Pray for the Roma People

Week of April 7-13, 2014

The communist governments in Eastern Europe worked hard to settle the Roma (Gypsy) populations in their respective countries. The Roma people, who traveled around a lot without established homes, just did not work well in with a highly controlled economy.

In the mid-1980s I traveled a great deal on trains and buses in the former Yugoslavia and Hungary.  I would see the Roma in the train and bus stations camped out on the pavement or around benches. They would have all their belongings with them and often things they were selling. I was amazed how they could live like that. The new democratic governments in Easter Europe have continued to encourage the Roma to settle and most have complied. Now you see Roma settlements in many East European cities. In some places there are complete villages of just Roma people. They remain true to some of their own tribal structures, with a leader or strong man in charge that helps to keep order. This leader is respected and often becomes the lesion between city officials and the Roma people.  To provide for their families, the Roma do travel to other locations, even other countries for seasonal work but most now have a place they call home.

Much like in any other populations there are some who live in better conditions than others, but it is common to see their homes as pieced together shacks, small, not well ventilated or too ventilated that families crowd into. Most cities now have water going into Roma villages, but generally there are still only outdoor toilets.
However, a remarkable thing is happening; they are accepting Jesus by the hundreds! Foreign missionaries and local Christians are reaching out to them with humanitarian aid and the message of salvation. We also see many efforts to bring Bible training and social help to improve the quality of their lives. Whole villages are being transformed by the power of the Gospel. Villages, which were once ravaged by crime are now becoming peaceful and safe communities.

There have been many studies conducted in universities across Europe concerning this paradigm shift among the Roma. They are amazed because it does not fit the prevailing humanistic worldview.

Prayer Points:
1)    Lord, You are faithful and You have a time of visitation for every people group. We are amazed how You have opened doors into the Roma communities. Pray that many more Roma will accept Jesus into their hearts.
2)    Let us pray for the leaders in the Roma communities. Because of the respect they carry, when these leaders accept Jesus, many in their family and in the whole community will follow suit.
3)    There is a big need in the Roma communities to plant churches. Pray for Roma churches to be planted that specifically minister to Roma needs.
4)    Pray that pastors will be raised up with a passion to lead the communities into transforming grace.
5)    Teaching for Roma church leaders is needed desperately. The Roma Christians are so hungry for the truth and they need teaching and deliverance from their destructive lifestyles. Pray that God would send anointed teachers into the Roma churches to lay out Gospel truth. Pray that God would raise up teachers among the Roma Christians.
6)    For so many years governments have held back education from the Roma communities. A great percentage of Roma can’t read or write. Let us pray for gifted teachers to give of their time and provide classes and much needed education to the Roma.

It is so encouraging to see the efforts of groups like Lighthouse of Life church in Zagreb for example. Lighthouse is bringing education not only of basic academics, but Bible training as well in order to disciple the many who have come to know Jesus through their efforts. They are now sending Roma evangelist out to other Roma villages. There are several such groups which are doing solid work, and of course, we at European Initiative, have sowed into the Roma in Romania for the past six years.

7)    Let us take a moment to celebrate what Jesus is doing for the Roma people!
8)    Let us pray for more Roma evangelist. They are travelers; having the knowledge and ability to travel at low expense. The network they have across the world is naturally setup for quick evangelization. Release them, Lord, into the harvest fields.




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Pray for Romania

Week of Oct. 21-27, 2013

Romania has received a lot of attention since the fall of its former dictator Ceausescu. The fallen leader left the country in a devastating state; most of us remember its Orphanages overflowing with neglected children. Romania became the focus of many ministries and as a result, it is the most evangelized among the Balkan countries today.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, has collected more than 100 million shoebox gifts since 1993 [giving them to needy children around the world]. Through simple gifts and a message of hope, children learn they are loved and not forgotten

Livia grew up in an orphanage in Romania. She took baths in dirty water, wore the same clothes for weeks at a time, and never celebrated a birthday. When she was younger, she asked for hair clips, but thought no one was listening. When Livia was 12-years-old, she received a shoebox from Operation Christmas Child. It was handed to her by Connie Satterfield, who was in Romania to help distribute the boxes. Livia ran to her as soon as she got off the bus, and never let her go. When Livia was told that the people who sent the boxes prayed for her and loved her, she asked, “How can people from thousands of miles away love me?”

