Pray Every Day February

Hello friends,
I con­tinue to be encour­aged by the col­lec­tive response to our shared desire to pray as a Fel­low­ship through Pray Every Day. For the month of Feb­ru­ary, we are con­cen­trat­ing on strength­ened mar­riages and fam­i­lies. Please feel free to use this video in your church com­mu­nity, in wor­ship ser­vices or other appro­pri­ate con­texts. Note also the global prayer points, where we remem­ber our global work­ers and fam­i­lies they are touch­ing around the world. Thanks again for pray­ing with us!

Dave Wells,

Gen­eral Superintendent

Feb­ru­ary 2012 Prayer Focus: Strength­ened Mar­riages and Families

• Pray that God will soften hearts and bring rec­on­cil­i­a­tion between hus­bands and wives, and increase their com­mit­ment to faithfulness.
• Pray that Chris­t­ian mar­riages and fam­i­lies will become an increas­ingly pow­er­ful wit­ness to Cana­dian society.
• Pray that men, women and chil­dren every­where would grow in humil­ity and expres­sions of love, grace, ser­vant­hood, self-sacrifice and forgiveness.
• Pray for God’s bless­ing on sin­gle men and women and that they will be led into His full pur­pose for their lives.
• Pray that God will bring heal­ing to bro­ken fam­i­lies and com­fort to those mourn­ing the loss of a loved one.

Thanks to all of the church who have already begun order­ing Pray Every Day mate­ri­als for this year. We encour­age those who have not done so to place orders shortly, as sup­plies are lim­ited. Direct requests to orderdesk@paoc.org

Theme Scrip­tures:

Eph­esians 5:31–33, NIV
“For this rea­son a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a pro­found mystery—but I am talk­ing about Christ and the church. How­ever, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves him­self, and the wife must respect her hus­band.
1 Peter 3:8–9, TNIV
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sym­pa­thetic, love one another, be com­pas­sion­ate and hum­ble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the con­trary, repay evil with bless­ing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a bless­ing.
1 John 4:7–11, TNIV
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Every­one who loves has been born of God and knows God. Who­ever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an aton­ing sac­ri­fice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 Corinthi­ans 13:4–7, TNIV
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dis­honor oth­ers, it is not self-seeking, it is not eas­ily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always pro­tects, always trusts, always hopes, always per­se­veres.
Proverbs 18:22, TNIV
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.
Jere­miah 29:11, TNIV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to pros­per you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Psalm 46:1, NLT
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Do you have a story to share about this month’s or any other pre­vi­ous prayer focus? Please e-mail us at prayer@paoc.org. Visit www.paoc.org to read other tes­ti­monies of God’s faithfulness.

Thank you for pray­ing along with us this month as we seek the Lord for bless­ing on our mar­riages and fam­i­lies. We also encour­age you to pray for our Global Work­ers along the fol­low­ing lines:

• Our global work­ers need your con­tin­ued prayers and encour­age­ment. Pray that God will strengthen the bond between hus­bands, wives and chil­dren as they face ongo­ing emo­tional and rela­tional adjust­ment chal­lenges on the mis­sion field.
• Pray that their fam­ily lives will be a good model for local com­mu­ni­ties in which they serve.
• Pray that God will open oppor­tu­ni­ties for them to share God’s orig­i­nal design and plan for mar­riage and fam­ily life with those they encounter.
• Pray for those work­ers serv­ing alone, that they will be con­tin­u­ally encour­aged and that God will pro­vide and sus­tain a strong local and Cana­dian sup­port base.
• Pray that our global work­ers will be able to make a tremen­dous dif­fer­ence in the lives of bro­ken or frag­mented fam­i­lies, point­ing them to restor­ing love and power of Jesus Christ.
  

A Fresh Start

A Mes­sage From Our Gen­eral Superintendent

A Fresh Start


Cli­quer ici pour lire cet arti­cle en français.

Although there is noth­ing set in stone that says Jan­u­ary  is the date all life-changing deci­sions must be made, the start of a new year is when we tend to make those kinds of res­o­lu­tions. With hope that a fresh start is pos­si­ble, many peo­ple set out to improve their phys­i­cal well-being; oth­ers, to pur­sue their per­sonal “bucket lists.” But a life-changing res­o­lu­tion that is espe­cially chal­leng­ing to pur­sue is the restora­tion of bro­ken relationships.

