February 2, 2018 SURVEY RESULTS ARE IN! Thank you for participating in the survey and thank you even more for standing in the gap for this great nation before our Great God. "Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive." (2 Chron 6:21) What do you want to pray about in 2018? Last week we surveyed you about praying for the nation in 2018. Here is a summary of our survey results. If you missed the survey, we would still love to hear from you! Click HERE to participate. After you finish the survey you can see the complete results of the survey. 1. Please choose the following topics that would most interest you to hear about from IFA in 2018. Our three highest responses were campaign intercession, how to engage, and turning prayer to action. 2. Other responses included: To intercede after seeking direction from Holy Spirit- become better listener How do we get several people together for corporate intercessory prayer? Sample letter to address public officials. Encourage candidates and officials to establish trusted pray group to share more private details of issues. Prayer about engaging public officials, professional sharing concerns and opinions. Pray to connect relationship of ifapray to other ministry as it relates to election and other matters. Thank you. information on issues to pass on to others as alot of what I see in your emails is awesome and won t see in media I believe there is exponential power in agreement prayer. I also believe that praying aloud adds a power to prayer. I'd like to see encouragement of having people gather, even in small groups, to come into agreement prayer for the nation and these elections.
I am inspired and helped when prayers are printed out (in the email) so I can "pray along" as I read, and add to the prayer what God directs. How to pray for godliness for our leaders. I write to the elected officials after their official contact information is available. I don't know the effect but since I wrote Governors in 2014 God confirmed me to do all elected officials. Yes! A big ongoing job. 3. Click any topic that may be of interest to you for IFA to cover in its publications. Leaders share insight was first, with leaders testimonies and officials share interaction info a close second 4. When you hear Intercessory Activism what does that mean to you? There were nearly 1000 entries, but many, many responded boots on the ground, or adding action to prayer. We will be reading and analyzing all the data, so be assured your comments and concerns will be heard. 5. And 6. What are you sensing from the Lord, that intercessors need to focus on in 2018? Again, with nearly 1000 responses, it is impossible to do justice to the wonderful comments and responses we received. However, themes emerge praying for revival, truth, righteousness in us, the Church, the government, the end of legalized abortion, unity. The responses were Christ-centered and encouraging. 6. We are looking for confirmation on God s direction for our prayer for this year. We sense that the mid-term elections is a prayer focus do you agree? Overwhelmingly, yes, you agreed, by about a 10 to 1 margin. Thank you for participating in the survey and thank you even more for standing in the gap for this great nation before our Great God. BROWNBACK CONFIRMED TO DEFEND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Pray for Governor Brownback in his new position as U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom. Join us today at 1215 pm ET on our First Friday Prayer Conference Call to pray with him about religious freedom here and around the world. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Gal 5:1) The mainstream national media downplayed a tie-breaking Senate vote by Vice President Mike Pence last week that has major ramification for persecuted minorities worldwide. The vote confirmed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as the Trump administration's U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom.
In a culture that increasingly marginalizes religion, the appointment may seem trivial. Don't be fooled. Brownback's job is not to promote religion. It is to defend religious liberty as the most fundamental component of the quest for world peace. Religious freedom, as protected domestically in the First Amendment of the Constitution, means all are free to believe as they choose. It allows all to embrace or reject belief in one god, many gods or no god. Without religious liberty, we cannot have avowed atheists, secularists, Buddhists, Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Satanists, Muslims or others openly expressing, practicing and standing for their beliefs. We cannot have diversity and peace. The nondenominational mission Open Doors reports 215 million Christians - 1 in 12 - experience high levels of persecution worldwide. During the most recent annual reporting period, the organization documented 3,066 Christians killed for their beliefs; 1,252 abducted and imprisoned or detained; and 1,020 raped or sexually harassed. Enemies of Christianity attacked nearly 800 churches in the past one year of data collection. The absence of religious liberty, as shown by Islamic oppression, allows abuse of gays and others with sexual orientations or lifestyles that do not comport with a theocracy's values. It means the absence of equality for women and ethnic minorities. Without religious freedom, individuals have no voice in government, they lack property rights, and have no reasonable access to participation in civic life. Brownback will advance world peace if he advocates foreign policies that promote the freedom to openly exercise any peaceful religious belief, on nonbelief, on every square inch of the planet. Freedom, at its core, requires defense of individuals to believe and worship as they choose. Anything else leads to oppression, violence and death. That is why religious liberty became the first order of business in our country's First Amendment. (Excerpts from The Gazette editorial board in The Gazette) THE PERSECUTED CHURCH Ask the Lord to show you how you might pray for the persecuted peoples around the globe. Join us today at 1215 ET on our First Friday Prayer Conference Call to pray for international religious freedom and for the persecuted church. "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Tim 3:12) The week after the U.S. State Department redesignated 10 nations as countries of particular concern (CPCs) over systemic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, the Christian group Open Doors USA released its annual World Watch List of the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians. Both lists include Myanmar (also known as Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, with Open Doors noting all 10 countries had extreme, very high, or high levels of persecution against Christians.