When she opened her box, at the very top was a set of hair clips. She was so excited she put every single one in her hair.  

The battle for the children of Romania continues even today. It is taking a generation to reverse the wreckage left by the dictator. European Initiative (EI), our parent organization has conducted Humanitarian outreaches into Romania for six consecutive years. For our next outreach in January 2014 we are partnering with Buckner Romania, based in Turgu Mures. Our team will minister in the public schools, to the foster children, and to the mothers. We will bring the message of the Cross in word and in deed. We will bless the poor with warm coats, boots and shoes.

Let us pray:

1)    Lord, we ask for Your direction in the planning of this outreach to Romania. Show Zuzanna and me (the organizers) your heart and plan for this specific outreach. Give us fresh insight to your purposes for Turgu Mures.

2)    We pray for the team, that just the right people will hear Your calling them to go on this trip. Lord even now, prepare these, clear their calendars, and provide their funding.

3)    Let us pray that the needed funds will come in for the Humanitarian aspect of this outreach. We will be purchasing shoes, boots and coats in Romania this year.

4)    Pray for the Buckner team in Romania, that they would be blessed even as they prepare.

Another recent story describes the harsh reality of an orphan’s fate, approaching adulthood; he was released from an orphanage without any preparation, a place to go or any life skills.

Laurentiu Ierusalim grew up in an orphanage after he was abandoned in a hospital at birth. Now 26, he says he was told he’d be discharged only the day before he had to leave.

“I spent the entire first day standing in front of the orphanage,” he says. “I didn’t know what to do, so I slept in a playground across the street.”

Ierusalim stayed homeless. Bundled in a warm sweatshirt, his dark eyes cast downward, he describes spending three years moving from city to city, knocking on doors to ask for work, food and shelter.

Read his full story  

5)      About 2,000 Romanian orphans are released each year to the streets because they have come of age. They do not know how to cope with the real world. Let us pray that angels would guide them to safety, and to Christians that will show them love.

6)      Let us pray that the Romanian churches would become heart-broken for these homeless children. James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction”

7)      The state provides little, by way of formalized life-training programs or ongoing support for the estimated 70,000 children who fall under the care of the Department of Child Protection, let alone the tens of thousands more believed to live on the streets. Let us pray that the state would open their doors for the churches to work with these children.

8)      My the Body of Christ at large awaken and not pull back but increase its involvement with the volatile  state of the Orphan children and youth of Romania.

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Pray for Macedonia

Week of Oct.7-13, 1913

In the News: Mother Teresa finds prominence among Balkans

SKOPJE, Macedonia: The world's greatest modern-day saint - Mother Teresa is all set to come alive in her home town.

The prime minister of Macedonia has decided to name Balkan region's longest and most important highway after the founder of Missionaries of Charity.


As part of the government's plan to familiarize people of the entire region with Mother Teresa - who was born … in Skopje on August 26, 1910 with her family being of Albanian descent, Bronze plaques with her teaching are being drilled into prominent buildings and busy side walks across town.

The government is also giving thought to a proposal whether Mother Teresa's picture can be put on the currency note.

A massive 60 feet statue of the greatest humanitarian of modern times is also coming up in one of the city's main boulevards,…

According to the Nobel Institute that awarded Mother Teresa the Nobel peace prize, Mother Teresa felt a strong calling from God at the age of 12 and knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ.
 

Mother Teresa exemplifies the strong humanitarian efforts and heart of the Catholic Church. We must applaud the Catholics and their work with the poor. At age 12 Mother Teresa knew she had to spread the love of Christ and she was successful. On one of her rear visits to the White House, Mother Teresa boldly told President Clinton that he needed to stand up against abortion in America.

