Rewind - Pray For Syria
Syria needs your prayers, now more than ever. Read more here http://24-7prayer.com/features/2184
January 26, 2014
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A Call To Pray For Syrian Peace Talks
Adam Heather
For 34 months the news has been documenting the unfolding tragedy in Syria. And, as it approaches its fourth year, civil war continues to devastate the country.
It all began in March 2011 as peaceful protests were met with strong military opposition, resulting in a group of military defectors forming the Free Syrian Army with an aim to topple the government and remove President Assad.
The resulting civil war has continued for three years.
100,000 have died. 11,000 of those are thought to be children. 9.5 million have lost their homes. 2.5 million have been forced to leave the country.
A recent study found that half of the entire population of Syria are in need of urgent aid. The sheer volume of refugees has placed incredible strain on the neighbouring countries, particularly Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iran and Egypt. Hundreds of thousands cross their borders looking for shelter, food and water. It’s thought that 10% of Jordan’s population is now solely Syrian Refugees. This civil war is shaking the entire Middle East.
Despite the inconceivable devastation, charities have struggled to raise donations. UNICEF report that they collected ¢6m dollars in just 4 weeks to help with the disaster caused by Typhoon Haiyan, but have struggled to collect just one million from the entire three year Syrian relief effort.
Why, when millions are crying out for help, are so few listening?
A Glimpse of Hope
After months of struggling to get both sides to participate at peace talks, an international conference is to be held tomorrow (22nd Jan) in Switzerland. At this ‘Geneva II’ meeting, both rebel and government representatives will be in attendance.
A Drastic Need for Prayer
This incredibly important step towards a peaceful solution suffered a terrible blow when a new report was released today revealing that 11,000 detainees have been executed in the conflict, many of them showing signs of torture. The scale and consistency of these atrocities have lead to speculation that the Syrian government have had a part to play.
These peace talks are a pivotal moment for the future of Syria, with the hope they will serve as the first step towards establishing lasting peace in the country.
Now, maybe more than ever, Syria drastically needs your prayers.
Prayer Points:
Pray for Geneva II – pray for wisdom for the diplomats as they look to negotiate reconciliation
Pray for the Middle East – especially the neighbouring countries of; Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iran and Egypt as they struggle to handle the volume of refugees
Pray for comfort – for the millions who have suffered and continue to suffer because of the violence, pray that the God of all peace would comfort them.
As believers in Jesus, we know that our prayers are powerful and they change the course of history. Here we have an opportunity for prayer that could change a nation and save countless lives.
As a reminder, why not do something really simple like write ‘GENEVA II’ on your hand to remind you to commit to praying for God’s will to come.
There are lots of great charities doing relief work in Syria: if you would like to give, here are a selection of places to do so:
This year one of the 24-7 Mission Teams will be heading to Lebanon to work with Syrian refugees in Beirut. You can find out more details and apply on the Mission Teams Page.
All images are used by permission in accordance with commons copyright license terms:
Feature image is a derivative of the image 'March 7 2012', 'January 23 2012', 'February 24 2012', 'December 26 2012' by Freedom House and 'United Nations General Assembly' by Paul VanDerWerf.
Adam Heather helps to keep 24-7 talking to the world as part of the communications team based in Guildford. He got connected with 24-7 after spending a year studying with a church in California. He loves playing games and he is easily captivated by any exciting new idea. You can catch up with Adam on twitter
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Blogging
24-7 Rewind 24,000 Tiny Blessings - The Paracetamol Miracle
Nick Beasley
What happens when a hospital in the jungle runs out of paracetamol?
"Within twelve hours I had messages from 45 people in 11 countries...
...telling me they were praying"
Here's a testimony of prayer from Papua New Guinea that blew us away...
Being able to get paracetamol was something I’ve always taken for granted. Back in the UK it can be bought for 20 pence from almost any supermarket. As a doctor both in hospital and the community, it’s the medicine I prescribe above any other as the basic first-line treatment for pain and fever. Never before had I considered what I might do if I didn’t have it.
But then I came to PNG...
I knew that working in a rural bush hospital I wouldn’t have the same supplies and resources that I had back in England. I have got used to “making do”, and finding alternatives, and doing the best I possibly can with what we have. It’s far from perfect, but we do what we can, and continue to strive for better.
But what happens when we don’t have even the most basic of supplies? What good is my knowledge as a doctor if I have no medicines with which to treat the conditions I am diagnosing?
What happens when a hospital in the jungle runs out of paracetamol?
That’s what happened this week…. Almost. We had placed an order for medicines many months ago. But nothing had come. So we waited. But still it didn’t come. We chased up the drug store in the capital which was meant to be sending us our medicines. But still it didn’t come. No-one knew where it was. And no-one could be found to do anything about it.
And all the while our supplies were getting lower and lower and lower…
Our biggest need was simple painkillers. Last week we were down to the last three bottles for a hospital of 100 patients. And then the last two bottles left being eked out for the “most deserving” patients. Amongst those who “qualified” were a lady with a broken spine due to TB, and a patient with cancer. In the UK both patients would likely have been on morphine, whereas here they were the privileged ones having the last few paracetamol.
