Gospel.com Blog

This is a repost of a Gospel For Asia update on the situation in Orissa. Head over to their site find out ways in which to pray for them.

Click on the play button to hear a message from Gospel for Asia Founder and President K.P. Yohannan.

Increasing attacks on Gospel for Asia-related work in Orissa have resulted in the deaths of at least six local believers since radical mobs went on a rampage after the murder of a leading anti-Christian activist.

Saturday night, Swami Laxamanananda Saraswati, a top leader of the VHP (World Hindu Council), was killed in an attack by 20 men suspected of being Maoist rebels. The Maosts had earlier warned the swami to leave the area. The attack, which included gunfire and a hand grenade, also killed four other people.

GFA President K.P. Yohannan strongly condemned the gruesome killing of Swami Laxamanananda and demanded that those who were guilty should be punished.

Because the swami was a leading opponent of Christian work in India, his followers in the ultra-fundamentalist VHP have used his murder to incite hundreds of their followers to go on a rampage of death and destruction across several districts in India’s Orissa state.

According to the latest reports, at least six Christians who attended GFA-related churches have been killed.

The latest detailed reports list more than 15 GFA-related church buildings destroyed and at least 110 church members’ homes burned to the ground. Other Christian groups have also suffered, with many deaths reported and attacks on ministers and missionaries being widespread. There are even reports of Catholic nuns being gang raped and murdered by the extremists.

“We are also deeply shocked and anguished to hear of the atrocities and violence meted out to the innocent Christians and churches in Orissa as a backlash of the sorrowful event,” Dr. Yohannan said, “and we are praying for an immediate halt to the violence.”

Dozens of pastors and their families have been attacked by roving mobs, and many have fled with their congregations into the surrounding forests. Some children and their parents have been in hiding, without food or water, since the rioting began on Sunday.

One GFA Bible college is under police protection, while a GFA Bridge of Hope children’s center was closed when a mob threatened to attack. They threatened to kidnap one of the workers, so the staff and 120 children left the area. It is not known what has happened to the center property.

“What is most disturbing is that these attacks seem to be well organized and orchestrated,” Dr. Yohannan said. “We have reports that the VHP have actually held strategy meetings in order to plan and coordinate this campaign of violence against peaceful Christian families and churches.”

Pamphlets have been printed and widely distributed accusing the Christians of the swami’s murder, even though most authorities indicate it was most likely Maoist rebels who were responsible.

“We thank God that the government officials are protecting our Bible college campus and trying to protect our people,” K.P. added. “That is a true blessing.”

But as the violence has increased, many fear the government’s actions are not enough.

Reports note that the mobs are using firebombs to attack homes and churches, and there is little evidence of police or other government intervention.

There are more than 295 GFA-related churches in Orissa. GFA has dozens of missionaries in the state, and the people have been very receptive to the message of Christ’s love for them.

“But the fundamentalist groups have always opposed us,” noted one GFA worker, “and now there is great tension prevailing, and Christians are running away for their lives.”

“My heart goes out to the missionaries and believers,” Dr. Yohannan said. “We must pray with all earnestness for the suffering church in Orissa at this time.”

Those who wish to help meet the needs of the suffering believers in Orissa may give to GFA’s Persecution Relief Fund.

Most Christians understand the importance of prayer. We pray for big issues like world peace and evangelism, and for small issues like personal health and safety. But how often do you pray specifically for the members of your family?

In a series of posts at the Life Action Ministries blog, Byron Paulus is writing about the importance of praying for your spouse and children—not just when they’re sick or have special needs, but as a part of your everyday prayer life. The series begins with a brief introduction, followed by posts about specific things to pray about for your kids: that they’ll develop an active faith in Christ and that they’ll grow up to be men and women of moral integrity. Paulus promises four more posts in the series, so keep an eye on the Life Action blog for more to come!

One cool thing about the gospel.com community is the chance to pray for one another. Whether you’re just getting started with this whole prayer thing or you’ve been doing it for years, sometimes it can be helpful for building a relationship with a ministry through a daily petition to God on their behalf.

All of these links are to specific ministry prayer calendars. Most are well-maintained and offer events and people to pray for on a daily basis.

Arab World Ministries

Mission Possible

Life Action Revival Ministries

Christian Camp and Conference Association

Nurses Christian Fellowship International

Eternity Minded Ministries

Verse six from Psalm 32:

Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.

