Pray for Slovenia

Week of May 26 - June 1, 2014

A week ago, while on vacation, we spent a night in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I took advantage of the opportunity to prayer-walk around the government buildings. I prayed for arts and entertainment, business, education, media, the families, churches, and especially the government of Slovenia.

I sensed a peace concerning Slovenia and a promise from the Lord that He has not forgotten the country.

Lord, I thank You that my prayer walk is like a stake placed in the center of the country to remind the enemy that  You are coming with grace for Slovenia.

As I seeking the Lord now, I have a few concerns surfacing in my spirit.  It seems the Lord wants us to pray for these. Slovenes are:
·    Living in a survival mode
·    Living for today – little hope for tomorrow
·    Blessed but do not know it
·    Lack of gratefulness

Prayer points:
1.    We know, Lord, that You have a deep love for the Slovene people. Lord, please share with us Your love for them.
2.    Let us pray for hope to arise in Slovene hearts. May the Slovenes raise their heads, pull back their shoulders and be optimistic about a better tomorrow.
3.    You, oh Lord, can resurrect in the Slovene people energy to build a glorious future for their country.
4.    Let us pray for the families in Slovenia. Lord, help husbands and wives to live in constant forgiveness toward one another. May they encourage their children to believe in a better tomorrow.
5.    Let us pray for the churches of Slovenia; Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical. May Jesus be given first place in each one of them.
6.    Let us pray for the media of Slovenia. May they always strive to present the truth and not someone’s agenda.
7.    Let us pray that the arts and entertainment of Slovenia would be uplifting and not depressing. May joy, laughter and positive programs be presented for the people’s enjoyment.
8.    Lord, we ask for the release of energy and productivity for the businesses of Slovenia. May honesty be a personal motto of every business owner.
9.    Let us pray for the government of Slovenia. We ask that all corruption be exposed. We pray that the people of Slovenia would follow statesmen not politicians with personal agendas. Let us pray that men and women of faith would be called to serve their country.
10.    Education molds the minds of a country. Let us pray that truth and light would prevail in the Slovene educational system.

Psalm 43:3 (KJV)
O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

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Pray for Serbia

Week of May 19-25, 2014

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FOR SERBIA!
(Protestant Evangelical Alliance of Serbia asks for your prayers. Pray for the people of Serbia, Bosnia, and all who were affected by the floods.)

Dear friends,

We would like to ask you for your urgent and fervent prayers for Serbia. We have had heavy rainfalls for 3 days now, with the amount of rain equaling 3 month quantities (the samesituation is in Bosnia and Herzegovina). It caused local rivers overflowing (rising even to 4 meters in just 1 day) in majority of Serbian towns and cities, leaving thousands of citizens' homes and land flooded, their livestock and domestic animals drowned:-(. People were completely unprepared for this and in shock. So far, there are 5 casualties, but the numbers are not complete unfortunately. A massive storm churned river waters and triggered landslides across the country, leaving roads and railways underwater. Some motorways and roads are blocked, bridges torn down, and some towns in Serbia are still cut off from the civilization. This is the worst flooding ever in the history of Serbia.The Serbian government declared a state of emergency and natural disaster yesterday..

As we are writing this, we know for sure that 7.520 people were evacuated until this morning,135,000 homes are without electricity, 19 towns are flooded. The critical is the town of Obrenovac (suburb of Belgrade) which is being evacuated in total as it is 90% flooded. It has around 18 000 people in addition to be evacuated.

Another critical municipality is Sabac, in western Serbia (around 120 thousand people). It is close to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the great danger is that the river Sava overflows during the night and tomorrow and endangers a huge population. At this point, over 3000 volunteers are traveling towards Sabac from all over Serbia to help the exhausted police forces, the army, the firemen fill the sand bags and try to stop the river overflowing.

