Pray for Iraq

Many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”

For from Zion will go forth the law,
Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
And never again will they train for war (Micah 4:2-3).


We prayed for the Gospel to advance in Iraq last night, so I was particularly saddened to read this report this morning, "Baghdad Church Siege Ends with 52 Dead"

Iraqi security forces stormed a Baghdad church where militants had taken an entire congregation hostage for four hours, leaving at least 52 people dead, including a priest, Iraqi officials said Monday.

(More info here from BBC).

I am sad because those who suffered were both defenseless and hopeless. Not only did these poor souls endure what must have been an unspeakably horrifying siege, but they did so under the hopeless false gospel of Roman Catholicism.

I am ever grateful to God for the Reformation we celebrated yesterday, in which God liberated His Church and the life-giving Gospel of Jesus from the Romanist errors. And I am humbled that He would allow our congregation to gather yesterday in peace and safety; a reality that I am sure most of us - if not all - took for granted.

Please pray for Iraq:

1. A broken and demoralized society is the fruit of the harsh dictatorship.
2. The international community has made Iraq a pariah among nations.
3. The Christian community is largely Assyrian, with some Armenians, and most Assyrians are members of the Catholic-linked Chaldean Church.
4. The few Evangelicals are mainly confined to the cities.
5. Leadership for the churches is a desperate need.
6. All peoples are unreached apart from Assyrian and Armenian minority groups.

And pray in view of that Day when the nations will stream to the mountain of the LORD and never again train for war.