Let us pray:
1.    Lord, we ask You to bless the Macedonian government for making Mother Teresa and her teaching an important symbol in the country.
2.    May her statue, bronze plaques with her teaching on prominent buildings and the highway named after her, be an inspiration to Macedonia. May Mother Teresa be a role model to a new generation and her values be a guide to many.
3.    Let us pray that parents and teachers will present Mother Teresa as she was. An example of Jesus.
4.    Lord we pray that Macedonia and the Balkans, would be blessed in return as a result of Mother Teresa’s labor among the poor.  Macedonia’s population living below the poverty level is 30.4% vs. India’s 29.8% and is highest among all 12 Balkan countries (CIA Fact Sheet). Lord, provide much needed Humanitarian Aid to Macedonia and the region.

In the News: Bulgarian and Albanian 'historians' gather to negate Macedonian history - end up fighting each other ...

A 'scientific' conference in Struga was organized by Albanian and Bulgar[ian] 'historians'  to commemorate a Struga/Debar revolt against the Serb army in 1913. According to the organizers of the meeting, it was Albanians and Bulgars who organized the revolt.  Joining the conference were professors from Sofia, Pristina and Tetovo.

What should have been a happy occasion for the Bulgars and Albanians in negating Macedonian history quickly turned into a nasty verbal fight between the two sides.

According to the Albanians it was them who organized and led the revolt, but the representatives from Sofia thought otherwise and claimed it was them who organized the revolt.

The verbal insults came close to a fist fight after Bulgarian representatives started mocking their Albanian colleagues about their contribution to the revolt.

I’m sure many Macedonians are laughing over this but there is a sad reality behind this dispute. Ethnic hatred is a curse all across the Balkans. All you have to do is go on Facebook or Twitter and read the continuing hatred fired back and forth. The key to the healing of those nations will be found in these people groups acknowledging the wrongs they inflected on others and repenting to one another.  

5.    This is a prayer subject that goes deep. There are wrongs that go back over a thousand years that have never been set right. Let us pray for the people groups to recognize these wrongs, recant, repent and decide to forgive.
6.    Some say it will take generations to heal these hatreds but let us pray that God will do a quick work. God can change hearts in a moment.  We can pray and believe for a “great awaking” in the Balkans.
7.    May the Holy Spirit go across the Balkans into every church, every born again believer’s heart and every pastor to lead them in repentance for their respective nations.
8.    What if national repentance started in Macedonia? Let us pray that Macedonian Christians would examine their hearts and carry repentance across the Balkans. What if the glorification of Mother Teresa (whom was ethnically Albanian) could be the trip-line to spiritual change in Macedonia?
9.    As intercessors, ask the Lord for His heart for the Balkan people and the pain they live with.

Zechariah 1:1-3
In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,  “The Lord has been very angry with your fathers.  Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.

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

Special Announcement

June 4, 2013

To everyone who is following Praying for the Balkans, Project - I, Jerry Low, the editor and prayer servant, am taking a sabbatical. Although I will not stop personally praying for the Balkans, I will not be spending extra time on research, seeking the Lord’s voice for targeted Balkan countries and printing a prayer directive. I will still be listening for the Lord’s voice as to how I can personally pray for the Balkans but publishing a directive for others to follow will cease for a while. Two things are happening that has brought me to this decision. First as you may know Zuzanna and I are making plans to move to Zagreb, Croatia so we may be closer to the field we plan to serve for this next season of our lives. Second, because of the move, all my attention has to be focused on fund-raising. Actually I prefer to call it friend-raising.

I really do love sending out the prayer directive for the Balkans, because that is where my heart is, but It has been so hard all these years having a burden for the Balkans but having to live in America. Well Zuzanna and I are taking steps to make the move.

I will be sending prayer bulletins of the progress of our move plus prayer needs.

I do want to make this plea to you. Thank you for praying with me for the Balkans. Some of you were with me in the beginning four years ago. I am confident the Lord heard each one of our prayers and has prepared the harvest in the Balkan countries. Here is my PLEA; Send Zuzanna and I with your financial help. We are in much need of partners that will give monthly. Can we count on you?

We will be going under the covering of a very reputable ministry, European Initiative (EI), based in Berlin, Germany.  For three years we have cooperated with them in their Romanian outreaches. They have a deep burden to save and transform Europe. EI has ask us to set up a base in Croatia - so ministry can be extended to that area in a fuller measure.