Very difficult situation is in other towns like Lazarevac, Valjevo, Paraćin, Smederevska Palanka, Svilajnac, Petrovac na Mlavi. Majority of these towns don't have water or electricity or both. For a small and financially struggling country like Serbia, this sort of thing has a Katrina-like impact:
We would be thankful to you to pray for the following:

1.That God prevents rivers from more overflowing and the rainfall stops (especially it is critical for the town of Sabac and Obrenovac tonight), but also others.
2. That all the people are safely evacuated, with no more casualties.
3. That enough funds are raised in near future to make up for the losses people faced and these are huge (some are left without everything as their houses are lost in landslides and land, as their only source of income, is flooded).
4. For enough food, clothes, blankets and other needed items for thousands who are placed in schools, hospitals, hotels and other premises until the crisis is over.
5. For enough technical equipment to help pump the water from the flooded houses all over Serbia (EU, Russia, Israel already sent some help).
6. That God protects us from infections (in water and in food) due to animal decomposition which is currently underway.
7. All the crops in the flooded areas are completely devastated, which will hugely impact fragile Serbian economy. Pray for God's miracle and grace in this area and for complete restoration.
8. The flooding of bigger rivers is to be expected, so pray for the protection of rivers Sava and Danube.
9. It will take months for people to be able to start living normally, pray for God's mercy and protection and wisdom of the government officials in how to help and what to do. The damage is probably millions of euros.
Following are some links showing a dramatic situation:

This one is with Serbian comments from the Serbian national broadcaster Prva TV: http://www.prva.rs/web-tv/info/exploziv/12005/exploziv---16052014/34911/potop.html
This one is from the foreign media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlY8UbF99tI

Feel free to share this email with your churches, home groups, forward to your friends and cover us in prayers. Thank you so much for your support. It is priceless.

God bless you

Pray for Serbia 5-19-14

In the News: 2 Drown in Serbia as Floods Hit Across Balkans
BELGRADE, Serbia May 15, 2014 (AP)

Two people drowned in Serbia and the country declared a national emergency Thursday as rain-swollen rivers across the Balkans flooded roads and bridges, shut down schools and cut off power. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated.

In Serbia and neighboring Bosnia, meteorologists said the rainfall was the most since measuring started 120 years ago. Belgrade authorities say the average rainfall of a two-month period hit the city in just 40 hours.
"What we are facing is the biggest water catastrophe in Serbia's history," Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said as his government appealed for help from the European Union, Russia and neighboring countries.
Surging water coursed through towns and villages, overflowing across streets and into homes, sweeping bridges off their moorings. Sodden hills crumbled into landslides. Dozens of buses and cars were stranded on flooded roads and two main north-south railway lines in Serbia were impassable. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/woman-drowns-serbia-floods-23726450

I received the following email from Greg and Jelena Sivulka, faithful prayer partners in Serbia:

The past few days, we have had a cyclone over this country that has brought more rain than there has ever been since they started recording rainfall levels 120 years ago!  Some cities and towns have been completely flooded.  There have been electrical shortages and there's a possibility that the main power plant may have to shut down most of its operations due to the flooding.  Just about an hour ago we just received word from a reliable source that the tap water has become contaminated.  I went to the store and joined the crowds of people buying bottled water.  What a catastrophe! 

Fortunately, in our city, Novi Sad, no areas have had to be evacuated yet, although several houses have been flooded.  A state of emergency has been declared in the country and thousands of community service workers and volunteers have been working round the clock to reinforce riverbanks with sandbags.  The rain just continues to fall, but they say it should be calming down sometime this weekend.

Please keep us in prayer!

P.S.  Here's an article with photos that will give you a better idea of what's going on:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27439139

Prayer Points:
1.    Let us pray for those suffering from this flooding in Serbia and Bosnia.
2.    Pray for the families of those that lost their lives due to the flooding.
3.    Pray for those that have had property damage, being overwhelmed by water.
4.    In the long run, pray that the Churches would take a lead in rescuing, caring for and over the months ahead, restoring families back to a normal existence.
5.    Truly it is a time upon the earth when we are seeing unnatural things happening in nature. Lord, help the Serbian people to look beyond the present tragedies and have hope for the future.
6.    This flooding tragedy will compound the already financial problems in Serbia. Let us pray for hope to supernaturally spring forth and a real “roll up our sleeves and go to work” attitude.

Ecclesiastes 3:10-12 (NLT)  I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.  Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

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Week of May 12-18,2014

In the News: Fivefold Pay Surge Since 2006 Reveals Romania Tech Boom
By Andra Timu and Irina Savu  May 8, 2014 7:01 AM CT 
With more than 64,000 certified IT specialists, Romania is the European Union leader in technology workers per capita and sixth in the world, according to Gartner Inc. (IT), a research company in Stamford, Connecticut. Romania’s strengths are its multilingual, educated labor force and its low costs for IT services, Gartner said in a Nov. 6 report.