Over­com­ing rela­tional bro­ken­ness requires courage and humil­ity. Inevitably, some­one has to ini­ti­ate con­ver­sa­tions and actions that pro­vide an oppor­tu­nity for a new script in the rela­tion­ship to be fol­lowed. As we all know, this is never easy. In fact, it is so chal­leng­ing that most peo­ple choose to keep liv­ing by the old storyline.

Ini­ti­at­ing a rec­on­cil­i­a­tion process is risky. It involves giv­ing and receiv­ing for­give­ness and open­ing your­self up to poten­tial hurt and mis­un­der­stand­ing. Out­comes are not guar­an­teed. Things may not change. As a result, the major­ity of peo­ple choose to live with their frac­tured relationships.

As fol­low­ers of Jesus, how­ever, we are not free to be like the major­ity. The Scrip­tures con­sis­tently call us to an alter­na­tive under­stand­ing that needs to rule our think­ing and behav­iour. When it comes to our rela­tion­ships, the core of the gospel is the mes­sage of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. As Paul clearly teaches, “All this is from God, who rec­on­ciled us to him­self through Christ and gave us the min­istry of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion: that God was rec­on­cil­ing the world to him­self in Christ, not count­ing men’s sins against them. And he has com­mit­ted to us the mes­sage of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. We are there­fore Christ’s ambas­sadors, as though God were mak­ing his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be rec­on­ciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin­for us, so that in him we might become the right­eous­ness of God” (2 Corinthi­ans 5:18–21).

“When we fail to live as those rec­on­ciled to God and to one another, we dis­credit His work and mes­sage in the eyes of others.”

The work of Christ on the cross is cen­tral to our rela­tion­ship with God (“Be rec­on­ciled”) and with one another (“he has com­mit­ted to [you] the mes­sage of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion”). It is the essence of our mes­sage to those who do not know God, but it also gives us cred­i­bil­ity as His messengers—we are the rec­on­ciled. When we fail to live as those rec­on­ciled to God and to one another, we dis­credit His work and mes­sage in the eyes of oth­ers. This under­stand­ing is crit­i­cal. Jesus warns us that our fail­ure to for­give affects our rela­tion­ship to God: “For if you for­give men when they sin against you, your heav­enly Father will also for­give you. But if you do not for­give men their sins, your Father will not for­give your sins” (Matthew 6:14,15).

If you or I start 2012 with bit­ter atti­tudes or thoughts of ani­mos­ity toward some­one, we have to face this sober­ing reality—our atti­tudes and thoughts are in oppo­si­tion to Jesus and His gospel.

But what if we gen­uinely feel we have done all that we can do? What if seek­ing to heal a rela­tion­ship could lead us back into an abu­sive, threat­en­ing envi­ron­ment? Then we hear what Paul says in Romans 12:18, “If it is pos­si­ble, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with every­one.” I am not intend­ing to pro­duce a false sense of guilt or to spur unwise ini­tia­tives. The Scrip­ture sets the stan­dard: “as far as it depends on you.” I believe in a gospel of grace. There is grace for those who have endeav­ored to pur­sue rec­on­cil­i­a­tion in an hon­est, tena­cious man­ner only to find that a fel­low believer, fam­ily mem­ber, friend, neigh­bour or enemy is deter­mined to live with­out rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. It is up to us to hon­estly ask the ques­tion: Am I say­ing and doing all that depends on me?

As we enter this new year, how can we give a rela­tion­ship a fresh start? Here are some scrip­turally based truths to engage: Ask the Spirit to enable you to see the sit­u­a­tion and the other per­son in the light of Christ and His work on the cross. Ask for for­give­ness and com­mu­ni­cate for­give­ness. Speak the truth in love. For­give­ness and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion are not acti­vated by denial or by ignor­ing real­ity, but by truth spo­ken with grace and clarity.

What do we need to do to hon­our God in our rela­tion­ships this year? In the end, we are oblig­ated to do all we can do—no more, no less.

Lord, the issues of rec­on­cil­ing a rela­tion­ship are very chal­leng­ing. At times we do feel that we have done all we can do. Show us the truth by your Spirit, through your Word. Guide us in our call­ing to be Your min­is­ters of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. For your glory. Amen.

