There are many books in my library that are a direct result of the input of fellow book-loving friends. Prayers for a Privileged People by Walter Brueggeman is one such book, and i have Phil Aud to thank for his recommendation.

Here is one of the prayers from this brilliant book...

Sovereign

by Walter Brueggeman

We name you king, Lord, sovereign.
  We trust you, except
        sometimes we do not.
        We take matters into our own hands.

We fashion power and authority and sovereignty;
    enforced by law and bureaucracy and weapons,
        we think to make ourselves safe.
    And then learn, staggeringly,
        how insufficient is our product,
        how think is our law,
        how ineffective is our bureaucracy,
        how impotent our weapons.

We are driven back to you—
            your will,
            your purpose,
            your requirements:
                  care for land
                  care for neighbor
                  care for future.

We name you king, Lord, sovereign—
        so undemocratic!
    and in naming become aware of our status
        before you... loved, sent, summoned.
        We pray in the name of the loved, sent, summoned Jesus.

Walking away from a my Community Life Group, I was left feeling broken and very small... but in a good way. In the way that recognizes that God is God, and I am not.

Hours later, the one thing that my mind kept returning to was a prayer that I had originally found in a Chuck Swindoll devotional about a million years ago. It's from a book of puritan prayers, and is what my heart is echoing today...

Years ago when my grandmother, a prayer warrior, passed away, I felt a deep sadness that she was no longer here praying for her granddaughter, who was barely holding her life together at the time. Then, I happened upon this quote by E.M. Bounds, and my outlook, not only on prayer, but on our responsibility to pray, forever changed.

Mighty Force of Prayer
By E.M. Bounds
The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventative. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.

God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them. Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them, outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.

That man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s vicegerents. A man can pray better because of the prayers of the past; a man can live holier because of the prayers of the past. The man of many and acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation. The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil.

Woe to the generation of sons who find their censers empty of the rich incense of prayer, whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray. Perils inexpressible and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage. Fortunate are they whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer.

Where there is prayer there will be much of the Holy Spirit; where there is much of the Holy Spirit, there will be ever-increasing prayer.

In our last post, we reported that over $18,000 was raised through last Sunday's special offerings for Haiti.

Well, money has continued to come in, and currently we can now report raising over $23,400 for relief efforts in Haiti. These monies will be passed on to ERDO, the humanitarian relief arm of the PAOC and will be matched by the Canadian government through the CIDA grant announced last week. This means that almost $47,000 of relief will be heading to Haiti through PORTICO's generosity.

As noted in our last post, any of these funds that are distributed through the Canadian Food Grains Bank will be matched 4:1.

Thank you PORTICO! And continue to pray for Haiti and for missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau and Bob Thornley as they minster through this tragedy.

Last week our PORTICO family lovingly responded to the people of Haiti by donating just over $18,000.00 in emergency relief.  

Your generous support of $18,000 has the opportunity, through an approved PAOC/Canadian Foodgrains Bank food project to become $72,000 (CFGB matches donations 4:1) and will help to meet the staggering needs for humanitarian aid and for recovery and reconstruction activities.

We are grateful for the safety of PAOC missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau and Tami Goslow and Bob Thornley. We are grieved to learn of the death of Pastor Gandy St-Hilarie who was in charge of our weekly feeding program and was also involved in the ChildCare Plus sponsorship program. We are also saddened to learn of the confirmed death of one of our CCP sponsored children.

PAOC/ERDO (Emergency Relief & Development Overseas) is responding with practical help for the victims. On Tuesday, January 19th an Emergency Medical Response Team left the Dominican Republic with a truck load of medical aid and arrangements are being made through PAOC missionary Adrian Thomas in the Dominican Republic, for twice weekly shipments of relief goods into Port au Prince by small plane for use by the team on the ground.

Thank you PORTICO, for responding to this crisis. Let’s continue to pray for the people of Haiti, our missionaries, and all those involved in the relief and reconstruction process. We will continue to accept donations.

I just finished listening to a live conference call with Rich Stearns of World Vision, Dave Toycen from World Vision Canada (who is currently on the ground in Haiti), Bill Hybels and Max Lucado.

The strong recommendation right now is that the best way to have an impact in this early stage is by sending money. There is a tremendous challenge getting into the country. The port has been damaged so that shipping is hindered. The airport is overtaxed and roads are largely blocked. The World Vision offices in Port au Prince have also been severely damaged and they are currently operating out of a parking lot beside the building. Some of the greatest challenges early on were that many of the staff of the NGO’s on the ground in Haiti were all struggling with their own challenges... missing family members, damaged homes, no electricity, etc.

On a positive note, we are thankful for an answer to prayer. We have received an update from from the Missions Department at PAOC. Before this communique was received, Bob Thornley had been considered missing."We are grateful to know that missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau are safe, as are other personnel Tami Goslow and Bob Thornley."

Please continue to pray for relief efforts in the country.

