This will be the final full Prayer Watch bulletin for 2023. As from next week through the Christmas/New Year holiday period an abridged bulletin of bullet prayer points will be issued with the full bulletin resuming in February 2024.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated contributors who have worked tirelessly throughout the year to provide the prayer points in each week’s bulletin. This is not an easy nor simple task and requires dedication and commitment to keep producing them week after week. Thank you so much.
I also want to thank you, our Prayer Watch members, for your faithfulness in prayer over what has been a very challenging year with so much happening in our own country and the world. If you are taking time off over the holiday period enjoy the break and rest up in preparation for another full year in 2024. May you be refreshed knowing that the baby born at Christmas is still in charge of the world and that victory in all the issues we cover in the Prayer Watch bulletin is assured because of the victory He won on the cross. We wish you all a very Blessed Christmas and a New Year full of wonderful new experiences of Christ working in your life, and many answered prayers for yourself, your loved ones, and the nation as a whole.
Brian Pickering
National Coordinator
Australian Prayer Network
When are Parents Responsible?
When the ACT becomes the first jurisdiction in the nation to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14, children under the age of 14 will not be held as criminally responsible for what they do. Only after the age of 14 are they held criminally responsible. Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury has raised the age of criminal responsibility to try to help prevent young people from “ending up in the criminal justice system”, to change the future for young people and to improve the safety of the whole community. But focusing on legal solutions, the legal profession seems to have lost sight of the important role that parents should have of bringing up their own children. By trying to take more responsibility for bringing up children governments reform the laws that change their future. Australia was established as a more God-focused community in which parents felt more confident to “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it” (Pb22:6) Our nation used to be more dependent for God to show His mercy and for us to be more sensitive to the needs of people. But some think it is easier to be independent of God. But children need parents to help them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Our nation needs parents who depend on God in prayer, admit their vulnerabilities to Him and themselves. We are told we need to “Discipline our children, and they will give us peace; they will bring us the delights we desire” (Pb 29:17}
The ministry of intercession for our children may seem a little thing, but out of little things big things grow. When, as parents, we go into a closet, close the door God hears us. He knows our thoughts (Ps 94:11) He knows our name and wants us to call on Him. (Ps 91:14) He chooses to listen to the weakest of us. He wants parents to walk confidently because “our Father knows exactly what we need even before we ask him!” (Matthew 6:8) As parents become more dependent on God through prayer, He can guide them to balance their independence as well as the children’s independence with more dependence on Him. It is hard to be dependent on God and open towards others. There is a need in our nation for more God-focused parents.
Let’s…
* Worship the Lord who has redeemed us and is worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, glory, honour, and blessing.
* Ask the Lord for more Australian parents to take up their rights and responsibilities as parents to pray, train up their children in the way they should go. To show them greater care and, love, with compassion and respect. To know our Father who cares for them and their children and loves their children far more than they do.
* Pray that the God of hope fills Australian parents and children with all joy and peace as they trust in Him, so that they may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:13)
The spirit of Entitlement
We have more to be thankful for than most other nations on the earth. We are more blessed, more prosperous, and possibly even more advanced than most other nations. Nevertheless, dishonour runs rampant. We have forgotten the beaches of Anzac Cove, where many thousands of Australian men were killed and wounded, all so the world could be free. We have forgotten that so many of our Founding Fathers sacrificed their lives, fortunes, families, businesses, and many other things that they held dear. We have also forgotten the blood of our precious Savior, who poured out His life on Calvary’s tree. We forget that the only thing we are “entitled to” is an eternal torment in hell. We have lost the Spirit of the fear of the Lord which, in times past, reminded us that our very breath is bestowed by the word of Christ—and that by Him, for Him, and to Him all things exist. We have forgotten to honour our God, and we have forgotten the principles and people who built this country.
Yet, we owe God our very lives—and we owe our prosperous state of existence both to God and those who have gone before us. But we have forgotten to be grateful, choosing instead to be selfish and entitled and to worship the gods of self, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Entitlement and pride work together, and both are prevalent in Australia today. How can we pray against these things? We owe everything to our King Jesus. He and He alone sits sovereign over Australia; the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1). But we can pray in accordance with His will and His Word against every evil spirit. And as we persist in prayer, not fainting even if we grow weary, we will see God move—and the power of His Spirit manifest.
Please pray:
* Pray that truth would come out in education; that people would educate themselves about the truth of God’s HIS-story and Australia’s’ history.
* Pray for an outpouring of gratitude, honour and respect.
* Pray for a nationwide outpouring of the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. Pray too for an outpouring of humility.
Calls to Outlaw ‘Glorification of Nazism’
Victoria’s Jewish leaders and community members are questioning why a group of more than 20 neo-Nazis were allowed to march through the streets of Ballarat recently. The men, who wore black with balaclavas and sunglasses, marched behind a banner reading “Australia for the white man National Socialist Network”, chanting “Hail victory” and “Australia for the white man”. They posed for photographs in front of the Eureka monument on what was the 169th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade. This display has come during a spike in anti-Semitic attacks following the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas. Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Dr Dvir Abramovich, said members of the Victorian Jewish community question why this protest march was allowed to continue. He described it as a “despicable display of depravity” that belongs in 1930’s Germany.
The Allan government of Victoria earlier this year passed legislation to ban the Nazi salute and other gestures and symbols used by the Nazi Party, with penalties of up to $23,000 and/or 12 months’ imprisonment for those found guilty of engaging in such behaviour. Victoria police said, “Our top priority was keeping the peace to ensure the event did not impact the safety of the broader community.” The group of neo-Nazis was ushered out of town by police and no arrests were made.
Please pray:
“So, justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.” Isaiah 59:14
* Pray for Australia. In the face of this surge in anti-Semitism may we not allow justice to be driven back.
* Pray for our Jewish community, wherever they live in Australia. May they know the support of Christians in this country. May we not stand back and at a distance. O Lord, may we not become like Germany in the 1930’s.
* Pray for our school students and teachers and our university students and lecturers, so strongly influenced by anti-Semitic propaganda. Pray for truth and honesty to prevail. Even though truth and honesty have stumbled in many places in our country, O Lord, may we Australians find the strength to be strong and very courageous as we stand for Your truth and righteousness and against the tide of darkness we see approaching.
Praying for Issues in the News
* As holiday season starts in Australia let us pray for the safety of all Australians who will be enjoying leisure time or travelling by road or air within Australia or overseas. It is also a time for natural disasters from cyclones to bushfires and floods. Please pray also for all Australians to be kept safe from any harm associated with any natural disasters that may occur.
* Christmas could be very bleak for many families battling rising inflation and living costs. Let us pray for those families who are doing it tough (by name if you know of any yourself) that the hearts of many Australians will be opened to provide assistance where such can be provided so that children do not have to suffer due to their families not being able to provide the necessities of life due to circumstances not totally under their control.
Praying for Others
This week let us pray for Vietnam. Pray for Thao, a new Christian who was summoned to a police station and threatened. Praise God that he is still standing firm in the faith.
Source: Australian Prayer Network
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