Yesterday we pointed out several good articles about prayer. Here’s a few more worth checking out—the first two items are especially useful if you’re new to the idea of communicating with God, or if you need a refresher course on prayer:

• Still not sure if you grasp the whole “talking to God” thing? Faith Facts has a helpful overview of what the Bible teaches about prayer; it goes through all the basics. (It’s part of their Christian Cram Course, which provides useful summaries of all the major points of Christian belief.)
• How do you pray effectively? Is there a special method of prayer that will get God’s attention?
• Prayer can be frustrating—ask anyone who’s prayed for something that didn’t work out, or who failed to pray for something they should’ve. Preston Gillham talks about why prayer is so important, even when it’s not always clear that it’s beneficial.

Prayer is communicating with God. Simple, right? However, we all know it’s not that simple. The theology is oftentimes confusing, sometimes it feels like there’s no one on the other end and it can even feel boring.

Then why do we do it?

Because prayer is communicating with God.

So then, how should one pray? When should one pray? How does one know they’re reaching God? Does God care about the words or language I use?

Chances are we won’t be solving all of your conundrums about this mystical communion with God during this week, but to begin with we would like to point out a few resources that could start your prayer life or revitalize it:

For a basic introduction, check out Into Thy Word.

Delve Into Jesus has two articles, one on how God responds to prayer and another on Praying for Things I want.

This article called Learning to Talk is about developing good prayer habits. It comes from Bible Prayer Fellowship.

And lastly, if you’ve grown up in a protestant church chances are you haven’t heard too much about contemplative prayer. Here’s a series of articles that talk about Contemplative Prayer from Christian Answers for a New Age.

Join us through the end of the week as we explore prayer in the Christian life.

Recent years have seen a lot of Christians and church leaders looking back to the ancient church for ideas about deepening the worship and prayer experience. One traditional prayer practice that’s well worth exploring, according to Josh Cook at the Youth Ministry Exchange, is the “Ignatian Examen”.

There’s nothing strange or mystical about the Examen; it’s simply a guide for taking a few minutes at the end of each day to prayerfully reflect on how God spoke to you during the day—and to think about how you responded, or didn’t respond, to God. Cook’s article sums up the Examen nicely and provides some practical questions you can incorporate into your everyday prayer and devotional life.

Our last post looked at some prayer resources at Delve Into Jesus to help you understand the basics of prayer. But if you’ve gotten through the basics and are ready to lead others in building up their prayer lives, here’s another ministry that can help: Bible Prayer Fellowship. Bible Prayer Fellowship helps pastors and church leaders cultivate healthy prayer practices in their churches, small groups, and Bible studies.

First and foremost, BPF has the full text of their Forgotten Secrets to a Live Prayer Meeting. It’s a full-blown leader’s manual for running a successful prayer meeting, including 12 lesson and student workbook exercises to accompany them. If you’re studying the topic of prayer in your small group Bible study, this would be a great resource. Also of interest to small group leaders is the full text of Andrew Murray’s classic textbook on prayer With Christ in the School of Prayer. BPF has added discussion questions to each chapter to help you get a group dialogue started.

One final set of resources worth checking out at BPF is their set of email newsletters about prayer—one meant for pastors, another for prayer group leaders, and the third for anyone interested in prayer as a means of spiritual revival.

I think we’ve all had questions about prayer: when should I do it, what’s appropriate, what should I say? For the disciple of Christ, prayer is a necessity that shouldn’t be taken for granted; yet, on a personal note, I know I so often do. There’s plenty of information out there to help guide you in your prayer life, from the Prayer of Jabez to the Book of Common Prayer.

Today, we’d like to highlight Delve Into Jesus, a site that is devoted to providing accurate information about Jesus on the internet.
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“Seriously, how should we pray? And since God already knows what we need, why does He insist that we pray? What’s the point?” So asks Preston Gillham in a recent article at Lifetime Guarantee Ministries. What’s the point of praying to an all-knowing God? To find the answer, Gillham walks us through what the Bible teaches us about the purpose and meaning of prayer. If your prayer life is lagging a bit lately, this short essay might help you get it back on track.

If you’re a church leader or pastor, you almost certainly believe in the importance of prayer. But do you make the time to act on that belief? In a new Online Pulpit column, Joan Tyvoll observes that many pastors today want to be spending more of their time in prayer, but can hardly find the time to do it amidst all the responsibilities of church leadership.

But busy or not, you can’t afford to let something so crucial to the Christian life as prayer get scheduled out of your life. Fortunately Tyvoll isn’t just here to lay down a guilt trip–she lays out some practical tips for making prayer an important part of your life and ministry. And while her advice is pointed primarily at church leaders, it’s useful guidance for anyone who wants to deepen their prayer life.