PLEASE PRAY FOR SOUTH SUDAN.
See below.
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp@patriot.net
The Daily Brief
Monday, January 6, 2014
"I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." (Psalm 34:4)
|
The Daily Brief
|
|||
 |
||||
1. Potentially record-setting cold temperatures blow into Midwest, Northeast - Fox News
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Temperatures not seen in years are likely to set records in the coming days across the Midwest, Northeast and South, creating dangerous travel conditions and prompting church and school closures.
A "polar vortex" will affect more than half of the continental U.S. starting Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama. The vortex is a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air, and is behind the startling forecast: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago.
- Heavenly Father, we ask that neighbors, along with churches and community groups work to seek out and check on all persons and farm animals involved in this life endangering weather situation, especially the elderly, disabled and those lacking heat or necessities. May these groups come together in unity and assist all people and animals endangered by this unusually cold weather. We pray in Jesus' Name, Amen and Amen.
- "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth."
(Psalm 145:18)
2. White House announces new executive actions on background checks for guns - Daily Caller
The White House announced two new executive actions Friday that would expand the government's access to mental health information during background checks on gun buyers. The two new actions clarify what constitutes a mental health problem that might prohibit gun ownership and allow states more wiggle room in disclosing such personal medical information.
One executive action frees states from some of the privacy laws that prohibit the disclosure of patients' medical information, allowing institutions to input mental health information relevant to gun ownership into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, otherwise known as NICS. . . . The other executive action, issued by the Department of Justice, clarifies what exactly in someone's mental health history would prohibit them from owning or purchasing a gun. . . (Read more)
- Abba Father, we know that some people have mental and emotional problems which could hinder them from safely operating guns and to know when and how to use the guns. However we also know that in today's world some people could be labeled 'dangerous' who are not, but may be supporters of beliefs that conflict with the people in governmental power. We ask You Father, to be in the midst of how these decisions are applied as to the ownership of our guns. In Jesus' Name, Amen and Amen.
- "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths." (Proverbs 5:21)
3. Government Could Shut Down Again on Jan 15 - Breitbart
While members of Congress ended 2013 congratulating themselves for passing a budget, the media missed the fact that the agreement doesn't actually avoid a government shutdown. The deal reached by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) provides simply a blueprint for government spending. Congress must still pass legislation detailing specific spending before January 15, when government's spending authority expires. Government still faces a potential shutdown in a little over a week.
The budget agreement passed by Congress in the closing days of last year provides what is called the "top-Line" number, setting the overall level of discretionary spending. Congress still has to pass appropriations bills authorizing specific spending for thousands of government agencies, departments and programs. While there is agreement on the total amount of discretionary spending, there is far less agreement on how this spending is allocated. These agreements will have to be reached by the 15th, of the government would shut down again. (Read more)
- Father, we as a nation need this budget allocation process to be worked through and settled soon as the deadline of January 15th is quickly arriving. There needs to be a spirit of compromise and discretion, not a battle over promised 'perks and pay backs'. We ask You, Father, to be with these congressional members, confronting them to work for the national good and not just their own particular interests. We thank You in advance for hearing our prayer. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen and Amen.
- "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."
(Proverbs 14:34)
4. McCain, Graham blast Obama for Al Qaeda-related takeover of Fallujah - Fox News
Republican senators on Saturday blamed the Obama administration for Al Qaeda affiliates over-running parts of Iraq, including the city of Fallujah that the United States secured before President Obama removed all U.S. forces from that country in 2011.
Sen. John McCain, Arizona, and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, called the recent turn of events "as tragic as they were predictable" and suggested Obama misled Americans into believing that Iraqi leaders wanted U.S. forces out of their country. "While many Iraqis are responsible for this strategic disaster, the administration cannot escape its share of the blame," the senators said in a joint statement. "When President Obama withdrew all U.S. forces over the objections of our military leaders and commanders on the ground, many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America's enemies and would emerge as a threat to U.S. national security interests. Sadly, that reality is now clearer than ever."(Read more)
- Abba Father, we come before you and repent that the country of Iraq seems to be quickly returning to the violence and chaos of its destructive past. We are grieved to think that so many American military lives were given to that nation, so that order and governmental rule could exist. Father, abide and direct those in positions of power within our nation to see clearly what is needed and to respond accordingly. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen and Amen.
