| Internet Intercessors... |
 Praying for the World. |
Autumn 1998
We are called to PRAY for the world...
Thank you for your willingness to pray! The Lord has great
things in store for you. If you are serious about becoming an intercessor, we would like
to help you. Our desire is to equip the Body of Christ to do great things in His name! We
have felt for some time that God is calling us to link together and mobilize praying
people from all over the world. On a regular basis, we plan to highlight different
ministries, regions of the world, and global issues that need prayer.
This is a page that we plan to expand often. We will be adding
more topics in the future, so please check back with us regularly to receive new prayer
updates.
Why Should I Pray?
Ministries
in Spotlight: Gospel for Asia
The Persecuted Church:
Sudan
U.S.A. Homefront: The
White House
The 10/40 Window
Christ
Unlimited Prayer Requests
Past Issue
of Internet Intercessors
Why
Should I Pray?
"My house shall be called a house of prayer for
all nations" (Mark 11:17).
Did you know that your prayers are precious to God? It says in
Revelation that they are like a fragrant incense before His throne (Revelation 5:8 and
8:3). As Christians, we are God's house—His holy temple. God expects us to fill
His temple—our bodies—with prayer for the nations of this world. In 1
Thessalonians 5:17, we are admonished to "Pray without ceasing."
Prayer not only blesses us and those we are praying for, but it also blesses the heart of
God. As Christians, bringing joy to God should be our primary aim, and our very purpose
for living.
Did you know that prayer is a privilege? Today, because Jesus
Christ, the Son of God was willing to lay down his life for us, we have the privilege of
entering into the very presence of God. Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need
(Hebrews 4:16).
There are many different kinds of prayer. This page is designed
for those who would like to enter into a new realm of their prayer life by praying and
interceding for others. Intercession means to plead or pray in behalf of another person or nation. God has
given us the privilege of helping to shape the destinies of those around us for good. He
wants all of His people to be involved in this important ministry. It is, perhaps, the
ministry dearest to His heart. It is also a ministry that few people engage in with
fervency.
Too often, the Lord has looked for intercessors on the earth,
and found none! Yet at this time, the Lord is sending a mighty wave of intercession upon
His people. There are many, many prayer groups and prayer warriors whom He has raised up
in these last days. Hidden behind the scenes, these people are having a greater effect on
the world around us, than Presidents or statesmen are. Would you like to be one of them?
If you are unable to go into a foreign mission field right now, or devote yourself to
full-time ministry, you can be just as strategic to the cause of Christ by giving
sacrificially of your time, finances and prayers. YOU are needed to complete a part of the
plan that you have been designated from the beginning of time to fulfill.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
According to James 2:22, our faith in God is made
complete by what we do. If you are willing, ask God to make you an intercessor. Ask Him to
cleanse and purify your heart and fill you with His Spirit that you might pray according
to His will. Ask Him to show you the things on His heart. God can do through you what He
did through Isaiah, Elijah or any other great man or woman of God. These people were mere
men, just like us. The main difference between them and many of us, is that they were
fully committed to Him. Nothing else was even remotely important to them. They loved God
more than their own lives, and were willing to pay any price to KNOW Him. God only reveals His heart to those He is intimate with. He longs for an intimate relationship with each one of us.
We all may have a different part to play, but each one of us is
needed in this battle for souls. Prayer is and always has been the humblest and most
powerful tool available to us. Prayer will bind the church together in unity, move us
forward into maturity, repel the kingdom of darkness, and establish the kingdom of light.
This blessed ministry is available to every Christian. Please take some time this month to
intercede for the needs of those we are spotlighting.
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16
P.S. If you would like to learn more about powerful intercessory
prayer, please click here to go to our Chapel
Bookstore for information on a great handbook for intercessors,
Possessing The Gates Of the Enemy, by Cindy Jacobs.
Back to Top
Ministry in Spotlight- Gospel for Asia
K.P. Yohannon was a young idealistic Christian from India when
he first arrived in the United States to attend seminary in the early 1970's. He had very
little money, and arrived in the U.S. after a series of "coincidences." He had
already been in the ministry in India, but was restless for a deeper purpose to be
fulfilled in his life. He earnestly desired to make a greater impact on his homeland, but
how could he do it?
It wasn't long before the Lord began to show him how. Like many
of the mightiest works of God, Gospel For Asia was born of unlikely circumstances; a small
and humble seed that grew into a massive tree— and along the way, started a
revolution or two in the way that the world looks at what it means to be a missionary.
