Refugee camp miracle healing

The news arrived that Europe had closed its borders. Discouraged and disappointed, hundreds took their place in a camp which had only been intended as a rest stop but was now their closest thing to ‘home’. Within a few weeks, people from our church were going every day to visit and talk to those in the camp: a little human attention and simple conversation are more uplifting than a meal for many suffering people. Though it is forbidden in the camp, Zeda had seen Sandra praying with other refugees. ‘Can you pray for me?’ she asked. Zeda had cancer. They prayed to Isa (Jesus). Two weeks later Sandra was back in the camp. Suddenly Zeda was running towards her waving white papers and shouting out in broken English, ‘It happened! It happened!’ Sandra read the papers. It said there is no more cancer in Zeda’s body. Zeda’s face was shining like the sun. ‘I want to believe like you do’ – she took Sandra’s hands and pointed to the cross around her neck – ‘I want to pray like you do’.

Praise:

God for how He is working through His people in the various refugee camps. (1Pt.5:7)

Refugee children from Europe

Last week's Prayer Alert reported that the Government had defeated an amendment to the immigration bill proposing that the UK accept 3,000 child refugees from Europe in addition to those it has promised to take from Syria. There are many unaccompanied children who escaped to Europe and are in need of loving homes. This week David Cameron changed his mind and said that the UK will take in more unaccompanied Syrian refugee children from Europe, although he did not commit to a specific figure. Ministers will talk to councils before deciding how many can be resettled. Labour said that the announcement, made at Prime Minister's Question Time, did not go far enough and more action was needed.

Praise:

God for a change of attitude. Pray that this will not be a token gesture, and that thousands of vulnerable children stranded in Europe will be rescued and resettled appropriately. (Ps.72:4)

Thy Kingdom Come - call for 'Great Wave of Prayer'

In this week following key elections around the UK, it is so timely that Christians can join together in this great wave of prayer for the evangelisation of our nation - praying 'Thy Kingdom Come'. Tens of thousands of Christians up and down England - and, increasingly, around the world - will be praying in the week of 8-15 May for more people to know the life-transforming love of Jesus Christ. Emails have been flowing in from far and wide, from parishes across a range of traditions and a variety of locations, from urban town centres to rural parishes, from the centre of England to the USA, from Bermuda to Brussels and Israel saying they are joining with us to hold prayer and Beacon Events. Canterbury Cathedral will live-stream their service over the internet (7pm on 15th May). See the '3 things to Pray' video

Pray:

for 5 – why not take up the challenge of ‘Praying for 5’ people you know, work with or meet in your everyday life during this week. (Matt 6:10)

Labour anti-semitism row

Norman G Finkelstein, a Jewish author whose parents survived concentration camps during the Holocaust, published a map on his blog in 2014 entitled ‘Solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict’. The map depicted the country of Israel superimposed on a map of the USA. Mr Finkelstein said he posted the map because he found it funny, adding, ‘such jokes are commonplace in the US’. Labour MP Naz Shah copied this map, and has now been suspended by the Labour Party; seventeen other Labour members have been suspended for anti-Semitism and racism since Mr Corbyn took over as leader, including former London mayor Ken Livingstone. The row has lifted the lid on how serious prejudice against Israel has become, and opened a debate around Zionism (the Jewish people's right to self-determination in Israel) and anti-Semitism (hatred directed at Jewish people).

Pray:

that the debates and inquiry will lead to clearly uncovering anti-Semitism in politics. (Ex.23:22)

School pupils' mental health

The Government has axed Natasha Devon, who was appointed last August as mental health champion for schools in England. This decision came after she had used a head teachers' conference to stress the level of mental strain being put on pupils by rigorous testing. The Department for Education denied that the role had been cut to silence criticism; rather, an independent NHS report had recommended that a cross-government mental health champion be created. Ms Devon, who was made an MBE last year for her work helping young people conquer mental health and body image issues, said she hoped the new champion would be a positive force for good, but she was 'sceptical'. She had undertaken the role on an unpaid basis, whereas someone in a paid role would be under more pressure to 'toe the party line'. The Government says it is putting £1.4bn into children's mental health, with separate money allocated for peer support schemes in schools.

