Barnabas Fund

Barnabas Fund | Daily Prayer

• Daily Prayer - Wednesday 22 February 2012
  

  Churches in Russia that do not have a permanent building of their own are especially vulnerable to harassment from the authorities. Increasing numbers are being fined or threatened for holding meetings for worship that have not been specifically approved by the authorities. Leaders can be prosecuted even when their churches are registered and meeting regularly in rented premises. Around half the prosecutions are successful; these attract negative publicity for the churches and put their legal status at risk. Some leaders say that the position of Protestant Christians is more precarious now than in Communist times. Pray that all Christians in Russia will have freedom to meet and worship the Lord without unfair restrictions.

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• Daily Prayer - Tuesday 21 February 2012
  

  Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh became the fourth dictator to be toppled by the Arab Spring in November 2011. After months of violent protests against his three-decade rule, Saleh agreed to a deal that transferred power to his deputy, Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution. Today (Tuesday 21 February), a referendum-style election will take place to approve Hadi, the sole candidate, as president for a two-year term. The ousting of Saleh has not brought peace, and some factions that are opposed to the arrangement have been campaigning for a boycott of the poll. Pray for stability in Yemen, and for a regime that promotes justice and freedom for all its citizens.

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• Daily Prayer - Monday 20 February 2012
  

  Hindu radicals in Kandhamal district of Orissa State in India hoisted their saffron flag on the construction site of a new church on 6 October 2011. The incident, which took place during a Hindu festival, was provoked by the gathering of building materials by local Christians, and brought the work on the site in the village of Bakingia to a standstill. The previous church had been destroyed during the anti-Christian violence by Hindu militants in Orissa in 2008, but the community had started rebuilding after receiving compensation from the government. Pray that further extremist violence against the Christians of Bakingia will be prevented, and that they will be able to rebuild their church and worship in peace.

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• Daily Prayer - Sunday 19 February 2012
  

  Pray for Faryal Bhatti (aged about 13) and her family, who have been forced to leave their home in Havelian, Pakistan, after she accidentally misspelled a word at her school on 22 September 2011. When answering a question, Faryal inadvertently misplaced a single dot in one word. This turned the word naat, which refers to praise of Muhammad, to laanat, which means “curse”. Enraged Muslims demanded that she be brought before a court for violating the country’s “blasphemy laws”. Despite her explanation that the mistake was without malicious intent, and some Muslim leaders speaking out in her defence, Faryal was expelled from her school and her family threatened and evicted from their home. Ask for the Lord’s blessing and protection of Faryal’s family as they rebuild their lives elsewhere. Pray that the government of Pakistan will abolish the controversial blasphemy laws.

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• Daily Prayer - Saturday 18 February 2012
  

  A 12-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, Amber, was abducted, raped, and forcibly married to one of her Muslim assailants. Thank the Lord that she managed to escape after an eight-month ordeal during which she was subjected to daily sexual and physical assaults by her “husband” and another man. But though free, Amber is not safe, and her family have been forced into hiding as the attackers seek to hunt them down. The police have refused to register a case against the offenders and instead told Amber’s parents to hand her over to her husband. Pray that the Lord will be for her a rock of refuge and a strong fortress to save her (Psalm 31:2).

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• Daily Prayer - Friday 17 February 2012
  

  Pray for Christians in Nepal, who often have nowhere to bury their dead. Local communities in this mainly Hindu country sometimes object to Christian graves, and relatives are forced to dig up bodies and find new places to bury them. Some Christians have even had to dispose of corpses in secret. In February 2011 further Christian burials were forbidden in the grounds of a Hindu temple that the churches have used for decades. Since then the government has granted no new burial grounds to the Christians, despite much persuasion and a large Christian demonstration in the capital, Kathmandu. Praise the Lord that the number of Christians in Nepal is growing; pray that the authorities will not see them as a threat and will address their need for burial places.

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• Daily Prayer - Thursday 16 February 2012
  

  When thousands of the mainly Christian Hmong people of Vietnam held peaceful demonstrations in 2011 calling for land reform and religious freedom, the army killed at least 63 of them; hundreds were injured or taken away on trucks. And a report from Human Rights Watch accused the government of “tightening the screws” on Christians from another ethnic group, the Montagnards, imprisoning members, closing churches and forcing believers to renounce their faith publicly. The Communist government sees Christianity as a Western religion and a potential threat to their authority, so they exercise strict control over the country’s Christians. Those who belong to ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable to persecution. Pray that the Lord will give His people faith and strength to withstand this harsh treatment and that the authorities will grant them greater liberty to practise their faith.

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• Daily Prayer - Wednesday 15 February 2012
  

  Christians in south-east Asia have been caught up in the acute suffering caused by the worst floods to hit the region for 50 years. Hundreds of people, many of them children, were killed, and millions were forced to flee their homes, saw their livelihoods swept away, or had to live without sufficient water, food or sanitation. The waters, which were produced by unusually heavy seasonal rains, wreaked their havoc across six countries. Barnabas Fund sent urgently needed aid to some of the Christian victims in four countries. Please pray for all affected by the floods and especially for our Christian brothers and sisters as they recover from their devastating losses and start to rebuild their lives.

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• Daily Prayer - Tuesday 14 February 2012
  

  Radical Muslim groups in Indonesia are forcing the shut down or demolition of numerous church buildings. More than 50 have been closed in the last two years, in most cases as a result of Islamist pressure. The official reason given was that the buildings were unlicensed or lacked the minimum number of worshippers, but Christian leaders have asked, “Why is this only applied to the Christian churches and not to other places of worship?” In another instance of blatant discrimination by the authorities, a church in Bogor, West Java, has had to meet in the open air for more than three years after its building permit was revoked, and local authorities have rejected a court order to re-open the church. Pray that Christians in Indonesia will persevere in their worship despite these pressures, and that they may be treated on equal terms with the country’s Muslim majority.

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• Daily Prayer - Monday 13 February 2012
  

  “Everyone was screaming. I saw fiery sparks and, near the entrance, a man dead on the ground… People around him were splattered with blood.” A worshipper at the Bethel Injil Sepuluh church in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, recalled the terrible scenes after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives on 25 September 2011 as the congregation were leaving after a service. Only the bomber was killed, but 28 people were injured. Islamists who want to destroy Christianity from Indonesia and bring the whole country under sharia law have been waging an often violent campaign against Christians in recent years. Pray for the church members as they recover from their ordeal and that Christians in Indonesia may find God to be a very present help in their trouble (Psalm 46:1).

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