Capitol Hill Prayer Partners
"A National Prayer Alliance"
P.O. Box 5152
Herndon, VA 20172-1970
chpp1994@gmail.com
The Daily Brief:
"Praying for All in Authority"
Monday, April 18, 2016
"I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." (John 9:4)
Today's Worship:
Jesus Culture - Oh Happy Day
Worship Him together . . . here . . .
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The Middle East in Focus
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"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10)
1. Netanyahu vows Golan Heights will remain part of Israel forever -Times of Israel
The Golan Heights will forever remain part of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday during the first-ever cabinet meeting held on the Golan.
Speaking in the Israeli town of Ma'aleh Gamla, next to an archaeological site where Jewish rebels stood off against Roman soldiers nearly 2,000 years ago, Netanyahu said he told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that Israel does not oppose current efforts to reach a political agreement to end the Syrian civil war, but that Israel's boundary line with the country will not change.
"I convened this celebratory meeting in the Golan Heights to send a clear message: The Golan will always remain in Israel's hands. Israel will never withdraw from the Golan Heights," he declared. (Read more)
2. Syria responds to Netanyahu: We will conquer the Golan - Israel National News
It didn't take Syria long to respond to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Cabinet meeting on the Golan Heights Sunday, in which he declared Israel will never surrender the region that was liberated in the 1967 Six Day War.
Shortly after the meeting on Sunday, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mekdad told Lebanon's al-Mayadeen that his regime will "retake the Golan Heights by any means necessary, including using military force."
"The Arab Syrian Golan is an occupied territory," claimed Al-Mekdad, referencing UN Security Council resolutions calling the area Syrian. According to the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister, Netanyahu's Cabinet meeting was a case of "Israel . . .trying to be provocative, but (we) do not give in to it." (Read more)
3. PA planning to issue 'State of Palestine' passports - Israel National News
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has notified Israel that it intends to begin issuing passports which bear the inscription "State of Palestine", Army Radio reported on Wednesday.
Currently, passports issued to residents of the PA bear the inscription "the Palestinian Authority". A PA official quoted by Army Radio made clear that the move would go ahead even without Israel's consent.
The PA has been making plans to issue passports for the "State of Palestine" for several years, ever since 2012, when the United Nations overwhelmingly voted in favor of upgrading the PA's status at the organization to that of a "non-member observer state".
At the time, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued guidelines ordering the PA government to re-issue passports, identity cards, registration documents, vehicle licenses, driver's licenses, stamps and postmarks with the name "State of Palestine" instead of Palestinian Authority. (Read more)
4. 20,000 Hamas terrorists in Gaza - Israel National News
The IDF is preparing for the possibility of a fourth Hamas terror war from Gaza, drawing on the lessons learned in Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
A senior IDF officer in the Southern Command on Thursday said that the army is running drills to prepare for combat against Hamas forces.
"Since the end of the operation we are training and preparing for all the threats. Hamas is busy building its forces and we are busy planning the next battle, in which we will without a doubt hit them hard enough so that the deterrence will last for many years," he said. The officer noted that "lessons were learned and everything that required treatment was done."
He detailed the lessons learned as including: "the issue of evacuating towns adjacent to the (security) barrier, transferring the headquarters and staging grounds (for entry to Gaza - ed.) deep into the territory, operating the warning system and establishing combat teams to secure the towns in order to give a defense response, all while conducting an offensive which is the most important thing in any battle." (Read more)
5. UK military expert: Israel must strike Iran - on its own - Israel National News
Israel ought to go rogue on Iran, suggested a prominent British military expert on Tuesday, saying that the Jewish state was "an outpost of strength" that should target Iran's nuclear program.
In an address to the Gatestone Institute on Tuesday, Colonel (ret.) Richard Kemp presented some of the most serious security challenges facing the West, praising Israel as an example of "unique morality" in a difficult geopolitical situation.
Kemp, who retired from the British military in 2006, now serves as a member of the High Level Military Group, a group of international military experts and advisers.
