My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you, Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.” – Psalms 35:10
A huge hotbed for child slavery is at Lake Volta in Ghana. The Volta reservoir is one of the largest made-made lakes in the world and where many children are forced into hard labor by the local fishermen there. Fishing is the main economy of many of the communities in the surrounding area. Children (as young as 5 years old) are usually deceived into long hours of very dangerous work with no pay. Many are subjected to intense violence from their “masters” if they don’t keep up with the work. They are either abducted by the fishermen or sold by their families to them for little money out of desperation because they are poor. Many are deceived because they are promised a good wage and meals upfront by the men who recruit them. The work is hard because the fishing nets get caught in the dead trees that are all over the lake. These children struggle to bring up the nets or they drown trying to free the nets from the trees. In the Lake Volta region, 1 in 3 children are labourers and more than 20,000 are considered in slavery today.
Prayer IS the work!
Organizations like IJM (International Justice Mission) seek to rescue these children out of slavery. They work in the communities and with the local authorities to detain and arrest the fishermen responsible for taking these children as slaves. They work with the local lawyers to prosecute these men. They provide a safe house for the children that are rescued so they can heal and rehabilitate and eventually be reconnected with their families.
Ways to pray:
Pray for peace rehabilitation, healing, hope, strength, and good health for the rescued children of Ghana.
Pray that God would lead the right people to apply for the positions available and that those doing the recruiting and hiring would bring the right people on board.
Pray for the upcoming conferences that they would lead to changed hearts and repentance with the local fishermen.
Pray for IJM and their offices on the lake. Pray for new satellite offices and their presence in the area. Pray that they reach out to regions where children are still trapped in slavery.
Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. – Hebrews 13:3
CNN Freedom Project recently did a documentary called “Troubled Waters” about the situation at Lake Volta. You can watch it below. (Note – I know there are other reporters out there that say not all the children that work on the lake are in slavery. The point of my post is to raise awareness to the situation and pray about it. Only God knows the details of the situation and will bring justice to where it is needed).
Searching for a Father is an inside look into Ramadan to equip you to pray for Muslims.
But it’s more than a prayer guide. It’s a story that draws a human portrait of the experiences and challenges many Muslims encounter – Frontiers
Searching for a Father is a great guide to help you pray for the millions of Muslims who don’t know Christ during the month of Ramadan (June 5—July 5). Frontiers hopes to join Christians around the world to ask the Lord to lead many Muslims to discover the answers to their souls’ deepest questions—not in the religion of Islam, but in peace with God and salvation through Jesus Christ. Click here to learn more on how you can join in on this prayer journey.
Ramadan is the most holy month in the Islamic calendar. It’s a time for Muslims to refocus their devotion to Islam as they fast from all food and drink from sunrise until sunset.
“What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.” – Psalm 116
Pay attention to the whole of a psalm, not just to the parts of a psalm.
Read the psalms consistently, rather than occasionally and sporadically.
Pay attention to the internal coherence of a psalm or a section of psalms, rather than allowing them to remain fragmented parts, reflective of our immediate and self-absorbed interest.
Read the psalms out loud, not just silently.
Read and sing and pray the psalms together, not just alone.
Pay attention the Psalter’s “hospitable ‘I’” and its “intimate communal” sense, rather than allowing the individual expressions to devolve to individualism and the communal expressions to devolve to an impersonal communalism.
Immerse yourself in the metaphors that the psalmist employs, rather than remaining distant and detached from them.
Pay attention to the placement and role of the psalms in the biblical canon, rather than viewing them as isolated and idiosyncratic.
I try to pray for our President and the leaders that lead this nation as much as I can. I love seeing pictures of these Easter prayer breakfasts when over 100+ Christian leaders are invited to the White House. Most of the leaders that are usually there are Godly people who have influenced me throughout my own personal journey. Carlos Whittaker led this morning’s breakfast with Nothing but the Blood. I love this picture he sent out with President Obama next to him as he sang some worship songs. I pray for God’s presence in Washington and for wisdom for our leaders to know what’s right and the courage to do it.
Blessed is the nation whose God is Lord – B. Graham
Tonight I had to have that tough talk with my son about death. As a father you always look for opportunities to connect with your child about real life situations. But death is a hard one because you don’t know what goes on in a child’s head when it happens. I know the experience will be beneficial in the long run, but it’s still never fun.
A family from my former church was in a car accident and their 13-year-old was killed on Monday. He was a friend of my son’s and in his discipleship group. The church called me to let me know that night. Tonight his group leader took all the kids out to talk about it and to celebrate his life. I was in student ministries for many years and have led boys in this age group and it is not easy to try to chat with them about this subject. I know for me I try to do less talking and let them ask as many questions as they want.
