Logos Hope Passenger Ship Safety Certificate

On 3rd December the surveyor will arrive to begin the process of providing the Passenger Ship Safety Certificate for Logos Hope. The process will take up to six days. I would certainly appreciate it if you could spend time on each of these days praying for the team who will be working with the surveyor on Logos Hope and for the right outcome from it all. As we pray we must certainly also be giving thanks to God for His incredible goodness to the ship ministry in recent months. I must say that at the beginning of 2012 I just wondered where we would be in this ministry by the end of the year. God has provided in so many ways, giving people who have tirelessly labored especially through this dry-dock period, giving finances the like of which we could not have imagined at the beginning of the year. There have, of course, been tremendous struggles and stresses over the past year, but God’s faithfulness has been evident to all. If, therefore, between 3rd and 9th December we could spend some time each day in thanksgiving and intercession for the ministry, I would deeply appreciate it. Peter Maiden

In The Midst of Great Hardship

A man from a Christian relief team recently delivered food to a Syrian widow living in a rural Muslim village near the border. When the anxious widow opened her door to him, the Christian explained he had come out of love for God. She told him about her encounter the previous day. While she was sleeping during the night she responded to a knock on the door, but no one was there. After a while she heard the same knocking and went to sit next to the door where she eventually fell asleep. While she was sleeping someone put His hand on her shoulder. He said, 'You don't know Me. You have passed through a great pain. I experienced a great pain, also. But I will not leave you alone. Tomorrow, I will send you someone who will tell you about Me. Listen to him." The widow then began to weep and begged her Christian visitor to "tell me about this Person that I saw in my dream."

Barrenness is a requirement

“God’s first requirement in ministry is barrenness. God looks for people who are incapable of producing life on their own, those who have come to the end of their own striving and honestly admit their true condition. Most of us, not wanting to bear this reproach, go around feigning ‘life.’ Our activities become the substitute for the anointing. Programs replace productivity and prayer. Life seems to abound everywhere, until one looks below the surface and realizes it’s only a veneer - a form of godliness that lacks power. Why does God insist on barrenness as a prerequisite for blessing? Simply because no flesh can glory in it… God has to strip us first so that He alone is glorified.” David Ravenhill

Keeping Prayer Vital, Fresh and Enjoyable. Part 3 Desperate

3. Desperate Having been arrested by the authorities in a Mid East country for witnessing and passing out some scriptures, I learned early on in my missionary life about desperate prayer. Being threatened with expulsion from the country, I cried out in desperation in the men’s bathroom (“toilet” to non-Americans!) for God to give me wisdom in getting out of this situation. And as clear as anything God gave me the words to use and I was able to stay and fulfill my commitment in the country. The Bible shows us that David had instances of desperate prayer, as well as Hannah when praying for a son. Joy Dawson asks the question, “Why Desperate Prayer?” and answers it: • Because the world’s unreached multitudes are in desperate need. • Because hell is desperately real. Hell is desperate people, eternally trapped, with no hope of relief. • Our desperate cries to God on their behalf powerfully influence the lost to make the right choices. Heaven is then more populated and Hell less. • Desperate people pray with intensity and are not self-conscious. As we pray for the issues on our campuses, in our cities and nations, ask God to give a burden so that as we pray we are not just uttering words but our heart’s cry, and we feel the pain and see the lostness and hopelessless of those without Christ. And it rises up in a desperate cry for God to act. Rhonda Hughey writes, “The key of holy desperation for the presence and ministry of Jesus is required in order for us to move out of our complacent, satisfied existence. Desperation is the underlying fuel that ignites our hearts for unity, prayer, worship, and repentance. If we aren’t longing for Jesus, our ministry activities will be routine and hollow. There is certainly no shortage of ideas, plans, methods, books, teachings, programs, and activities in the church; what we are suffering from is a drought of desperation for God!”

Keeping Prayer Vital, Fresh and Enjoyable! Part 2 Passionate

2. Passionate “Fan into flame a passion for your name,” sings Tim Hughes, a worship leader from England. This is a prayer I pray many times: “Lord, fill my heart with passion for You and Your presence.” The villagers that night were passionate in their prayers and relationship with the Lord. It was not just a matter of duty but a passionate desire for Him. Just how passionate do we want to be? It is you and I who make that decision, not God. We set the limits, not God. We can go as far as we want, but so often we put barriers up and allow other things to captivate and fascinate our hearts. We are content with so little of God when there is so much more. He is the God of all pleasure. “In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11) As we meditate on this God of all pleasure and beauty, our hearts cannot fail to grow in our passion and love for Him. It’s what we do in our own time that prepares us for the group times of prayer. We cannot be worshipping idols of entertainment and then expect to be full of passion for God in the prayer room. As our hearts are moved in His presence, everything else pales in comparison. One of the best ways I have found to deepen my passion and love is regular fasting. While fasting is voluntary weakness, it reveals so much the true intents of our hearts. It also makes a statement that I am serious about this relationship and want to grow deeper into the things of God.