Praising Israel's resolve and high ethical standards, Kemp lamented what he described as Europe's "spiral downward to being obliterated." (Read more)
6. Iran aims to buy fighter jets, advanced tanks from Russia - Times of Israel
Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan is planning to raise the purchase of warplanes and tanks during an upcoming meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow, Iran's semi-official news agency Fars reported Friday, citing Russian media. An official at the Iranian Embassy in Moscow said it was "quite possible" that the April 26-27 talks between Dehghan and Sergei Shoigu would include the issue, Fars said, again quoting the Interfax news agency. According to the reports, the Islamic Republic is eyeing the Su-30SM jet, a "two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft," which is suitable "for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions," as well as the advanced T-90 tank. Discussions on the sale of the jets to Iran began last month, Fars said. (Read more)
7. Hollande: International summit best way to tackle Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Jerusalem Post
French President Francois Hollande said on Friday that an international conference to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the best way to bring peace, following a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The proposed conference is a French initiative and Hollande said he hoped it would bring together countries with an interest in the conflict, within a specified time frame. (Read more)
8. Netanyahu set to meet Putin next week in Moscow - Jerusalem Post Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week to discuss pertinent issues in key ares of bilateral relations, as well as pressing issues regarding the region.
The Prime Minister's Office said on Friday that both parties will discuss current issues in key areas of bilateral relations. Additionally, the two are set to discuss pressing issues on the regional and global agendas, like the Palestinians and the conflict in Syria, among others.
This is the second meeting between the two leaders in recent months, as part of security cooperation surrounding the civil war in Syria, particularly in regards to flight arrangements of the air forces of the two countries. However, this is the first meeting between the two since the withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria, a move that surprised Israel. (Read more) (Read more)
9. Hebrew Nation News Bulletin
To read this week's bulletin from HNN, please go here.
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The Daily Brief
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1. US: 'All options' on the table for solving Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including UN action - Jerusalem Post
The United States will consider taking its concerns over Israel's settlement activity, or over a general stall in negotiations toward a final-status solution with the Palestinians, to the United Nations Security Council, the State Department said on Thursday.
The Obama administration outlined its stance after several days of confusion over whether the US might or might not consider such a move.
"We understand that there is an early draft that the Palestinians have shared informally in New York," State Department spokesperson John Kirby said, asked by The Jerusalem Post to clarify whether the US would consider voting for or declining to veto a resolution addressing Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank.
"We are very concerned about trends on the ground and we do have a sense of urgency about the two-state solution. We will consider all of our options for advancing our shared objective of lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but I'm not going to comment on a draft Security Council resolution." (Read more)
- Abba Father, we acknowledge that the relationship between the US administration and the nation of Israel is like a huge cauldron of boiling oil which continues to 'grow in heat'. If the US leadership acts as 'implied' here by State Department representatives and votes with the Palestinians or just refuses to 'veto' the enforcement by the UN Security Council, this would be a serious breach of all previous relations between the US and Israel. We know what Your Word teaches us about that kind of action and we cry out to You for mercy and intervention, praying this in Jesus' Name and under His Shed Blood, Amen and Amen.
- "The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous." (Proverbs 15:29)
2. Is Obama planning his revenge on Netanyahu?- Jerusalem Post
Obama is preparing a metaphorical roadside IED for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It cannot be that the tainted relations between the two leaders will not end with Obama exacting some sweet revenge."
Variations of the above statement have been uttered for a while now by senior American and Israeli officials since Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress last year during his campaign against Obama and his nuclear agreement with Iran.
This week, the New York Times brought the fraught Obama-Netanyahu relationship back into the headlines when the paper expounded on the US president's possible future revenge against the Israeli leader that will be served up cold in the form of a UN Security Council resolution on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Several officials have said that Obama has grown so frustrated with trying to revive Middle East peace talks that he may lay down his own outline for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution, in the form of a resolution in the United Nations Security Council, the Times reported.
"There will be a great temptation to do something in the final year. "For a president who came out faster and more aggressively on the Middle East than any of his predecessors, there is a gnawing sense of incompletion and perhaps even failure," Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told the Times last month. (Read more)
- Abba Father, we know that You alone fully understand our hearts and desires, and we know that only You can confront any of us in the deepest most sense as we all were created by You. We come seeking that You will rise up to confront the deep spiritual needs of this man who is the key leader of the U.S. Help him, Father, to heal within his spirit and soul so that he does not act destructively in a spirit of 'spit and revenge' against Your special land and people, especially against Your chosen leader for Israel. Save him, Father, if he will accept it. We pray this in Jesus' Name and under His Shed Blood, Amen and Amen.