This arti­cle by David Wells appeared in the Jan­u­ary 2012 edi­tion of tes­ti­mony, the monthly pub­li­ca­tion of The Pen­te­costal Assem­blies of Canada.

Pray Every Day: January 2012

Prayer Focus: Revival and Spir­i­tual Awak­en­ing in Canada                

•      Pray that this will be a year of a renewed hunger and thirst for God and His right­eous­ness
through­out Canada.

•      Pray that bar­ri­ers to shar­ing the gospel will be torn down.

•      Pray that all those seek­ing truth and hope will find it in Jesus Christ.

•      Pray that believ­ers will grow in their under­stand­ing of God’s Word and in their desire to be
fully devoted fol­low­ers of Jesus Christ.

•      Pray that God will draw back to Him­self any that have strayed away from Him.

                                

Theme Scrip­tures:

•       2 Chron­i­cles 7:14, NIV
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 I will hear from heaven, and I will for­give their sin and will heal their land.

•       Psalm 85:6–7, NIV
Will you not revive us again, that your peo­ple may rejoice in you?   Show us your unfail­ing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation.

•       Isa­iah 57:15–16, NIV
For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives for­ever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is con­trite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the con­trite.  I will not accuse them for­ever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me— the very peo­ple I have created.

•       Habakkuk 3:2, NIV
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.  Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remem­ber mercy.

•       2 Peter 3:17-18a, NIV
There­fore, dear friends, since you have been fore­warned, be on your guard so that you may not be car­ried away by the error of the law­less and fall from your secure posi­tion. But grow in the grace and knowl­edge of our Lord and Sav­ior Jesus Christ.

December 2011 Prayer Focus: For Lives of Grace and Truth

Decem­ber Mes­sage from David Wells, Gen­eral Superintendent

This Decem­ber, fam­i­lies and friends will be com­ing together to cel­e­brate Christ­mas, and many of us will do so as an impor­tant com­mem­o­ra­tion of Christ’s birth and why He came. In John 1:14 we are reminded that He came to us full of grace and truth. We desire to be a Pen­te­costal fam­ily that is marked by these characteristics.

Dur­ing this month, let us pray together that our lives may be a tes­ti­mony of the grace shown to us through Christ’s birth, death and res­ur­rec­tion. When it comes to our rela­tion­ships, the core of the gospel is the mes­sage of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion (2 Corinthi­ans 5:18–21). Let us seek har­mony and con­tinue pray­ing for res­o­lu­tion among those bear­ing the pain of bro­ken fam­i­lies or rela­tion­ships. And let us remem­ber those in need of love, of hope, and of the gospel’s trans­form­ing power in their lives.

Pray Every Day 2012 will fol­low a sim­i­lar for­mat to our jour­ney together in 2011, so please be sure to hang on to your resources and watch for infor­ma­tion on how to order more for your con­gre­ga­tion. I look for­ward to shar­ing by video with you each month as together we empha­size the need for us to pray every day.

May you expe­ri­ence His grace and truth this Christ­mas season,

David Wells,

Gen­eral Superintendent

Please read on for a review of December’s prayer focus. You can also e-mail prayer@paoc.org or visit www.paoc.org if you have addi­tional ques­tions.

 Do you have a story to share about this month’s or any other pre­vi­ous prayer focus? Please e-mail us at prayer@paoc.org. Visit www.paoc.org to read other tes­ti­monies of God’s faithfulness.

Decem­ber 2011 Prayer Focus: For Lives of Grace and Truth

Pray that we, empow­ered by the Spirit, will live lives marked by grace and truth as our Lord did.

Pray that we will love our neigh­bours as ourselves.

Pray that we will live with such integrity in the work­place that peo­ple will see our good works and glo­rify our Father in heaven.

Pray that we will boldly pro­claim the good news of our Sav­iour who saves peo­ple from their sins.

Pray that we will be good stew­ards and gen­er­ously meet the needs of others.

Pray that God will place the soli­tary in fam­i­lies, pro­vid­ing them a place to belong, not just at Christ­mas but through­out the year.