Pray:

that the importance of highlighting mental health problems in schools will not be devalued by this move. (Pr.22:6)

Care homes at risk of closure

About 5,000 residential care homes risk closure because they carry too much debt and don’t make enough profit to cover loan repayments. Research by business risk analysts found that individual care homes were borrowing 61% of the value of the business - £4bn across the industry. There are 20,000 homes in the UK, operated by 5,871 owners who make about £60,000 profit as operators. Opus Business Services said the figures make investment difficult and leave a very small pot to encourage people to stay in this market, run homes and invest in them to create ‘the extra capacity that we all know this market is going to need as the baby boomers get old and need to go into care’. There is concern that future investors will want big and quick returns on their investments, and the profitability of care homes has been hit by rising costs like the new national living wage of £7.20 per hour.

Pray:

for the NHS and Government bodies to give more and better support to care providers. (Ja.1:27)

Dementia patients - second-class citizens

The Alzheimer’s Society said that some GPs are refusing to visit vulnerable care home patients unless they are paid up to £36,000 a year, and will only prescribe drugs over the phone. One elderly woman was made to wait in agony for 17 hours after suffering an allergic reaction because the GP would not see her out-of-hours. Some surgeries will not even register patients once they move into a home because they are deemed to take up too much of doctors’ time. A fifth of care homes are being charged a fee for a GP visit, which should be free. Martin Green, chief executive of Care England (which represents care homes), who wrote the report, said patients were being all but abandoned by GP services. 70% of adults in care homes have dementia and need regular check-ups by GPs as well as extra visits if they are unwell or suffer a fall.

Pray:

for the doctors, already under huge time pressures, and for the NHS, lacking resources for provision. (Ps.68:5)

Ministers and junior doctors agree to new talks

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has welcomed the agreement by the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) to return to talks over the new junior doctors' contracts. The Academy had appealed for both sides to end the dispute, with strikes having already caused thousands of cancelled operations. The doctors have been striking over plans to impose new working conditions, and talks over the controversial new contracts broke down in February. The Government has said it is willing to pause the introduction of the contracts in England for five days from Monday to allow for talks. But it said the doctors' union must focus discussions on outstanding contractual issues such as unsocial hours and Saturday pay. The BMA has agreed to postpone any new threats of strikes - also for five days.

Pray:

for a workable and satisfactory outcome that is positive for the junior doctors, the NHS as a whole, and the patients. (Pr. 24:3)

Westminster council turns away homeless Jesus

Last year Prayer Alert highlighted an application to draw attention to homelessness in London through a bronze sculpture. Huddled figures on park benches are a common sight in Westminster, but the plan to draw attention to homelessness with an evocative statue in the heart of the political establishment was met with a curt rebuff from the London borough. The sculpture depicts a figure shrouded in a blanket and stretched out on a bench. The only clues to the person’s identity are his feet, poking out and bearing visible wounds of crucifixion. Casts of the sculpture are displayed at the Vatican, in Dublin, Madrid, Washington and Toronto. Pope Francis blessed the artwork in 2013, saying it was a ‘beautiful and excellent representation of Jesus’. More than 850 people have backed a petition aimed at persuading the council to overturn its decision, while the Methodist Church is likely to appeal. Westminster has the highest population of homeless people in the UK.