- "Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men." (Psalm 9:19-20)
5. Exclusive: U.S. waived laws to keep F-35 on track with China-made parts - Reuters
The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China's espionage and military buildup. (Read more)
- Heavenly Father, what is not being considered here? Why are we entrusting a nation -- that is more our enemy than our friend -- to construct parts for our own military weapons? This makes no logical sense and can potentially greatly endanger our military and our nation. Help us, Father, in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen and Amen.
- "Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, but what is in the heart of fools is made known." (Proverbs 14:33)
6. Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare will lead to more emergency room visits, study suggests - Fox News
Capitol Hill Republicans are not surprised by a new study that suggests more people will make emergency room visits under ObamaCare, not less as President Obama and other supporters of the law argue. The Harvard University study recently published in the journal Science shows that emergency room visits increased by 40 percent for those who received Medicaid when Oregon expanded the program in 2008. (Read more)
- Abba Father, again this healthcare law is shown to be flawed and will cost a lot more than what was presented. It promotes expanding Medicaid in a massive way, saying that if people are insured, the excessive more costly visits to Emergency Room [ER] hospital care will be lessened. Instead, what should have been learned from the 2008 Medicaid expansion in Oregon state, was ignored, which showed that ER visits rose sharply. This law appears to have endless issues, with more being reported daily. We ask You Father, to shatter this law into bits, so it exists no more. We pray
in Jesus' Name, Amen and Amen.
- "Do they not go astray who devise evil? But mercy and truth belong to those who devise good." (Proverbs 14:22 )
7. German newspaper Der Spiegel has published a couple of articles detailing NSA actions - Eagle Rising
German newspaper Der Spiegel has published a couple of articles today detailing some of the latest information being uncovered by the release of documents from the trove of NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The most startling may be the fact that the NSA actually intercepts some packages of commercial electronics before they arrive at their destination so that they can create "back doors" to hack into the hardware whenever they see fit. (Der Spiegel) Read more
- Heavenly Father, this disclosure reflects a deep invasion of citizen rights, privacy and possible actual safety. Intelligence gathering is necessary but there needs to be limits. The article reports that the NSA is intercepting commercial electronic packages in transit to a buyer and then creating 'back door' portals in the hardware before it is sent on to buyers. These portals can be used to cause intrusive and perhaps even destructive software being loaded from a distance by someone at NSA where the owner of the electronic device would have no warning of what is happening. Father, we repent before You for how far this nation has fallen. Have mercy Father and move to disrupt in a major way these vile actions, in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen and Amen.
- "Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision." (Psalm 2:1 & 4)
|
The Middle East in Focus
|
|||
|
||||
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge
in him." (Psalm 34:8)
1. Kerry's 'Fair and balanced' is unfair to Israel - American Thinker
Secretary of State Kerry left Israel this morning for Jordan and Saudi Arabia. His parting words were:
"I can guarantee all parties that President (Barack) Obama and I are committed to putting forward ideas that are fair and balanced.. .." It sounds nice; what can it mean? Courts don't make judgments based on what's fair and balanced. They look to the facts and to the law. (Read more)
2. Kerry: Concern for Palestinians as important as security of Israel- IMRA
"Israel's security is critical...But so is our concern for the people of Palestine and for the Palestinians and their future...The security of Israel is always paramount...But so is our concern for the people of Palestine and for the Palestinians and their future."
This may sound politically correct to American ears. But it is downright baffling to us here in Israel.
Let's put the cards on the table: our security is our survival and John Kerry is equating that to some amorphous "concern for the people of Palestine and for the Palestinians and their future."
What is as important as our survival? (Read more here)
3. Kerry Exposes Saudi Arabia as Abbas' Senior Negotiator - The Jewish Press
He has promised the Palestinian Authority it will have a country based on the borders that would leave Israel without security. He has promised that Saudi Arabia, which is unhappy over President Barack Obama's appeasement of Syria and Iran, it has its full support.
Kerry is now on his way back to Washington to look for snake oil. (Read more here)
4. The continuing evolution of al-Qaeda 3.0 - al-monitor.com
Al-Qaeda the organization(s) and al-Qaedism the idea are thriving across the Arab world like never before due to the failure of the Arab Awakening to create competent reformist governments. The counterrevolution keeping old autocrats in power or putting new ones into power is already creating the next generation of al-Qaeda converts.
A revived al-Qaeda is effectively filling vacuums created by autocrats and failed reformist governments, who are planting the seeds for the next generation of recruits. (Read more here)
5. Worse Than Munich - Breitbart
President Obama's cowardly deal with the Iranian regime - a regime dedicated to the destruction of Israel, pursuing nuclear weapons in violation of multiple United Nations resolutions, and the persecution of Christians - marks the most ignominious moment in western foreign policy in decades. The easy comparison is to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler in Munich in 1938, when signing the agreement allowed Hitler to consolidate his gains in the Sudetenland on the bare promise of no further aggression in Europe. (Read more here.)
