Luke 10: 1-7 “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest…What ever house you enter, first say ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him…And remain in the same house eating and drinking what they provide…”
A Report on Week two of the Prayer Days for N. Cyprus
The second week of prayer days was dynamically different than the first week, yet no less powerful. The first week there was high energy and I think excitement to get out and to see God answer prayer. It seemed people were having spiritual conversations everyday. At the same time the morning sessions were filled with time for one on one time with Jesus, small group mediation on scripture and with everything culminating in a powerful time of large group worship and prayer.
However, the police arrived last Friday to inspect and to say that we were not able to worship publicly any more. As a result of that the owners of the complex that we are staying in asked that we cease all religious activities outside of our bungalows and apartments. This was a little frustrating, but it did not deter us. We just adjusted our schedule a bit and continued. We still have one on one time with Jesus, small group meditation on scripture, but we’ve replaced large group worship with team prayer time. This change has added a deeper resolve to our teams and a deeper sense of unity.
As far as the apostolic teams or the (outreach teams) instead of each team meeting random people on the street for brief encounters each of our teams have focused on relationships that God gave them the first week. We feel this is exactly what Jesus was asking His disciples to do when he sent them out before him. Go before me to prepare the way; asking the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to that land. As you meet people of peace stay with them and pray that God’s peace would come to that house and let them know that the Kingdom of Heaven is near…
Thursday was a Day of Solitude
Thursday was the half way point for most of our team so we took the day for solitude and for reflection on all that God has been doing among us this first 12 days. This was a very important day for everyone. I could see that most people were beginning to get a little tired, but today almost everyone has a renewed intensity and freshness to this work. Praise God for blessing us with His refreshing love and care.
Next week we will have 11 new people join us.
There will be 9 people coming from Turkey and 2 women from the UK who are working in South Cyprus. We are so excited about this last week that we will have together and about these new team members. Please pray that they will be able to quickly assimilate into our existing teams and that we will have an even greater impact this last week.
God is giving me a growing sense that he wants us to become a part of seeking peace for this island.
One of the things that I’ve been praying for years is that God would fit my feet with the “Gospel of Peace.” I never knew gave much thought how God would answer this prayer. Since being involved in N. Cyprus I sense that there is a huge reconciliation work God wants to do here. Now, I’m not saying I have any idea of what that would look like, but I want to begin to explore options. I just found out that next week there will be an open meeting of people who are interested in seeing a peaceful resolution to the North and South Cyprus taking place in the South. I’ve talked to Julie and she has given me permission to attend that meeting for two days. Please pray that God would give me more clarity as to how we might be able to pray for peace and how we might be able to contribute to peace.
Thanks again for your prayers,
Written by Warren Stewart (leader of Cyprus initiative)
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