expects you to do, and  that's why you were presented with peculiar skills.

Maybe you feel displaced, as if you were disjointed.

But you are part of a body, the body of God's church and you are very necessary.

Let's pray today and ask God to clear up His plans concerning your personal calling.

Let's pray you realize what is the purpose of your life. 

Prayer Campaign: Day 21

Praying for unbelievers

"All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." (Matthew 25:32-33)

Let us pray for those who do not believe in God.

We need to pray for the atheists, to have the opportunity of a wonderful encounter with God, for it is His will. He came for all!

Let us, the believers, be grateful for the life of our atheist friends. (Have you ever stopped to think how they lead us to study more? When someone doubts, when we are asked, we are led to seek more knowledge and this search draw us closer to the truth. And the truth is Jesus!)

Let us remember the thousands of people who call themselves atheists, but that are influenced by society, fads, etc.. Let's pray that they are freed from that yoke.

Pray for intolerance of atheists. For respect for the manifestations of believers.

Pray for intolerance and violence of minorities that call themselves believers and encourage "conflicts saints." To understand that it is not by might nor by power, but by the act of the Holy Spirit, in His time, that lives are achieved.

Prayer Campaign: Day 20

Praying for peace among nations

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for ALL people" (1 Timothy 2:1)

Let's devote our prayers today for peace and reconciliation between countries.

Let's focus our prayers on the areas of tension.

Let's pray for the end of nuclear testing, the armistice and for war industry's end.

Let us pray for soldiers sent to conflict areas to fight a war that is not theirs. 

Let us pray for the families of these soldiers.

Let us pray for the thousands of innocents who suffer the violence of the conflict and the loss of their homes and possessions.

Let us pray for the victory of dialogue over conflict.

Let us pray for the leaders of the nations, that they understand that the wars of men against men, with so much damage and pain caused, have no victorious.

Prayer Campaign: Day 19

Day 19: Praying for nations to open their doors
"How, then, can they call on the one they have  not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!' " (Romans 10:14-15)

Today, let's pray for the countries where  Christianity has no place and missionaries are persecuted, tortured and killed.  

Let's pray that the gospel overcomes all these hindrances and can be shared and respected.

Read  the article bellow and learn about the 10 most dangerous countries for Christians. (From Listverse http://listverse.com/2011/11/24/top-10-most-dangerous-countries-for-christians/)    

Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries for Christians

10

Laos

Population: 6.4 million; 200,000 Christians

Main Religion: Buddhism

Government: Communist State

The Laotian government’s attitude towards Christians is openly hostile. Lao authorities, along with many in Lao society, view Protestant Christianity (and Hmong Christians in particular) as an American threat to Communist rule. Christian churches cannot operate freely, and Christians are restricted in their family and community roles. Many Laotian believers endure extreme physical and emotional pressure to abandon their faith.

Case in point: in 2010, 29 Christians were killed, and at least 20 were arrested and held without trial, while several churches were destroyed. In January of that same year, 11 Christian families in Laos’ Saravan province were driven out of their villages and into the forest, after refusing to deny their faith.

9

Uzbekistan

Population: 27.5 million; 208,600 Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Republic

Pressure on Uzbek Christians increased last year. The number of raids on churches spiked, and fines for illegal religious activities now exceed 100 times the minimum monthly wage. Short-term prison sentences (3-15 days) are frequently meted out as a punishment for Christian religious activities, and 27 year-old Baptist missionary Tohar Haydarov has been sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment on (likely trumped up) drugs charges. An appeal is being prepared for his release.

Many churches have also lost their registration and some of their buildings in 2010 as well. Recent Christian converts also experience job loss, beatings, social rejection and often expulsion from the family home.

8

Iraq

Population: 30.7 million; 334,000 Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Parliamentary democracy

Don’t be fooled by all those American soldiers: violence against Christians in Iraq is on the rise, with large numbers of believers killed and injured. ‘Targeted killings’ of Christians in Mosul during the run-up to the March 2010 election, led many Christians to flee their villages and settle in the Nineveh plains. Fears of a ‘Christian ghetto’ in Baghdad were born that day. Pope Benedict XVI even made an appeal for the safety of Iraqi Christians during this time.

Attacks on church buildings and Christian institutions also increased in the latter half of 2010, and at least 58 Christians were killed in a bomb attack on a Baghdad church during an evening Mass, in October of that year.

7

Yemen

Population: 23.6 million; very few Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Republic

Yemen’s state religion is Islam, and sharia law is the source of all legal matters. Foreigners do have limited religious freedom, but evangelism of any kind is strictly prohibited. Case in point: several expatriate workers were deported, in 2010, for discussing Christianity with (well-meaning) Muslims who asked about it.

Moreover, Yemenis are not allowed to leave Islam; those who convert to Christianity face persecution from family, authorities and extremist groups. Worse, terrorist movements and separatists made Yemen very unstable recently. Christian aid worker Johannes Hentschel, his wife Sabine and their young children Lydia, Anna and Simon, along with married British engineer Anthony Saunders were among nine foreigners abducted in in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada.