When I told my son, he sat in silence for a bit. I asked him how he was doing and he said ok. I’ve grown really close to both my kids over the past couple years because of family tragedies. So I’m very thankful to the Lord for these moments to bond. My kids are growing up and will soon be on their own. I didn’t have a father who was there for me during the tough trials of life (I do now..), so it’s important for me to make sure I’m there for them. I pray for this family and I feel for their loss. Being a parent is a wonderful thing and I am so blessed that God gave me two great boys to raise. But this tragedy has made me realize I could lose anyone one of mine at anytime. So I’m going to cherish this moment I had with him to connect over this.
Please pray for the Galaska family who lost their youngest child in that accident. Their oldest child needs your prayers! Visit their CaringBridge page. Blessings!
Sometimes you hear a God story that just blows you away. My friends the Totra’s are a family that are living out their lives missionally. They get the gospel and they are all about Jesus. Even during some financial hardships they have been trusting God that He will provide. I have been in community with them for some time and Dallas has become a solid brother in Christ to me. Dallas and Sofia have two kids and are trying for a third. They thought they lost the baby until Dallas brought this prayer request to our group tonight. We all laid had hands on him in prayer and got this news the next day about baby Anya:
So at the beginning of January, Sophia had what we thought was the miscarriage of our third child. Three days prior to that we felt God had highlighted a name that we would use for our baby if it was a girl. Her name would be Anya meaning Resurrection. So three days afterward we were pretty shocked to think that we no longer had this baby. Not having gone to the Doctor’s since she wasn’t having any medical problems we decided that it was over and time to move on. Well Sophia’s belly was not getting smaller, but the opposite. I kept saying…”your belly is growing and it isn’t because of what you ate!” Before long God was leading us through some friends to really be fighting for our baby in prayer and have it checked when we can. So that was what we did and this morning we found our that indeed we have a 17 week old baby Anya Joy Totra growing very well! So whether it never was a miscarriage or a resurrection, God is always good and we thank Him because He is awesome! Anya Joy Totra coming mid July 2013
One of the most incredible moments I had at my first Passion event was to spend time in the Kneel room. I was with my friend Shauna and her and I must have spent a couple of hours in prayer and taking time to journal our experiences. It was an incredible moment and to see all the young adults in silence praying to God was an awesome sight. Kneel is the Passion 2013 prayer journey room where you can spend some quiet time with the Lord. You can posture yourself in any way that suits you before the cross. There are eight stations with different scripture verses and suggestions of things to pray for this generation and for the Passion movement. I wrote pages and pages in my journal of how God was speaking to me. It was a fitting way for me to end my journey here at Passion 2013. I am so thankful to God for bringing me here to be a part of all this.
Tonight just blew me away. I didn’t even know how to begin processing what I experienced. That’s why I love the Passion walk back to community groups that they do on the last night. We were instructed to walk to our groups in complete silence the whole way. They really want us to take it the night and process. It was incredible to see this many students walk in silence. You should have seen the look on the security guard’s faces. When I got to my community group, we were given some questions to answer within our group by Gregg Matte. As we began to start, the one female of our group asked if we could pray for her. She was experiencing oppression from Satan the whole time at Passion. Instead of doing the questions, we decided to take turns praying for her. It was an amazing time for us leaders to come along side our sister in Christ and be there for her. This is why Passion does community groups, so we can do life together.
I spent the day at Starbucks today reading a book and a letter that I got from my Compassion child that I sponsor. I have been supporting him since my birthday of 2006 – it was my gift to myself. As I was writing Ladouceur (who is now 11), I was trying to put myself in his shoes in the country of Haiti and what his everyday life is like. This is when I appreciate all the countries I’ve been to and how I’ve seen with my own eyes what poverty-stricken countries go through. Not too long after that, my buddy Kory Kredit posted this video of an India trip I took with him and Cornerstone two years ago. Even though I love the ministry of Harvest India, that was a one time trip for me (unless He calls me back). But it was a trip that came at the perfect time of my life. I saw the power of God and the power of prayer in a country dominated by Hinduism. I was able to share my testimony to hundreds of lepers, dedicate a water well and saw scores of people come to Christ. Harvest India has made a difference in the Kingdom because of prayer. I needed a boost to my faith during that difficult time and I can now look back at that spiritual marker as a source of hope. God has always used my life for extraordinary things and I time and time again forget His faithfulness. I needed to see this video. Later today I got an amazing out-of-the-blue email that just blew me away, but yet not surprising because it is how God works. Watch where God is working and join Him there – Experiencing God. Try not to figure what He is doing and just take a step in faith. As I join in this new partnership, I look forward to sharing this awesome God story as it unfolds. God is working and He loves us enough to ask us to join Him.
Living a life that Matters 