Theme Scrip­tures

John 1:14, NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 John 2:3–6, NIV

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his com­mands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he com­mands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if any­one obeys his word, God’s loveis truly made com­plete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Who­ever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Matthew 22:35–40, NIV

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this ques­tion: “Teacher, which is the great­est com­mand­ment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and great­est com­mand­ment. And the sec­ond is like it: ‘Love your neigh­bor as your­self.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 5:14–16, NIV

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can­not be hid­den. Nei­ther do peo­ple light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to every­one in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Luke 6:30–35, NLT

“Give to any­one who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to oth­ers as you would like them to do to you.

 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sin­ners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sin­ners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sin­ners will lend to other sin­ners for a full return.

“Love your ene­mies! Do good to them. Lend to them with­out expect­ing to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be act­ing as chil­dren of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthank­ful and wicked. You must be com­pas­sion­ate, just as your Father is compassionate.”

Psalm 68:5–6, NLT

Father to the father­less, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in fam­i­lies; he sets the pris­on­ers free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebel­lious live in a sun-scorched land.

News From Pierre and Marielle Paradis

Back To School In Lubumbashi

Our first storm was at the begin­ning of Octo­ber which is the sign that the rainy sea­son is just around the corner.  It’s also the month when the school year begins at ISTHEK.  Joy was on all the stu­dents’ faces at this reunion.  They were also happy to see all the work that had been done in their classrooms.  The new ceil­ings, under the sign of the cross, will enable them to be taught with­out being dis­turbed by the other classes, and the new light­ing with flu­o­res­cent tubes will give them the light they need.  We would very much like to thank the church in She­diac, New Brunswick (Cen­tre Nou­velle Vie) for financ­ing this work.

Presently we have 25 stu­dents attend­ing our classes, but we’re expect­ing the total num­ber to reach over 50 students.  This delayed enrol­ment is due to a lack of money.  September is the begin­ning of the school year for the chil­dren, and our stu­dents use all pos­si­ble means to send their many chil­dren to school.  It costs at least $5.00 per child per month.  With an aver­age fam­ily income of less than $100.00 per month, it’s easy to see why they have such difficulties.  This is why there is a short­age of money when it comes to enrolling in Bible college.

A lit­tle while ago, a stu­dent asked me in class:  “Pastor Par­adis, when are you going to start your church in Lubumbashi?”  I replied that this was not why I came to Congo.  My mis­sion is to train future pas­tors and work­ers so that they can do the work. Over the past few weeks we have had the priv­i­lege of preach­ing in some of the churches where my stu­dents are pastors.  What a joy and an encour­age­ment it is for us to see the work accom­plished on the field.  The teach­ing we give in the class­room is mul­ti­plied through the min­istry of our students.  Souls are saved and churches are planted, and you share in all this fruit through your sup­port of our mission.  Thank you for your gen­eros­ity and faithfulness.

Pierre and Marielle

Pray for:

–the suc­cess of the ‘thirty mighty war­riors’ project:  so far we have 9, but we still need 21 more in order to be free from the bur­den of the mort­gage of the college.  For more infor­ma­tion, go to: http://www.paradisenmission.org/an/page47.html

–for the elec­tions on Novem­ber 28th to be peaceful

–for the pro­vi­sion and the pro­tec­tion of God in our ministry

November 2011 Prayer Focus: Against Poverty, Disease and Injustice

Novem­ber Mes­sage from David Wells, Gen­eral Superintendent

Friends, thank you for your ongo­ing faith­ful­ness in pray­ing with us. As a Pen­te­costal fam­ily, I trust we can all attest to the ways we have seen God’s power at work, redeem­ing and trans­form­ing impos­si­ble cir­cum­stances. We con­tinue to accept His invi­ta­tion to part­ner with Him in prayer so that His pur­poses can be fully accom­plished in our tumul­tuous world.

This month, we are ask­ing for God’s inter­ven­tion and pro­vi­sion in the lives of those fac­ing dif­fi­cult eco­nomic cir­cum­stances across the globe. Please remem­ber the cri­sis in the Horn of Africa, as we con­tinue to inter­cede for the severe human­i­tar­ian crises unfold­ing there and else­where. We are also ask­ing that He will hear the cries of those who are exploited or oppressed everywhere.