Report: Operation World reports that the number of evangelical Christian in Romania has risen to nearly 6%. No other country in the Balkans even comes close.
There is a shift taking place in the Balkans. God is setting the stage and positioning the players. Expectation is on the rise for a true move of God in the region. Romania is positioned well, in order to play a key role in whatever God has for the Balkans.

Prayer Points:
1) Lord, we want to humbly acknowledge Your sovereign work in Romania. We know there is much more work to be done but, we are so encouraged.
2) Thank You, Lord, for these companies that have utilized the workforce in Romania. Not only are You blessing Romania spiritually but the economy is being touched. Let us pray that Christians will acquire many of the mentioned IT jobs and bring an ethical influence to the industry.
3) Let us pray for the forming of Christian technology networks in Romania that will help carry the Gospel to the world. Lord, give your people influence in the technology industry.
4) Let us also pray for an increase in Christian programming for radio and television in Romania. Lord, we pray for the promotion of balanced Christian radio and television preachers that will proclaim the Gospel truth.
5) Let us pray that a spiritual wave start out of Romania. Lord, we pray for momentum and vision so the spiritual atmosphere of the Balkans may be changed and many would see You, Jesus, lifted up.

John 12: 31-33 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”  This He said, signifying by what death He would die. 
6) Lord, may mercy triumph over judgment at this time over the Balkans! Give us open doors to proclaim Your mercy.
7) Oh, Jesus, help us to show the Balkans Your sacrifice that covers our sins. Show us how to lift You up daily for the world to see.
8) One of the evangelical tools used in the Balkans are Christian youth camps. Let us pray that there would be special anointing on the children’s camps and teen camps planned for this summer in Romania. May many youth be saved and set on a path of discipleship in the Lord.

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Pray for Montenegro

Week of May 5-11,2014

Zuzanna and I were privileged to visit Montenegro about a month ago. Our purpose was to find out more about the Roma (Gypsy) refugee camps in Podgorica and learn how we could help alleviate their present sufferings while sharing the love of Jesus with them. We found their situation quite dire. The will and the financial ability of the Montenegrin government comes short of meeting their physical needs.

Presently, there is a dental team visiting the camps preforming many procedures and meeting their needs. They are seeing 20 plus patients per day. This is a tremendous blessing to the refugees! Pastor Sinisa Nadazdin, head of Roma - REA Ministry Montenegro is praising God for the two dentists, Kriss and Thuha and the support team, who are blessing many refugees in the Konik camp.

As I visit each Balkan country I make it a priority to prayer walk the government buildings, in search of a breakthrough and to establish a stake in the ground. I did not get the sense that I accomplished this breakthrough when prayer-walking the Montenegrin capitol, which is yet another reminder of the spiritual hardness of this nation.

1) Let us pray for the love of Jesus to be manifested in the camps through the practical ministry of the dental team. May the people receiving dental care understand that God loved them so much, that He sent dentists to fix their teeth. May there be much lasting fruit as a result of this work.
2) Let us lift up Pastor Sinisa as he works with the refugees. May there be joy in their midst. May the Christian Roma in the camp live to be an example to the other refugees. 3) The country of Montenegro has an estimated 180 evangelical Christians. Let us pray for the strengthening of the Christians there and a reassurance that they are not alone. Let us hold up their weak arms like Aaron and Hur and pray that the Lord of all would give them new strength to live a victorious life.
4) Let us pray for a spiritual breakthrough in Montenegro. May the Lord stir hearts to believe for increase in Montenegro. May He break up the rocky ground of the Montenegrins hearts.
5) Montenegrin Christians need help from the larger Body of Christ abroad. Let us pray for churches and mission organizations throughout the world to turn their attention toward Montenegro. Let us pray also for the handful of Missionaries like Bukurije Nikqi and other organizations and churches who serve in Montenegro.
6) The Lord’s heart is for Montenegro to be a part of the coming revival. Let us pray for men and women who will hear His voice and follow His leading to pray for and go to Montenegro and leave the stamp of God on the nation.
7) Lord, deposit vision and strategies for evangelical events in Montenegro to reach the people. Lord, shine Your light on the dark land of Montenegro.PRAYING WITH SPECIFICITY… within an URGENT TIME FRAME… with an EXPECTATION OF RESULTS. - George Otis, Jr., Sentinel Group
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