Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Prayer Concern for the Philippines

I just got this text message from a friend in the prayer ministry of Word for the World Christian Fellowship:

" Shalom. Last month Sis Dina dreamed of a cone shaped volcano pouring out lava. During Tuesday's prayer meeting Sis Alma and Flora also saw a volcano. It was the latter who dreamed of a major landslide several weeks ago. Pls pray and at the same time relay this message to govt authorities to evacuate people within the vicinity of Mayon Volcano. May God have mercy on our people."

Weeks before the landslide in St. Bernard, Flora dreamt of a major landslide. She had an urge to pray but probably because she was still very sleepy, she did not rise up. Then the landslide came. She felt remorse for not listening to that little voice.

When I got the text message, I prayed with my son and it was my son who suggested that I email this text message. We all know the power of prayer. Our son Benedict is a living testimony to that. (He had cardiac arrest when he was 4 days old and was in coma for a few days. But praises be to God, He heard the prayers of friends and family. Ben is now 11 years old and excels in his class.) That is just one testimony of the power of prayer. Am sure all of you have your own testimonies.

Having said that, I urge all of you to please pray for our nation. God is no longer just whispering to us. He is shouting at us. All these things that are happening in our country are interconnected -- they are all God's way of telling us, individually and as a nation to return to Him.

SPECIAL PRAYER CONCERNS:

For the victims in St. Bernard
Let us continue to pray for the victims of the landslide in St. Bernard. I believe that there are still survivors under the rubbles just like how rescuers found survivors under the rubbles in the Quezon floods and in Baguio during the July 16 earthquake. May God give the survivors strength to hold on. And may He give wisdom to the rescuers and lead them to the survivors.

For Mayon Volcano
God is in control of everything. He has ordered the storm to stop and it obeyed Him. We can also ask Him to stop Mayon Volcano from errupting. But let us also pray that the people around the volcano heed the warning signs and leave for safety. And should the volcano errupt, may it not cause us to grieve like what happened in Mt. Pinatubo.

Over and over, God has been telling His people in the Bible to repent and return to Him. (2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.")

In Ezekiel 22:30 God said "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it."

Let us stand in the gap for our nation and storm the gates of heaven so that God will heal our land.