Simply put, Gospel For Asia equips and sends native missionaries
to reach their own people, or a people very similar to themselves. This is the newest wave
in world missions and is extremely effective in reaching some of the last of the unreached
people on the face of the earth. (About 95% of all the world's people who have not yet
been reached with the Gospel live in the region that Gospel For Asia is targeting). Native
missionaries are especially effective because:
1. They have less (if any) of a cultural or linguistic barrier
to break through and are already for the most part trained in the worldview of the locals.
They can come to an unreached people group as "one of them" instead of as an
outsider.
2. It costs substantially less to "send" a native
missionary than it does someone from overseas. They are already on location—or close
to it, and they need less of a monthly support to sustain them. GFA is very sensitive to
budgeting money wisely, and 100% of the missionary funds received go directly to the
missionaries and their work.
3. They can go into countries where outsiders are forbidden.
Currently Gospel For Asia supports over 10,000 native
missionaries in 11 Asian countries, operates 31 missionary training centers, and heads up
a church-planting movement that pioneers five new local churches every day. K.P.'s vision
is to see over 100,000 native missionaries trained and sent to the unreached villages in
Asia.
Please Pray:
Pray that the 10,000 missionaries who are already on the
field will be powerfully anointed to reach the lost. Pray for effective presentation of
the Gospel, followed by signs and wonders. Pray also for the missionaries' health and
protection, not only for themselves but for their families as well.
Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will raise up 90,000 more
workers to go forth into this field.
Pray that the Lord will also raise up all the financial
support that will be needed for these additional workers, as well as the overhead costs
for GFA.
Pray for K.P. Yohannan and all who are in leadership
positions in this ministry. Pray that they will be led by the Spirit in all their decision
making and will continually be refreshed in the Lord.
Pray that GFA will continually be dressed in the full
armor of God and will be led of the Spirit as they battle the principalities over Asia.
If you would like to learn more about this ministry, or receive
their bimonthly publication, SEND, please visit their website at Gospel For Asia
Back to Top
URGENT!
Prayer needed for persecuted
Christians
"Millions of American Christians pray in their churches
every week, oblivious to the fact that Christians in many parts of the world suffer brutal
torture, arrest, imprisonment, and even death--their home and communities laid waste--for
no other reason than they are Christians. The
shocking untold story of our time is that more Christians have died in this century simply
for being Christians, than in the previous 19 centuries combined. They have been persecuted before and martyred before an unknowing,
indifferent world and a largely silent Christian community." Nina Shea, Freedom
House
"There should be no division in the body, but the parts
should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with
it" (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).
This prayer focus spotlight will be continually dedicated to the
two hundred million Christians in over 60 countries worldwide who live in daily fear of
secret police, vigilantes, or state repression and discrimination. Please keep the
persecuted church in your prayers on a daily basis. As the Body of Christ, we are called
to pray for and uphold each other, regardless of denominational, doctrinal, or national
differences.
Prayer Focus this month: SUDAN
According to Brother Andrew of Open Doors, Sudan is one of the
top countries in the world where persecution of Christians reigns. It is preceded only by
Saudi Arabia in terms of legal restrictions placed upon Christians, torture, kidnapping,
abuse, imprisonment, and the death penalty extended to converts.
All of Sudan lies victim to a bloody and debilitating civil war
which has raged for many years in this African country. An excerpt from a recent
"Shatter the Silence" prayer journal says:
"When the National Islamic Front seized power in 1989,
Sudan was wracked by a jihad against all who oppose the military regime in Khartoum,
attacking moderate Muslims as well as Christians, animists and other non-Muslims. The
resulting reign of government endorsed terror has resulted in the deaths of over 1.5
million whose homes and villages have been burned and whose property has been confiscated.
Food is denied those who will not convert to Islam. Christian families are broken up by
abduction, imprisonment, torture and the execution of men. Women and children are
kidnapped, sold into slavery for as little as $15.00 and forced to work as slaves or
concubines for their Muslim masters. Other children are sent to re-education camps for
forced Islamization. Young boys undergo military type training and and become
cannon-fodder on the front lines of Sudan's civil war. It is accurate to say the Sudanese
government is committing genocide against the African Sudanese." (Taken from 1997
International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Prayer Journal.)
Many of Sudan's Christians can trace their history back to the
sixth century, when Christianity took root in the Nuba mountains, located in southern
central Sudan.¹ The Nuba mountains also happen to be the
location of the greatest devastation seen in this war. The mountains are littered with
mass graves, destroyed villages, and re-education camps. The women are repeatedly raped by
Arab soldiers so they will be forced to bear non-Nuba offspring. There have been many
documented crucifixions of Christians; and all told, more than half the Nuba population
has been slaughtered.²
With all this in mind, do we dare wonder at the wrath of God?
