Thursday, November 3, 2011
Today We Join With Operation World in Praying for
Spain
Kingdom of Spain
Europe
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 504,783 sq km
The major part of the Iberian peninsula and Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Also included are the Canary Islands off northwest Africa and the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coast.
Population: 45,450,497 Annual Growth: 1.02%
Capital: Madrid
Urbanites: 77.4%
HDI Rank: 15 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Official language: Catalán, Galician and Basque are official languages in the respective autonomous regions. Castilian (Spanish) is the only official language for all the Spanish territory. Spanish is the first language of over 340 million people; the world’s third most widely used language Languages: 21 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian
| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 35,055,968 | 77.13 | 0.1 |
| Evangelicals | 461,998 | 1.0 | 3.4 |
Answer to Prayer
Spain’s transformation since 1978 is astonishing, from dictatorship to liberty, poverty to wealth, isolation to integration into Europe and religious discrimination to religious liberty. Spain has had only two brief periods of religious freedom, 1868-1875 and 1931-1939, before the new Constitution passed in 1978. Thank God for more than 30 years of liberty, and pray that Spain’s believers would take full advantage of it. For an additional 2 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
a) Morality, and values in general, have suffered. Decadent behaviours and hedonistic lifestyles, combined with increased material possessions, cause greater degrees of depression, addiction, debt and lost direction. The younger generation rejects the idea of absolute truth. Pray that Christianity might still be able to provide a moral compass and demonstrate moral authority.
b) Spiritual confusion. False beliefs are quickly multiplying – a natural consequence of the rapidly formed vacuum left by departure from religious faith. Spaniards flirting with occult practices is common. New Age deceptions abound. Marginal cults such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons have a large presence, augmented now by the arrival of new foreign sects and other religions.
c) Drugs are a blight on Spain, one of the world’s heaviest users of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Around two million take drugs, most of them young people. Cocaine dominates the drug trade, but heroin wreaks particular havoc on the health of users. As yet, there are no signs of drug abuse or addiction abating.
d) Gambling addiction remains a problem for the nation as well. It is estimated that 15% of net household income is spent on betting, possibly one of the highest proportions of any nation in the world. Bookmakers and gambling companies press in harder on the lucrative Spanish market, well aware of the breadth of addiction.
e) Sexual ethics and behaviours are a battleground, since immorality, prostitution and abortion are common. Children are sexualized at ever younger ages, while an “anything goes” mentality characterizes young people especially. The Spanish have all but stopped having children – they have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, lower still if excluding immigrant families. All of these will have devastating future consequences in terms of disease, social attitudes and demographic pressure.
Pray for Spain to wake up to the lies that have blinded it to the truth of the gospel. Pray for social renewal, and that those working for the salvation of the Spanish might be endowed with love, power and wisdom.
For an additional 12 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
Challenge for Prayer
Spain’s modern transformation is not all positive. Secular materialism brought religious freedom and economic advancement, but it has also struck a crushing blow to traditional foundations of society and created a spiritual vacuum that is being filled with many dangerous elements.a) Morality, and values in general, have suffered. Decadent behaviours and hedonistic lifestyles, combined with increased material possessions, cause greater degrees of depression, addiction, debt and lost direction. The younger generation rejects the idea of absolute truth. Pray that Christianity might still be able to provide a moral compass and demonstrate moral authority.
b) Spiritual confusion. False beliefs are quickly multiplying – a natural consequence of the rapidly formed vacuum left by departure from religious faith. Spaniards flirting with occult practices is common. New Age deceptions abound. Marginal cults such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons have a large presence, augmented now by the arrival of new foreign sects and other religions.
c) Drugs are a blight on Spain, one of the world’s heaviest users of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Around two million take drugs, most of them young people. Cocaine dominates the drug trade, but heroin wreaks particular havoc on the health of users. As yet, there are no signs of drug abuse or addiction abating.
d) Gambling addiction remains a problem for the nation as well. It is estimated that 15% of net household income is spent on betting, possibly one of the highest proportions of any nation in the world. Bookmakers and gambling companies press in harder on the lucrative Spanish market, well aware of the breadth of addiction.
e) Sexual ethics and behaviours are a battleground, since immorality, prostitution and abortion are common. Children are sexualized at ever younger ages, while an “anything goes” mentality characterizes young people especially. The Spanish have all but stopped having children – they have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, lower still if excluding immigrant families. All of these will have devastating future consequences in terms of disease, social attitudes and demographic pressure.
Pray for Spain to wake up to the lies that have blinded it to the truth of the gospel. Pray for social renewal, and that those working for the salvation of the Spanish might be endowed with love, power and wisdom.
For an additional 12 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
More Information
The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Spain.
Rich Mullins: None are stronger
See, I believe that if you were chosen, that if you were elected. I believe if God has anything for you, it's not just to make you happy. God did not choose you and call you out of this world just to make you high. And God didn't choose you and God didn't call you out of this world just so you that could be pious. Because there are enough pious people and enough happy people in the world. What God called you for, and what God called you to is to make a difference in the world.
You know, there are a lot of people who have never heard the gospel of Christ. Somehow, I have a little bit of trouble when I see people spend fifteen, sixteen bucks a hit to hear some flashy Christian group say 'Jesus is Lord' to the tune of fifteen bucks a person when there are people who live not far from here who can't even afford to buy a Bible. And somehow, it seems a little bit weird that we should have more ministers in this country and fewer people, when in the world where there are so many people who would give anything to have a minister, they can't find them, because they're not there, because they're in our country.
I don't believe that God chose you and blessed you so that you could heap those blessings up upon yourself. I believe God chose you and you and you and every one of you others, because He wants to make a difference in this world. And you know what? What I think is scary about God is He didn't come up with any 'plan B.' That He left the church here, and the church is the only group of people and the church is the only institution in the world that can bring about a change. This government cannot do it, so stop depending on the government. Educational systems cannot do it, so stop trusting educational systems. The church was chosen by God to make a difference.
And you know what, people? You ain't going to make a difference by building more bombs. And you ain't going to make a difference by putting on more makeup and showing up on more television shows. And you're not going to make a difference by having the loudest P/A or the biggest crowd at your concerts. You're gonna make a difference when you lay down your life, and in complete submission to God, choose to die with Him in service to other people. And I had this great realization one night, and that's when I wrote this song.
And as I lay me down one evening,
I thought of Jesus on the hill
And how for men He was weeping,
When it was Him they were going to kill
And I know it would have saved them
Had they only just allowed
None are stronger than the humble
And few are weaker than the proud
And then my thoughts, they turned to David,
And how he watched his father's flocks
How the music that he was playing
Could calm the demons in a mighty man's heart
And when the prophet came round looking for a king,
He sought young David out,
'Cause none are stronger than the humble
And few are weaker than the proud
And I know that you know about Moses,
And how he left the Pharoah's courts
When he saw the injustice
Done to the people, the people of the Lord
And though his fears drove him to hiding,
The Lord his heart with courage soon endowed
'Cause none are stronger than the humble
And few are weaker than the proud
And none are stronger than the humble
And few are weaker than the proud
Psalm 65
Psalm 65
New International Version (NIV)
Psalm 65
Psalm 65[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song. 1 Praise awaits[b] you, our God, in Zion;to you our vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave[c] our transgressions.
4 Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
6 who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.[d]
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
Footnotes:
- Psalm 65:1 In Hebrew texts 65:1-13 is numbered 65:2-14.
- Psalm 65:1 Or befits; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Psalm 65:3 Or made atonement for
- Psalm 65:9 Or for that is how you prepare the land
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