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Dear John Randall,
I love to pray. I love to pray corporately. And I
love to pray individually. We pray for God's blessing on our lives, the healing
of loved ones, and the salvation of the lost. Our everyday life has many needs
that make us turn to God in prayer. Rightly so, for near the end of the Sermon
on the Mount, Jesus teaches us to ask, to seek, and to knock. And he promises
those who do will receive, will find, and will discover an open door (Matthew
7:7-8). Anyone can pray - even someone who is not familiar with the Bible or has
no spiritual experiences with God can ask for His help (Psalm
50:15).
MArch 2012 Prayer
Points
Prayers for
Israel
- Protection - Pray that God would
bless and protect Israel and the Jewish people around the world as they observe
Passover in coming weeks, in light of the recent deadly assault on a Jewish
school in Toulouse, France, and warnings of more terror threats over
Pessach.
- Passover - Pray that Israel as a
people would move closer to their promised national redemption during this
Passover
season.
Prayers for the Middle
East
- Syria - Pray that the world
leaders would come to agreement on a way for quickly ending the bloodshed in
Syria.
- Iran -
Pray that the international community would be
united in exerting maximum pressure on Tehran to abandon its dangerous quest for
nuclear
weapons.
- Arab Spring -
Pray that the minority Christian communities
throughout the Middle East would be protected from the rise of radical Islamist
forces, and that their churches would experience revival and the wonderful
presence of the Lord like never
before.
Prayers for the work of the
ICEJ
- Feast of Tabernacles - Pray that
God would direct and bless the planning and preparations for the 2012 Feast of
Tabernacles
celebration.
- National Branches - Pray that the
ICEJ's national branches worldwide would have greater inroads into churches in
their respective nations to stand with and support Israel through the Christian
Embassy.
- Impact in Israel - Pray that the
ICEJ staff in Jerusalem will be able to impact more fully the people of Israel
with our message of comfort and support this Passover season.
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Not the Place but His
Presence
But a whole new dimension opens up in prayer when
one comes to know Jesus personally and His Holy Spirit comes to live inside us.
Fellowship with God is then being established and the child of God starts to
enjoy His divine presence in life. And to enjoy this new and intimate
relationship with God in prayer, you do not need a particular physical place or
building. Jesus declared to the Samaritan woman that "an hour is coming when
neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... But an
hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth" (John 4:20-24). Jesus teaches us that we can pray anywhere
because His divine presence is everywhere. One day I felt the presence of Jesus
with me so strongly that as I entered a restaurant alone, I asked for a table
for two. It was like He was sitting across from me, so rich was the
fellowship.
His Spirit in
Prayer
Being in God's presence has an incredible result.
It is in His presence that we can find a spirit of prayer coming upon us. The
spirit of prayer aids you in praying according to His will, because it is the
Spirit of God praying through you. Paul echoes this sentiment when he says that
"...the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans
8:26-27). Sometimes we pray without words, with deep sighs, sometimes with
intelligent words and sometimes using the supernatural prayer language promised
by Jesus for those who believe
(Mark.16:17).
As we enter into the Passover season, I want to
encourage all of us to fully join ourselves with the Isaiah 62 Prayer Campaign
and particularly our special monthly day of prayer and fasting on Wednesday, the
28th of March. For as we do, we will enter into His divine presence, and a
spirit of prayer will come over us, enabling us to pray according to His
will.
May the Lord's wonderful presence be with you
always!
Rev. Juha Ketola
ICEJ International
Director
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