6. The "New Anti-Semitism" that's defeating us on campus - Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
People who support the Palestinians, Bruckner writes, "are not so much engaged in inquiring into a specific antagonism - a real estate dispute involving two equally legitimate owners - as in settling accounts with Western culture." For middle-class European and American students who cannot explain their own relative prosperity without feeling guilt, Palestinianism can be therapeutic. By hating the primary symbol of Western abomination, theft and cruel exploitation in the Middle East - that is to say, by hating the Jews of Israel - they exonerate themselves. They wipe away the sins of their own undeserved prosperity. (Read more here)
|
The Persecuted Church
|
|||
|
||||
Today's Focus: The Persecuted Church
"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." (Psalm 34:7)
PLEASE PRAY FOR SOUTH SUDAN. See below.
For more news about the Persecuted Church, and how you can be more involved in intercession for these precious saints, go here.
|
South Sudan in Trouble
|
|||
|
||||
Emergency Prayer Alert:
South Sudan in Trouble
From the WIN Prayer Network
A memo received from Beverly Pegues, Director, the WIN Prayer Network:
We must cry out to the Lord God Almighty to STOP the demonic forces trying to annihilate the people in this Christian nation. Cry out to the Lord on behalf of our Brothers and Sisters!
This is an unedited email I just received from a Pastor in Juba:
Jan. 4, 2014: Today conflict erupted in western region of equatorial in two areas Lui and Jumbo where by soldier's begun shooting on air on protest to the lack of food and supplies from the government, as a result that created a lot of fear among the residents of these three towns and they fled to the forest meanwhile the soldiers begin to loot the shops and taking the goods of the people from their shops.
This incident has created a lot of fear among the locals of those particular areas.
As I'm writing now, there is a lot of gun shooting in South of Juba and the sky is full of flying bullets. Its night time and we don't know whether the shooting will continue till morning, but please with us for protection of all in Jesus Name.
I have to go now because the gun shots are too much and its getting closer.
God, please cover us by you mighty arms in Jesus Name.
Prayer Requests for South Sudan:
Released by the WIN Prayer Network
- This nation was founded on the prayers of Christians crying out to the Lord day and night, night and day to free them from the Muslim- governed North Sudan. Like the children of Israel, many forgot the Lord since the independence of South Sudan. Pray for the nation to turn back to the Lord and love Him with all of their hearts, souls, minds, and all their strength (The Bible, Mark 12:30).
- The Church must understand this atrocity against the Lord and lead the nation into repentance. Pray the Church walks in humility. Pray they seek the Lord's Face and turn from their wicked ways. Pray Christian Believers cry out to the Lord to forgive them for forsaking Him (The Bible, II Chronicles 7:14).
- Christians globally to join South Sudan Christians to beseech the Lord to release an understanding of His amazing love. Pray that in the Lord's mercy He heals the deep wounds in the hearts of the people. Pray God heals the land of years of bloodshed (The Bible, Ezekiel 21:6).
To read more prayer requests and decrees of Scripture released by the WIN Prayer Network for South Sudan, please go here.
> > > Please see also:
"US Orders Evacuation of Staff Members From Embassy in South Sudan"
- New York Times
Go here.
|
A Victory at the Supreme Court
|
|||
|
||||
U.S. Supreme Court Halts Same-Sex Marriage in Utah - for Now
The U.S. Supreme Court today temporarily halted a district court decision creating same-sex marriage in Utah. The order will remain in place until the case - seeking to redefine marriage - makes its way through the courts.
Federal Judge Richard Shelby ruled against Utah's voter-approved marriage amendment last month. But, in defiance of standard practice, he allowed his decision to go into effect even as the appeal is under way. Supporters of marriage made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court asking it to stop Shelby's decision from going into effect.
The next stop for the case is the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Focus on the Family Legal Analyst Bruce Hausknecht called the high court's order "momentous" and a "breath of fresh air."
"The Supreme Court did what the lower court should have done," he said. "Courts always suspend the enforcement of decisions that drastically alter the status quo pending an appeal by the losing side. But after last summer's disappointing marriage decisions by the Supreme Court, there was this uneasy feeling that you couldn't get five votes for anything reasonable where marriage is concerned."
The Associated Press has reported that 900 licenses were issued to same-sex couples in Utah since Shelby's Dec. 20 decision.