The Inter­na­tional Day of Prayer for the Per­se­cuted Church is Novem­ber 13^th. Please lift up per­se­cuted Chris­tians, many of whom are sac­ri­fic­ing their very lives for the sake of the gospel. In hon­our of Remem­brance Day, let us also ask God’s bless­ing, strength and encour­age­ment for our nation’s vet­er­ans, along with those who are still risk­ing their lives for the pro­tec­tion of our nation.

Thanks for your ongo­ing prayer part­ner­ship with us,

David Wells,

Gen­eral Superintendent

Please read on for a review of November’s prayer focus. You can also e-mail prayer@paoc.org or visit www.paoc.org if you have addi­tional ques­tions.

Do you have a story to share about this month’s or any other pre­vi­ous prayer focus? Please e-mail us at prayer@paoc.org. Visit www.paoc.org to read other tes­ti­monies of God’s faithfulness.

Novem­ber 2011 Prayer Focus: Against Poverty, Dis­ease and Injustice

Pray that God will com­fort those suf­fer­ing the effects of nat­ural disasters.

Pray that God will relieve the cry of the sick, the hun­gry, orphans and widows.

Pray for the con­tin­ued strength and effec­tive­ness of our human­i­tar­ian agency, Emer­gency Relief and Devel­op­ment Over­seas (ERDO), and for our min­istries that care for orphans and wid­ows, such as Vil­lages of Hope.

Pray that God will deliver chil­dren, women and men caught in sex­ual and labour exploita­tion. Pray that God will destroy the chan­nels that facil­i­tate finan­cial gain from human misery.

Pray for God to pro­tect our nation from harm.

Theme Scrip­tures

Jere­miah 20:13, NIV

Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He res­cues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.

Psalm 69:33, NIV

The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his cap­tive people.

Psalm 113:5–8, NIV

Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heav­ens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.

Psalm 107:19–20, NIV

Then they cried to the LORD in their trou­ble, and he saved them from their dis­tress. He sent forth his word and healed them; he res­cued them from the grave.

Isa­iah 53:4–5, NIV

Surely [Jesus] took up our infir­mi­ties and car­ried our sor­rows, yet we con­sid­ered him stricken by God, smit­ten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our trans­gres­sions, he was crushed for our iniq­ui­ties; the pun­ish­ment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isa­iah 58:6–11, NIV

‘Is not this the kind of fast­ing I have cho­sen: to loose the chains of injus­tice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hun­gry and to pro­vide the poor wan­derer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

‘Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your heal­ing will quickly appear; then your right­eous­ness­will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

‘If you do away with the yoke of oppres­sion, with the point­ing fin­ger and mali­cious talk, and if you spend your­selves in behalf of the hun­gry and sat­isfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark­ness, and your night will become like the noonday.

‘The LORD will guide you always; he will sat­isfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered gar­den, like a spring whose waters never fail.’

Fundraiser for Horn of Africa Famine

Over 10,000,000 peo­ple are hun­gry today in the Horn of Africa due to famine that is rav­aging the area. My heart is bro­ken for the peo­ple of this area. I have been so blessed, in so many ways. The least I can do is help those who are suf­fer­ing in a small way.

The com­mu­nity of Gaspe and sur­round­ing Churches are work­ing together to help the food cri­sis in Africa. Please come this Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 9^th at La Petite Églize — 208 Mon­tée Wake­ham, Gaspé QC — (7:00pm) to our local tal­ent show. A few bucks can go a long way, and the Cana­dian gov­ern­ment has agreed to dou­ble what WE together as a com­mu­nity give. All funds received will be given to the Red Cross.

Pray Every Day — September Focus

A Mes­sage from David Wells, Gen­eral Superintendent

Reach­ing the six mil­lion plus Cana­dian chil­dren and youth who cur­rently never con­nect with the church is crit­i­cal. We must, in every way pos­si­ble, engage and sup­port peo­ple and min­istries whose focus is to see young peo­ple come to liv­ing faith in Jesus. Be sure to visit www.campusmission.ca as we pray for our cam­pus min­istries. Also please visit http://www.paoc.org/about/gs-central for a related story regard­ing the need to con­nect stu­dents to a church com­mu­nity at this crit­i­cal time of the year.

Thanks for pray­ing with pas­sion and under­stand­ing for Canada’s stu­dents this month,

David Wells,

Gen­eral Superintendent

Please read on for a review of September’s prayer focus. You can also e-mail prayer@paoc.org or visit www.paoc.org if you have addi­tional ques­tions.