Please pray for Sudan!
Pray for a peace agreement to be made in Sudan.
Pray that all Sudanese Christians will be strengthened in
the Lord and will live in a special grace despite these horrendous persecutions. Pray that
they will not become bitter, vengeful or lose their faith in God.
Pray that those who align themselves with Sudanese
Christians will not be motivated out of hatred for the Muslims, but rather love for God.
Pray for the release and protection of all who are
serving as slaves, or forced to live in re-education camps. Pray that they will be a
witness of Christ's love to their captors and pray faithfully for them.
Pray for a mighty revival to take place in Sudan. Pray
that the devil's plans for destruction backfire in his own face, as a tremendous harvest
is reaped from the nation of Sudan, and many Muslims come to the saving knowledge of God's
forgiveness.
Bind up the works of the evil principalities over Sudan,
and pray that the veil is ripped from the eyes of the deceived.
End Notes
¹ Their Blood Cries Out by Dr. Paul
Marshall. Pages 21-22. Copyright 1997. WORD Publishing. Dallas, Texas.
² Ibid
_
If you would like to do more than pray for Sudan, you can help
sponsor some direct relief into the country. Visit this website for details: http://www.missionsudan.com/
For more information about the persecuted church, we recommend
"Their Blood Cries Out" by Dr. Paul Marshall, one of the world's leading
authorities on religious persecution. Published in 1997, this book is full of up-to-date
information and many personal testimonies of those who live in areas of persecution all
over the world. The author not only reports what the media has not reported, but he also
looks deeper into the issues of persecution of Christians in general. He offers answers as
to why it is being ignored by the media and academia, as well as much of the Western
church. This book is a great tool; not only for intercessors, but also for those who are
interested in cross-cultural ministry and evangelism. Perhaps one of the greatest triumphs
of this book is that it effectively destroys the popular myth that most Christians are
"Western, white and male." Smashing stereotypes and misconceptions right and
left, this book is extremely well-written and broad in its scope. Dr. Marshall writes with
skill and balance between fact and emotion.
If you would like to order "Their Blood Cries Out," it
is available in our Chapel Bookstore.
If you would like more involvement in helping the persecuted
church, please contact OPEN DOORS. It is a large international, evangelical organization
formed to help suffering Christians throughout the world. They distribute free Bibles and
Christian literature in restricted countries, and publish a monthly newsletter and prayer
calendar for the persecuted church. We highly recommend this ministry.
Open Doors with Brother Andrew
U.S. Office: P.O. Box 27000
Santa Ana, CA 92799
ph: 714-531-6000
Website:
http://www.opendoors.org
Also, visit this website for information on the upcoming Day of
Prayer for the persecuted Church: http://www.persecutedchurch.org/
Back to Top
U.S.A.
Homefront
A small editorial to prompt us to pray...
"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds
mercy" (Proverbs 28:13).
As the White House saga of the past eight months continues to
unfold before a tired and bewildered public, the concept of moral responsibility in the
United States becomes increasingly blurred. While many in leadership are outraged by the
President's affair, and subsequent lie to the American people last January, much of the
American public is saying that they are satisfied with the President's confession and
still consider him to be an excellent leader.
While it may seem generous and big-hearted for the American
people to overlook the transgressions of the President, and while it may be true that he
can still fulfill other duties of his office well, there is a deeper issue at stake that
far transcends his affairs, or even his lies. It is the delusion that there should be no
real consequences between choosing right or wrong.
If the President's "apology" on August 17
was enough to satisfy most Americans, I can't help but wonder if such a feeble concept of
"repentance" is also what eases their own consciences. Granted, the President has recently made more of a sincere effort to
repent, most notably at a prayer breakfast on the morning of September 11. I pray that his
words were spoken from the heart. However, this is not a political commentary, as much as
it a call for the people of the United States to examine what repentance
really means.
God judges nations not only for sins committed by the leaders,
but how the public reacts to those sins.
It is true that we are called to forgive. Christians should be
the most forgiving people on Earth because we know the full extent of forgiveness that the
Lord has offered to us. We must forgive because the Lord has forgiven us. The greatest
tragedy in the world today is that multitudes cannot receive His
mercy because of their pride and unwillingness to humble themselves. Forgiveness is free, but only to those who
are contrite. For those who want absolution but
refuse to repent, forgiveness cannot be bought at any price.
How little we know of what it means to repent. "Repent! The
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" is only a slogan yelled by wild-eyed sidewalk
preachers of questionable theological background. We think it means just walking down a
church aisle somewhere or muttering a "sinner's prayer" under our breath.
