APRAYED4CITY JULY 2013 PRAYER GUIDE

Thank you for joining with us to pray for the Dallas Metroplex today, July 7 and throughout the month of July.  

JULY 2013 PRAYER GUIDE

“Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.”  Proverbs 4:13

According to the 2013 Kids Count study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Texas ranks 30th among U.S. states for economic well-being, 36th in child healthcare, 48th in families and communities and

31st in education.

“Children aren’t faring very well in our community and across Texas.  What we see is kids are really suffering before they really get their shot at life,” “This is something that collectively we all should be concerned about.  Children of all circumstances make up our future.”

Daphne Barlow Stigliano,

President of the Boys & Girls Clubs

of Greater Fort Worth

This month AP4C is highlighting education.  It is our intention for believers from all ethnic, socio-economic and denominational backgrounds to unite in prayer and use this guide as a catalyst for our on-going prayer and the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom. 

Let these Scriptures and your time with God renew your heart for our Metroplex.  Please prepare your heart before you begin to pray through the AP4C   categories. 

SALVATION

Start children off the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”  Proverbs 22:6

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:11-12

Thank the Lord for the Christian students, administrators, teachers and staff He has placed within our schools.

Pray for God to open the door for the Gospel to be proclaimed on our school campuses in the context of genuine personal relationships between students, teachers, administrators, parents, and volunteers.

Pray for God to touch the hearts of those who don’t know Him so they can respond to God’s love and free gift of salvation through Jesus.

DISCIPLESHIP

And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”  James 2:15-17

Pray that Christian teachers and administrators will be wise, godly, caring individuals who will have a powerful impact within their schools.  Pray for wisdom and guidance as they navigate topics such as world religion, literature, science, and history.  Help them watch for opportunities to teach truth and dispel lies.

Pray for Christian students to be powerful witnesses for Christ even when that’s difficult. Pray for them to hunger after truth and righteousness and learn how to think through the lens of God’s Word.

Ask the Lord to open all our eyes to see injustice and oppression and to move us to advocate and volunteer.  Pray for the Church to respond with urgency to the education needs within the Metroplex.  Pray that God will raise up faithful intercessors to pray for students, parents, teachers and administrators on an on-going basis.

COMMUNITY

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”  Proverbs 12:12

“Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”  Nehemiah 1:11

Pray that parents would be genuinely interested in their children’s education; that they would take an active role in their children’s lives; and that they would respect, support, and cooperate with teachers.

Pray that students will be academically and emotionally prepared for college, the military, and/or a living-wage job when they graduate becoming productive members of our communities.

Pray for God to watch over our schools and to keep all students, staff, family, and volunteers safe from harm.

Pray that God will grant favor to the Church and open the hearts of all district and school administration, allowing us access to serve every public school. Praise the Lord for opening most of our local districts.

TRANSFORMATION

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8

Pray for God to raise up devoted teachers and principals who will serve as positive role models for our students. Pray for wisdom for them as they make efforts to improve the schools and endurance as they face daily trials.

Pray for emotional and physical protection for the superintendents, principals, and other administrators of our school districts as they make tough hiring and firing decisions.

Pray for curriculum creators and textbook writers to be guided by the Spirit of Truth as they develop future educational materials.

Pray for the state of education in our country.

THE STATE OF EDUCATION

Every year, 5,000 students in Dallas County fail to graduate.

Only 9% of DISD students who do graduate are college-ready.

By 3rd grade, only 40% of Dallas County students are reading at a level on track for college.  By 4th grade, that number has already dropped to closer to 30%.  Not reading at grade level by the 3rd grade is a strong indicator of future drop-outs, poverty and incarceration.

There is an overall low level and a consistently wide gap between the testing achievement for literacy between students who are economically disadvantaged compared with students who are not.

There are over 460,000 K-12 children in Dallas County.  91% of them go to public schools.  87% of DISD families are eligible for government benefits.

Think this is limited to Dallas County?  There are 24 campuses in Plano ISD alone attended by mostly low-income children.

“In these kids eyes, going to college is as achievable as going to the moon.”

