Arrow Prayers
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Mid-Month Notes - December 2006 |
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CONTENT SUMMARY Arrow Prayers Pastor Bob 99! Centennial Flame National Prayer Gathering 2007 National Teleconference Prayer Meeting Powder Keg Waiting For A Spark The Nation Within The Nation Definition of Marriage ARROW PRAYERS In our church we need God! We are desperate for more of the Holy Spirit bringing the reality of the Kingdom of God into our city. One thing we are doing that has caught on is a programme to: Keep on praying, All the time, Together, For more of the Holy Spirit through Arrow Prayers. Like Nehemiah before Cyrus, these are quick prayers during our normal daily activities. Each arrow is small, but a shower of them will win a battle. The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." (Nehemiah 2:1-5) People have chosen these times when they will remember to send daily arrow prayers: 5 am, 5:30 am, 7:30 am, 8 am, 8:30 am (or as soon as I wake up), 2:22 pm, 4 pm, 11 pm. while cleaning my teeth (3 people) with my first cup of coffee before reading the daily paper when logging on to my computer on the way to school on the way to work with every cup of tea or coffee on my way home in the afternoon whenever I'm on the bus We are encouraged to know what a shower of arrows our simple plan is creating. This is just part of our daily conversation with Jesus, talking to Him in all life's circumstances. Then we can spend special longer times with Him - seek His face, worship, read the Bible, listen… hang out and talk. Beth Carson, First Century Church, Metrotown PASTOR BOB IS 99! Our prayers and thankfulness to God are with Pastor Bob and Margaret Birch, as Pastor Bob reaches his 99th birthday at the end of the month. Then he will be in his 100th year all next year. Pastor Bob has rightly been called an 'Apostle of Prayer' and I believe that God has preserved him as a sign of His faithfulness as the prayer hearing and prayer answering God. Beth Carson who wrote the above article has also written the biography of Pastor Bob, an account of a man who lived in every decade of last century and did remarkable things even in old age! Beth would be glad to tell you how you can obtain a copy: bethcarson@shaw.ca GOD KEEP OUR LAND: CENTENNIAL FLAME PRAYER GATHERING 2007 All are invited to join with others who love the Lord to pray as we begin a new year asking the Lord’s blessings, direction and protection for our nation. Saturday, January 13, 2006 - Ottawa 5:00 – 6:00 pm. Gathering near the Centennial Flame, Parliament Hill, Ottawa (Possibly on the Parliament steps) 7:00 – 8:30 pm Celebratory Worship, Prayer & Inspiration at the National House of Prayer, 17 Myrand Avenue, Ottawa Pastors, intercessors, lay workers and key national prayer leaders have all been invited. Your presence will make a difference. Please let us know (EFC/NHOP/IFC) that you are coming and how many others you will invite to come with you. RSVP to info@nhop.ca PRAYER RAMP NATIONAL TELECONFERENCE PRAYER MEETINGS 2007 The working group for the Prayer Ramp are sponsoring a national prayer call on the Third Thursday of each month at 11:00 am PT / 2:00 pm ET to begin on Thursday, January 18th. I will be facilitating the call on behalf of the team and the first 100 people to log on will be part of the call. We hope to prepare the call with advanced e-mails and pray together for our nation in a disciplined and exciting way. Please reply to me atinfo@int4canada.com if you would like to be sent details of this call. A POWDER KEG WAITING FOR A SPARK TO EXPLODE! How do we pray for Canada and the Nations when it seems that another major conflict could erupt very soon. David Dolan in his latest Israel report for World Net Daily concluded by saying: "For whatever happens in Iraq, it is now becoming abundantly clear that the entire Middle East is on the brink of a massive eruption that could ultimately make World War II look like a mere warm up exercise." Saudi King Abdullah opened the annual summit of Gulf leaders on Saturday, December 10th, and said: "Our Arab region is besieged by a number of dangers, as if it was a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode" These are very serious warnings and a major conflict would quickly affect the economies of many nations, especially if the oil supply was disrupted for any reason. How should we position ourselves on the Wall? I believe we need to carefully study the scriptures concerning the Last days. Paul makes it clear in 1 Thessalonians 5:4 that the Day of the Lord should not take us by surprise, even if the rest of the world is shocked. All of world history is moving toward the most climatic event ever, the return of King Jesus. It is a command to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the Jewish people to find Christ as their Lord and Messiah. Great hope for the whole of the Middle East is in Isaiah 19. There might yet be time for a mighty move of God amongst the Muslims. Isaiah saw prophetically that Assyria is the work of God's hands, Egypt His people and Israel his inheritance. (Isaiah 19:25) Pray for mercy on the Canadian Government that they will not be party to dividing up the land of Israel. Joel 3:2 says: I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations, and have divided up my land . THE NATION WITHIN THE NATION I wondered at the Liberal Party leadership election recently. Michael Ignatieff seemed to be the chosen one, but lost some steam perhaps in part due to his controversial comments about Quebecers as a separate people who should be recognized as a nation under the constitution. Remarkably the Government recently introduced a resolution: 'That this House recognize that the Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada'. This caused immense debate, and other cultural groups postured to also be called a nation. It came to me that there is already one true nation within a united Canada and that is the holy nation of God's own people! But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 It is God's amazing and eternal purpose to demonstrate the rich variety of His wisdom through the church (Ephesians 3:8-10). God calls the believers in Christ in Canada, to be a special and distinct people (Exodus 33:16), separated to doing His will which is glorious. Our challenge is to believe in our own calling and destiny and live a quality of life in Christ that is a true intercession for Canada, prolonging the mercy of God and bringing transformation in every aspect of society. DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE Earlier this month a Government motion to reopen the debate on the definition of marriage was clearly defeated by 175 to 123 votes. A nationwide process of analysis and discussion would have been good but still would not have changed anything. A Government must use the 'not withstanding clause' to reverse Supreme Court decisions concerning the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But this course of action is regarded generally as so extreme and intolerant that people are scared of voting for a party that would be bold enough to do this. So what is going on in this nation where recently nearly two thirds of the people did not want to see the definition change? The United Church of Canada even wrote to the Prime Minister, Paul Martin, congratulating him on the occasion of the redefinition last year. A few years ago who would have even dreamt of such a thing? I believe that this vote is a sign of God's judgment on Canada, as God the Restrainer removes himself to give more room to lawlessness, and to give the leaders and people what they want: Please see the literal Greek translation of 2 Thessalonians 2:7: 'For the mystery of lawlessness already operates, only there is the one restraining until it comes out of the midst'. In this chapter lawlessness operates powerfully with deception on those who reject the truth of the Gospel, and God even sends strong delusion that they should believe a lie. In days like these we dare not look to Parliament to save us. We need a move of God in the church, we need a revival from coast to coast! In 2 Thess 2:8 we see the Lawless One is overcome by Jesus through the spirit of His mouth and the glory of His presence. Intercessors, we can pray now, before the Day of the Lord, that in the Church there will similarly be Spirit anointed preaching of the Word and the manifest presence of Jesus in the midst of His people. In our own communities lawlessness will then be severely weakened and many will turn to Christ in this generation. Is there another option? If you wish to comment on any of this or communicate with us please send an email to info@int4canada.com. ******* |
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