Sunday, June 22, 2014

Romans 10 (NIV)

Romans 10

1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" 16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." 19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, "I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding." 20 And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." 21 But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."

Psalm 57 NIV

Psalm 57

57:7-11pp -- Ps 108:1-5

For the director of music. [To the tune of] "Do Not Destroy." Of David. A "miktam." When he had fled from Saul into the cave.

1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me. 3 He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; "Selah" God sends his love and his faithfulness. 4 I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts-- men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. 6 They spread a net for my feet-- I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path-- but they have fallen into it themselves. "Selah" 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. 8 Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. 9 I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. 10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

A Fresh Word in Season Joins Operation World in Prayer for the Republic of India in Asia

Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)

Jun 22: India, Delhi, Goa

India, Delhi, Goa

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India

Republic of India

Asia

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 3,166,000 sq km
A further 121,000 sq km of Kashmir, a contested area, is administered by Pakistan and China. Geographically and politically, India dominates South Asia and the Indian Ocean. There are 28 Union States and 7 Union Territories.
Population: 1,214,464,312 Annual Growth: 1.44%
Capital: Delhi
Urbanites: 30.1%
HDI Rank: 134 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 2,533 (88% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Constitutionally there are 22 official languages. The official language is Hindi (spoken by 40% of the population). English is a subsidiary official language Languages: 456 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Hinduism

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	71,011,000	5.84	3.7
Evangelicals	26,290,283	2.2	3.9
Hinduism	902,711,323	74.33

Prayercast

Challenge for Prayer

Christian media and help ministries play key roles in reaching hundreds of millions who have negligible interaction with Christians or churches. For prayer:
a) The Bible Society has had a long and remarkable ministry in India – its 200-year anniversary is in 2011. It has played a key role in distributing over 30 million portions of Scripture or Bibles annually. Other organizations also supply and distribute Scriptures, such as World Home Bible League, Bibles for the World, Biblica and Bharatiya Bible League. India Bible League does excellent work in effective Bible distribution and simple discipleship via their Project Philip.
b) Bible translation is a major challenge.
     i India has 456 languages; 429 of those are spoken by more than 1,000 people. At present, the full Bible is available in only 70 languages and the NT in 120. Translation is underway in another 136 languages. A new effort as great as that of William Carey's 200 years ago must occur. At the current rate of project completion, it will take until the end of this century to see all of India’s languages covered. But a partnership of agencies is establishing a translation-training centre that will drastically increase the projected rate of completion.
     ii Indian missions have identified 154 languages that still need Bible translation. Of these, seven have more than 1 million speakers and 21 have more than 100,000.
     iii United Bible Society has 86 projects in hand.
     iv Various Indian agencies are involved in Scripture translation projects – Indian Bible Translators, IEM, IET, FMPB, NIEA, GFA, ORBIT, NLCI and Wycliffe India.
     v Wycliffe India provides training in linguistics for many agencies and helps to monitor progress in dozens of projects.
     vi Modern, culturally appropriate translations are needed in Urdu and many other languages.
c) Literature distribution. Writing, publishing and distributing Christian literature are major factors in evangelism, especially by groups such as OM, EHC, GFA, Operation Agape and SGM. EHC alone has produced 500 million pieces of Christian literature for India.
d) Christian publishing and bookstores. Encouragingly, books written by indigenous authors and published locally are increasing. But publishers must still contend with a relative lack of titles by Indians for Indians and with prohibitive costs in making books available for the poor. OM Books/Biblica is now the largest literature-distribution agency in Asia, with more than 30 branches within India. Pray for Gospel Literature Service in Mumbai (publishing books, tracts and such) and Evangelical Literature Service (CLC) with headquarters in Chennai (17 stores and 350 book titles in print). GFA Bible Society is one of the largest producers of literature in India, annually distributing 50 million pieces. Christian Booksellers Association was formed in 2000.
e) Bible Correspondence Courses, sent out from over 70 centres, have proved fruitful.
f) Audio resources, such as Talking Bibles, are strategically vital, since over half the population are functionally illiterate. GRN, as part of Project India, has recordings in over 400 languages and dialects and seeks to record into another 800. Faith Comes By Hearing, World Cassette Outreach, Hosanna and The Bible Society have large programmes for making audio-Scriptures available in all possible languages.
g) Christian medical work remains crucial to Christian witness, but is declining as the government increases its capacity for healthcare. Christian Medical Association and Catholic Health Association share oversight of over 700 hospitals. Emmanuel Hospitals Association has responsibility for 23 hospitals and 30 community-health programmes in North India. The high proportion of Christians in healthcare and nursing in particular is a positive testimony; pray that physical healing and spiritual new life might be found through these workers and the many Christian health care facilities they serve.
h) Christian films and videos are important:
     i Dayasagar (also known as Karunamaiyudu and other names), an Indian feature-length film on Jesus, is available in 21 main languages of India; tens of millions have seen this film. Over 300 film teams from several different organizations show this film all over the country, to powerful effect. Showings number up to 2,000 a month and viewers of these up to 3 million a year.
     ii The JESUS film is available in 110 languages. Pray that the hundreds of partners using this film will have success as they plant new churches across India.
i) Radio and TV are increasingly important media as millions more Indians tune in each year. Christian broadcasting has won an enormous following among Christians and non-Christians alike. Pray for:
     i Programme producers – there is great need to generate quality programmes and to find talented, committed, native speakers. Some agencies involved: India Gospel Outreach, HBI, GFA, WEC-Radio Worldwide, BBI.
     ii Broadcasters. The major agencies – TWR, FEBA and FEBC – broadcast between them 770 hours per week in over 100 languages on both shortwave and medium wave frequencies, and increasingly on national and local radio.
     iii The massive growth in satellite and cable TV use means that TV is replacing radio. Foreign-based TV ministries are beamed into the country, and others have operations in India (such as CBN). Praise God also for the several Indian indigenous 24-hour Christian TV channels initiated in the last 5-10 years. Most of them are still regional. Pray that more Christian ministries may adapt and make use of the possibilities of this medium.
     iv Internet evangelism is poised to become possibly the most significant media ministry in the country as India continues to accelerate in its technological revolution and maintain its place as one of the world’s leaders in IT. The number of active Internet users was 1.4 million in 1999, 45 million in 2009. Engaging and effective Christian content and sites for both evangelism and discipleship, in many languages, are needed now and even more for the future.
     For an additional 14 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.