"No further marriages can be performed now," Hausknecht explained. "The current legality of the marriages already performed is in question. But there is no question that if the appeals court overturns the lower court's decision, those same-sex marriages will be as if they never happened."
Hausknecht said it's possible the 10th Circuit will issue its decision by the summer.
"Then the case will probably be appealed to the Supreme Court." (CitizenLink)
Read more.
- "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16)
|
Terrorists Threaten Winter Olympics
|
|||
|
||||
Terrorists Threaten Winter Olympics
Saudis May Be Involved
One week ago today, a bomb blast in Volgograd, Russia killed 15 and injured 28. This bombing took place less than 24 hrs after a suicide bomb attack on the Volgograd train station, which killed 19 and injured 32. In late October, another bus bombing took place the same city which killed 7 and injured 36. In this incident, the suicide bomber was identified as being a women (rare) .
Formerly known as Stalingrad, Volgograd is a major rail hub in southern Russia and a main transit point for people traveling by train to Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics just 5 weeks away.
Terrorism and defense experts are concerned that extremists are probing in advance of a larger attack against either the Sochi Olympics or Moscow. There are also significant concerns the presence of Olympic athletes, and spectators, from the US, Israel, the UK, Russia and China, who also battling radical Muslims in the western part of their country, presents a rare, highly tempting target. It is also believed that groups such as Al Qaeda may see the Olympic games as an opportunity to demonstrate they remain powerful and capable of carrying out attacks after Osama bin Laden's death.
The U.S. State Department is warning American citizens planning on attending the Winter Olympics that while the Russian government is ramping up significant security measures, be aware that acts of terrorism, including bombings and hostage taking, continues to occur in Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus region. In addition to this week's bombings, other attacks have occurred at Russian government buildings, airports, hotels, tourist sites, markets, entertainment venues, schools, and residential complexes. There have also been large-scale attacks on public transportation including subways, buses, trains, and scheduled commercial flights. You never hear about these attacks as they are rarely covered by U.S. media outlets but they are happening.
In 2011, the U.S. government designated the Caucasus Emirate as a terrorist organization. The Caucasus Emirate is responsible for many of the aforementioned attacks.
In July of 2013, Doku Umarov, the Chechen leader of the Caucasus Emirate, released a video message rescinding prior directions not to attack civilians and directly called for use of "maximum force" in attacks to prevent or severaly upset the Winter Olympics in Sochi. This terrorist group has previously targeted civilians, including attacks on a ski resort, metro system, high-speed rail, airport, and a theater. While westerners have not specifically been targeted, the State Department indicates they are viewed by the Caucasus Emirate as complicit in the Russian government's efforts to prevent the insurgents from forming an Islamic state out of a swath of southern Russia that includes Sochi.
U.S. citizens attending the games should be particularly vigilant and exercise good judgment and discretion when using any form of public transportation. (Threat Journal)
(Read more here, including news of possible Saudi involvement in these terrorist attacks.)
- Father God, we lift up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and we loose Your Word to be present in the Winter Olympics at Sochi. We decree that it is written that, what the enemy plans for evil, You will turn to good. We thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayer, for exposing every threat to these Olympics that is now being planned, and for watching over all who are participating in these games -- both athletes and guests. Thank You, Lord, that we can turn to You for help, in time of need. In Your Name, we offer this prayer, amen and amen.
- "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." (Rev. 12:11)
|
Good News Corner (1)
|
|||
|
||||
The Good News Corner (1)
Miraculous Healing in Jesus Stuns Israelis
Israeli news stations have been reporting on the miracle and all admit that it is impossible to explain what happened to Therese, other than the power of her faith. Hospital staff and reporters even traveled to Therese's home to look for some other explanation. They tasted the food she eats and checked the water she drinks, but there was no physical explanation. They left contemplating one undeniable, unavoidable and very uncomfortable option-that prayer in Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, still heals today.
When Therese Daoud arrived at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital with a huge cancerous tumor, doctors said her only chance of survival would be to amputate the leg. What happened during the following months has left the medical staff and the nation speechless.
"If someone had told me the story of what happened to Therese, I would have said they are crazy and sent them to a mental hospital," said Professor Yaakov Bickels, head of the Orthopedic-Oncology Department at the hospital. "But I was there. I saw it with my own eyes."
What the professor saw he described as a malignant tumor "the size of an orange." The biopsy showed a sarcoma. "This is one of the most aggressive and terrifying of all cancerous tumors," Bickels explained. "With a tumor developed to this degree, the only treatment we could offer Therese was to amputate her leg."
