Wednesday, March 5, 2014

...for all have sinned and fall short...


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AFWIS Joins Operation World in Prayer for the Republic of Belarus - Europe

Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)
Home > Mar 05: Belarus

Mar 05: Belarus


Belarus

Republic of Belarus

Europe

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 207,600 sq km
Landlocked; fertile agricultural land with extensive forests on the North European plains. Surrounded by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Smallest of the three Slavic nations of the former USSR.
Population: 9,587,940    Annual Growth: -0.47%
Capital: Minsk
Urbanites: 74.3%
HDI Rank: 68 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 28 (18% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Belarusian and Russian; the latter is more widely used    Languages: 11 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Christian
Religion               Pop %Ann Gr
Christians6,762,37470.530.4
Evangelicals122,5761.33.0

Challenges for Prayer

Orthodoxy and Catholicism enjoy privileged status as historic Slavic religious entities, but even these face limitations. Other denominations face opposition from the establishment.
a) The acceptance of Russian Orthodoxy by the state is in keeping with a traditional Slavic identity, and Orthodoxy remains largely a ritualistic entity for the purposes of baptising, marrying and burying. Renewal and reformation within the ancient confessions could potentially impact millions; pray for such to occur.
b) Religious movements face increasing pressure from government officials. These include Orthodox expressions that do not submit to the state-approved Moscow patriarchate (such as Old Believers, autocephalous and splinter Orthodox groups), Uniate Catholics, Protestants and groups such as Hare Krishna, Buddhists and pre-Christian pagans.
Evangelical Christians are increasing despite concerted opposition and intensifying persecution. The state steadfastly maintains laws that forbid meeting in homes for worship, forming congregations of less than 20 people, opening religious schools, ministering outside of the home city, and importing and distributing non-state-approved literature. All religious activity must receive state permission. All congregations are required to register; obstructionism in the registration process prevents many churches from meeting or growing. The inability to buy or rent property for worship is the biggest problem for evangelicals. Pray for:
a) Patient, overcoming faith for believers to withstand such difficulties. Evidence suggests that evangelicals are persisting, growing and finding ways to deal with these challenges.
b) Those in government who harass and persecute God’s Church, that they might (hopefully through believers) discover the truth of the gospel and the love of Christ.
c) Unity among the various evangelical groups – different denominations, registered and unregistered churches. Pray for greater cooperation to replace mistrust in many denominations.
d) The emergence of a truly Belarusian evangelicalism, one that is culturally relevant and reflective of national character, one that allows for worship and ministry from an indigenous foundation. Evangelicals are usually perceived as agents of the West.
e) Training of new leaders. As the Church grows, the new post-Communist generation needs to be discipled and shaped according to biblical values. This must be done amid repressive laws that restrict meeting, training and education.
     For an additional 6 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 Belarus.
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2 Corinthians 4 Geneva Study Bible


2 Corinthians 4 Geneva Study Bible

Chapter 4
4:1 Therefore 1 seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we a faint not;
(1) Now he plainly witnesses that both he and his associates (through the mercy of God) do their vocation and duty uprightly and sincerely, neglecting all dangers.
(a) Though we are broken in pieces with miseries and calamities, yet we do not yield.
4:2 But have renounced the b hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God c deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God.
(b) Subtilty and every type of deceit which men hunt after, as it were dens and lurking holes, to cover their shameless dealings with.
(c) This is that which he called in the former chapter, making merchandise of the word of God.
4:3 2 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
(2) An objection: many hear the Gospel, and yet are no more enlightened by it than by the preaching of the Law. He answers, "The fault is in the men themselves, whose eyes Satan plucks out, who rules in this world." And yet nonetheless he and his associates set forth the most clear light of the Gospel to be seen and beheld, seeing that Christ only whom they preach, is he in whom God will be known, and as it were seen.
4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the d light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the e image of God, should shine unto them.
(d) The light of plain and enlightening preaching, which shows forth the glory of Christ.
(e) In whom the Father sets himself forth to be seen and beheld.
4:5 3 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for f Jesus sake.
(3) He removes according to his accustomed manner, all suspicion of ambition, affirming that he teaches faithfully, but as a servant, and witnessing that all this light which he and his associates give to others, proceeds from the Lord.
(f) To preach this self same Jesus to you.
4:6 For God, g who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the h light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(g) Who made with his word alone.
(h) That being enlightened by God, we should in the same way give that light to others.
4:7 4 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 5 that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
(4) He takes away a stumbling block, which darkened among some, the bright shining of the ministry of the Gospel, that is, because the apostles were the most miserable of all men. Paul answers that he and his associates are as it were, earthen vessels, but yet there is in them a most precious treasure. (5) He brings marvellous reasons why the Lord does so afflict his principal servants, to the end, he says, that all men may perceive that they do not stand by any mans power, but by the singular power of God, in that they die a thousand times, but never perish.
4:10 6 Always bearing about in the body the i dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
(6) An amplification of the former sentence, in which he compares his afflictions to a daily death, and the power of the Spirit of God in Christ to life, who oppresses that death.
(i) So Paul calls that miserable estate and condition that the faithful, but especially the minsters, are in.
4:11 For we which k live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our l mortal flesh.
(k) Who live that life, that is, by the Spirit of Christ, among so many and so great miseries.
(l) Subject to that miserable condition.
4:12 7 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
(7) A very wise conclusion: as if he would say, "Therefore, to be short, we die that you may live by our death", because they ventured into all those dangers for the building of the Churchs sake, and they ceased not to strengthen and encourage all the faithful with the examples of their patience.
4:13 8 We having the same m spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
(8) He declares the former sentence, showing that he and his associates die in a way to purchase life for others, but yet nonetheless they are partakers of the same life with them: because they themselves do first believe that which they offer to others to believe, that is, that they also will be saved together with them in Christ.
(m) The same faith, by the inspiration of the same Spirit.
4:15 9 For all things [are] for your sakes, n that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
(9) He shows how this constancy is preserved in them, that is, because they are doing it for Gods glory, and the salvation of the churches committed to them.
(n) When it will please God to deliver me, and restore me to you, that exceeding benefit which will be poured upon me will in like sort result to the glory of God, by the thanksgiving of many.
4:16 For which cause we faint not; 10 but though our outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is o renewed day by day.