There have been other great leaders throughout history who had
affairs and still managed to serve their nation well. A notable example is King David of
Israel who repented before God with all of his heart when his sin was exposed. Although he
was truly contrite, he still paid a price for his sin. Read Psalm 51; his
prayer to God and a hymn for all those poor in spirit. God is eager to forgive all who are
truly repentant. Though we still may reap the penalty of our sin, God will work it for
good.
Saul, the King immediately preceding David also disobeyed the
Lord, but when his actions were exposed by the prophet Samuel, his first reaction was
self-preservation. "I have sinned," he said to the prophet. "But please
honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel" (1 Samuel 15:30).
He admitted that he had sinned, but his motives
were only to save his own reputation and position of power.
God was so displeased by Saul's drive to be admired by the
multitudes that He took the Kingdom of Israel from him. Though Saul continued to reign for
many more years, he was not led or empowered by the Spirit of God, and spent the rest of
his life in insecurity and misery. How different his destiny could have been if he had
only feared God more than man!
One may feel sorrow over sin, but that doesn't necessarily
equate with repentance. How do we tell the difference? Here is the acid test:
Those who are truly repentant will not care if they
lose the respect of the entire world, as long as they make it right with God. They are
glad that their sin was exposed so that it might be dealt with. Instead of scrambling to
justify themselves, cover it up or attack the accuser, they will throw themselves on the
mercy of God. They
will be thankful to the instrument that exposed their sin, even if it caused them pain.
They will also be willing to make restoration to those they have hurt.
At the other end of the spectrum, is a shift-the-blame
mentality. Our talk shows overflow with it and our public schools teach it. Sin is
referred to at worst, as a "dysfunction" and at best as a "lifestyle
choice."
Yet, even in this the Church is much to blame. In our eagerness
to "save" people, how many people have we "led to the Lord" without
teaching them what it means to repent? How many churches have we filled with people who
have never shed one anguished tear over their sins, and are offended at the concept? Have
we forgotten to preach that our forgiveness, which we receive so lightly, was purchased by
Jesus Christ, through an agonizing and lonely death on the cross?
If we truly care about our President and this nation, we will
humble ourselves before the Lord and ask Him to shine His searchlight on our own hearts.
If I could talk to the President, I would encourage him to speak the truth, and to weep
and mourn now rather than later. We may not like the thought, but every single one of us
will weep and mourn for our sins one day— whether in this lifetime, or before the
Judgement Seat of Christ. It is simply unavoidable. It is better to be ashamed now, rather
than later. Better to be humiliated in our own eyes before God, than to be humiliated in
front of multitudes when our unrepentant hearts are exposed.
I cannot speak to the President in person, but perhaps I can do
even better by praying that he will soften his heart to God and comes to this realization
himself. Perhaps, if he truly repents, his
humility will light fires of revival across the land. I pray that even now, he will step out of his carefully constructed
house of cards and into the reality of the knowledge of a God who hears the testimony of
blood shed on the ground and sees deceit of those who are wise in their own eyes. My
prayer is not just for him. It is for myself, and for all who inhabit this country that I
love.
I ask God not so much that He will have mercy on us—for He
has already shown us surpassing mercy in the sacrifice of His son—but that we will
have the ears to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to us and the courage to obey Him.
His abundant compassion is available to us fresh and new every day. God is still offering
rest for our souls. May we humble ourselves in true
repentance so we can receive it!
Back to Top
The 10/40
Window
"For 2,000 years, the gospel has steadily spread across the
world so that Satan is backed up in his last stronghold, which we call the 10/40
Window." C. Peter Wagner, Fuller Theological Seminary
What is the 10/40 Window? Let me give you a spiritual analogy.
In the harvest fields that Jesus referred to in Matthew 9:37-38, the 10/40 Window
is the location where the fields are whitest and the laborers fewest. Let's say that there
are 100 "ears of corn," representing people who have never heard the gospel. 95
of them are growing in the 10/40 Window. In spite of this, only about 5% of Western
missions budgets are spent in this unreached part of the world! In fact, American
Christians spend four times as much money each year on weight-reduction programs than they
do on missions.¹
The 10/40 Window is a geographical location measured on a map by
10 and 40 degrees North latitude, stretching through North Africa, the Middle East, India,
and China, all the way to the Indonesian islands. With a total population of 3.2 billion,
including 80% of the world's poorest of the poor, the 10/40 Window includes 64 countries
and many hundreds of separate people groups within those countries. Every major
non-Christian world religion was born out of this location, including Islam, Buddhism,
Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism and Taoism. According to George Otis Jr., "The 10/40
Window is the primary spiritual battleground in the world today. The very cradle of
civilization is now the Church's final evangelistic frontier."
