Pray for Greece

Week of Sept. 23-29, 2013

The Greek people and their heritage begs our respect. We have all heard ministers sharing the Word of God and say, “Now in the Greek, it means…”  I don’t know how the Gospel translates in other parts of the world but to the Western mind, the Greek language was the vehicle God used to share His truths. History shows that the Greek scholars of the Word, in the first, second and third centuries, were faithful to take the Gospel far and wide. Truly, God used the Greek language to explain to us western believers how He dealt with the Hebrew people and what Jesus taught. Although the Apostle Paul was not Greek, he had the anointing to put the Gospel into the rich and scholarly Greek language of his time.

I believe God prepared the Greek culture with their scholarly and meaningful language, to bring clarity of the Gospel to the Gentile world.

1)    Lord, I believe it was Your plan that the Greeks publish Your Word. As we pray for Greece and the Greek people, may we reach deep into God’s heart for these precious ones and show respect as He used them through history.
2)    Let us pray for the Greek people to be used greatly once again in the end time. May they see their God-given gifts as a tool to reach the world.
3)    Lord, we pray for the Greek people to come back to You. Stir up that desire to embrace the Gospel like they did in the first, second and third centuries.
4)    The Greek Orthodox Church knows this history well, how God greatly used the Greek people. May the GOC seek to translate their history into the modern world not continue to take the modern world into past history.

Acts 17:1-4 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

IN THE NEWS: Greek Youth Unemployment Hits Record 65%
The jobless rate rose from 27 percent in April and 23.8 per cent in May last year. Young people were by far the worst affected, with unemployment among job-seekers aged 15 to 24 standing at 64.9 percent.

Greece has been depending on funds from international rescue loans since May 2010, after years of profligate spending and fiscal mismanagement left it with a massive budget deficit.

The country is currently in the sixth year of a deep recession.

5)    Let us pray for the youth of Greece. There seems to be no hope so we ask for the God of Hope to intervene.
6)    May the body of Christ in Greece catch a burden for the young adults that are suffering all around them.
7)    We pray that Christians would gain Godly strategies that will create jobs.
8)    Let us pray for the development of employment training centers in churches.

Pray for Greece

Week of July 8-14, 2013

This past week, while reading an article, I was shocked to learn that there are currently no mosques in Athens, Greece, a city of 5-6 million, with 500,000 Muslims.

In the News: Athens has come under criticism by human rights groups such as Amnesty International for being one of the few European capitals without a mosque.

Repeated plans for a mosque in Athens began in earnest in 1980, with an act of parliament, but all fell through, including one timed for the 2004 Olympic Games.

Reports in local media that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered to fund a mosque in Athens have also sparked anger in Greece, which spent four centuries under Turkish Ottoman rule.http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/463300-athens-mosque-exposes-greece-divisions.html

In the Greek capital Athens, where almost half the country’s 11 million people live, there is a 500,000-strong Muslim community, mostly immigrants from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Many of those are faithful and want to express their faith by praying in an appropriate place. Well, there is no such place – there isn’t a single “official” mosque in the wider area of the Greek capital. 

Instead, they have to rent flats, basements, old garages and all kinds of warehouses and transform them into makeshift mosques to cover their need for a place to hold religious ceremonies.

Greece is a country where the vast majority of people are Orthodox Christian and a country that has lived under Turkish Ottoman rule for approximately four centuries.

http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2013/06/27/the-search-for-a-mosque-in-athens/

How do you pray into this situation? Ethnic tensions in Greece are very high. The Greeks tend to be very nationalistic. As Christians we are generally concerned by the presence of a mosque as it contradicts our beliefs. In the case of Greece, there is a nationalistic mindset that seeks to repay the Muslim Turks for having occupied Greece for four hundred years.

Let us pray:

1)      First of all we thank You, Lord for preserving the Greeks over the centuries.  Let us pray that they would find their destiny and national purpose in the Lord. Greeks were greatly used in the first, second and third centuries to spread the Gospel.

2)      Let us pray for the Greek Orthodox Church, even though it long ago lost its spiritual edge, it is still the conscience of the people. Lord, restore the life giving Gospel to the Orthodox Church.

3)      Since the priests in Greece are highly honored, let us pray for a revival among them. Lord, stir a hunger in their hearts for You. Cause them to want more.

I did a Bible search of Moses’ commands to the Jewish people on how to deal with the foreigner in their land. What I found was that they were directed to be kind to the foreigner but not to consider them an equal. The foreigner was not to have full rights. The fact is, foreigners are people and our attitude toward them is important to the Lord. The reality is that governments have to govern their nations, and there is much wisdom that can be gained from how Moses governed by God’s divine direction.