(10) He adds as it were a triumphant song, that he is outwardly afflicted, but inwardly he profits daily: and he is not bothered by all the miseries that may be sustained in this life, in comparison of that most constant and eternal glory.
(o) Gathers new strength so that the outward man is not overcome with the miseries which come freshly one after another, being maintained and upheld with the strength of the inward man.
4:17 For our p light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of q glory;
(p) Afflictions are not called light, as though they were light in themselves, but because they pass away quickly, as indeed our whole life is not of very long continuance.
(q) Which remains forever firm and stable, and can never be shaken.

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Romans 5 (NIV Audio)



Romans 5 ~ Geneva Study Bible
Chapter 5
5:1 Therefore being 1 justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
(1) Another argument taken from the effects: we are justified with that which truly appeases our conscience before God: and faith in Christ does appease our conscience and not the law, as it was said before, therefore by faith we are justified, and not by the law.
5:2 2 By whom also we a have access by faith into this grace b wherein we c stand, 3 and d rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(2) Whereas quietness of conscience is attributed to faith, it is to be referred to Christ, who is the giver of faith itself, and in whom faith itself is effectual.
(a) We must know by this, that we still receive the same effect from faith.
(b) By which grace, that is, by which gracious love and good will, or that state unto which we are graciously taken.
(c) We stand steadfast. (3) A preventing of an objection against those who, beholding the daily miseries and calamities of the Church, think that the Christians dream when they brag of their felicity: to whom the apostle answers, that their felicity is laid up under hope of another place: which hope is so certain and sure, that they rejoice for that happiness just as if they presently enjoyed it.
(d) Our minds are not only quiet and settled, but we are also marvellously glad, and have great joy because of the heavenly inheritance which awaits us.
5:3 4 And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: 5 knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
(4) Tribulation itself gives us different and various occasions to rejoice, and more than this it does not make us miserable. (5) Afflictions make us use to being patient, and patience assures us of the goodness of God, and this experience confirms and fosters our hope, which never deceives us.
5:5 6 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the e love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
(6) The foundation of hope is an assured testimony of the conscience, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we are loved by God, and this is nothing else but that which we call faith, from which it follows that through faith our consciences are quieted.
(e) With which he loves us.
5:6 7 For when we were yet without strength, in due f time Christ died for the ungodly.
(7) A sure comfort in adversity, so that our peace and quietness of conscience are not troubled: for he that so loved them that were of no strength and while they were yet sinners, that he died for them, how can he neglect them, having now been sanctified and living in him?
(f) At an appropriate and proper time which the Father had appointed.
5:7 8 For scarcely g for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
(8) An amplifying of the love of God towards us, so that we cannot doubt it, who delivered Christ to death for the unjust and for them from whom he could receive no useful thing, and, what is more, for his very enemies. How can it be then that Christ, being now alive, should not save them from destruction whom by his death he justifies and reconciles.
(g) In the place of a just man.
5:8 But God h commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet i sinners, Christ died for us.
(h) He commends his love toward us, so that in the midst of our afflictions we may know assuredly that he will be present with us.
(i) While sin reigned in us.
5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from k wrath through him.
(k) From affliction and destruction.
5:11 9 And not only [so], but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
(9) He now passes over to the other part of justification, which consists in the free imputation of the obedience of Christ: so that to the remission of sins, there is added moreover and besides, the gift of Christs righteousness imputed or put upon us by faith, which swallows up that unrighteousness which flowed from Adam into us, and all the fruits of it: so that in Christ we do not only cease to be unjust, but we begin also to be just.
5:12 10 Wherefore, as by l one man m sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, n for that all have sinned:

