Thursday, May 23, 2013

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

Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)
Home > May 23: Finland

May 23: Finland

Finland

Republic of Finland

Europe

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 338,145 sq km
This northern country is 70% forest, 10% lake, 8% arable land.
Population: 5,345,826    Annual Growth: 0.38%
Capital: Helsinki
Urbanites: 63.9%
HDI Rank: 12 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 35 (20% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Finnish, Swedish, Saami, sign language    Languages: 23 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Christian
Religion               Pop %Ann Gr
Christians4,477,12983.750.0
Evangelicals648,68212.1-0.1

Answer to Prayer

The nation is one of the most affluent and peaceful on earth. It consistently ranks at or near the top of the table in global surveys that measure civil liberties, education, peace, income, stability and environmental issues. While this is a point for thanksgiving, pray also that this would be a platform for generous giving and committed ministry and outreach.
     For an additional 2 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

Challenge for Prayer

The Lutheran Church retains a stronger evangelical tradition than most state churches, partly a heritage of the revival movements of the past that have influenced its spirituality. The large majority still claim affiliation with Lutheranism, but much of it is a nominal or social attachment. Only around 12% of Lutherans would be regarded as evangelical. The wider Lutheran Church faces several challenges:
a) Liberalism. To a large degree, the teachings and direction of the Church are shifting from traditional biblical values to a much broader morality. This is the source of much controversy, since the prophetic role of the Church in society is blunted.
b) Independent and lay movements within the national Church framework. There are many such groups, a large number from a revivalist background. It is in these that most committed Lutherans find their fellowship and platform for evangelism. They may face increasing restrictions in their evangelical preaching and teaching from a liberal Lutheran hierarchy, but these groups are a very important element of Finland’s spiritual life. Pray for their continued freedom to function and lead in many aspects of spiritual life.
c) Younger leadership. Increasingly, aging church populations find themselves out of touch with a younger generation. A more vibrant spirituality must replace traditional religious and cultural forms. Sadly, a growing number of younger, more evangelical Lutherans are frozen out of leadership positions precisely because their faith is too dynamic! Pray that these vibrant younger evangelicals might not lose heart, and pray that God will open doors for them to have a great revitalizing effect on the national Church.
d) Future tensions. As with many mainline groups elsewhere, a major fault line is appearing in Finnish Lutheranism between the liberal element and a more evangelical, conservative element. How this plays out, and who is perceived as causing the conclusive schism, will profoundly shape both the Lutheran Church and Finnish perceptions of Christianity. Some of the more conservative groups and fellowships have already split off and formed new denominations along what they believe to be more biblically faithful teaching.
     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 Finland.
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Job 42 (New International Version)




Job 42

Job

1 Then Job replied to the LORD :
2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.'

5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Epilogue

7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver [a] and a gold ring.

12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.
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Job 41 (New International Version)





Job 41

1 "Can you pull in the leviathan [a] with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?

2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3 Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words?

4 Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life?

5 Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?

6 Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?

7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering.

10 No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me?

11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

12 "I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form.

13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle?

14 Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth?

15 His back has [b] rows of shields tightly sealed together;

16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.

17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.

18 His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.

20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth.

22 Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him.

23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.

24 His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.

25 When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing.

26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

27 Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.

28 Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him.

29 A club seems to him but a piece of straw; he laughs at the rattling of the lance.

30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31 He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair.

33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature without fear.

34 He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud."
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Job 40 NIV





Job 40

1 The LORD said to Job:

2 "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!"

3 Then Job answered the LORD :

4 "I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.

5 I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more."

6 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:

7 "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

8 "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

9 Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like his?

10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

11 Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low,

12 look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.

14 Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

15 "Look at the behemoth, [a] which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.

16 What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly!

17 His tail [b] sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit.

18 His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron.

19 He ranks first among the works of God, yet his Maker can approach him with his sword.

20 The hills bring him their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby.

21 Under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.

22 The lotuses conceal him in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround him.

23 When the river rages, he is not alarmed; he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth.

24 Can anyone capture him by the eyes, [c] or trap him and pierce his nose?
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Job 39 (New International Version)




Job 39

1 "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2 Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?

3 They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.

4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

5 "Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his ropes?

6 I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat.

7 He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear a driver's shout.

8 He ranges the hills for his pasture and searches for any green thing.

9 "Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?

10 Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he till the valleys behind you?

11 Will you rely on him for his great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to him?

12 Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork.

14 She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,

15 unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.

16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17 for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

19 "Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

20 Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?

21 He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray.

22 He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

24 In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

25 At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!' He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 "Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?

28 He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is his stronghold.

29 From there he seeks out his food; his eyes detect it from afar.

30 His young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there is he."
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Proverbs 23 (New International Version)





Proverbs 23

1 When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what [a] is before you,

2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.

5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

6 Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies;

7 for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. [b] "Eat and drink," he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.

9 Do not speak to a fool, for he will scorn the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

11 for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

14 Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. [c]

15 My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad;

16 my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.

18 There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path.

20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,

21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

24 The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him.

25 May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!

26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways,

27 for a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

28 Like a bandit she lies in wait, and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

33 Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things.

34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

35 "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?"
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Psalm 147 (New International Version)



Psalm 147

1 Praise the LORD. [a] How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.

8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.

9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man;

11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

12 Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion,

13 for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.

14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.

16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.

17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?

18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.

20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.
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