Do you have a story to share about this month’s or any other pre­vi­ous prayer focus? Please e-mail us at prayer@paoc.org. Visit www.paoc.org to read other tes­ti­monies of God’s faithfulness.

Sep­tem­ber 2011 Prayer Focus: For Cam­pus Ministries

Pray that every col­lege and uni­ver­sity cam­pus around Canada will have an evan­gel­i­cal witness.

Pray for Pen­te­costal cam­pus work­ers as they serve on mul­ti­ple cam­puses across Canada and internationally.

Pray that Chris­t­ian uni­ver­sity stu­dents will be strength­ened in their rela­tion­ship with God and pro­tected from spir­i­tual attack and temptation.

Pray that they will be fully pre­pared to share the hope they have with those who are still in darkness.

Pray that God will direct their deci­sions and lead each one into an under­stand­ing of His pur­pose for their lives.

Theme Scrip­tures

Jere­miah 9:23–25, NLT

This is what the Lord says: ‘Don’t let the wise boast in their wis­dom, or the pow­er­ful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and under­stand that I am the Lord, who demon­strates unfail­ing love and who brings jus­tice and right­eous­ness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!’

2 Thes­sa­lo­ni­ans 1:11, NIV

…We con­stantly pray for you, that our God may count you wor­thy of his call­ing, and that by his power he may ful­fill every good pur­pose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.

1 Corinthi­ans 10:12–14, NIV

So, if you think you are stand­ing firm, be care­ful that you don’t fall! No temp­ta­tion has seized you except what is com­mon to man. And God is faith­ful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also pro­vide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

1 Peter 4:1–6, TNIV

There­fore, since Christ suf­fered in his body, arm your­selves also with the same atti­tude, because those who have suf­fered in their bod­ies are done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauch­ery, lust, drunk­en­ness, orgies, carous­ing and detestable idol­a­try. They are sur­prised that you do not join them in their reck­less, wild liv­ing, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the liv­ing and the dead. For this is the rea­son the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged accord­ing to human stan­dards in regard to the body, but live accord­ing to God in regard to the spirit.

1 Peter 3:14–15, NLT

But even if you suf­fer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must wor­ship Christ as Lord of your life. And if some­one asks about your Chris­t­ian hope, always be ready to explain it.

Proverbs 3:5–6, NLT

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own under­stand­ing. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

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ERDO Crisis Response | Secours d’urgence ERDO :

East Africa Drought and Food Crisis

July 15, 2011

A cri­sis of hunger and star­va­tion is rav­aging an area known as the Horn of Africa (Soma­lia, Kenya & Ethiopia).  The United Nations and human­i­tar­ian agen­cies are strug­gling to keep up with an exo­dus of hun­gry Somali refugees and many ema­ci­ated chil­dren are dying of mal­nu­tri­tion along the way or after arriv­ing in neigh­bour­ing coun­tries.  More than 11 mil­lion peo­ple in the Horn of Africa now need assis­tance to sur­vive the cri­sis sparked by the worst drought in decades.

ERDO is prepar­ing a sig­nif­i­cant response to this cri­sis, with deep con­cern and prayers for the chil­dren and fam­i­lies who are suf­fer­ing.  We are work­ing through trusted part­ners on the ground and global work­ers of the PAOC who are in the affected areas.  ERDO also will be part of a Cana­dian Gov­ern­ment spon­sored cri­sis inter­ven­tion through the Cana­dian Food­grains Bank, an alliance of 15 Chris­t­ian denom­i­na­tions, where every donated dol­lar has the poten­tial for a 4:1 match.  ERDO is also col­lab­o­rat­ing with the CCA (Cana­dian Churches in Action).  As part of its ongo­ing efforts world­wide to end hunger, ERDO is involved in food relief and food secu­rity projects in 15 coun­tries.  Your gen­er­ous sup­port will help ERDO to bring life-saving help to those who need it most.

As our work with part­ners unfolds, we will pro­vide updates on our web­site: www.erdo.ca .  ERDO is set up to col­lect funds online for this cri­sis and to pro­vide receipts to sup­port­ers for dona­tions of $10 or more.

