Approximately 500 "leaders of leaders" (presidents of pastors and church associations) from all 31 Mexico states, plus the Distrito Federal and 19 members of the North American Prayer Initiative from the USA and Canada, gathered in Mexico City, November 14-17, 2010, for four days of intensive prayer for the nation. Additionally, thousands world wide, including thousands of children in India, Indonesia, and South Africa joined the initiative “in the Spirit”, to stand in agreement that the Lord would release Mexico from gang violence, death, corruption, and other crimes.
Canadian team members facilitated a time of reconciliation. The twelve leaders of the national prayer network made a "covenant of unity" renouncing critical statements and divisive activities, and the Lord began to move in a mighty way.
Among the many high points was the reading of a letter by Ruth Ruibal, widow of Pastor Julio Ruibal of Cali, Columbia, who was martyred while leading Cali churches in praying down the drug cartels in their city and nation. His death brought the Christian leaders together to pray and act with one heart. Her letter was read out aloud in Spanish after the showing of a video on the transformation that has occurred in Cali through united prayer. This message touched everybody’s heart and set the stage for God to move in Mexico’s future.
A second and equally significant blessing was the participation and opportunity to pray with Margarita Zavala, First Lady and wife of Mexican president Felipe Calderon. The children and youth prayed for her and her husband, President Felipe Calderon, in their struggle to rid Mexico of the drug cartels and the extreme violence. The First Lady appeared moved by this act of blessing and protection and expressed her appreciation for the Mexico Prayer Initiative.
On the last day, opposite the presidential palace, local leaders both stood and knelt over a large map of the nation. Together, they affirmed their unity with a time of heartfelt intercession for the nation that was powerful. ENLACE, the Christian TV channel took video of the initiative and also interviewed many of us for a program that will be shared not only across Mexico but also in other parts of Latin America.
The effects of the prayer initiative are already bearing fruit. Within days of the initiative’s closing, Mexico has experienced significant gains against the drug cartels. On November 29, 2010, the BBC reported that Mexican police arrested an alleged leader of the Aztecas street gang that is blamed for much of the violence in Ciudad Juarez on the US-Mexico border. Arturo Gallegos Castrellon was captured at the weekend in Juarez, which has seen some 2,700 murders this year. He confessed to ordering most of the killings in Juarez since August 2009, including that of a US consular employee, police said.
It is time to redouble our prayer efforts and hold Mexico and its leaders before the Lord.
Please pray for Mexico:
1. That the Lord would protect, encourage, and guide Mexico’s political and spiritual leaders in the months and years ahead.
2. That the Lord would likewise protect their families and the support services (e.g. military and police) in the enforcement of law without corruption or failure.
3. That the Christian leaders of Mexico stay united and mutually supportive in their common task of leading the nation towards Jesus Christ.
4. That the drug cartels and related organizations “lose heart”, shut down, and give up their criminal operations.
5. That these organizations experience complete confusion in their ability to communicate and coordinate criminal business activities.
6. That the commercial void created by the cartel/gang abandoning this activity will not be filled by other criminal groups.
7. That the people of Mexico renounce the culture of death that embraces a syncretism with Santa Muerte and other ancient spirits of darkness and destruction.
8. That Jesus Christ be the center of hope and life for all Mexico. (Ezekiel 37 and John 10:10).
(Highlight notes as reported by George & Evi Markakis, Shalom Center, Athens, who were guests at this meeting. An official report can come only from the leadership of the European Union of Prayer (EUOP). The meeting took place on November 30, 2010, in Brussels, and was organized by Ortwin Schweitzer and the European Union of Prayer. )
The meeting began with worship, and the Spirit gathered 8 or 9 ministries/networks as one. Self-introductions of each ministry acquainted everyone in a humble way and set a good tone for the meetings. Each ministry/network commented on essentials pertaining to Europe. Several prayer leaders encouraged and inspired to work to change and save Europe. “Israel” factored into topics. Tomas Sandell emphasized the relevance of Israel for the European affairs of our days through historical references and sharing of certain values and projects of the European Coalition for Israel which aim at affecting the politics of Europe in the “right” direction and dealing with the problem of anti-Semitism.
