From an informed Netfriend:

Here are some prayer points for you to bear in mind over the coming weeks… Often we don’t hear this sort of information in the world’s news

1) 12 leaders from a church in Baghdad have been arrested last week. No-one knows much about them except that it was not the normal secret police that arrested them, but a higher level that are even more fearful than the ‘normal’ Please pray for these people and their families.

2) The Christians in Iraq are VERY concerned about a backlash from the Muslims within the country (especially the Shi’a Muslims) due to the general impression most Muslims have that this war is a Christian-Muslim war. The situation is complicated somewhat because Saddam has issued guns to everyone for use in a “resistance” should the U.S. invade… Christians are worried that even if there is a short period of anarchy when the regime falls, it could end in a blood-bath.

3) This weekend, the Orthodox Christians in and around Nineveh, Iraq celebrate the coming of the prophet Jonah to their land. Quite an appropriate timing and message. Please pray that destruction would once again be averted from these cities and that people would once again turn to the one true God.

4) The UN is predicting 900000 displaced people from the upcoming war. Jordan has already closed its border and will not officially allow any refugees to enter. Most are expected to go to camps in Turkey and Iran. The different denominational and mission relief agencies are starting to really wind up their preparation efforts as it seems more and more likely something is going to happen within the next few weeks…

5) Teams of Christian Arabic speakers are being coordinated to be available at a moment’s notice to help out at the refugee camps. It seems that this would be a fairly big need due to Iran and Turkey being non-Arabic-speaking counties. The teams would be both Arabs and non-Arabs that work/have worked in the Arab world… Pray for God to raise up the people who could minister effectively to these displaced people in their time of need.

6) Rumour has it, that the U.S. will “liberate” (?!) the south and north of Iraq quite quickly and set up marshal law in these zones. They will then initiate as many development projects as they can, opening the doors to all the relief agencies. The idea is to lessen the negative impact of the invasion by actually helping the locals…. This too could be a great opportunity for work in the south of Iraq (an almost totally unreached area). Pray for those missions planning to do projects there.

7) When the war begins, please pray for Christian workers in the region – for safety and wisdom. Most of our friends are staying on, however if it seems that foreigners in Jordan are being targeted in large numbers then they would need to evacuate.

Related Articles:

• SUDAN & BURMA: CHRISTIAN REFUGEES IN PERIL
• Pray for the World 6 February 2012
• PRAYER OF A HUMBLE SERVANT
• Prayers for Help in Times of Trouble
• Pray for the World (January 31, 2012)

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