40 Weeks of Prayer and Fasting

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WEEK THIRTY—FOUR: Friday, July 14—Thursday, July 20, 2006

  1. REPENTANCE FOR SIN IN THE CHURCH: THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF REVELATION—EPHESUS

    During the remaining 40 weeks of prayer and fasting, in repentance for the sins of the church, let us meditate upon the sins of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation.

    This week, we focus on the Church of Ephesus, who was judged for forsaking their first love. Let us each search our hearts according to the Word of the Lord: have we, too, forsaken our first love, Jesus Christ?

    "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

    These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:1-7)

  2. REPENTANCE FOR THE SINS OF THE NATION: PROBLEMS IN THE MEDIA

    (Details for this section will be posted here after August 7th.)

    “Father God, as we see the spin and the distortions in the media, day after day after day, our hearts groan before You to find a way of escape from the malaise that seems to have gripped the Fourth Estate in our nation. We see the lies, the distortions, the half-truths, and the bias demonstrated in our print and our broadcast media again and again and again, and we turn to You for help.

    Father God, these lies reveal hearts of men and women—male and female reporters, editors, and bureau chiefs—that are yet held captive the enemy of our soul. WE ASK YOU TO FORGIVE THESE SOULS, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. We also repent for our own wicked words towards these ones, for our words have empowered and strengthened the enemy’s hands to keep them in bondage; and we REPENT that we have forgotten YOUR LAW, because it is written: ““But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27,28)

    We covenant before You, Lord, to receive Your heart for these who are lost, and to stand in the gap for each one as we see the perverseness of their ways. Help us, Father God, minute by minute and day by day, to walk in Your love for ____________ (insert name here that God gives you to pray over). Thank You, Father, that it is written that, ‘You demonstrated Your own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5:8)

    Thank You for shedding Your Precious Shed Blood on the Cross of Calvary for each of these we see every day on our television screens, and whose words we read in our papers. Help us to always place YOUR WORD ahead of their words, for Your Word is truth.

    In Jesus’ Name, we offer this prayer, amen.”

    “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34)

  3. THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL: THE BATTLE IN LEBANON

    1. We began praying for the safety of our soldiers.

      (We have already lost many soldiers in Special Forces units. We are paying a high price for allowing Hezbollah to entrench itself over the years.)

      Psalm 61 Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. You will prolong the king's life, His years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him! So I will sing praise to Your name forever, That I may daily perform my vows.

      1. Against the ambushes of the enemy.

      2. Against mines and trip wires prepared a long time ago. (Hezbollah has had 6 years to prepare themselves to fight the IDF and they have used the time wisely.)

      3. Against "friendly fire"

      4. That the believing soldiers would know the peace of the Lord and as the Lord protects them, that protection will spread to their units.

      5. That the believing soldiers would hear from the Lord what to do and which way to go.

    2. Ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

      1 Samuel 17:45-47 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."

      1. We prayed for the current battle going on right now, for a breakthrough for the Israeli army against the strongholds of Hizbullah in Maroun al-Ras. (The bunkers there are deep underground and the entrances are camouflaged. They cannot be seen from the air but only up close on the ground.)

      2. The power behind Hezbollah is (in human terms) not just Syria but Iran is behind them both.

      Ezekiel 38:4-5 "I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords."Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

      Ezekiel 39:3-7 "Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. "You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. "You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord GOD. "And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. "So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

    3. Israel needs the will, courage and time to finish the job.

      2 Kings 13:15-19 (when the King of Israel came to Elisha) And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and some arrows." So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. And he said, "Open the east window"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. And he said, "The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them." Then he said, "Take the arrows"; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.“.

      1. May the Government of Israel show stamina, courage and see this battle through to the end. (Zechariah 12:1-6)

      2. Hold back the compromising voices within the government.

      3. Expose and defeat the hypocritical stand of the nations against Israel. [Many nations are demanding that Israel act in a way that they themselves would never consider. They are talking as if Israel was in a chess game: one move for black, one move for white. We are in a war and the only way to win it is to use whatever you have. Israel has already compromised its tactical positions by first warning people to move out of areas before the bombers went in. This also allows the Hezbollah leadership and its fighters to move out as well. The element of surprise has been sacrificed to lessen civilian casualties but the world ignores this fact.]

      4. Strengthen President Bush's resolve against a premature cease-fire.

      President Bush and the USA is the only nation that is really standing by Israel in this conflict.

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