"I was in shock when the doctors told me," said Therese, a junior high school science teacher. "I thought he was talking about someone else. But I had no choice. I began to prepare myself for life with one leg."
Therese sent lab tests and x-rays to the USA to double check, but they came back with the same prognosis. The leg must be amputated to save her life.
On the day of surgery, after waiting in the hospital for three days, Therese was informed that because of "technical difficulties" the operation must be rescheduled. When she went back for the rescheduled surgery, just as she was about to be wheeled into the operating theater, Therese was told again, "the amputation must be postponed." This time the surgical units were unavailable due to a number of emergency cases. By the time Therese got another date for surgery, her mother had become very sick, and Therese decided to herself postpone the operation in order to take care of her mother.
For most of us, postponing a lifesaving surgery would have been overwhelming. Not for Therese. "Three times the surgery was delayed," she said. "This was a clear sign to me from Heaven that I should not have the surgery." Israeli TV showed images of Therese praying in a church in the north of the country.
Three months later, a huge smile on her face, Therese walked unaided into Bickels' office. "What happened to you?" he asked. "I prayed," she responded.
Stunned, Bickels immediately sent Therese for an MRI, but the results were undeniable. The killer growth had receded dramatically. "This just does not happen," stammered the professor. "A growth of this kind cannot recede like this."
Doctors and nurses could not believe the results, so they sent for another biopsy. But . . . there was no cancer. It had completely left her body. "We kept checking her records over and over," said an astonished Bickels. "We just could not accept that the cancer had gone without any treatment."
Israeli news stations have been reporting on the miracle and all admit that it is impossible to explain what happened to Therese, other than the power of her faith. Hospital staff and reporters even traveled to Therese's home to look for some other explanation. They tasted the food she eats and checked the water she drinks, but there was no physical explanation. They left contemplating one undeniable, unavoidable and very uncomfortable option-that prayer in Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, still heals today. (Israel Today) Read more.
- (A note from a friend in Israel)
PURELY AWESOME! We have been praying for this kind of thing to be common place. It worked that way in Yeshua's day and operating through His disciples after He left for the High Kingdom. Miracles are the signs that the Jews have been waiting for. BRING IT ON, LORD!
|
Good News Corner (2)
|
|||
|
||||
The Good News Corner (2):
The Prayer Partners of CHPP have done it again!
For our dear friends all across the nation and now around the world: THANK YOU!
You have all done it again . . . pouring forth your hand of blessing upon the work of CHPP in offerings, prayers, and amazing notes of gratitude for the work we are doing as we intercede for our nation, for Israel, and for the harvest of souls to come into the Kingdom of God.
We continue to be overwhelmed and truly humbled by your kindness and your generosity, and we ask your own prayers for us as we enter into this New Year: that we will continue to be "true to the true," and to discern the path that God has set out before us.
Thank you, Capitol Hill PRAYER PARTNERS!
You are one amazing team of prayer warriors!!
In His Grace and in His Love,
Sara Ballenger and the Board of Directors
Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
|
Signs and Wonders
|
|||
|
||||
Signs and Wonders:
'Polar vortex' descends into US, bringing sub-zero temperatures
A so-called "polar vortex" of dense, frigid air descended upon much of the U.S. Monday, dropping temperatures in some parts of the country to near-record lows, prompting wind chill warnings from Montana to Alabama and grounding over 3,000 flights.
The Midwest is being hit with the brunt of the cold, with temperatures plunging to 40 below zero -- the coldest in the nation -- in Brimson, Minn., as of Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Wind chills were expected to drop as low as negative 55 Monday night in International Falls, Minn., and rebound to minus 25 to minus 35 on Tuesday. Farther south, the wind chill -- what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature -- is expected to hit negative 50 in Chicago and minus 35 in Detroit.
"It's just a dangerous cold," National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Dye, based in Missouri, told the Associated Press. (Read more)
Prayer Request:
It has been reported that 16 people have now died since last week's snowstorm hit the Northeast; and now this potentially fatal arctic cold "vortex" will follow. Please join us in praying for the safety of all who will be affected tonight and tomorrow by these frigid temperatures. Pray, too, that no one will lose their power, despite the very high winds that are predicted. Tonight, we are asking our God for a miracle of protection for our nation. Thank you.
"And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."
(I John 3:22)
"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." (Luke 11:25-28)
|
Worship With Us Today!
|
|||
|
||||
Worship With Us Today!
"Healing Rain" by Michael W. Smith
Yes, Lord, please send your healing rain!
