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.

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Pray for Kosovo

Week of Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2013

In the News: EU to Deploy 100 Kosovo Election Observers

Samuel Zbogar, head of the EU Office in Pristina, announced that more than 100 European observers will monitor the elections due to be held throughout Kosovo on November 3.

The EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, decided to deploy an observer mission for local elections in Kosovo on September 19, appointing an Italian lawmaker in the European Parliament, Roberto Gualitieri, as head of mission.

Zbogar noted that the mission was being sent to Kosovo on the request of President Atifete Jahjaga of Kosovo, and because civil society groups in Kosovo had urged the EU “to send a mission in order not to repeat the problems seen in the electoral process [in Kosovo] in the past”.    

1. As we pray for Kosovo it is important to ask God to raise up godly men and women to lead that nation. May this election on November 3rd, be a step in that direction.
2. Lord, You direct the heart of kings (Pr. 21:1), may You direct this election.
3. During this per-election time period, let us pray that corrupt candidates will be exposed and trusted ones will gain favor.

I read an unconfirmed report that 80% of young adults are unemployed or working in black-market jobs. A CIA intelligence report says that the overall unemployment rate is 45.3%.

4. These are disturbing statistics that breed poverty and crime. Let us ask the Lord for a solution that will bring the nation out of poverty. God has a plan; He is looking for worthy men and women to trust His plan with. Oh, Lord, may those that know Your ways come forth with a burden for Kosovo.
5. Like most of the Balkan nations, people have left for better living and better future abroad, this is called a “brain drain”. Let us pray that some of those would return with skills and a determination to rebuild Kosovo.
6. Let us pray for intercessors. May the Lord raise up many to stand in the gap and cry out for souls in Kosovo.
7. Let us also pray for the fivefold ministry. May the Lord raise up Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Pastors and Evangelist. Kosovo needs men and women that can hear His voice and are willing to lay down all for Him in a hard place.

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