4)      Let us pray for the government of Greece, may seek out ancient wisdom on how to deal with the foreigner in their midst. (God does judge nations for their actions) 

Deuteronomy 29:21-23  (NKJV)²¹ And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, ²² so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it: ²³ ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

 The Apostle Paul instructed us with the following:

Eph. 2:19,14-18

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Also:

¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

5)      Let us pray for the Christians in Greece to soften their hearts toward the foreigners. Lord, heal them of past injustices. Let them be used to lead forth in seeing the Greek mindset toward foreigners changed.

6)      Let us pray for the Greek Christians to seek the Lord for a plan to reach the Muslims (foreigners) with the Gospel. Lord, show every Christian that righteous acts of kindness are more effective than hate and segregation.

Personal Note: Many people worry about the Arabic/Muslim people over populating Europe, but this might be the perfect opportunity to reach them with the Gospel. They are no longer under the controlling Arabic countries of the middle-east and Christians are free to engage them with the truth.

7)      Lord, teach us as Christians how to reach the Muslim immigrants among us. Give us methods of encounter that will break their yoke of bondage.

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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.

Pray for Greece

Week of  Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 2012

 

IN THE NEWS:

Greek commerce sector report paints bleak picture - Bradenton Herald

ATHENS, Greece — Employment in the Greek commerce sector shrank by over 12 percent in the past year and there is going to be no improvement in 2013, a report by the sector's main association claims.  

CNN: Greece’s Disappearing Middle Class

… Greece’s disappearing middle class is included among October’s most popular videos, which show how the financial crisis and the austerity measures are turning Greece’s middle class into newly-poor.

The video shows the everyday life of Greeks who used to be well-off, but within two years had their lives ruined. An example is a widow, former nurse, struggling to live on a 200 euro allowance. The reporter also shows the 7-member family trying to get through the daily agony of putting food in their empty refrigerator.  According to recent research, over 900,000 families are facing poverty. In total, 2,341,400 people are living below poverty line.

Malaria makes a comeback in southern Greece - Aljazeera.com 

Forty-years since the last recorded case of malaria in Greece, the disease everyone thought was a thing of the past is back. There have been 28 cases among the Greek population in the southern agricultural land of Laconia in the last year alone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V8IA8e33Xw

After reading all that bad news, I thought of the following scriptures:

Psalms 25: 12-15.
Who is the man that fears the Lord?
Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
He himself shall dwell in prosperity,
And his descendants shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.
 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
For He shall pluck my feet out of the net. 

1.       May the Fear of the Lord come upon Greece and have their feet plucked out of the net.

2.       Their government is so messed up, corruption has been a curse, men are giving up because of a lack of hope and there is a demand for sacrifice from the people. Truly Greece is a government that needs divine intervention. We pray for a healthy humility to come upon the people of Greece.

3.       We ask You Lord, to prepare the people of Greece to receive tough love. As they go through this time of breaking, may they call upon the Lord for help.

4.       Lord, Greece needs Your help. Greece needs a move of God, a revival. When the Gospel was first brought to Greece by the Apostle Paul, the Greeks and Macedonians had an open mind. Paul talked about how that the people of Athens spent their time seeking out new philosophies (Acts 17:21).  Lord, open their minds and hearts once again.

5.       There are many evangelical churches in the country. Lord, show these churches that this is the critical hour for them to reach out to the hurting of Greece.  Since the government can no longer guaranty support in hard times may the churches bring relief, house to house.

6.       We ask for a coming forth of evangelist in Greece. May the Lord stir up a fire and passion for the lost. May they be sent to the lost sheep of Greece.

7.       Let us pray for the release of money into the churches. May Greeks throughout the world see an opportunity to help their countrymen financially. Let the money come from Greek Christians worldwide.

8.       Lord, we ask for You to stop this malaria outbreak.

9.       I have heard of a House-of Prayer in Athens but have not made contact. Let us pray for the protection and the blessing on it. Lord, draw your intercessors there to pray and grow in intimacy.  As the depth of the convent is reveled may they understand the secrets of the Lord and His plans for the Greek people. We pray for an open heaven of revelation as they confront the sins of their nation.

Good News: 

150,000 Bulgarians in Greece for Christmas Holidays

Thousands of vehicles from Bulgaria are expected to flood the Greek roads as our neighbors are visiting Greece to celebrate Christmas. The massive tourism wave is expected on Christmas and New Year’s Day according to the Bulgarian newspaper Telegraph <READ MORE>

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