Religious Liberty Prayer List – No. 195 – Wed 13 Nov 2002

———————————————————— INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER (IDOP) FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH IDOP 2002 EXTRA – ‘… FOR KINGS AND ALL IN AUTHORITY’ ————————————————————

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God’s mercy upon them, and give thanks. Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, for he wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message that God gave to the world at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:1-6 NLT)

Surely this passage must be one of the most significant in Scripture about the mandate to pray for religious liberty in the nations. The IDOP 2002 material has concentrated primarily on the persecuted Church, on our suffering brothers and sisters. For the sake of religious freedom, this RLP will focus on prayer for some of the world’s leaders in countries where that liberty is at stake.

– Elizabeth Kendal

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PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR THESE STRATEGIC POLITICAL LEADERS:

* that God will bind evil and use the leaders for good, opening up and blessing their nations;

* that they will not succumb to pressure to restrict or to continue abusing religious freedom;

* that they will yield to wise counsel and to the Spirit of God;

* that through witness or revelation they will come to the Cross of Jesus and be saved.

Some of these leaders are presently oppressing the Church aggressively, whilst others are simply in very strategic positions at very strategic times. Others again are actively striving for democratic reforms and openness, often amidst great opposition.

Please pray through the list, or simply select the nations that specifically interest you and pray for their leaders by name. (Together, by God’s grace, we will cover the world.)

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai

Bangladesh’s PM Begum Khaleda Zia

Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko

Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuk

China’s leader-in-waiting, Hu Jintao

China – Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa and Secretary for Security, Regina Ip

Cuba’s President Fidel Castro

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak

India’s PM Atal Behari Vajpayee

India – Tamil Nadu’s Governor, P S Ramamohan Rao and Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa

Indonesia’s President Megawati Sukarnoputri

Iran’s President Mohammed Khatami

Japan’s PM Junichiro Koizumi

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev

Laos’ President Khamtay Siphandone

Libya’s Colonel Moammar Gadhafi

Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamad

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and new PM, Driss Jettou

North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin

Serbia & Motenegro – Kosovo’s President Ibrahim Rugova

Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga

Sudan’s President Omar el-Bashir

Turkey’s influential leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov

Vietnam’s President Tran Duc Luong

* Psalm 47 (Excerpts: NLT) 2 For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth. 3 He subdues the nations before us, putting our enemies beneath our feet. 7 For God is the King over all the earth. 8 God reigns above the nations… 9 For all the kings of the earth belong to God.

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LEADERS WHO ARE CHRISTIANS

There are many leaders in the world who profess Christ as Saviour. A number of them are confronted by serious challenges and enormously complex issues affecting religious stability in and beyond their nations. Their multi-ethnic / multi-faith nations are subject to serious civil unrest along ethnic and religious lines, creating polarisation and tension in lands desperately needing peace and reconciliation.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY AT THIS TIME FOR:

Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) President Laurent Gbagbo,

Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, and

Philippines’ President Gloria Arroyo –

* that they, in humility, will always seek God’s counsel;

* for God to provide them each with spiritual wisdom and direction;

* for unfailing courage and uncompromised integrity;

* that God will protect and bless them.

“Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow.” King David’s plea in Psalm 25:4

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FINALLY, during this season of global united prayer for the persecuted Church, let us each pray specifically for our President / Prime Minister or other influential leaders who impact upon religious liberty in our nation.

—————————————————- Previous RLPs may be viewed at http://www.evangelicalalliance.org.au/rlc/ If you downloaded this message from a website or it was forwarded to you, you may receive future editions by sending an empty e-mail to <>

Please send this RLP to others, with attribution to World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Religious Liberty Prayer List <> —————————————————-

The WEA Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this RL Prayer List to help individuals and groups pray specifically and regularly for religious liberty issues, and in particular to uphold the Church where it is suffering persecution.

RL Prayer is moderated by Ron Clough, a commissioner of the WEA RLC and convenor of the Australian EA RLC.

Elizabeth Kendal researched and authored this message.