Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Day of Prayer and Fasting for Amcare 21st December 2011

Day of Prayer and Fasting for Amcare 21st December 2011

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2)

Thank you so much for your commitment to pray and fast for Amcare today. We gather today in prayer and fasting to bear the burden of and pray for Amcare’s leadership, Amcare’s staff and recently retrenched staff, and the people who Amcare serve. God has miraculously intervened many times in Amcare’s short history and we come before Him today, humbling ourselves (by fasting) and asking Him (by prayer) to intervene again.

The following is a guide to help you in your time of prayer and to focus your attention if/when your mind wanders. It comprises 3 sections, namely Personal preparation, Specific prayers for Amcare and Closing prayers. Please do not feel obliged to use this guide, it is merely an aid.

The last page is blank and has been included for you to record any specific revelations, through word, prayer or vision that God might give to you. You don’t need to record your name with your input as satan will probably tempt us to pride. It will be interesting to compare all the notes at the end of the day and find common threads and even hear God speaking to us through the revelations He might choose to give to some/all of us.

1.     Personal Preparation
Come into His presence: Millions of Christians and Jews use the following Psalm every day as a preparation for coming into the presence of the LORD

Psalm 95:1-7
Come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving;
and raise to the Lord a shout with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God;
you are great above all gods.
In your hand are the caverns of the earth;
and the heights of the hills are yours also.
The sea is yours, for you made it,
and your hands have molded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee,
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For you are our God,
and we are the people of your pasture, and the sheep of your hand.
Oh, that today we would hearken to your voice!

Confession: For Confession Meditation: For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. (1 Thessalonians 4:7)
                   For Confession Prayer: Psalm 51

Let us remind ourselves of what we believe:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Let us remember the hope we have:

This is a canticle called A Song of Faith and it reminds us of the hope we have as we pray. It is based on 1 Peter 1:3-4, 18-21

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by divine mercy we have a new birth into a living hope;
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
we have an inheritance that is imperishable in heaven.
The ransom that was paid to free us
was not paid in silver or gold,
But in the precious blood of Christ,
the Lamb without spot or stain.
God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory
so that we might have faith and hope in God.


2.     Specific Prayer for Amcare
We are praying for Amcare’s Financial Viability and ongoing mission.
For the following reasons, funding is currently severely strained and threatened as we plan for 2012:                                
1.     Funding from American Pepfar fund has been drastically reduced;
2.     The South African Mining Charter has drastically reduced donations from mining companies;
3.     Provincial Government funding to AMCARE is in arrears and the situation has been made worse by the Gauteng Dept. of Health and Social Development being placed under administration by Central Government in the last week;
4.     R83 000 per month for food parcels and R150 000 per month for salaries has been discontinued by the NLDTF.

Please pray as led by the Spirit into the situations mentioned above;

Please pray for new sources of income;

Please pray for the leadership and staff (current and recently retrenched) of Amcare in these uncertain times;

The Psalm which is set for reading in the 4th week of Advent in our Methodist Order of Service Book is Psalm 116. Unsurprisingly, this Psalm is very apt for us as we gather to pray for Amcare in the 4th week of Advent:
Psalm 116  Someone Saved from Death Praises God   

    I love the Lord, because he hears me;
      he listens to my prayers.
 2 He listens to me
      every time I call to him.
 3 The danger of death was all around me;
      the horrors of the grave closed in on me;
      I was filled with fear and anxiety.
 4 Then I called to the Lord,      
         I beg you, Lord, save me!

 5 The Lord is merciful and good;
      our God is compassionate.
 6 The Lord protects the helpless;
      when I was in danger, he saved me.
 7 Be confident, my heart,
      because the Lord has been good to me.

 8 The Lord saved me from death;
      he stopped my tears
      and kept me from defeat.
 9 And so I walk in the presence of the Lord
      in the world of the living.
 10 I kept on believing, even when I said,      
         I am completely crushed,
 11 even when I was afraid and said,      
         No one can be trusted.
12 What can I offer the Lord
      for all his goodness to me?
 13 I will bring a wine offering to the Lord,
      to thank him for saving me.
 14 In the assembly of all his people
      I will give him what I have promised.

 15 How painful it is to the Lord
      when one of his people dies!
 16 I am your servant, Lord;
      I serve you just as my mother did.
   You have saved me from death.
 17 I will give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
      and offer my prayer to you.
 18-19In the assembly of all your people,
      in the sanctuary of your Temple in Jerusalem,
      I will give you what I have promised.

   Praise the Lord!

3.     Closing Prayers
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.

A Prayer of Chrysostom
 
Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfil now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.