- "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV)
3. Congress Urges Obama Not to Support U.N. Action on a Two-State Solution - Jerusalem Post [excerpt]
Over breakfast with foreign policy reporters on Thursday morning, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan warned against any "funny" moves at the UN, arguing that such actions would run counter to peace. The US has long supported direct negotiations between the parties.
And also this week, 394 out of 435 House members endorsed a letter to US President Barack Obama urging him not to support or allow action at the Security Council on the matter. The letter reiterates bipartisan support for a two-state solution negotiated between the parties themselves. (Read more)
- Lord God, we thank You that 395 members of Congress, from both sides of the aisle, have sent this letter to the president. Father, we cry for You to move upon Mr. Obama's heart to refrain from promoting this two-state solution at the U.N. We ask that You confront them in their quiet and night hours to continue to encourage a negotiated agreement from the two sides directly rather than 'supporting' brutal enforcement by the UN. We pray this in Jesus' Name and under His Shed Blood, Amen and Amen.
- "But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.'" (Mark 10:27 NKJV)
4. Saudi Arabia Warns of Economic Fallout if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill - New York Times
Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill's passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom's message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts. (Read more)
- Heavenly Father, we know You are totally aware of the fragility both of the US economy and of US diplomatic foreign relations. We cry forth for Your direction alone as to this congressional bill, which could 'trigger' extremely damaging responses from Saudi Arabia if it is passed. We know that families of those who died in the 9/11 2001 events want 'justice' but at what cost? Only You alone can answer this for all of us, Father. Direct us, we pray, in Jesus' Name and under His Shed Blood, Amen and Amen.
- "In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God." (Psalm 62:7 NKJV)
5. Minnesota mosque producing radical Somali terrorists - WND
A Minnesota man who pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State attended a radical mosque in Bloomington known for producing jihadists. Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 20, faces up to 15 years in prison but avoided a possible life sentence when three other counts were dropped.
Farah is one of five men in a group of Somali Americans - all either refugees or sons of refugees - who the government charged in the case. Farah was the only one of the five who was not accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, also called ISIS, but admitted he was communicating with an ISIS operative in Syria and intended to do so . . .
A total of 10 Somalis from Minnesota have been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS. Five have now pleaded guilty, one has fled and his whereabouts unknown. Another dozen or so Minnesota Muslims, almost all of them of Somali origin, have traveled to Syria to join Sunni rebel groups since 2012. (Read more)
- Heavenly Father, it is becoming increasingly clear to anyone who is watching and aware that the mosques in the US are 'schools' for inciting hatred, violence and terrorist acts. We cry for mercy please, Father, where You move to protect us from these actions. We ask that You extend Your righteous right hand over our national leaders, causing them to enact and enforce laws and regulations which will protect Your people and this nation. Direct us all as to how to prepare and respond so that we will be acting according to Your will and plans, praying this in Jesus' Name and under His Shed Blood, Amen and Amen.
- "As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death." (Proverbs 11:19 NKJV)
6. Japan earthquakes: Dozens killed; 'race against the clock' to find survivors - CNN
Heavy rains were expected through Sunday after Japan's Kyushu region was struck by twin earthquakes, hampering the search for survivors and forcing nervous residents into crowded evacuation centers.
At least 32 people have died in the latest Kyushu earthquake, according to Kumamoto Prefecture's disaster management office. The magnitude-7.0 quake hit early Saturday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described the search for survivors amid piles of rubble as a "race against the clock," noting that bad weather had conspired with the devastating quake, its aftershocks and the threat of landslides to make a dire situation worse.
In a Sunday morning press briefing, Abe said he received an offer of help from the U.S. military but it was not urgently needed yet. Japan has deployed 25,000 self-defense forces to the rescue effort, Suga said. (Read more)
- Father, even as the nation of Japan is still recovering from the devastation of the earthquake and the tsunami at Fukushima, we ask for Your Hand of mercy to rest once again upon this devastated island nation. Lord God, we cry out for the souls of the Japanese people. We understand that only 2 per cent of its population confesses You as Savior, so we ask for the souls of all others to be now found by You, in Jesus' name, amen and amen.