By now you have heard of the devastation in the already suffering nation of Haiti. An earthquake measuring 7.0 slammed the region just a couple of days ago and reports indicate that the death toll in the region could reach 100,000 people.

Rescue efforts are ongoing as thousands are digging with their bare hands to try and free victims trapped in the rubble. The hospital in Port au Prince has collapsed along with many other buildings, including the Presidential Palace. One report observes that there are so many dead bodies that people, not knowing what to do with them, are simply wrapping them in cardboard or fabric and leaving them out for the government to pick up.

Thankfully, PAOC missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau were out of the country at a missionary retreat when the quake hit and they are both safe and en route back to Haiti. An email from PAOC Missions Personnel said, "We are grateful to know that missionaries Michel and Louise Charbonneau are safe, as are other personnel Tami Goslow and Bob Thornley."

Please pray...

• that rescue and relief efforts will be succesful.
• for Michel and Louise Charbonneau as they return to work with others in the rescue and relief effort.
• for ChildCare Plus children and families in the area.
• that the spread of disease will be contained and kept to a minimum.
• for World Vision, Red Cross, ERDO and many other relief organizations who are working in the country.

Also, please give generously to assist the rescue and relief efforts in Haiti. 

We concluded our week of prayer with a focus on missions. Pastor Jeff led the evening and opened with a time of worship. People responded in praise and worship in God's presence and from the outset, a very real sense of the moving of the Spirit was evident in the chapel.

From our time of worship, we moved into a time of prayer in small groups for the local ministries that PORTICO supports. There was a great sense of urgency as prayer from all over the room began to rise to heaven for ministries like Mississauga Life Centre, Cornerstone Church, STM Network and The Dam Youth Centre.

After this small group prayer, we had many lead out in prayer for specific missionaries that PORTICO supports around the world. Jim Craig led in a powerful prayer for Ilya and Janet Bantseev and their ministry in Novokuznetsk, Siberia  Martin Reid prayed for Charles and Conny Hermelink in Thailand. A few different people led in prayer for Ken Birch and his work with African missionaries but also specifically for healing in his body. Many others led out as well for the missionaries and ministries that were on their hearts.

One of our elders, Enn Martin, then led us all in prayer for the three Short-Term Missions teams that will go out from PORTICO this summer to Northern Ontario, Peru South America, and Zimbabwe Africa.

The evening ended with another worship song and a challenge from Colossians 1:5-7a:

"...the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant..."

Pastor Jeff noted how Paul reminded the Colossians that the gospel had come to them and was now bearing fruit and growing all over the world...but someone, Epaphras had brought it to them. It was a reminder to all of us that someone shared the gospel with us, and we need to pray for those who are faithfully bringing the gospel to so many others around the world so that God's kingdom can continue to grow and bear fruit.

Pastor Jeff closed the meeting in prayer and urged everyone to continue to pray for our missionaries and supported ministries as a part of their daily prayer times.

We began our evening of prayer with Pastor Doug encouraging us in corporate prayer and also challenging individuals to lead out in conversational sentence prayers. Our focus at this gathering was prayer for Children’s Ministries at PORTICO.

Pastor Saundra directed the rest of our prayer time and divided the time remaining up into four segments:

• We began by praying in small groups of five or so for parents. The focus of our prayer was on healthy marriages, being good examples, wisdom, strength and provision for single parents, spiritual leadership in the home.
• For next ten minutes, we prayed corporately for our children, with many leading out that our kids would experience God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We also prayed for health, safety, sense of purpose and God’s call on kid’s lives, and that we would see our kids become true worshipers.
• Pastor Saundra then had anyone who was a leader in Children’s Ministry at PORTICO, teachers in the school system, daycare workers, anyone who worked with kids, come forward for prayer and together we laid hands on them and prayed over them for discernment, wisdom, the love of Christ and the power and anointing of the Spirit in their lives as they served children.
• We concluded the evening by joining hands in a large circle around the perimeter of the chapel with many leading out in prayer as the Spirit directed.

These have been powerful times of prayer and we are thankful for the many who are coming. Friday is the last night of our Week of Prayer and we encourage you to join us at 7:00 pm in the Chapel as we focus on missions.

Tonight's prayer gathering had a very specific focus—healing. Pastor Doug spoke of Mark 2:3-5, when the friends of a paralyzed man lowered him through the roof so that he could get to Jesus. He particularly noted verse 5, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" As those who wanted healing went up to the front to be prayed for by the pastors and elders, those still sitting in their seats were admonished to be like the friends in the story, praying and believing for the healing of those who went forward.

After the prayer time, Pastor Doug asked if any knew of someone who was ill and needed prayer but they weren't there, to stand and say the name of that person out loud. So many names were mentioned, and after that, we prayed for all those people who had someone standing for them. It truly was a powerful time.

It's hard to believe that after tonight, the week of prayer is more than half over! If you haven't already come out, it's not too late. Join us both Thursday and Friday nights at 7:00 pm in the Chapel.