NIGHTWATCH FOR EUROPE: week beginning Sunday 22nd April 2007
‘Could you not watch with me for one hour?’ (Mtt26: 40)
WELCOME TO THE NIGHT WATCH FOR EUROPE
This week we will take time to pray into the third of the Berlin declarations over the EU fiftieth anniversary, declare redemptive scripture words over Athens, Cyprus and Spain and then focus once more on the French elections that take place in this week. Finally we will pray again into the foundations of European politics and look for the kingdom of God that is coming.
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We will send you a brief outline for prayer each week according to the prophetic direction coming from the contemporary prophetic movement in Europe. You will not always agree with everything in the watch material. Go with what you can and trust the Lord to help you with the rest. This Nightwatch began in November 2003 and We are looking to carry on for another year and seven months, while realising that some can’t commit right now for as long as that. We are pleased for you to enlist for as long as you can. If you have to miss an occasional watch it’s OK as the rest of us will carry it. A six-month commitment is probably a good start.
THE CONTENT OF THE WATCH FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SUNDAY 22nd April 2007
1. Take 15 minutes to pray into the third of the three declarations that make up the 50th anniversary statement of the European Union.
You won’t agree with it all! Please make a note of those things that you sense that God disagrees with, pray about them and let us know what they are please: email us at admin@passion.org.uk
“The European Union will continue to thrive both on openness and on the will of its Member States to consolidate the Union's internal development.
The European Union will continue to promote democracy, stability and prosperity beyond its borders. With European unification a dream of earlier generations has become a reality.
Our history reminds us that we must protect this for the good of future generations. For that reason we must always renew the political shape of Europe in keeping with the times.
That is why today, 50 years after the signing of the Treaties of Rome, we are united in our aim of placing the European Union on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009. For we know, Europe is our common future.”
2. Continue to take time to declare the Lord’s promises and resist the devil over these times of transition (15 minutes).
Here are several more biblical statements over Europe that reveal part of the redemptive purpose and destiny of the European nations. Declare them and resist the devil away from them as the Lord leads you.
Over Athens in Hellas (Greece):
“He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.” (Act 17:26-28)
Declare that God made the land of Hellas and its people. Declare that they will seek after him and find him in a new way at this time, and that the damage and confusions of identity will be overcome and healed.
For Cyprus:
“But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said, ‘You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.’ And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.” (Act 13:8-12)
Declare and end to deception and fraud on both sides of the dividing green line and a new kind of leadership that will see clearly both the need and the possibility of a reunited island and work towards it.
For Spain:
“Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.” (Rom 15:28-29)
Pray that Paul’s desire to visit Spain ‘in the fullness of the blessing of Christ’ we will be fulfilled by the visit of the Holy Spirit in a new way in our time. Declare that the church in Spain will be liberated from bondage to all restrictive and dominating structures and will stand up through the all the spheres of society as God’s servant community.
3. Take 15 minutes to pray again for the forthcoming French presidential elections
Use the following information as the Lord leads you:
The first round of polling is on 22nd April. Twelve candidates are vying to succeed veteran centre-right leader Jacques Chirac: Nicolas Sarkozy of the centre-right UMP remains the frontrunner, with Socialist rival Segolene Royal in second place. Polls show centrist candidate Francois Bayrou not far behind, with far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen - who reached the second round in 2002 - fourth.
As I write the news is that the gap is closing between Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal's. Mr Bayrou, the centre ground candidate remains well behind them, but Mr Le Pen is gaining ground. At least a third of all voters say that they are still undecided, so a lot could change! Pray for men and women of peace to emerge through the elections.
4. Take 15 minutes to pray into the following issues for European politics:
i) Pray into the new attempts that are being made to find a European constitution. Consider and pray over the statements ‘the issue isn’t whether the constitution mentions God but whether it pleases God’ and ‘God doesn’t want his people to take over power through laws and constitutions but to change society from the within.’
ii) The European law enforcement organisation, Europol, has come out with its first report on the terrorism situation in the EU saying that although it is not a new phenomenon in Europe, the threat to member states is more serious than ever. The report – which gives an overview of terrorism activities in the EU's 27member states – was presented to the European Parliament on Tuesday where EU officials debated proposals for boosting the powers of the bloc's law enforcement arm to enhance police cooperation in fighting cross-border crime and terrorism. Pray for the police and all those working in the judiciary of the EU and its member states, as well as throughout wider Europe. Pray that governments will be able to resist the temptation to erode freedom and justice in the name of protecting us against terrorism and that imprisonment without trial or proper charges will cease for all people including suspected terrorists.
iii) Pray that the church will increasingly understand its calling to serve Europe with the radical values of the kingdom of God. Speak out in prayer in Jesus name to the governments and people of the continent using the words of Jesus:
"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” (Luke 6:27-31)