(10) From Adam, in whom all have sinned, both guiltiness and death (which is the punishment of the guiltiness) came upon all.
(l) By Adam, who is compared with Christ, and similar to him in this, that both of them make those who are theirs partakers of that which they have: but they are not the same in this, that Adam derives sin into them that are his, even into their very nature, and that to death: but Christ makes them that are his partakers of his righteousness by grace, and that to life.
(m) By sin is meant that disease which is ours by inheritance, and men commonly call it original sin: for so he calls that sin in the singular number, whereas if he speaks of the fruits of it, he uses the plural number, calling them sins.
(n) That is, in Adam.
5:13 11 (For until o the law sin was in the world: but sin is not p imputed when there is no law.

(11) That this is so, that both guiltiness and death began not after the giving and transgressing of law of Moses, is evident in that men died before that law was given: for in that they died, sin, which is the cause of death, existed then: and in such a way, that it was also imputed: because of this it follows that there was then some law, the breach of which was the cause of death.
(o) Even from Adam to Moses.
(p) Where there is no law made, no man is punished as faulty and guilty.
5:14 12 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over q them that had not sinned after the r similitude of Adams transgression, 13 who is the figure of him that was to come.

(12) But that this law was not the universal law, and that death did not proceed from any actual sin of everyone particularly, it appears by this, that the very infants which neither could ever know nor transgress that natural law, are nonetheless dead as well as Adam.
(q) Our infants.
(r) Nor after the manner of sin of those who are older, following their lusts: but yet the whole posterity was corrupted in Adam when he knowingly and willingly sinned.
(13) Now that first Adam corresponds to the latter, who is Christ, as it is afterward declared.
5:15 14 But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of s one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

(14) Adam and Christ are compared together in this respect, that both of them give and yield to theirs that which is their own: but the first difference between them is this, that Adam by nature has spread his fault to the destruction of many, but Christs obedience has be grace overflowed to many.
(s) That is, Adam.
5:16 15 And not as [it was] by one that sinned, [so is] the gift: for the judgment [was] by one to condemnation, but the free gift [is] of many offences unto t justification.

(15) Another inequality consists in this, that by Adams one offence men are made guilty, but the righteousness of Christ imputed unto us freely, does not only absolve us from that one fault, but from all others.
(t) To the sentence of absolution, by which we are acquitted and pronounced righteous.
5:17 16 For if by one mans offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall u reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

(16) The third difference is that the righteousness of Christ, being imputed to us by grace, is of greater power to bring life, than the offence of Adam is to condemn his posterity to death.
(u) Be partakers of true and everlasting life.
5:18 17 Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto x justification of life.

(17) Therefore, to be short, as by one mans offence the guiltiness came on all men to make them subject to death, so on the opposite side, the righteousness of Christ, which by Gods mercy is imputed to all believers, justifies them, that they may become partakers of everlasting life.
(x) Not only because our sins are forgiven us, but also because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us.
5:19 18 For as by one mans y disobedience z many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

(18) The foundation of this whole comparison is this, that these two men are set as two heads or roots, so that out of the one comes sin by nature, and from the other righteousness by grace springs forth upon others.
(y) So then, sin enters not into us only by following the steps of our forefathers, but we receive corruption from him by inheritance.
(z) The word "many" is contrasted with the words "a few".
5:20 19 Moreover the law a entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more b abound:

(19) A preventing of an objection: why then did the law of Moses then enter? So that men might be so much more the guilty, and the benefit of God in Christ Jesus be all the more glorious.
(a) In addition to that disease which all men were infected with by being defiled with one mans sin, the law entered.
(b) Grace was poured so plentifully from heaven that it did not only counterbalance sin, but beyond this it surpassed it.
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Psalm 143 (NIV)


Psalm 143 (New International Version)

Psalm 143

A psalm of David.

1 O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

3 The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead.

4 So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.

5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.

6 I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD, for I hide myself in you.

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.

12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.
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