Pray:

for a complete change of opinion by the Government, and for this debate to cause more to be done by them for the poor, vulnerable and homeless in London and in the British Isles. (Ps.140:12)

Helping migrant churches

In a recent conference on the migrant situation, one refugee commented, ‘It’s not the ground we serve with the gospel, it’s the people.’ In Denmark there are now more than two hundred migrant churches, making up a colourful mosaic. Currently a new church is founded every month. KIT (Churches Integration Programme) exists to help with the challenges connected with being church in a foreign country. Many projects in KIT have arisen from the problems that these churches experience while serving migrants. KIT also intends to build bridges between the migrant churches and the more established Danish ones. Practically, KIT helps the migrant churches with rules, acceptance from public authorities, missionary visas and pastors’ networking. See also

Pray:

for mission agencies and churches as they travel an untrodden path of a steep learning curve, stepping out to follow the peoples, wherever in the world they are. (Ps.8:4)

EU visa-free travel deal with Turkey

EU governments and the European Parliament still have to approve it but, should they agree, Turkish citizens will be able to travel to all Schengen-zone countries . Freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, and revising terrorism legislation to improve protection of minority rights are just some of the criteria demanded before visa requirements are lifted. It is hard to see how Turkey could be described as meeting those conditions. Ankara increasingly cracks down on its critics in a manner more autocratic than democratic and has not fulfilled quite a number of the criteria required by the EU. But these are desperate times. Most EU governments are under huge public pressure to ease the migrant crisis. The deal is for Ankara to take back potentially every migrant now trying to cross the Aegean to Europe and achieve visa-free travel by the end of June when the European Parliament votes on visa liberalisation. The EU fears that if the visa agreement slides, so will Turkey's commitment to stop migrant crossings.

Pray:

for this deal to succeed in ensuring that Turkey makes all efforts to meet the required standards, particularly free speech and human rights. (Jer.7:5)

Israel: Terror tunnel into Israel discovered

Israel bombed five targets in Gaza after Hamas fired more than five mortar rounds into Israel in 24 hours - an escalation attributed to Israel’s intensified efforts to detect and destroy Hamas’ underground tunnels toward and across its border. Israel’s warplanes struck five targets near the town of Rafah on Wednesday evening. No injuries have been reported yet. An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Lt Col Peter Lerner, said that Israel ‘will continue to operate in order to protect the civilians of Israel from all Hamas’ terrorist threats above and beneath ground. Our efforts to destroy Hamas terror tunnel networks, a grave violation of Israel’s sovereignty, will not be deterred.’ Shortly before launching the strikes, Israeli officials warned Hamas to cease firing mortars at its troops on the Gaza border or face a strong military retaliation.

Pray:

against the escalation in hostilities. (Ps.55:16,17)

Canada: Fort McMurray wildfire

The Canadian province of Alberta was under a full state of emergency on Wednesday as a catastrophic wildfire continued to devour neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray, where 80,000 residents were safely evacuated. By Wednesday afternoon, the fire had scorched 18,500 acres; by mid-evening, it was expected to be more than 24,700 acres - authorities earlier had cited higher numbers in both cases. To date 88,000 people have been evacuated from a ‘nasty, dirty fire’, which the fire chief warned would be looking for even more areas of the city to destroy. The situation is unstable with dangerously high temperatures, relatively low humidity, and strong winds. A record high of 90 degrees Celsius was recorded on Tuesday. Pray for the allocation of emergency funding for the Red Cross to support evacuees directly. Pray also for the thousands of evacuees escaping - given only half an hour’s notice to collect valuables and leave.

Pray:

for the energy and wisdom of the hundreds of firefighters working round the clock. (Is.40:29)

USA stands at a critical moment in history

The United States is a nation with rich farmland, abundant resources, and a literate and educated population. It is a democratic republic with a constitution that guarantees freedom of speech. Yet the culture foundations have been eroding for decades. The systematic dismissal of God in society has led to increasing violence, rampant corruption, normalised immorality, and widespread spiritual apathy. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3) We can pray. Across America, and the world, believers humbly interceded on behalf of the United States on Thursday. The USA stands at a critical moment in history. Although the vigil will have ended by the time this article is read, we can still join them and pray for Godly leaders to arise in churches, government, and society. Pray for national repentance of sin, immorality, and selfishness. Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church, bringing another Great Awakening.

