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Dear Friends,
Greetings from Hyderabad, a city of south central India where we are about
to begin the Consultation on Spiritual Strongholds, October 22-24. The
Apostle Paul affirms that “the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of
the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
(2 Cor. 10:4) He goes on to describe such strongholds as arguments,
pretensions and thought patterns that are against the knowledge of God, in
other words, ideologies and idolatries that keep people from seeing “the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). Here in South
Asia, there are literally millions of so called “gods” and “goddesses” that
enslave the majority of people’s minds with false ideas and belief systems.
These institutionalized lies contribute to the awful poverty and oppression
found in this region and also perpetuate the ideology of the caste system in
which hundreds of millions are hopelessly bound to a certain social level
and occupation for their entire lives. The Dalits, once called
“Untouchables”, are at the very bottom of the social ranking in the caste
system and are usually marginalized by their higher caste community members,
not even allowed to touch those above them or to drink from the same well.
You can imagine the unbearable suffering this causes huge numbers of men,
women and children.
Today through Tuesday, the 24th, 110 Christian leaders from every part of
India and other South Asian countries will take part in this crucial
consultation. Will you please pray with us for the following:
1. That we will have the anointing
and guidance of the Holy Spirit to have discernment, wisdom, clear
understanding and unity.
2. For helpful, workable strategies that will better
strengthen the prayer movement and better enable God’s people to deal with
the principalities and powers of spiritual darkness in this region
(Ephesians 6:10f).
3. For excellent, clear presentations, discussion and times
of united, authoritative prayer.
4. For His protection over ourselves, our families,
ministries and colleagues as we engage in an activity that surely is
anathema to the evil one. Pray that he will be completely bound and kept
from interfering in any way, both during the consultation and in any
backlash afterwards.
May I also ask you to remember to pray for the Afghanistan (Oct 26-28) and
Pakistan (Oct 29-Nov 4) prayer initiatives that will be so crucial to these
geopolitically strategic and needy lands. Pray for the organizers as they
make preparations and for the participants. Also, please pray for smooth,
on-time, safe travel for our team of five who will be facilitating and for
His wisdom. We deeply appreciate your support in this way.
A big “God bless you” from India,
John Robb
International Prayer Council
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