Keeping Prayer Fresh, Vital and Enjoyable. Part 1

It was pitch black as we made our way to the prayer meeting. No street lights or lights shone from around the huts. This wasn’t Atlanta, Georgia, but right on the border between Thailand and Burma. There was no electricity. The only light was from candles burning, showing where the meeting was going to take place. Climbing up a bamboo ladder, we joined the assembled village Christians, sitting cross-legged around the perimeter of the room with 8-10 candles in the middle. I was scared the flimsy bamboo mat floor wouldn’t take the weight of four large, Western men. Then I was worried that I would knock over one of the candles and burn the meeting room down! Suffice it to say, neither happened, but what remains with me today are some significant reminders about prayer. We came to bless these faithful people, but actually what they imparted to us was far, far greater. Sitting in that environment brought home to me again how uncomplicated prayer is and yet how profound is the mystery of it. Here are some lessons I’m learning about keeping prayer vital, fresh and enjoyable! 1. Simple We can make prayer and prayer meetings too complicated. In this small hut meeting room, there was no PowerPoint, live music, video clips or pizza! Just simply people committed to meet and pray, knowing that God would meet with them. There was no program or agenda or personalities, or egos–just time spent before the Throne. Richard and I (another Englishman) lead many prayer meetings together, and he coined the phrase that we try and follow for these, which are sometimes a hour long, or two hours, a weekend or 10 days of 24/7. Our prayer meetings are simply Unstaged, Unhurried, Unsafe, Unscripted, but not unprepared. When we come to listen, be guided, by the Holy Spirit and ask the Lord to mess us up, it’s surprising what can happen! It’s not about numbers (there were only maybe 8-10 people in that hut), but in God’s eyes it’s an army. And that’s what counts! I meet with 4-8 people each week early in the morning for prayer. Right at the beginning God told us not to worry about numbers. In His eyes, one plus Himself is a majority! Very often it’s a small group that meets, but that’s enough to pull down strongholds because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. There is nothing there about needing a certain number before that will work. Numbers, size, strength are man’s ways. God’s plumbline is about holiness, humility and unity. Nor is it about location. Anywhere is good enough to pray. We don’t need comfy chairs or kneeling benches. In fact I rarely sit when I am praying. Walking around helps keep me concentrating (and awake!). Jesus used a mountain, a quiet place; Paul used a prison; Koreans use caves; some prayer fanatics in a Southeast Asian country use long-distance buses! It’s not about performance. Jesus said to His disciples, Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and He knows better than you what you need.” Matthew 6:6-8. (The Message) God listens to broken and desperate people with hearts totally dependent on Him. The outward show is nothing. It’s the heart and history we have in God in secret that matters. But it’s about His promises. “For apart from me you can do nothing.” And yet there is a lot of nothing we engage in. We have His promises throughout scripture, and we can know them, memorize them, meditate on them, pray them, and believe them. And lifestyle. Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists have a prayer culture, whereas we Christians have a prayer meeting. God never intended prayer to be merely a value or a duty but a lifestyle. “Engaging in continual prayer and fasting means embracing a way of life before the Lord that challenges everything in us. When the church corporately (or the student group) embraces and approaches prayer as a lifestyle and not a meeting, she will begin to take significant steps toward her ultimate destiny, which involves partnering with God to shape history, affect the spiritual atmosphere, and influence nations.” Dave Sliker Let us learn the secret of crying out to Him day and night to see justice released into our community, nation and world! (Luke 18:7).

Hajj. Day 3

Sacred Act #3: Jamarat (stoning) and Sacrifice As the pilgrims leave Muzdalifah, they pass through Mina again. They head to the three pillars, which represent Satan coming to Abraham three times*, to tempt him to ignore the instructions of God concerning the sacrifice of his son**. Muslims believe that Abraham threw stones at Satan. Using the stones or pebbles that they have collected, they throw them at the pillars, which represent Satan. In the stoning, pilgrims renounce evil and declare their willingness to sacrifice all they have to God. After this battle with Satan, pilgrims will kill a sheep, a goat or maybe a camel in remembrance of God's provision of a sheep sacrificed instead of Abraham's son. This sacrifice ends the formal time of Hajj. It is on this day, as well, that Muslims all over the world will sacrifice a sheep or some other animal. This is the biggest Islamic feast of the year, called Eid el Kabir (literally the Big Feast) or Eid el Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice). Key Scripture to Pray The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." John 1:29 CryOut to the Father Ephesians 6 states "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against... the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Muslims understand there is a spiritual battle caused by Satan. Throwing rocks at Satan during the day of stoning is meaningless apart from the cross and resurrection which defeated Satan. Pray that they would see that only Jesus defeated sin, Satan and death. May they know that in Christ, we have mighty weapons "for the tearing down of strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:4) Thank the Lord that Muslims see the importance of sacrificing an animal. In the Old Testament, it meant forgiveness of sins. After Jesus died on the cross, animals no longer were sacrificed, for His death covered all of our sins. Pray that Muslims will understand the meaning behind the sacrifice and cross of Jesus. Ask that God would overwhelm people with the truth and reality of Jesus' death on the cross. Ask that the Holy Spirit would move in people's hearts so that they can receive this as truth. Ask God to give Muslims understanding that Christ has overcome all the powers of Satan on the cross and pray that they will experience the reality of that victory in their lives through spontaneous healings and deliverances by calling on Jesus' name. What does the Bible say? * The Bible does not talk about Satan visiting Abraham, nor stones, Genesis 22. ** The Quran does not actually say which son of Abraham it was. It is Islamic tradition that says Ishmael. The Bible says that it was Isaac, Genesis 22.