Please pray for Europe:
1. For the HOPE for EUROPE II conference, May 9-13, 2011, in Budapest, Hungary. Specific prayer requests found at www.hfe.org
2. For Operation Capitals of Europe’s planning meetings on January 14-27, 2011, in Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Brussels—especially for planning clarification.
3. For a possible Gatekeepers of Europe prayer retreat in Athens and Corinth. Pray for quieting the soul to listen for God’s direction on this.
4. For a possible combined European Networks project concerning the Olympic Games in 2012 and calling for all the Prayer Networks of Europe to respond to the cry of the Continent against the pagan/demonic influence emanating from the Olympic Games’ rituals.
Portions of a letter are as follows:
We appreciate for your prayers that made our children happy and experience the love of God. There were about 1250 children as few of the children's homes did not come as
they had school examinations. Few disabled and mentally retarded children performed their performance which made many of the children and adults emotional. The street children's drama about the problems of the street by the children from Karuna Nepal, an organization working with the street kids also made people stop to pray and think for the children of the street. Balloon flying and puppet show were quite exiting moments for the children as they liked it very much.
Mr. Gagan Thapa, member of Parliament and the chair of Children's fundamental rights in the parliament promised to help to get the citizenship of the children of the children's homes as well as the children of the street. (In Nepal, children are having a great problem regarding receiving citizenship whose parents are not identified.)
Finally they received Christmas presents (a warm winter jacket) which made them very happy, especially about 100 children from slum area and about 60 from street. They also enjoyed breakfast and lunch packed which contained chicken, fried noodles and rice, naan bread, an orange, desert some chocolate items.
We praise God that in His mercy that the program was successful…The program was organized on Dec. 12 at Somang Academy's ground, Thecho where about 100 volunteers actively cared the children.
Please pray for the Nepal children:
1. That God would meet their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs.
2. That they could gain citizenship in their country.
3. For adequate funding for all the programs to educate, feed, and clothe.
4. That the mentally challenged would find the love and help they need.
The Intercessors Network of Pakistan encourages 40 days of prayer and fasting, hoping to enlist churches throughout the country to commit. This follows a precedent set in an earlier 40-day campaign in August-September, 2010. The campaign is based on 2nd Chronicles 7:14 and aimed to motivate the church to pray for the country and for God’s people to seek His face and intercede for the healing of the Land.
Prayers will be for a national spiritual revival against social injustices, social evils, against corruption, violence, terrorism, extremism, praying for strength for the Pakistani Church and Christians in the face of ongoing persecution, and for humanitarian emergencies along with many other national concerns. The campaign will also be a coordinated effort for future prayer mobilization, so that towns, cities and rural areas throughout the country will become filled with ongoing prayer and intercession for the manifestation of His Kingdom values in the churches and the Nation.
We are also aiming to use the campaign as a springboard to ignite new prayer initiatives. This campaign will mobilize up to 500 plus churches/groups/ministries and individuals in 30 cities across the country. We have faith that this prayer campaign will mobilize 25,000-plus Christians to pray during these 40 days and raise a much needed prayer cover of 24/7 during these 40 days for Pakistan.
Please pray for Pakistan:
1. For unity among Christians/church leaders and denominational barriers coming down.
2. For abolition or repeal of the blasphemy laws and for the Christian brothers and a sister who are in prison facing trials, falsely accused under this law.
3. For safety and security of brothers and sisters who live under constant threat of being persecuted under the blasphemy laws, especially in Punjab.
4. For sustainability of 24/7 and other prayer watches that are going on, that the Pakistani church will understand the power of corporate prayers, and that churches will move into a culture of prayer.
5. For a spiritual awakening of the church on a national level so that the gospel can spread across the country.
6. Pray for the end of different types of shortages that are occurring in Pakistan: water, electricity, natural gas, food commodities like, cooking oil, sugar etc. That the government will take sincere measures to resolve these issues which are making the everyday life miserable.
7. That the rising extremism and radicalization will be curbed and that the strong- holds of terrorism in the country will be destroyed.
8. That the Pakistani church will be especially focusing prayer against corruption in all spheres of life and praying for the strongholds to be taken down.
9. For the government and judiciary to put their own house in order and take extreme measures against this evil.
In Jesus Name Productions (IJNP) is scheduling a world-wide release on Easter 2012 and asks the IPC prayer community to become part of this endeavor by way of sustained prayer.
