The Prayer Watch bulletin will not be produced next week due to editorial staff taking leave. The bulletin will resume on Thursday 1st June 2023.
Communities Are Changing
Our current communities are being changed by many factors. We are wondering who or what we can trust, accept, fear, or believe. We ask what links us together or separates us. There have been strict rules that have caused isolation, lockdowns, missed chances to shop, travel or attend weddings, funerals etc, or visit people. It is as if we have been in prison and numbers have found the isolation unbearable. God has created us to be in community like marriages and families. God said, “It is not good for man to live alone” (Gen 2:18). We need others. We have seen how small communities can transform larger ones. Communities based around civil rights, women’s rights, or LBGTQ rights movements have caused communities to be changed, and so have past revivals.
There seems to be a widespread breaking down of trust as well as community spirit. When people are misled they are hurt and feel threatened. John Donne (1572-1631) “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind”.
We come together as supporters of sporting teams, members of churches or clubs, or as frequenters of coffee shops or pubs. We seem to need to share, associate, or socialize. It has been the fulfilling of this need that has maintained many indigenous and ethnic communities. We know God is one community – Father Son & Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed for us to be one community like Him and the Father, sanctified by the truth and that glory would to come to Him through us (Jn 17:10,11, 17)
Let’s pray :
* That each of us will be transformed first by the renewing of our minds, not conformed to this world and be able to discern what is the will of God, what is His good and acceptable and perfect will. (Rom 12:2)
* Thanking God for the way small functioning God based communities are having an impact on helping to transform our nation
* For protection from those who harm our communities by not telling the truth, by subtle or not so subtle lies, by concealing a very different reality behind their smooth talk, or by habitually exaggerating so we can never be sure just what they are saying. Our iniquities have separated us from our God; And our sins have hidden His face from us, So that He will not hear. (Ps 119:130).
PRAYING INTO THE ISSUE OF SIN
Sin is not much spoken about in this world in which we live, for we would prefer to grant moral and spiritual license to ourselves and others. But our decision to ignore sin does not, in fact, cause it to evaporate. We can’t ignore sin out of existence; we can’t banish the idea of sin. Ultimately, we need to reckon with it.
Please pray:
* And when we do reckon with sin, we find we are helpless in its grasp. We find there is nothing we can do that will wash away the guilt and the pain of sin. Because sin leaves a mark. Let us not leave the stain of sin upon our lives. Let us repent and ask God to remove the stain in our own lived and the lives of all who confess His Lordship.
* that the scars of sin would be healed in the lives of all who turn to God and that His beauty would again be seen in the lives of all believers as a witness to the power of God to transform.
* that Sin which separates us from God, and from each other will be overcome in all aspects of our national life as the releasing power of God begins to transform lives across our nation.
Catholic Intellectual Group Banned for Transgender Views
The Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies, a Catholic intellectual group based in Hobart, has been banned from using the University of Tasmania’s Jane Franklin Hall of residence for it’s annual forum, or “colloquium”, where it has been held for the last eight years. Joanna Rosewell, the Jane Franklin Hall principal confirmed and defended the cancellation, saying there was concern about an advertisement for the event entitled “Wokery and How to Deal With It”. The advertisement stated that “elites” were undermining “objective truth” by teaching in schools that “girls can be boys, that boys can be girls and that grown-ups should be punished for denying it”. Ms Rosewell told the Australian “We work with a diverse number of students including those from the transgender community. Our first goal is and must be supporting the wellbeing of our students.”
David Daintree, the director of the Christopher Dawson Centre and former principal of the Hall for 18 years, said he was “shocked” and “disappointed” by the decision, which he labelled “repression”. He conceded that the advertisement may have offended some transgender people, but argued transgender people did not need the silencing of views that conflicted with their own. “I believe in objective truth and one side is wrong when you talk about transitioning to another sex,” he said. “I don’t feel I should apologise for expressing an opinion and that’s all we are doing…. We are in the business of saying that it’s a reasonable thing to be a Christian and that plenty of intelligent and thoughtful people have been, and that faith and science are not incompatible.” Dr Daintree said he was yet to find another venue willing to host the event. He said it could attract demonstrators. He also said that transgender issues were not meant to be the core of the colloquium but that it was now shaping up to be very controversial.
Please pray:
“Then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32
* Please pray that Dr Daintree and the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies will be able to proceed peacefully with their forum.
* Pray that the truth that Jesus talks about in John 8 will be at the centre of the forum.
* Pray that all of us who are Christians would know the truth in a way that sets us free from fear and allows us to be free to love.
Praying for Issues in the News
* As relationships between China and Australia continue to thaw hopes rise that all the sanctions imposed on Australian products will soon be lifted. Pray that as ministers meet on an ever-increasing frequency that China will soon lift all remaining sanctions and that trade will return to normal to the benefit of both nations.
* The rise of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) products such as ChatGPT and Bard have the ability to alter our perception of reality, presenting fiction as fact, potentially giving biased answers and misinformation a veneer of objective truth. AI is transformative technology that will change our world. More than 30,000 people, including giants of the tech industry, recently signed an open letter calling for a pause to the advancement of AI Systems due to the profound risks to society and humanity. Like every new discovery is has the potential to be used for good or evil. Let us pray that as this new technology expands that its use for good will far outweigh it use for evil.
Praying for Others
This week let us pray for Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan’s prison system holds one of the largest groups of religious prisoners in the world. Pray for perseverance for those behind bars for their Christian faith.
Source: Australian Prayer Network
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