- "These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine." (Isaiah 29:24)
7. Aid begins to flow in after powerful earthquake kills 262 in Ecuador - Fox News
Aid began to flow in Sunday to areas devastated by Ecuador's strongest earthquake in decades and the death toll continued to rise as people left homeless hunkered down for another night outside in the dark.
Officials said the quake killed at least 262 people and injured more than 2,500 along Ecuador's coast. Vice President Jorge Glas said the toll was likely to rise because a large number of people remained unaccounted for, though he declined to say how many. (Read more)
- Lord God, we ask You to dispatch Your angels to assist the rescue teams in finding as many survivors as possible under the rubble of this devastated area of Ecuador. We thank You, too, that You do promise to comfort all who mourn, in Jesus' name, amen and amen.
- "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)
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The Persecuted Church
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Amid Crackdown, Prisoner in Iran Encourages Faithful to Stand Strong
In the face of a crackdown that has crippled Iran's house-church leadership, an imprisoned convert from Islam has managed to sneak a message of encouragement to Iran's Christians. With Iran's house churches mushrooming even as the government has imprisoned or harassed most pastors into exile, a Christian held in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj last week exhorted Iranian Christians to expect persecution but to continue proclaiming Christ.
"If you are courageous in God's way, God's grace will be with you," 31-year-old Ebrahim Firouzi stated. "Do not fear what you are doing, and raise the banner of Jesus in the name of God." (Farsi Christian News Network)
Read more.
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Classic Hymns
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Songs Our Grandmothers Sang:
RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19)
Lyrics
Rise up, O men of God! The kingdom tarries long. Bring in the day of brotherhood And end the night of wrong.
Rise up, O men of God! The church for you doth wait, Her strength unequal to her task; Rise up and make her great!
Lift high the cross of Christ! Tread where His feet have trod. As brothers of the Son of Man, Rise up, O men of God!
Melody
Please go here.
About the Author:
Words: William P. Merrill, 1911
Music: William H. Walter, 1872
About the Hymn:
Nolan R. Best, then editor of The Continent, happened to say to me that there was urgent need of a brotherhood hymn. The suggestion lingered in my mind, and just about that time I came upon an article by Gerald Stanley Lee, entitled "The Church of the Strong Men." I was on one of the Lake Michigan steamers going back to Chicago for a Sunday at my own church, when suddenly this hymn came up, almost without conscious thought or effort.
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Signs and Wonders
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Sudden Greenland ice sheet melt baffles scientists
Greenland ice, it seems, can vanish in a flash, with new satellite images showing that over just a few days this month nearly all of the veneer of surface ice atop the island's massive ice sheet had thawed.
That's a record for the largest area of surface melt on Greenland in more than 30 years of satellite observations, according to NASA and university scientists. (Christian Science Monitor) Read more.
"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." (Luke 21:25)
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The Good News Corner
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Islamic Terrorist Hunted This Pastor, But Jesus Foiled Plot With an Incredible Vision
Al-Rashid was the commander of a fanatical Islamic group that sought to convert everyone to Islam and make all nations fall under Islamic rule. He was angered by reports of Muslims converting to Christianity and spreading the Gospel. So he formed a special task force to track down the Christian leaders who were responsible and convert or kill them. Rashid heard about Pastor Paul, a former Muslim and the leader of a group of ministries boldly evangelizing Muslims in Asia, the Middle East and other developing countries. Pastor Paul and his team were distributing Bibles in many languages and forming underground house churches in restricted countries. (ASSIST NEWS) Read more about his vision here.
[Also reported by Breaking Christian News]
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Our Weekly Bible Study
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Our Weekly Bible Study:
Sunday, April 17 - Saturday, April 23, 2016
> > > To read the "One Year Bible" weekly letter, go here.
> > > To read the Shabbat Torah readings, go here.
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Election 2016: Prayer Resources
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Election 2016: Prayer Resources
"Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you." (Deuteronomy 1:13)
> > > Please find below the Election Prayer Resources that have been recently added to our list. To view the archive section, go here.
To view our recently archived articles, go here.
To view the most recently archived resources, go here.
