" … Clothe yourself with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." -
Colossians 3 : 12
"Compassion is crying out to those in pain; tending the wounds
of the poor and caring for their lives; defending the weak and
indignantly joining with the oppressed in their struggle for justice;
pleading for help with all possible means."- Henri Nouwen
For countless orphaned children across
the lands of Russia, the reality of life is grim and tragic.
A young boy or gEzekiel 22, verse 30 - "So I sought for
a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before
me on behalf of the Land, that I should not destroy it, but I
found no one."
The Lord has made this my life verse, my life purpose. The picture
is of each of us standing with shield of faith and sword of His
Word, in a gap in the wall, denying Satan access to the gap [
which could be a person or place in need of prayer and intercession
] while behind us the Lord is repairing [ healing and restoration
] the hole in the wall. Jesus is ministering to each of the people
behind us at their point of need, while we cover them from the
enemy. Jesus has bestowed on every Christian His authority and
power [ Luke 10 : 19 & 20 ] to deny Satan that access. He
cannot defeat us while we stand in the gap in front of the Lord.
[ See also - Ps. 94:16, Jer. 35:19, 2 Cor. 1:24 ].
To expand on this concept, the Lord showed me what looked like
a field that is filled with gaps. There are gaps as far as the
eye can see, but I see very few Christians standing in them.
I did not know what this signified until recently when I realized
that these gaps represent, among other things, the nations of
the world. There are few Christians in those gaps, as the Lord
said in Luke 10, verse 2, "The harvest truly is great, but the
laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into His harvest." [ See also - Matt. 9:37
and John 4:35 ].
This project was brought to my attention not long ago during
prayer and I have been thinking and praying about it ever since.
The Lord reminded me that He wants Christians around the world
to understand that we are at WAR !! Take a look at Revelation
chapter 12, verses seven and eight if there is any question in
your mind. We are fighting Satan and his demons for the souls
of individuals around the world and sometimes it seems that we
are losing more ground than we are gaining. Throughout the Old
Testament the Devil is mentioned as opposing the work of the
Lord and fighting is taking place in Heaven and on Earth. In
the New Testament Jesus mentions the works of Satan and many
other authors in the New Testament allude to conflict, warfare
and fighting taking place in the spiritual world in many places.
[ See also - 1 Chr. 21:1, Dan. 10:13 & 14, Zech. 3:1,
Luke 8:30, 2 Cor. 10:3-6, Rev. 11:6 ].
The last figures coming from the "frontlines of the battle" that
I read tell us these facts :
- In one year there are over 100,000 Christians
that are killed simply because they believe in Christ.
- There are hundreds of thousands of
Christians that are seriously injured or maimed every year
for their faith in Christ.
- Millions of Christians are persecuted
in some way, due to that same faith.
- There are millions more Christians,
especially in the "free" countries
of the world that are deliberately maligned and / or discriminated
against due to their belief in God and Christ.
- There are over a hundred fifty BILLION
dollars collected by Christian churches and organizations
in the US every year and less than one third of one percent
leaves the states for purposes of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Children are
often the greatest casualties of today's battles:
- The United Nations
in a study from 2003, "Children on the Brink" estimates
that there are over 100 million children affected by HIV
/ AIDS in Asia and Africa alone.
- Common belief
in the south of Africa is that a man infected with AIDS
can have sexual relations with a virgin girl and be cured
of AIDS. Many kids at 4 and 5 years old are raped for this
belief and infected.
- China has
over 5 million children in orphanages.
- Russia and
the former Soviet Union countries are estimated to have
well over 4 million children in orphanages or living on
the streets.
- Central and
South America also have many problems dealing with street
children.
- Hundreds
of thousands of children have been injured, maimed or killed
in conflicts and wars in the last century and continue
to do so today.
If there is any doubt about the Lord's
desire to reach out to ALL of the nations, one can look through
the Old and New Testament books and find many references to
peoples, tribes, nations and languages. [ Reference - Ps. 46:10,
Ps. 72:17, Is. 56:7e, Dan. 7:14a-b, Matt. 28:19, Rev. 5:9,
Rev. 7:9, Rev. 14:6, Rev. 15:4, Rev. 20:3 ].
The New Testament writers refer to the nations outside of Israel
as "Gentiles" and there are references to God's heart
for these gentiles, as well. [ Acts 9:15, Acts 13:47, Rom.
3:29 ].
The Lord calls Christians to pray for the nations, not just
Christian nations, but ALL nations. There are Christians in
every nation, including our own United States, needing us to
pray for them. But, many Christians here in the U.S. have little
interest in doing so, and the world and our nation suffer tremendously,
as a result.
The Lord wants people to pray. Can a person pray for every
or all nations effectively ? No, they cannot. The Lord has
provided an idea of how we can achieve the goal of getting
people to pray effectively for ALL nations.
Concept: To encourage individual Christians
to pray Ezekiel 22 : 30 on behalf of one of the nations of
the world.
» Locate
individuals who are willing to commit to praying for a specific
country everyday.
 • Begin
by finding one person per country of the world initially.
• Person
should pray for a country that they have a personal interest
in.
• If
multiple people want to pray for the same country, have each
pray for a different aspect of the country.
» Every country needs to have a "warfighter" committed
to praying for it.
• Each "warfighter" needs
to learn about the spiritual conditions of their country.
• Are there Christians in-country ?
• Nationals
• Foreign Missionaries
• What other religions are prevalent ?
• Hostility towards the Gospel ?
• Persecution ?
• Prayer needs of the country & people ?
• Freedom to Worship
• Bibles in their language
• Food, clothing, shelter
• Each warfighter looks to their friends and fellow congregants
for more people willing to pray
Ezekiel 22 : 30 everyday for
a country.
Scope: To
pray for a specific country out of Ezekiel 22, verse 30 as
a warfighter that is willing to pray for the Lord to build
a wall around that country and for the Lord to set His blanket
of protection over that country for the binding and frustrating
of the work of Satan on that day.
» The
Lord looks for us to, "make a wall and stand in the
gap before Him, on behalf of the Land, that He should not
destroy it."
• The
Lord could not find a single righteous person in all of Israel
that was willing to
do
as He asked.So Israel was destroyed by
Babylon.
• The
reason He does not destroy many countries today is that there
may be some
righteous
individuals in every country of the world.
•[
For Example - My personal belief is that the Lord "looked
around the Iraqi
government
for a righteous person and could find no one," so He "destroyed"
it.
] I have heard that there are over 2 million Christians in Iraq
today.
• Since
prayer is the most powerful act of the warfighter, each of us
needs to
organize
Christians we know into an Army of prayer warfighters and take
the
battle
for ALL "peoples, tribes, nations and languages" to
our knees in prayer.
We must see
that we are fighting a war and the Lord is calling on us
as children of the King to do our part for His Kingdom. Please
join me on your knees and pray for the country of your choice
everyday. The Lord has assigned me to pray for the countries
of Russia, Turkey and Lebanon. It has also been recently
assigned for me to pray for the President of Syria, Bashar
Assad. With all of the events going on around the world,
regarding democracy movements in many countries, it is easy
to lose sight of the work the Lord is doing in each of these
individual countries. As an individual, President Assad is
likely to be one of the most key and influential people in
the strategic area bordering two of the countries I pray
for, plus Israel, Jordan and Iraq, as well as the people
of Syria. I pray for these three countries and for President
Assad, everyday. Please read Luke 10:19 and pray for what
you can do.
I am interested in hearing from those who are active in praying
for other nations, please contact me at john@needyfeet.org.
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