Besides the prayer requests for the movie that John Robb mentioned in the opening greeting, please pray for IJNP:
1. That the Lord will continue to grow the relationships He established while the team was at the 2010 Lausanne Congress.
2. That many will come alongside to join the effort and to pray for the project and for the hearts of those that will be impacted by this film and by Christians around the world.
3. For God to bring divine appointments and introductions of key leaders, investors, and influencers from around the world.
4. That the Lord will prepare the ground for The Messiah to reach the ends of the earth and for the hearts of people to be ready to hear the message of the Gospel.
For more information, please go to http://www.injesusnameproductions.org
Be praying in your region and set aside April 14 in each of the remaining four years of the 4/14 Global Initiative as the 4/14 Window Day to Change the World. The goal is to mobilize focused, fervent, united intercessory prayer of God’s people in every region for the Raising up of a New Generation from the 4/14 Window to transform the world. The call to the body of Christ and each local church in the nation is for a congregational fast beginning on the 14th April and going through the 16th.
Following the good example of Dr. Julio and Ruth Ruibal in Colombia, Latin America, before Julio was martyred, encourage the local churches to prepare and implement by means of all or some of the following steps:
- Explain through preaching/teaching the needs of the church, the city, and the nation as it relates to the 4/14ers.
- Set the objective of the fast. There would be a two-fold purpose related to the 4/14ers in the church, city, nation, region and world:
- First, as with The Esther Fast, we are fasting for protection of the 4/14ers and deliverance from the Evil One (Esther 4:16).
2. Second, we are praying for the Raising up of a New Generation from the 4/14 Window in the local church, city and nation to transform their nations, regions and the world
- Have meetings every night for intercession and testimonies.
- Open up the church for early morning prayer times and other times during the day.
- Encourage groups from the church to meet over lunch hour at their work place and involve other Christians in the work place.
- Give them clear instruction in a sheet of how to fast. Provide the option of a water only fast or organic juice fast.
- Have a temporary hotline where people can call in with their questions.
Our key text is Esther 4:14. “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do (Esther 4:14-16).
We are following the example of Esther to the challenge by her Uncle Mordecai to call a three-day fast as an essential part of the 4/14 Window Day to Change the World. The historical background affirms that the world was transformed as a result in Esther’s day and sets the stage for a 4/14 Global Initiative that could change the world in our day. In Esther’s Day, God’s people were mobilized to fast, and God’s people were preserved. Their children were protected from the schemes of the one who planned for their destruction which provided the lineage of Jesus Christ—deliverance in the fullness of time. In God’s providence, it was the children in Jesus’s Day who recognized this and praised Jesus (Mt. 21:20) even as the adults were silent. For the children being called to “silence the foe and the avenger” through their praise of Jesus was in fulfillment of God’s decree from the beginning of time (Ps. 8:2) according to Jesus (Mt. 21:20). Jesus came to destroy the work of the enemy (1 John 3:8), and the world was transformed. Indeed recorded history is His story as highlighted by the historically grounded events.
We encourage you to pass this call to prayer to as many churches and other members of the body of Christ as possible and let them to join in these days of prayer for a new generation of 4/14ers to be raised up.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! May the grace and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
On March 9, 2003, the decision was made about creating of the “Prayer about Russia” Russian National Prayer Movement. This was done in the Second Baptist Church of Moscow during the Moscow United Interdenominational Prayer Service dedicated to the Day of Repentance and Reconciliation with God. This convention held about 500 leaders and representatives of different Christian denominations from Russia. The purposes of creating an activity of this “Prayer about Russia” National Prayer Movement were the spiritual awakening and transformation of the state and creation of the Russian prayer watch.
Seven years of our cooperative labor on the God’s field were marked by the following:
1. The people of God responded to His calling to stand in the gap in prayer for our homeland Russia. With God’s help 31 interdenominational prayer conferences were held with the theme from 2 Chronicles 7:14 “Consolidation through Prayer that can Transform a Nation” along with nine Schools of prayer interceders.
2. The participants of all the conferences and schools from these seven years, the total amount of whom was about 7,000 leaders from 1,500 churches from different denominations, took this challenge and knelt down full of tears upon their eyes and proclaimed the end of the bondage of sin in Russia; they declared that Russia belongs to the Lord. Through these conferences, God has raised His people for the prayer of salvation for the Russian peoples, for the opening of the door for the Good News from God, and for wide evangelization.