Last year Anna and Lydia (3 and 5 years old respectively) were rescued by security forces from neighboring Saudi Arabia. But the Saudis also found the bodies of three other abducted Christians, German Bible students Rita Stumpp, Anita Gruenwald, and South Korean teacher, Eom Young Sun. German and British investigators have since ended their active search for the other hostages.

6

Maldives

Population: 311,000; very few Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Republic

All citizens must be Muslims in Maldives, as sharia law forbids practicing of any religion except Islam. Christian churches are forbidden, and importing Christian literature into the country is strictly prohibited.

New regulations governing religious practice were unveiled by the government in 2010, and stricter policies have been imposed on tourists after some were discovered with Bibles. The few indigenous believers in Maldives are isolated from one other and are closely monitored by the law enforcement , religious authorities, and locals.

5

Somalia

Population: 9.1 million; very few Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Charitably described as ‘Transitional’

Somalia as a “country” has been without an effective central government since 1991. It’s dangerous for anyone to live there, but doubly dangerous to be a Christian.

At least fifteen Christians were killed by Islamist insurgents Al-Shabaab, in 2009, and they killed at least another eight Christians, in 2010. So it’s no wonder a quarter of all Christians have already fled the country. The few believers remaining are heavily persecuted and must practice their faith in secret, lest they be murdered in front of their children, like Christian convert Osman Abdullah Fataho.

Al-Shabaab has taken control of most of southern Somalia, and they have a stated goal to wipe out Christianity from all of Somalia. However, recent indications hint they may be losing popularity.

4

Saudi Arabia

Population: 25.7 million; 565,400 Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Monarchy

There is no religious freedom in the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Public non-Muslim worship is absolutely forbidden, and conversion to Christianity – perceived apostasy – is punishable by death. Most Christians there are monitored foreign workers who are allowed to worship privately within isolated ‘foreigner’ compounds, and even then they sometimes face difficulty.

For example, twelve Filipino Christians and a priest were arrested while attending a service in a private home, in October 2010. They were verbally charged with ‘blaspheming against Islam” and cordially banned for life from Saudi Arabia (quiet deportations are a new tactic of the religious police – it avoids the media scrutiny that heavy-handed arrests generate).

Saudi believers fear being open about their faith, even with their family. There have also been reports of several Christians being physically harmed for their faith, in 2010.

3

Afghanistan

Population: 28.15 million; few Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Islamic Republic

Open Christians in Afghanistan face constant pressure from family, society and government agents. Believers usually keep a very low profile, and never meet together publicly. In June 2010, the deputy secretary of Parliament called for the execution of Christian converts, after seeing baptisms of Afghan Christians on an Afghan television (correction—THE Afghan television).

As a result, many Christians have gone into hiding, and, in August 2010, the Taliban shot and killed ten members of a Christian medical team that had been providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages of northern Afghanistan.

2

Iran

Population: 74.2 million; 450,000 Christians

Main Religion: Islam

Government: Islamic Republic

There was a sharp increase in the number of Christians arrested in Iran during 2010. Although some were later released, pressure on the Christian church remains very high. Many of the approximately 450,000 believers from Muslim backgrounds live in fear of harassment by the government.

Even worse, the regime has lost a great deal of credibility following the social upheaval of the 2009 elections, and subsequent demonstrations. In a transparent effort to distract attention from continuing protests, the Iranian government has been lashing out against Christians with even greater fervor.

1

North Korea

Population: 20 million; 400,000 Christians

Main Religion: Atheism

Government: Dynastic Communist Dictatorship

North Korea’s persecution of Christians knows no equal, and being a Christian there is considered one of the worst crimes possible. North Korean communist dogma considers religion an ‘opiate’ of the people, unless of course that religion is the personality cult of ‘Great Leader’ Kim Il Sung or his son, ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong Il.

North Korean Christians must hide their faith at all times, and Christian parents can’t teach their faith to their children until the kids are old enough to understand the dangers (and for parents to be sure their kids won’t turn them in). Just owning a Bible in North Korea is grounds for execution or deportment to a harsh labor camp (essentially a gulag).

In 2010, hundreds of Christians were arrested: some were publicly executed, while others were sentenced to labor camps. Despite the risks, the Christian church is growing: an estimated 400,000 believers now sing silent hymns in cramped basements of crumbling buildings.

Prayer Campaign: Day 18

Praying for more missionaries

"Pray also for me, that whenever  I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."(Ephesians 6:19-20)

Let us pray for the awakening of the ambassadors of Christ.

Men and women with the courage to visit foreign lands and conquer them for God.

It was like that with me.

I've been unfamiliar territory.

Today, I am an ambassador.

Maybe it was like that with you.

And there is someone else needing to be visited.

God! In the name of Jesus, rise up more missionaries: in my house, in my work, in my neighborhood, in Brazil, in the world!