Pray:

for the churches of the United States to answer God’s call on their lives and be activated to give their lives as a sacrifice of service to spread the gospel near and far. (Ps.2:11)

New Zealand: Your model must be Jesus

A TV show had an Anglican minister live with a same-sex couple for ten days. How would a Christian who opposes same-sex marriage engage with two atheists and activists who invited him to their wedding? Rev David Ould had a same-sex attracted couple live with him and his family for a few days; then he spent a few days living with them. The programme featured the three interacting and discussing their differences. Michael and Gregory went to church with David. David went to their wedding in New Zealand and marched in a gay pride parade; he displayed grace and honesty, holding fast to Christian orthodoxy on sexual morals and marriage. Michael and Gregory were not able to understand the Christian opposition to same-sex marriage and David was unable to agree to the moral basis of homosexuality and its claim on marriage. He showed that holding to truth is not easy and it opens us up to misunderstanding and even sarcasm. In short, there is usually a price to pay.

Pray:

for the Church across the nations to be prepared to pay the price and approach challenges, cultural differences and controversies as Jesus would approach them. (Mt.4:19)

India: persecution update

Hindu fundamentalists vandalised a church in Chhattisgarh during the Sunday service, forcing believers to chant ‘Praise the name of God Ram’. They then captured the pastor, Deenanath, and his seven-month pregnant wife and threw gasoline on them, trying to set them ablaze before vandalising the church and burning the Bible. In another story, Meena and Sunita came to faith through a Christian radio programme and worshipped in secret, listening to broadcasts. When they were baptised and started to visit church services, persecution began. The entire village rejected them, refusing food, clothing and even right of way in the streets. They ran away after a particularly nasty incident and were chased by Hindus shouting ‘Where are they? Burn them! Burn them!’ Both sisters still live in hiding, Open Doors is assisting with necessary supplies. Pray for God to strengthen and protect Christians in many of India’s states who are experiencing intimidation and violence. Pray for indigenous Christians and foreign missionaries to minister safely and reap miraculous results.

Pray:

for protection for believers, and for India's leaders to rule with justice and righteousness. (Ps.5:2)

Africa: droughts

Zimbabwe’s ten national parks are famed for their huge populations of elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards and buffaloes; but on Tuesday they put their wild animals up for sale to save them from a devastating drought. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said, ‘Members of the public with the capacity to acquire and manage wildlife - and enough land to hold the animals - should get in touch to register an interest.’ The drought is expected to worsen an already critical water shortage. Further north, Ethiopia is in the midst of the worst drought in fifty years, affecting over half of the country’s 750 districts. Earlier this month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called Ethiopia’s condition ‘a deteriorated humanitarian situation’. Ethiopia is a victim of land degradation, due to increased use of unsustainable agricultural practices. Grazing animals and firewood collection haven’t helped, causing decreased protection against erosion with soil easily washed away. See also.

Pray:

for African countries affected by drought to work together with regional institutions, partners and international development programmes to restore degraded land and support farming communities. (Ps.133:1)

Brazil: Summer Olympics preparations

International Olympic Committee officials say preparations for the Olympic Games are the ‘worst ever’. The situation is critical on the ground, there is no plan B and they are not ready in many, many ways. The latest warning is all the more significant for coming from inside the IOC. The work has been troubled by construction delays and mass protests. The unwieldy relationships between the city, state and national governments and the ambitious nature of the plans have caused delays and discord. There are also ‘social issues that need addressing’. Hosting the Olympics was designed to showcase Brazil's confidence as one of the fastest growing world economies and turbo-charge long-overdue improvement to the city's infrastructure. But negative headlines about the readiness of facilities has dented confidence in its ability to deliver.

Pray:

for better coordination between the federal government, the state government, and the city. Continue to pray into the Zika virus situation. (Pr.1:20)