January 2004

The desert and the parched land will be glad!

ARISE, SPAIN AND SHINE!

BULLETIN Nº 11 (January 2004)

The Bulletin of the Prayer Network for the Evangelisation of Spain

"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert" (Isaiah 35:6)

New Year, New Opportunities

A Happy New Year to all our readers and prayer partners! A new year is beginning and new opportunities come with it: to consecrate ourselves once more to the Lord's service, to prayer and to evangelism. With the start of this year and the planning of new evangelistic activities in our churches, a new faith and expectation are awoken to see that great harvest of souls in our land for which we have long been praying. The land seems so dry and barren, resistant to any harvest. Zechariah invites us to ask the Lord to send His late rains, those spring rains which feed the growth to produce a harvest.

We ended the year with the tragic news from Iran and at home bombs threatening rail travellers. We begin a new year with news of a plane crash and the loss of 145 lives. The we had signs in the sky "fire and clouds of smoke" (Acts 2), as a meteorite broke up over the Iberian peninsula. We live in times of trembling, threats and anxiety. Does the lord need to use such events to shake our self-satisfied world into spiritual awakening? Why do we not respond to Zechariah's call and clamour for this our world in prayer so that he will soften the gound and allow the harvest before He has to hammer it with suffering?

"Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men and plants of the field to everyone." (Zechariah 10:1)

Praise and Thanksgiving

Pray4Spain's visits are up! Both November and December saw the total number of visits over 2000 and this newsletter was the top page read, with over 139 hits on the page, representing at least 111 visits.

At the New Year European Missions Conference in Germany, at least one member of the Spanish group (90) made a firm commitment to serving overseas and others made steps in that direction. M. is considering Turkey and Latin America.

Send your Spirit on the land (Events)

"On the last and gretest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive." (John 7:37-9)

Universal Week of Prayer (Sunday 11th to Sunday 18th January)

Promoted by the Evangelical Alliances, the programme is available from them. With the Olympic Games this yera in Athens, the programme has been prepared by the Greek EA, with the theme 'running the race'. Below you can find the daily themes and some suggestions for praying for local churches this week:

Sunday, 11th The Christian life, a spiritual race (2Tim 4:1-8; Eph 6:12). Local church topic: Plans for this year, 'If my People...'

Monday 12th The race of evangelism (Phil 3:4-14, 1 Thes 2:2) Local church topic: Training the church in Bible, theology and practical ministry; recovering the primacy of mission and evangelism.

Tuesday 13th The race to maintain the environment (Gen 1:27-28; Ps. 8) Local church topic: relationships with local authorities; pray also for the National Elections in March.

Wednesday, 14th Running the race successfully (1Tim 6:3-16; 2Tim 4:5-8). Local church topic: the media, relationships with them, use of them, evangelical influence on secular and other programming (values, etc.)

Thusrday, 15th The race of full communion in the Church (Phil 4:1-3; Heb 10:24-25; Ps 133). Local church topic: Evangelism and Mission, reaching the foreigners in our midst, reaching beyond our local district.

Friday, 16th The family, place to honour and serve God (Gen 18:16-19; Jos 24:14-15). Local church topic: Situations of conflict, the new generation.

Saturday 17th Making the presence of the Church a reality in the world (Jn 17:18; 1Cor 9:19-27). Local church topic: the local church, its leaders.

Sunday, 18th Let us run the common race together as local churches (Lk 9:49-50; 2 Tim 2:1-5). Local church topic: prayer for specific contacts that you have, renewal of your commitment to prayer and evangelism.

National Prayer Encounter, "España Intercede" (Spain Intercedes), Barcelona, 15th to 17th January.

This is a prayer strategy for the Mediterranean Coastline and a special opportunity for intercessors to meet and prepare for key future prayer and evangelism events around Spain. Info: Esperanza Carrizosa, Tel. (+34) 93 437 55 04. Renee Lobo, 91 677 44 29.

Let's proclaim Isaiah 35 together!

Why not encourage yourself /each other, with the wonderful promises in this chapter, as we pray for Spain? Let us continue to water with our prayer the ground sown in the evangelistic events of the past year, particularly the summer, with not just more requests, but also the proclamation of these promises for a dry land. And let us trust God for the awaited harvest, which will bring such encouragment and joy to our souls and blessings for the Kingdom of God.

As usual, we encourage you to circulate this bulletin, get others involved in praying for Spain.

And finally, once again we wish you a blessed and happy New Year!