Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... TODAY

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Their mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, they seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Invitation to Prayer ... TODAY

Hi Friends,

Thank you for joining me in prayer for the children of the world. If you can, we'd love to have you pray together with us this Wednesday - TODAY - at 11:30 a.m., in the gym conference room at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. The church is not currently offering lunch service. If you'd like to have lunch together, please bring a sack lunch and we can eat together.

Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries.

All the best,

Carrie



Dear Intercessors,

It's VBS week! A high-energy, high-noise, high-laughter, high-on-fun week where nearly 300 children learn how much they are loved and treasured by God. Please pray for our church this week as we seek to help our children understand, in the deepest parts of their hearts and souls, their inherent worth as children of God. Pray for children to not only learn about Jesus, but learn to love and trust him.


This week in VBS, for the Faces of Children Mission's component, we are teaching the children about what life might be like in a country where you didn't have access to clean water. We'll be tasting "dirty" water, experimenting with water filtration projects, and trying to carry heavy jerry cans filled with water. As we learn, we will also be praying for children for whom this is a daily reality and not a fun VBS lesson, and we'll be raising money to help create a new water well in Uganda. Please pray for our lessons to sink in and for the children to understand that no person is too small to make a big impact in God's kingdom.

In addition to praying for VBS this week, I'd like to invite you to join me in praying for:

AFP Photo
BANGLADESH // Deadly Cyclone Mora Hits Bangladesh
Around 70 percent of the makeshift shacks in the Balukhali refugee camp were damaged by the storm, which whipped through the region with winds of over 115 kms per hour (72 mph). Many of the rickety structures collapsed into a tangle of poles and plastic sheeting. The 12,000 people at the camp, on a coastal strip about an hour's drive from the port of Cox's Bazar, are among the 74,000 Rohingyas estimated by the United Nations to have fled Myanmar since a military crackdown last autumn. The Rohingyas, a Muslim minority shunned by Myanmar's Buddhist majority, are effectively stateless. "We heard that a cyclone is coming. But there's no place we can go," 27-year-old Hamida Begum, who said she fled to Bangladesh three months ago after her husband disappeared, told Reuters on Wednesday. "I hate being a Rohingya. We are being tortured in Myanmar. Now in Bangladesh we have no rights - nothing. After this cyclone, we don't have a roof. We are living under the sky. We have no future." ... "Post-cyclone assessments found that most of the refugees' homes were damaged to varying degrees, with around one in five completely destroyed. "There's no roof. We are just drinking water. The little food we had in our home was all damaged after the cyclone," said Setara Begum, 30, a mother of two who said she crossed into Bangladesh two months ago after her husband disappeared. She has two children, a 2-year-old toddler and a 5-month-old baby. "My children are crying for food. But I am helpless. I have no money. There's no hope. I don't know how I will raise my children." Learn more here ...

When we have bad storms, most of us run for the safe shelter of our homes. Can you imagine enduring a cyclone or hurricane, or even a bad thunderstorm, in a shantytown? Can you imagine trying to shield your children or calm their fears? Please pray for the families affected by this cyclone and the aide organizations working to respond quickly. Please pray for them to have safe shelter, adequate food, medical care, and clean water. Above all, pray they feel the presence of God in the days ahead.

Reuters Photo by Omar Sobhan
IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN // Terrorist Bombings
Last week, ISIS targeted young women and girls leaving a concert in Manchester. This week, they struck again, callously killing children and their families enjoying ice cream in Baghdad. These attacks, intentionally targeting places with high concentrations of children, women, and the elderly, seem to only deepen the terrorist's depravity. Today another bomb went off in Afghanistan, killing at least 80 and wounding nearly 500. One of the primary aims of terrorist attacks is to instill fear and literal terror into the hearts of the targeted community, and this aim is particularly well-achieved through attacks focused on children.

Please pray for parents around the world. May communities rocked by violence grow to understand the deep truth found in these words of Jesus: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Praying with you,
Carrie

Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153

* Name changed to protect her privacy.


If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to info@facesofchildren.net

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