Prayer Concerns for the Week of August 18, 2014
Iraq, Syria
Rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/ISIS, now known as Islamic State (IS), have taken control of large portions of Iraq and eastern Syria in a campaign to restore an Islamic state in this area that is based on strict, medieval Sunni Muslim precepts. This offshoot of Al-Qaeda is considered far more brutal than Al-Qaeda. They consider Shi’ite Muslims (the majority of Iraq’s population) to be heretics deserving of death, but also target minorities and civilians with brutal punishments and death threats. Minority religious groups that have lived in Iraq for centuries—Christians, Turkmen, Yazidis, Shabak, Sabian Mandaeans, Bahais, Kakais, and Faili Kurds—are forced by IS to convert to their form of Islam or die. In the most recent attacks by IS militants, tens of thousands of Iraq’s religious minorities, including a quarter of the country’s Christians, have fled north to escape violent assaults. Thousands of Yazidis (a secretive religious minority group viewed by the militants as devil worshipers), remain trapped in the mountains near Sinjar, surrounded by IS forces. They have little or no water, food, shelter, medicine, or fuel and children are dying from dehydration. An estimated 30,000 Yazidis were able to escape after a week of being trapped in the mountains, possibly because of U.S. airstrikes on IS militant positions. Many Yazidis have crossed into Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. http://tinyurl.com/kr4g6je http://tinyurl.com/nxnsh2d http://tinyurl.com/mesrm6j http://tinyurl.com/lvb9odt http://tinyurl.com/odcp4q2 http://tinyurl.com/ltkvbqw
· Continue in prayer for children and families affected by IS militant attacks and persecution of religious minorities. Pray for those displaced from their homes and communities by the fighting. Pray for the injured and grieving.
· Give God thanks for the escape of so many Yazidis who had been trapped in the mountains. Pray for children and their caregivers who are weak from exhaustion, dehydration, and exposure to the sun.
· Pray for the safety and freedom of the remaining children and families trapped in the mountains near Sinjar. Pray God will provide for their most immediate needs. Pray for those who were too weak to escape after the airstrikes.
· Please pray for peace in this region.
· Pray for Iraq and Syria’s leaders during this challenging season. Pray they will seek God’s guidance in all of their decisions concerning the people in their respective countries.
· Pray for those who kill and destroy in the name of their religion. Pray for a change of heart and mind.
Israel, Palestine, Egypt
In the ongoing, violent conflict between Israel and Hamas, almost 2,000 people have been killed (as of August 10). The majority of those killed were civilians in Gaza, including 452 children. More than 2,800 Palestinian children have been injured in the violence. Over a half million people have been displaced. http://tinyurl.com/m65a9ou
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· Pray for those on both sides of this conflict who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Pray for God’s comforting peace to surround and sustain them.
· Please pray for the thousands of children and families made homeless in Gaza. Pray for those in Israel who have had to abandon their homes and communities.
· Pray God will bring healing to the hundreds of thousands of children who’ve seen horrors no child should ever have to witness. Pray for children who have already lived through multiple wars in their short lifetimes.
· Please pray for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire agreement between Israeli troops and Hamas militants. Give God thanks for the previous ceasefires that have allowed more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
· Pray the diplomatic talks in Cairo, Egypt will bear fruit—that mediators will reach a peace agreement that stops this devastating conflict. Pray for a sustainable peace in this region.
