Pray for Montenegro

Week of April 1-7, 2013

Montenegro is a small country with a population of just over a half million people. Here are some recent things of concern:
⦁    In the News - “Montenegro’s reforms are ambitious. And they are on the right path. We encourage you to continue your efforts, especially in reinforcing the rule of law, and fighting corruption and organized crime. More reforms in the defense sector will also be critical. There is still hard work to do. But Montenegro is moving in the right direction,” the NATO Secretary General Rasmussen said during a press conference with Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Đukanović. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-969823DC-94641015/natolive/news_99300.htm
⦁    There is investment money coming into Montenegro on the premise that it can be developed as a tourist destination.
⦁    In the News - A high-ranking Montenegrin state official resigned on Thursday after a video appeared on YouTube, which showed him having sex with an unidentified woman in his office, reported Radio Television Montenegro (RTCG).
⦁    Montenegro since their independence have been making slow but steady economic progress. There are still areas of great poverty, and many refugees from the Kosovo Crisis in the nineties continue to live here in bunkers and makeshift homes. There are only three protestant churches in Montenegro, with a few small home groups meeting along the coastline.

1)    Let us pray for items and issues the NATO secretary mentioned. Pray that Montenegro would truly enforce just laws and especially crackdown on corruption.  Government officials need to be true to codes of law and not let money and favoritism pervert justice.
2)    Let us thank the Lord for exposure of that government official who resigned. May others be exposed who are stealing and lying to the Montenegrin people.
3)    We have prayed for investment to pour into the country before. Let us pray for the investment for tourism to be channeled toward helpful projects and not sinful places like casinos, breweries, etc.
4)    Let us pray that many Christians throughout the world would hear of the great spiritual needs in Montenegro and would invest time and money this coming summer. May the Lord raise up many intercessors to pray for Montenegro.
5)    We pray for those three evangelical churches in the country. Lord, purify them so they would be seen by Montenegrins as a safe place. May the pastors and members reach out beyond their walls to the hurting around them.
6)    Let us pray for the home groups that have been started. May the glory of the Lord be in their mist when they meet and may peace be on these homes at all times. Bless the families that host these meetings.
7)    Let us pray for complete freedom for these churches and home groups. May the Orthodox churches and the government not team up to brand these churches as cults but freely let them operate.
8)    There are many poor and suffering from health problems in Montenegro. Let us pray that the glorious Gospel would be proclaimed and demonstrated to the suffering.

Let me thank you for praying with us for the Balkan countries. May the Lord’s presence be with you as you pray. Let me quote Gordon Lindsay, “It is in recognizing the actual presence of God that we find prayer no longer a chore, but a supreme delight.”

Please leave a Comment or Reaction so we will know you Prayed!

Pray for Greece

Week of March 18-24, 2013

Grace + Gratitude + Glory = Goodness
I was asking the Lord how to pray for Greece and the above formula came to my mind. I ask the Lord to put the formula into my heart so I may know how to pray.

Definitions:
Grace - unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
Gratitude - a feeling of appreciation or thanks
Glory – 1) great beauty and splendor : magnificence       2) state of great gratification or exaltation
Goodness - the quality or state of being good 

The history lessons tell of the former glory of Greece. Early Greece developed into a higher educated civilization than the nations around them. The people valued man’s ability to reason and would freely let men express their opinions. This led to innovations of engineering, a more peaceful civil society and appreciation of art which resulted in influencing other cultures. Actually I believe this was God at work to prepare the Greeks for the Gospel. They had an open mind to hear foreign views.

Acts 17:22-24 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:  “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 

We see that the Apostle Paul was able to reason with the Greek wise men because they were open to hear the Gospel and some embraced it. Then what happened as Greeks accepted the Gospel the glory shifted from the secular to spiritual. The Greeks begin to send missionaries into all the then known world.  The Greeks had advanced merchant shipping throughout the Mediterranean Sea and this made it easy for missionaries to go to other lands. From the first through fourth centuries the Gospel was greatly enabled by the Greek infrastructure. 

Pray:
1.    Let us pray for the return of the former glory of Greece. Let us pray that Greece would be repositioned to the place of taking Goodness/Good News to the world again.
2.    Lord, we know You are ready to bestow Grace upon the Greeks once again. Your loving-kindness is there and all they have to do is accept it. Let us pray for the present day Greek Christians. May they dig up their past history and celebrate how God had used them to spread the Gospel.
3.    Let us pray that a healthy Gratitude would arise in the Greek churches. May they be thankful for the legacy they have in history. May they be re-taught the Glory they had; especially the spiritual glory. Lord, help them to understand that their glory was designed by You. Lord, help them to realize it was Your Glory working through them.
4.    Let us ask the Lord to release His Glory once again through the Greek people.
5.    Let us pray for the Greek Orthodox churches. They are very aware of how Greece was used to spread the Gospel; but they still have it in an old wineskin. Lord, help them to un-cap the old wineskin and pour the Gospel into a new wineskin.
6.    May new wine come forth. In the production of wine, grapes must be smashed so the sweet juice can come forth. We see that through the present financial crisis, riots and racial tension Greece is being smashed. Let us pray that Greeks would repent and be humbled so they once again can pour out the new wine.
7.    Lord, thank You for Your Grace that is available to Greece. May they develop an attitude of Gratitude so they may see Your Glory once again. May there be fruits of Goodness coming out of Greece to bless the world.

Among the marble walls they sat and read God’s Word.
They read Isaiah, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Tears came forth as they thought of peoples that had not heard the Word.
Their hearts were stirred and they knew their prayers were heard.
They went down to the sea and booked passage because the prophets had confirmed.
They followed His glory and many never returned.
We may not know their story but their crowns lay before the throne in Glory.