3. The leadership of the Association of the Churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith and the Russian Undivided Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith have called upon their churches to support the activity of the Russian Prayer Movement as a ministry of repentance, reconciliation, and consolidation. The Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith (RCCEF) had announced the year 2007 as the year of prayer partnership (within the scope of the denomination). One of the priorities of the prayer of the RCCEF churches became the prayer for salvation of the peoples of Russia.
4. It took God 9 months to build the foundation of the national prayer watch in Russia in 2006-2007. Today we have about thirty cities where God’s people agreed to pray about the awakening and transformation of our country. For example, the people of God from different churches from Naberezhnye Chelny, Samara, Rostov-on-Don gather every month for the joint prayer sessions where people pray for awakening in the country. Some of the people come to these sessions from as far as 300-500 km. Three pastors from Rostov gather together three times per week for the joint prayer of awakening. Two big churches began the permanent 24/7 prayer. Sixty cities and towns of Russia participated in the Global Day of Prayer. We could only dream about it in the past. The coordinator of this ministry in Russia from 2006 to 2010 has been the church in Nabarezhnye Chelny.
5. In the opinion of many of the believers, Russia sees, thanks to these prayers, the real changes and progress in developing democracy and freedom of conscience. The attitude of the government is changing concerning corruption, casinos, and the drug mafia. The attitude started to change toward orphans and youths. In 2010, for the first time in the last 10 years, the birth rate was higher than the death rate. Today we live in a different Russia.
The invaluable contribution in the drive for the spiritual awakening of Russia was made by the National Prayer Watch of Romania. Since the fall 2005, the Prayer Watches of Romania have raised their voices in the prayer of awakening on Russia. Ioan Peia, the leader of the National Prayer Watch of Romania, pastor of a Baptist church from Bucharest, has participated directly in organizing, arrangement, and establishment of the “Prayer about Russia” National Prayer Movement. Since spring 2006 till now, brother Ioan has traveled across the whole Russia from its west to east participating in more than a dozen prayer conferences of awakening as one of the speakers, including those in the cities of Moscow (3 conferences), Saint-Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnoyarsk, Naberezhnye Chelny (2 conferences), Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Magadan, and Orsk. We express our deep and sincere gratitude to the National Prayer Watch of Romania for the help they granted us in the cause of awakening and transformation of our country
God is changing Russia answering the prayers of Christians!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Your prayer support will be all-important to the planning of this event which is intended to be a “new paradigm” for an international congress—carried out Acts 13-style—incorporating listening to God, united prayer, and strategic implementation of world-impacting action that proceeds out of that encounter with the Lord and one another.
Prayer Concerns:
1. Please pray for the seven planning task forces (Program, Logistics, Mobilization, Finance, Registration and Website, Youth and Children), the Media Strategy Group well as for the Prayer Support Team. We need to be led of the Lord, given His creative, anointed ideas and to all do our work diligently, joyfully and unitedly.
2. This will not be just another prayer conference. The word “world” adds a great deal of complexity and challenge to the planning process since we hope to have about 5000 ministry leaders from all 220 nations. Please pray for excellent organization on the part of the Indonesians and Koreans who are co-hosting the event, for the International Coordination Team, and for the right people from every nation to hear about the WPA and be able to come to Jakarta for it.
3. The WPA Planning and Prayer Retreat will happen in Jakarta, January 23-27. It will be a crucial time for about 50 of us on the wider WPA planning team team to meet together for a time of bonding relationally, praying together to get His mind on the way forward and to update each other on progress made and what needs to be done during the coming year.
4. Some leaders that are key to the WPA process are: the Indonesian and Korean national committees who will co-host the event and the WPA International Coordination Team (14) that provides overall oversight. Please pray for His guidance, protection and provision for each of us. The spiritual battle, as you can imagine, is and will be intense.
Here are the two Scripture passages that have particularly inspired us in arranging the WPA:
• The Church Becoming United- that all followers of Christ may be one so that the world may believe. (John 17:20-26)
• Our World Being Transformed-that “the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”. (Hab.2:14)
Thanks so much for your gracious help through prayer that will mean so much, not just to those of us doing the planning and organizing, but also to our world that will be affected by the WPA.