It was desperate. And I was fed up.
I was so fed up with it I was actually angry. Here I am as a doctor, and yet my patients were suffering in pain and I could do nothing about it. By the following day we would have run out of paracetamol, and our drug order was still lost somewhere between Moresby and outer space. I was desperate. I normally really dislike facebook being used as a platform for everyone to vent their grievances to the world, but that evening I had no-one else to scream at, so screamed at a computer screen. This was the post from that evening, 10th January:
“Well facebook, do you really want to know what’s on my mind?? I’m pissed off. Like proper pissed off. We have two bottles of paracetamol left for the entire hospital. We have four extremely sick patients and our strongest antibiotics have run out. Our latest drug order from four months ago is still missing in transit, with no hint as to when we may get more supplies. And the government has given over the next three years drug contract to a company who have been proven to sell substandard and counterfeit drugs, causing AusAid to withdraw funding to help bring us our medical supplies. Stay out the way…I’m about to scream at someone. You have been warned.”
Within twelve hours I had messages from 45 people in 11 countries around the world, telling me they were praying, with at least 12 churches/groups praying also. I was touched that so many people cared, but was still in a pretty bad mood and didn’t really have much faith that anything would change. I’m very grateful that everyone else had the faith for me, because early on Sunday morning, 36 hours after I vented my frustrations to the world, a ship came past Kapuna. This part of PNG is only accessible by river, with main transportation being by dugout canoe. The sound of a large engine caught the attention of everyone all over the village. What is a ship doing here today?? Especially on a Sunday?
The engine stopped. Boxes started being unloaded. And they kept coming. 36 boxes in total, piled into our scanty drug store. I was like a child on Christmas morning opening those boxes, shrieking with delight as we pulled out much needed supplies. One box opened, and we discovered eight huge bottles of 1000 paracetamol. Incredible! But that wasn’t all… the next box had the same again, and the next! 24,000 paracetamol, plus hundreds of bottles of kid’s paracetamol and many other much needed painkillers and other supplies. Then I realised this wasn’t what we had ordered. Where had this come from?
Turned out that this was just a generic shipment sent out to all PNG health centres once or twice a year. Which “just happened” to arrive the day we had nothing left. Which “coincidently” turned up after hundreds of people prayed. A couple of thousand paracetamol would have been enough to see us through until our order turned up, but no, God is a God who “by His mighty power at work… is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope” (Eph 3:20). Even when I don’t have the faith to believe it. Even when I’m at my wit’s end and am relying everyone else’s prayers.
And just to top it off, our actual drug order with everything else we needed turned up three days later. Someone quipped “that’s the power of facebook”. I disagree. That’s the power of God!
Read more of Beth’s amazing stories on her blog
After the ‘Paracetamol Miracle’, she tells of how a paralysed man was miraculously healed a week later.
It’s awesome stuff
Nick Beasley is an English Literature graduate who spent a year studying at the London Film Academy before joining the 24-7 Prayer Communications team. He’s mostly interested in films and music and is a Manchester United fan, though he has no geographical right to justify his allegiance.
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24-7 Rewind Testimonies from Around the World
Nick Beasley
If you caught last week's Rewind, you'd have seen that we're gathering up stories from everything God is doing through prayer, round the world.
When we pray, God answers.
Here are some of your stories from the last year...
"We ran the Prayer Course at our Ladies' Fellowship in Abu Dhabi.
We had a lady declare that praying out loud would be something she'd never do. EVER. But the Spirit grabbed her. After a few weeks, as we stood in a circle for prayer, this lady said she'd like to lead. She asked her friend next to her to hold onto her tightly, and nervous and trembling, she led us in prayer.
Many ladies who still have children at home now prayer over their children as they sleep and pray in their rooms when they're out at school. The kids won't let them pray over them awake!
Our prayer lives have been transformed."
- Debbie in Abu Dhabi, UAE
"We held 2 events…a 12 hour drop in prayer session with times of worship and led prayer and in October we held a week of prayer.
The whole thing has lead to people volunteering to help with various initiatives in the town. It's been fantastic."
- Craig in Blomsgrove, UK
Our vision is to, with prayer and worship as a lifestyle, see and serve God and people,
see broken hearts be healed and the kingdom of God transform in Sweden
"We're three girls living together in a house that we call the prayer house Shekinah… Our community is not just us who live here but people in the neighbourhood that come here to pray and hang out…we gather and have dinner then worship, pray and listen to God.
We had a vision that Christians and missionarys would find our home a place for refreshment and gathering new strength…we’re so glad that a lot of people think of our house as their home."
This song was written from one of our prayer sessions
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Going deeper
The Prayer Course
Six videos to fuel discussion and deepen the prayer life of your church
24-7 Prayer and Alpha have teamed up to produce The Prayer Course - six 10 minute videos, hosted by Pete Greig, to help you explore different themes of prayer found in the bible: adoration, petition, intercession, unanswered prayer, listening to God and spiritual warfare. Available for free download at www.prayercourse.org
24-7 Rewind
If you want to contact 24-7 Prayer, please use the contact form on the website.
24-7 Prayer - UK Registered Charity 1091413
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