In recent years, this area has been a major focus of prayer
groups all over the world. In fact, the 10/40 Window is slowly becoming the focus of the
greatest collective missionary effort in history. Without a doubt, the Spirit of God has
been leading the Church to begin to focus her effort where they are most needed. We are
beginning to wake up, but how groggy we still are from our slumber! While revival is
beginning to take place among many people groups scattered throughout the Window, there
are still multitudes who have never even heard the name of Jesus.
What can we do? If we are unable to go, we can sacrifice our
time in prayer and we can sacrifice our budget by sending money to those who will use it
to further the Kingdom. Surely there is no sacrifice too large to ensure that others will
dwell with us in the beautiful presence of God.
Pray for the salvation of these unreached peoples, that
they will attain an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Pray against the powers of spiritual darkness.
Pray for the encouragement, growth in discipleship, and
protection of the new believers.
Pray for the new believers to raise up workers from among
their own people.
Pray for openness and goodwill of all the authorities
toward the Gospel, plus the salvation of these authorities.
Pray for the effective planting of indigenous churches in
each unreached people group.
Pray for the blessing and peace of God in every believers
life and that the Holy Spirit will enable them to fulfill their redemptive purpose.
¹Charisma magazine, August 1998, page 66
______
For more information on how you can be involved in reaching the
10/40 Window, contact their website at:
U.S. Center for World
Missions
You can also write to:
The Christian Information Network
11025 State Highway 83
Colorado Springs, CO 80921-1040
PHONE: 719-548-9000
Back to Top
Christ Unlimited's Prayer Requests
Updated 09/11/98
We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for
praying for us. We plan to update this list as we have need. We would also like to share
with you several praise reports that have taken place since we last updated this site.
God has been good to us, and provided the funds to send out
several hundred Bibles overseas. (They had been packaged and waiting for shipment for over
a year.) We have also received many offers for volunteer work that we are beginning to
utilize. Our bookstore is being expanded, the Bible Study is in the process of being put
online, and we are also working on upgrading the appearance and organization of the site.
Bookstore sales and our monthly support have also increased, although we still need a
bigger breakthrough to really make ends meet. We do appreciate your prayers and know that
these answers are due in part to the people who are standing with us in faith. Thank you.
The needs of CHRIST UNLIMITED at this time are:
PRAY that God will give us wisdom in developing this
website. As we stated above, we will soon be working on
upgrading the appearance and accessibility of the site. Pray that we will be led of the
Spirit as we begin this endeavor. Also pray that the computer technicians who will be
working on this job will have the mind of Christ for BibleResources.org and that together, our
creativity will bring glory to God.
Recently, God has been networking us with some wonderful Kingdom
relationships. We are now in contact with several people who feel led to work with us
various ways for the purposes of the gospel. Please also pray for them.
We have recently contracted with a company to
develop an in-depth Bible search software for our website. This
unique search tool will allow our guests to type in queries that they may have about the
Bible such as, "Why did Jesus come to Earth?" This search engine will then go
through the entire Bible, pulling up every text that conceptually answers the question. We
believe that this tool can be a great evangelistic blessing for those who are seeking
Jesus, as well as to seasoned theologians and everyone in between. We have received
requests for a Bible search engine on our site, and we believe that this is the best one
of all. Please pray that we will have the finances to begin the work on this software. We
will keep you updated on our progress and will share further details of this search engine
at a later date.
PRAY for a major financial breakthrough for our
ministry. We have a great deal of literature that still
needs to be converted and formatted for use on the website. We want to offer all of this
literature free but it takes an enormous amount of time to do this and we are already
stretched in what we are currently doing. Please pray that we will have the finances
needed to hire a part-time computer technician and Secretary/Bookeeper . Our desire is to
develop this site faster and more efficiently, as well as continue to improve it's overall
quality. Other financial needs we have include:
-consistent monthly support for our basic and everyday needs.
-finances to pay our printing bill of $7,000.00
-construction of a small chapel on our property.
-finances for our literature distribution ministry.
We continue to receive 5-10 requests for free literature every
day. This all adds up quickly. In addition to Bibles, we also send free books from our
Bible Study, the Overcoming Life Series, to prisons and ministries all over the world.
Please pray that we will have the finances to meet all these needs. Thank you for your
prayers! May God richly bless you!
If you would like to partner with Christ Unlimited Ministries in
Internet evangelism and literature distribution, click here
Back to Top
|