Here is how you can donate to ERDO’s relief effort:

1. Web­site — www.erdo.ca   Select dona­tion but­ton and then fol­low instruc­tions for “East Africa Drought and Food Crisis”

2.  Phone – Credit card dona­tions can be made by call­ing 905–542-7400 dur­ing busi­ness hours (8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. EST) or toll free 1–800-779‑7262 at any time.  Please note that after busi­ness hours your call will be for­warded to an auto­mated atten­dant where you can securely leave your dona­tion information.

3.  Cheque – payable to “ERDO – East Africa Drought and Food Crisis”.

Mail to:  ERDO, 2450 Mill­tower Court,   Mis­sis­sauga, ON, L5N 5Z6.

Thank you for your com­pas­sion­ate response and for your prayers.

David Adcock

CEO — ERDO (Emer­gency Relief & Devel­op­ment Overseas)

“Do good. Seek jus­tice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow.” Isa­iah 1:17

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Sécher­esse et crise ali­men­taire en Afrique de l’Est

Le 15 juil­let 2011

Une crise ali­men­taire et la famine rav­agent la région appelée la Corne de l’Afrique (Soma­lie, Kenya et Éthiopie). Les Nations Unies et divers organ­ismes human­i­taires font tout leur pos­si­ble pour faire face à l’exode de réfugiés soma­liens affamés alors que beau­coup d’enfants émaciés meurent de mal­nu­tri­tion en chemin ou après être arrivés dans un pays voisin. Plus de 11 mil­lions d’habitants de la Corne de l’Afrique ont besoin d’assistance pour sur­vivre à une crise déclenchée par la pire sécher­esse con­nue ces dernières décennies.

ERDO se pré­pare à inter­venir de façon sig­ni­fica­tive dans cette crise, avec un souci par­ti­c­ulier et dans la prière pour les enfants et les familles qui souf­frent. Nous tra­vail­lons par le biais de parte­naires de con­fi­ance sur le ter­rain et des ouvri­ers inter­na­tionaux APDC qui œuvrent dans les régions touchées. ERDO par­ticipera aussi à une inter­ven­tion du gou­verne­ment cana­dien par la Banque de céréales vivrières, une alliance de 15 dénom­i­na­tions chré­ti­ennes, par laque­lle tout dol­lar donné peut être jusqu’à quadru­plé. ERDO col­la­bore aussi avec la CCA (Cana­dian Churches in Action – Églises cana­di­ennes en action). Dans le cadre de ses efforts soutenus pour met­tre un terme à la faim dans le monde, ERDO con­tribue à l’aide ali­men­taire et à des pro­jets sécu­ri­taires d’alimentation dans 15 pays. Votre sou­tien généreux aidera ERDO à apporter une aide vitale à ceux qui en ont le plus besoin.

Au fur et à mesure que notre tra­vail avec nos parte­naires va de l’avant, nous vous tien­drons au courant sur notre site web : www.erdo.ca. ERDO est équipé pour recevoir des fonds en ligne pour cette crise et pour fournir des reçus à nos dona­teurs pour tout mon­tant de 10 $ ou plus.

Voici com­ment vous pou­vez aider ERDO à inter­venir face à cette urgence :

1. Par notre site web — www.erdo.ca Cliquez sur « Donate Today » sur le site, puis suivez les instruc­tions sous « East Africa Drought and Food Crisis ».

2. Par télé­phone — les dons par carte de crédit peu­vent être faits en appelant au (905) 542‑7400 pen­dant les heures de bureau (8h30 – 16h30 HE) ou au numéro gra­tuit 1–800-779‑7962 à toute heure. Notez que votre appel sera trans­féré à un sys­tème automa­tisé vous per­me­t­tant de faire votre don en toute sécurité.

3. Par chèque — au nom de « ERDO – East Africa Drought and Food Cri­sis ».                                           Envoyez-le à ERDO, 2450 Mill­tower Court,   Mis­sis­sauga, ON, L5N 5Z6.

Merci pour votre aide com­patis­sante et pour vos prières.

David Adcock

Directeur exé­cu­tif – ERDO

(Emer­gency Relief & Devel­op­ment Over­seas – Sec­ours d’urgence et développe­ment outremer)

« Apprenez à faire le bien, recherchez la jus­tice, pro­tégez l’opprimé ;

faites droit à l’orphelin, défendez la veuve. » Ésaïe 1 :17