Byron Sanders, Dallas Education Foundation

Should a child’s future success be limited by their parents’ income?  With the right opportunities, they can accomplish as much as any other.

What additional obstacles do children in low-income families have outside of the classroom?

Their families typically move more often.

Children in many low-income communities across the Metroplex don’t have access to healthy, affordable food outside of school.  Lack of a balanced breakfast makes it harder to pay attention and to think.

To make ends meet, parents often have to work long hours sometimes leaving the children unsupervised after school. 

Poverty is stressful—not only for the adults but also for the children.

What can the Church do?

Over 160 church-school partnerships have been identified across Greater Dallas.  The goal is for every low-income school to eventually have at least one church partner.

Hundreds of cross-trained tutors/mentors are needed at the beginning of the school year and the 2nd semester.  Strengthening and empowering low-income families and communities—especially through churches located in those communities—will create homes and neighborhoods more conducive to learning.

JUNE 7 APRAYED4CITY PRAYER GUIDE

THANKS FOR JOINING US IN PRAYING FOR THE DALLAS METROPLEX . FRIDAY, JUNE 7

HERE IS THE PRAYER GUIDE SENT BY APRAYED4CITY.

 ___________________________________________________

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man.  The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of man.”  That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Genesis 2:18; 21-24

The approval of the Texas Marriage Amendment by voters in Nov. 2005 specifies the definition of marriage in the Texas Constitution as the union of one man and one woman. It protects the longstanding social practice of recognizing only the union of a man and a woman as a marriage, and reinforces the Texas Defense of Marriage Act of 2003 prohibiting any political entity in the state from recognizing the union of two people of the same gender.

This month AP4C is highlighting the institution of marriage.  It is our intention for believers from all ethnic, socio-economic and denominational backgrounds to unite in prayer and use this guide as a catalyst for our on-going prayer and the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.  Let these Scriptures and your time with God renew your heart for our Metroplex.

Please prepare your heart before you begin to pray through the AP4C categories. 

TRANSFORMATION

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Ephesians 6:10-12

· Pray for God to reveal to members of the U.S. Supreme Court (members listed on back page) the importance of His design on the institution of marriage.

· Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict hearts across this city to protect marriage as the foundation for our society.

· Pray for God to bless, heal and/or restore the marriages of our educators, business leaders, media members, health care providers, elected officials, and church leaders.

· Pray for God’s people to respond with grace and truth, loving those who disagree with us about the sanctity and importance of marriage.

THE STATE OF MARRIAGE

Please find below information and statistics to help facilitate your on-going prayer, conversation and/or service:

Moral Acceptability Percentage       2001                     2013

Gay or lesbian relations      40%                    59%

Sex between an unmarried man & woman           53%               63%

Divorce  59%                     68%

Polygamy           7%                 14%

According to Research:

· The #1 cause of divorce is lack of communication

· An estimated 1 million U.S. divorces occur annually

· 83% of children born in S Dallas were to unmarried mothers

· 93% of children in S Dallas are being raised in single parent homes

· 2 out of 3 study participants say they are scared of the social, legal, emotional and economic consequences of divorce

U. S. Supreme Court Justices

Chief Justice John Roberts • Associate Justice Antonin Scalia •  Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas  Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Associate Justice Stephen Breyer 

Associate Justice Samuel Alito • Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor • Associate Justice Elena Kagan

The Supreme Court is reviewing the following two challenges to laws that define marriage as the

union of a man and a woman:

· Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - federal law passed by the U.S.   Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 

· Proposition 8 (Prop 8) - amendment to the California constitution passed by voters in 2008

Update from Jenni Jessen in Ethiopia

Priceless Cube in Ethiopia

Thank you everyone for all your prayers over Jenni's trip.  It has been an emotionally, physically and spiritually challenging trip for her.  Currently she is on her way home and will arrive Sunday night.  Below is a heartfelt recount of some of her sights, sounds and emotions.  In addition to the results of this trip, the 4 villages her team was working in are now coming together to begin to protect the woman and children in their communities.


