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Shameless Audacity

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
(Luke 11:5-13)

Here we find Jesus still answering the question posed by his disciples – “lord, teach is to pray”. Luke 11:1-5 we see Jesus answer by showing the example of the content of our prayer. He follows through with Luke 11:5-13 outlining the importance of our attitude in prayer, highlighting the following:

1) Shameless audacity:  we need to be bold and persistent in our prayer

2) God's heart and desire is to respond and answer  our prayer – as Father, he heart is to give us what is good and right.

3) We need to pray expecting and believing it to be answered – God is reassuring us that he hears and responds.

Lord, thank you for the example of the persistent friend – teach us to pray in this way, seeking you for the interventions we need you to make in our lives and in our broken and hurting world.

Integral Mission and Prayer

As we explore all the dichotomies that have formed in our lives – one of the significant ones is the separation between the spiritual and the material. We see the evidence of this when we consider prayer. Prayer at is most simplistic definition is “talking to God”.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us: Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Yet we have tended to compartmentalise prayer and make it a special religious event that entails using religious language, religious postures and specific times. It thus becomes a religious activity rather than a natural ongoing moment by moment communication with God.

Relationship with God
A primary desire of God is to have a relationship with us. Relationships are all about communication. Communication that is mutually engaging, mutually influencing, mutually impacting.
God has chosen to partner with us in His world and prayer is an essential Kingdom activity that invites God into every situation. Praying is vital.

James 5:16 tells us: The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Lord, may we learn to talk to you throughout the day, inviting you into every situation we encounter, taking special time out to raise our hands and voices to you about the serious issues of concern we see occurring in our world. May our prayer become like breathing in and out. Thank you Lord for sending your Spirit to guide us in this.

Ukraine

Olga Oleinik, (who many of you may remember from our Global Consultation in Thun (Sept 2012) and who translated for us from English to Russian), lives in the Ukraine. She has asked us to stand with her and the Ukraine through this very unsettled time. To follow the news you can access the live news blog here

Lord, we lift the crisis situation in the Ukraine to you and we ask that you would bring peace and safety to the people.
 

We pray for Olga, that she and her family would know your presence and guidance at this time.

We ask that you raise up people of wisdom to speak into this situation and that the current leaders would act with genuine concern for their country taking the decisions that are needed to bring about fair governance, justice and economic stability.

CAR (Central African Republic)

The civil war that has devastated CAR these last month’s reveals stories of inhumane action by all parties involved. These atrocities are before the Lord – and we cry out to Him for His hand to intervene and stop this violence. We are appalled that religious justification for violence is being used and we ask God to speak into this situation, raising up the church to demonstrate the values of His Kingdom.

Lord, in your mercy bring peace we pray.

South Sudan

The sudden eruption of ethnic violence in South Sudan has been shocking and alarming to all. It raises the importance of healing ethnic wounds and the role of the church in reconciliation – and this we pray for now. Lord, may the warring factions heed the call for a ceasefire – pour out your Spirit on the hurting land and restore peace and safety.

We especially pray for all those who have lost loved ones, who have been displaced – Lord provide for each and every family we pray.

Reveal the truth of this situation and bring all to account for their actions we pray.

Syria

It has been too long, too much, too devastating – Lord – we pray with persistent audacity for Syria – Lord – bring this war to an end we pray. Open a way for those discussing Syria at the UN.
We pray for each hurting family – that you would be their balm of healing.

We pray for access to health care, food and clean water, shelter and safety.

We pray for each organisation and their staff who seek to deliver aid and service to all who are affected – Lord make a way for them.

Micah Network 2014

Please pray for this year as we plan and develop our activities with members. May each meeting, each opportunity we have to share with one another, bear fruit that will transform all our lives and especially the lives of the communities we serve.

Pray for wisdom as we seek the way forward – our next annual Board meeting is on the 7th to 9th April 2014. Please pray for each Board member as they prayerfully seek the share in the responsibility of governance and leadership.

Pray for our staff team as we welcome in a new global coordinator from the 1st March – Jenny Vaccari.

Pray for the resources needed to support each national conversation, each regional consultation.

Pray that Micah Network continues to be a catalyst for transformation.