Totalitarian North Korea created the most danger, followed closely by Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Pakistan, according to Open Doors analysis. India jumped from 15 to 11 on the list due to Hindu nationalists increased persecution and the growing power of the nationalist political party. Overall, 215 million Christians around the world face threats due to their faith. Open Doors called Islamic extremism the dominant driver of persecution against Christians in 35 of the 50 countries listed. That included attacks by Islamic extremist groups like the Taliban in Afghanistan, al-shabaab in Somalia, and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Open Doors CEO David Curry said his team found a shocking escalation in attacks against Christian women. Researchers documented 2,260 separate cases of sexual harassment, rape, or forced marriage of Christian women in 2017 six women per day. Because of underreporting, Open Doors suspects many more cases likely happened. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an advisory body to the State Department, also monitors religious freedom in dozens of countries and publishes findings and recommendations each April. All but two countries USCIRF named in 2017 also ranked on the 2018 World Watch List: Russia and Cuba. Curry said Open Doors will watch Russia closely due to the potential negative effects of recent religious laws banning evangelism, among other things. As yet, it does not rise to the level of the other countries on the list, he said. Likewise, Cuba is a country to watch, but currently is not on the list. (Excerpts from Julia A. Seymour's article in WORLD) LIVING A LIFE THAT SAYS AMERICA BLESS GOD! Seek the Lord as to how you might bless the Lord with your own words today! Where the righteous rule the people rejoice; when the wicked are in power the people groan. (Prov 29:2) One year ago, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated into office and took his position as the 45th President of the United States. In a previous article I explained how Trump was a type of a King Cyrus who was called by God to lead the people of Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, though he was not himself a believer. It has always been in God s nature to select the most unlikely people to advance His purposes, as He did throughout the Bible and throughout American history. For the past 60 years America has been slowly moving away from her dependency upon God. As a result we have seen a steady decline in the well-being of our society. The Scriptures are true when they tell us, Blessed is the nation whose god is the Lord. Psalm 33:12. The opposite would then follow: Cursed is the nation whose god is not the Lord. That is the path we were on until Donald J. Trump took office and declared boldly, In this nation we don t worship government; we worship God! This reminds us of another unlikely fellow who became one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln who told us, It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependency upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
God was looking for a man who would boldly declare this truth once again, and he found it in a brash and politically incorrect Donald J. Trump. With his election the nation began a turnaround from the godless direction we were on to one that, once again, will establish that God is the One in whom we place our trust, and it will be His rules for love and order that we will pursue in order to continue to receive His grace and favor for a peaceful and prosperous nation. However, the powers of Satan will not surrender without a fight, and they have been working overtime to bring down this leader who would dare to proclaim God s sovereignty over our land. In recent days, it s become more apparent of the evil we ve been spared from as news reports are revealing the widespread corruption that was operating at the very top of our federal government agencies intent on preserving their grip of control over our nation. It s now clear that had Hillary Clinton won the election America would have been under the control of what would have resembled a Soviet style criminal syndicate regime, rather than a government of the people. Thank God for His mercy! Lance Wallnau, a Christian leader and prophetic voice has likened Trump to a wrecking ball that was sent to demolish the works of Satan being established in government, what we now know as The Deep State. Though God raised up a man he could use, our salvation will never be determined by the one in the White House. It will be up to the Church to determine whether this President will be successful in bringing this nation back to God. There is no assurance. If the Church is not praying like it all depends on God and working like it all depends on us, we may simply be delaying the Day of America s judgment for yet a little while longer. If the Church rises up out of its complacency we will see the revival and reformation we are all longing for. The promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is still true: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. The Spiritual state of the Union is good, as we have been loosed from the grip of Satan in our national leadership, and have begun on a road back to becoming once again, One Nation Under God. It will now be up to the people of God to fulfill their duty to their nation as part of their duty to God to be bold and courageous in proclaiming in every area of American life that God is the One in whom we place our trust. This is no time for summer soldiers or sunshine patriots. This is the time to be in prayer for our leaders, to express our faith publicly and to pursue a life of love and holiness as an example to others who need to know the love of God. We have been singing God Bless America long enough. It s time we turn it around and begin singing and living a life that says, "America Bless God!" Rev. Bill Banuchi, Sr.