A Spirit of Compassion
Let us thank God that there are many in our nation who have the gift of compassion for those who need physical healing or spiritual healing. In the ground-breaking series on SBS “The Hospital: In the Deep End” we saw those at St Vincent’s who ministered to those who needed healing from mental health or drug and alcohol issues or new hearts or restored brains. It was amazing to see how God had given the skills to hospital staff to care for the patients who were the most vulnerable. Different medical staff were able, despite the intense pressure and uncertain outcomes, to show dedication, compassion, and skill to handle transplants, minister to those with mental needs, or care for the homeless. Often, though not always acknowledging God’s presence, they provided care in some of the most difficult circumstances. Our nation’s Christian foundation has underpinned what we do and how we do it. We need to ensure that God continues to be acknowledged and worshipped in our nation today.
But David Matas, a human rights lawyer, has revealed in a Family Voice interview something very different is happening in China in the “Responding to Human Right Violation”. China is becoming a nation that is operating without compassion. People have been used as pawns who can be dictated to. When Falun Gong started in China in 1991 it was simply a way for people to exercise, but as its numbers grew so big the Chinese Communist Party felt it was competing with them and banned it in 1999. They then started to arrest hundreds of thousands of practitioners. If they did not recant, they were imprisoned or disappeared. There was no compassion and prisons were overflowing. Then in 2006 allegations begun to surface that prisoners were being killed to help empty overcrowded prisons and their organs were being extracted and sold for large sums to help support a failing health program. The organs of living people are currently harvested to make money. This massive crime is not one that has been publicly acknowledged but Matas has carefully verified these facts, through interviewing many who were involved in this ongoing atrocity. Live prisoners of conscience including house-based Christians were being executed and their organs sold for profit. Let’s pray that God himself, the God of peace, will challenge those in China and reveal to them that He is God and has a great compassion for their people. We all need to know that He gives us the Holy Spirit, lets us know truths about God and helps us understand them, so that we will know Him better. (Eph1:15-17)
Let’s pray:
* That God Himself, the God of peace, will bless both Australian and Chinese nations to reveal that He is the God who has a great spirit of compassion. That He will sanctify us and our nations through and through. (1 Thess 5:23)
* For our governments to find compassionate ways to solve the problems of overcrowded prisons and understaffed hospitals and, where possible, acknowledge Jesus as Lord and God and know His transforming power.
*Thank God for those who are gifted in areas of administration, healing, compassion, or scientific creativity who are involved with liberating people from social and phy
Human Trafficking
Approximately 50 million people around the world are being exploited in human trafficking right now. This 150-billion-dollar industry has evolved into a complex network of organized crime trafficking sex, labor, and human organs. Prayer and action are needed to combat the demonic enterprise of human trafficking. We do not think that human trafficking is a problem in Australia however experts in the field say that it is a hidden problem with the main victims women brought in from overseas to work in brothels.
Please pray
* For the victims of human trafficking dragged into a life of sexual servitude or exploited in work situations where working conditions are akin to slavery. Pray that they will be found and liberated and set on a life of recovery where they can be returned to normal life with renewed hope and a brighter future.
* For our law enforcement agencies tasked with finding and breaking up the criminal gangs that make a living out of human trafficking. Pray for their safety and success in locating and bringing to justice those who seek to take advantage of their fellow human beings for profit.
* For Christian ministries such as Destiny Rescue that specialise in finding and releasing trafficked victims from their servitude. This can be a dangerous exercise so pray too for the safety of the rescuers and the trafficked victims themselves.
No Action Against Sydney Hate Preacher After Latest Sermon
NSW Police have confirmed that a Friday sermon by Bankstown-based cleric Abu Ousayd, – also known as Wissam Haddad – who promised “humiliation” and “men who love death more than you love life” if Allah was attacked, did not breach state hate-speech provisions. The cleric also called on followers to be “worshippers by night and warriors by day” and said that Muslims were “being killed, oppressed, at the hands of the worshippers of cows, rats and monkeys”. A police spokesman confirmed that the rhetoric was not a criminal offence under Section 93Z of the Crimes Act 1900. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has lodged a vilification complaint at the Australian Human Rights Commission against Mr Ousayd and the Al Madina Dawah Centre. The ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin has warned that inaction risked “legitimising” the preacher’s comments. “These sermons that reach devoted followers and impressionable young minds online are not merely a threat to the Jewish community, but also to our democracy and our society,” he said.
NSW Upper House Deputy President Rod Roberts said he felt the “frustration” of the Jewish community. “That’s what’s disappointing, that they have to take action, rather than the law protecting them”, he said, adding that inaction would give hate the green light. Federal Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said, “It appears no conduct is bad enough to warrant testing the law. If federal prosecutors also can’t bother to mount a case it’s time the Albanese government stepped in and changed the law before any more hatred is fomented in our community.” NSW Premier Minns said his government was waiting on a report into 93Z and was looking at “potential law changes”, but that any amendments that impeded on free speech had to be “consistent with experts”. In Scotland parliament passed laws making “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred on the grounds of religion” an offence. The ECAJ pointed to a lack of similar wording in Australian criminal codes.
Please pray:
“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means… as the Christian is? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you prick us do we not bleed?” William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”.
* Please pray that Christians will lead the way in standing up for the rights of our Jewish brothers and sisters to live free from intimidation and slander.
* Pray for the Muslim community in Australia, especially the younger generation, that they can resist the incitement to violence that comes from radical and hate-filled leaders among them.
* Pray that the Albanese and Minns governments will find the wisdom and nerve to stand against the threats to our Jewish community and also against the threats to our democracy and our society.
Praying for Issues in the News
* The arrival home of Julian Assange is a momentous time for him, his family and the many followers who believe in his cause. What happens from here is also of course of great importance. It is one thing if he uses his freedom to return to a more normal lifestyle however supporters appear to be wanting him to continue to wage his war against society and pick up his activism where he left off when he was first arrested. Please pray for Assange and his wife and family that they would be careful in their choices of activities with which they involve themselves now that he has been freed. Pray too that he will not be forced by weight of expectations of activist friends to return to his former lifestyle of investigative journalism and espionage to his own personal detriment and also that of his family.
* The outspokenness of Muslim Labor Senator Fatima Payman has exposed the Labor leadership to claims of double standards where she has been allowed to get off virtually scot-free, without real punishment for committing a sin that has cost dozens of past Labor luminaries their careers, livelihoods, reputations and personal support as well as suspension, being expelled from the party and lifelong ridicule and excoriation. Please pray that this response to protect a Muslim Senator for political purposes will not herald a long-term change of not requiring people from other countries to adhere to established protocols that are designed to protect established Australian rules and values.
Praying for our Nation
The current condition of the land is a sign of the sin in the Church and the Nation. From the beginning of human habitation undealt-with sin and the resultant establishment of altars of offence have caused defilement of the land. Broken Covenant and Idolatry are two areas of sin that cause defilement of the land. We can no longer afford to leave this issue unaddressed.
This week by the study of His word and the revelation of His Spirit let us repent of what God calls idolatry in all its forms within the Church in Australia: Jeremiah 7:9-11, John 2:13-17
Source: Australian Prayer Network
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