May 25, 2013 - Update from the heart
The sun burned down on my head and the homes plastered in manure. Its heat indiscriminate, baked us each a golden brown. Hiking on rocky trails from home to home I tried to take in the sights, the people, the stories. But as each hour on the field passed, I felt myself becoming anesthetized. By the evening of the second day, I could no longer feel my gut. I know exactly the moment it happened. I had used the Priceless cube to teach a group of 23 people in the Bahir Dar region of Ethiopia about the realities of human trafficking. I had talked about slavery, abuse, rape-for-profit. It was clear. It was concise. At the end of the presentation I asked if there were any questions. Two young women called from the back, "Yes, how do we get our sisters back?" Their plea cut me deep. The only way to bear the pain of that moment and continue to function was with a spiritual epidural. I couldn't breathe. I didn't know even if I wanted to. I found myself once again like a child who must become numb to survive. With a deep breath, I explained to the women that there are people doing investigations and rescue all over the world but that our only real hope is in Jesus. I assured them that he loves their sisters even more than they do and that He is the God of rescue.

Our trek took us over ground cracked deep and into families broken by deception. In every place the stories were the same.

"They took my nephew when he was 8. We have never heard from him. That was three years ago."

"I just got my passport picture yesterday and I am supposed to leave for the Middle East in two days."

"I sent my daughter two years ago. She only called once. She was afraid and wanted to come home but the phone went dead. We have not heard from her again."

Place after place the sadness washed over me, it pooled deep. My tears lay in wait, themselves waiting to be released from captivity. This morning, as if resurrected from an ancient tomb, my heart came throbbing back to life, swollen and bleeding. We listened first in Amharic then in English as a government agent explained what they know is happening to the women and children trafficked from this region into the Middle East. He told us of people being tightly packed into shipping containers with no food, water or toilet. When these containers are shipped by land as many as 50% of the people will die in the container before reaching their destination several days later. Others are taken through the desert to Djibouti and then shipped by sea to Yemen. Often the ships are overloaded with human cargo and they become unstable in the journey. The traffickers then throw a number of the children to their death into the sea. When arriving in Yemen, the ships don't land in a seaport but instead in the desert. Those who have survived are met by men who like lions eagerly await those whom they will devour for a profit. Shopping through the "human merchandise" like cattle, they bid pennies for the bodies of children.

And it came like a tidal wave crashing through my defenses. I wept. I wept for those who have gone. I wept for those stripped of their humanity and packed into shipping containers. I wept for the children somewhere on a storm tossed sea crying out for mothers they will never see again. I wept tears of relief for those who mercifully die in route before the unthinkable happens and then happens again. And I cried for young girls and boys who are desperately learning how to survive by appeasing the lust of beasts dressed as men.

I am compelled to my knees crying out for mercy. "Father, forgive us! How have we let this happen?" The tears come, they wash away the red clay crust of the week. 

 

Our team was welcomed into 120 homes over four days. We saw more than 30 families with plans to send their wives or children commit instead to protecting them, keeping them home. We saw young women with recently obtained passports changing their minds and refusing to go. We witnessed the courses of these women and children's lives changed forever. In every home we shared the hope we have in Jesus. I told them of His power displayed in my own life to bring rescue and healing. We invited them into a personal relationship with him. 465 people over the course of the week accepted that offer, not only for hope in their present lives but also for eternity.

Our final two days in Ethiopia were spent helping to host a conference on human trafficking. 70+ leaders were trained and equipped with thePriceless cube. We were also able to work with the staff of Compassion International-Ethiopia equipping their staff with training and Priceless cubes.

The trip pulled and stretched me in many different ways. It broke my heart and if possible, even further solidified my stand. When asked by a national church leader, "if we take a stand against human traffickers will it not be dangerous?"

I answered, "Jesus was innocent of any sin but he was crucified for you and for me. If I am threatened or hurt for taking a stand to protect those who are defenseless, then that is nothing in comparison to what Jesus did for me. We must protect the vulnerable because everyone of them is made in the image of God."

Truly, after the experiences carved into my soul this week, I can say along with famed abolitionist William Wilberforce, "Your sufferings have been the theme that has arrested and engaged my heart."


In His Grip,

Jenni