To give go to: https://www.europeaninitiative.com/connect/donate - Be sure to write in ‘for Jerry and Zuzanna’ in the Message box.

We would love to have you as our partner. We will pray for you daily and you will be credited in heaven with the advancement of the Kingdom in the Balkans. Also while we are still here in the states we would love to come to your church, house of prayer or small group and share the needs of the Balkans. We plan to be active in the Balkan countries with Evangelism, Prayer, Humanitarian aid, Teaching and Jewish ministry.

For more information on EI go to: www.europeaninitiative.com

Pray for Serbia

Charis Bible College (from Colorado) giving Food to Immigrants in Serbia

Week of Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2013

IN THE NEWS: BELGRADE -- Serbia has implemented several measures to counter the departure of false asylum-seekers to the EU and improvement of the position of immigrants in the country.

According to the report of Group 484, in the first six months of 2012, 974 immigrants noted that they would seek asylum in Serbia. Most of the asylum-seekers come from Afghanistan, Algeria, Pakistan, Morocco, Somalia and Palestine, and some came from Syria. Among the asylum-seekers, there were 176 unescorted minors.

NOTE: In December 2012, European Initiative (Berlin) along with Charis Bible College (Colorado) conducted an outreach to Northern Serbia and they reached out to the refugees camped out in Serbia near the Hungarian border hoping to be able to cross. All I have heard is that it was fruitful.

1)    Immigrants waiting in Serbia for their future to be decided. As these traveling or displaced people wait may they examine their eternal souls.
2)    Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Lord, because of your love for these travelers You sent the students from Caris Bible College. We pray that their act of love will bear much fruit.
3)    Let us pray that the plight and availability of these immigrants will reach caring hearts of God’s people and money and time will be organized to send preachers (acts of love).

As stated above, Charis Bible College students, European Initiative and an Evangelical Church in Serbia not only reached out to immigrants but also reached out to the poor and conducted street dramas in Northern Serbia. The following is the report from the pastor of the host church in Subotica, Serbia: (Please pray as you read the needs and changes he reports.)

The visit of the EI mission team in December was a great blessing for our church and ministry.
How? - someone would ask.

1.It has mobilized the members of our church and the staff to start looking for ways how can we bless and minister to the outsiders. So much of our focus and energy goes into our routine and church meetings.
2.During this week of ministry we had noticed how little evangelistic material we have flyers, tracts and books.
3.I have learned that trough good planning we can accomplish much in sort time.
4.Several people in the church came to surface as a good helpers and now I count on them.
5.The blessing was of course the ministry itself what they have done ministering to the poor bringing them winter coats and boots.
6. With drama and personal witness they touched the lives of many. Now our young people are working to form a drama team and evangelistic team to do similar outreach.
7.New relationships were made

-    Pastor Viktor Sabo


FROM http://www.eurovangelism.org.uk/news/150 -  Help for women in need in Serbia
Zoli and Tanja at Sombor Christian Fellowship in Serbia have been praying for God to use them more to reach out to their community. They felt it on their hearts to get involved and help the women and children who are in a "Safe House". Tanja has recently visited the "Safe House" she reports:
"As we entered the safe house we gave them our present of carefully made package of Baby Essentials. They were so excited and they loved the special way of how we put it together. They toured us through the House, they have capacity for 26 women, bathrooms, TV room, dining room, kitchen . . . As we talked about their way of working and taking care of abused women we heard some very positive stories how they helped them. One lady got back her self-respect saying: “for the first time in my life I feel I’m alive, that I am a human being. They are getting results of all their efforts toward the Safe House and it is so encouraging. They press forward until something changes."

This is so encouraging to see God at work in these women's lives, bringing hope to hopeless situations. Tanja also wants to provide a children's playground in the Safe House. This is a need for the children in the home to enjoy and play safely and happily.

Please pray for:
1)    Tanja and Zoli as they reach out to help women in this home.
2)    The funds to come in to provide a playground for the children in the Home.
3)    The abused women and children in the Home.
4)    The workers in the Home as the daily help these women.

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