Prayer cycle: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger (25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 2012)

Week 48: 25 November -  1 December 2012

INTERCESSIONS

Give thanks for:

• The freedom for Christians to worship in Mauritania even though it is an Islamic country.
• Christians who retain their faith and continue to serve Christ even though they are tiny minorities in some of these countries.
• Those who depend on semi-nomadic and nomadic ways of life and who continue to survive and retain their ethnic heritage.
• Those who plant trees to counter the spread of the desert.

Pray for:

• Political and economic stability in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, an end to human rights abuses and slavery in Mauritania, and an end to civil war in Chad.
• Those who suffer from lack of water and food, particularly in desert regions.
• Refugees and those whose lives have been formed in the midst of violence and conflict.
• An increase in the availability of education and medical care.
• The elimination of military force as a means to resolve disputes.
• Peace and reconciliation between tribes and ethnic groups.
• Reconciliation in families, in marriages.
• An end to abuse against children and women.
• The just use of oil resources in Mauritania and Chad so that it shall no longer profit only the few and thus lead to social disturbances.

Prayer for Mauritania

Your land, O Lord, is divided
and suffers from fighting between your children.

Injustices of all kinds, hatred and bitterness
are part of the daily life of the people.

Families seek reconciliation.
Tribes and ethnic groups need reconciliation and peace.

The country needs to be restored and reconciled with itself
in order to deal with its past.

The downtrodden still struggle to live a decent life.
The powerful continue to exploit the powerless and the voiceless.

Send your Holy Spirit to reveal your presence and might to all.

May your name be feared and judgment brought upon those
who continue to oppress the little ones.

Enter into hearts and lives and change them to become havens of love.

 

Prayer for Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania

God, our Father, we bless you
for the gift of life that you grant us,
that strength of faith, 
so fragile and so powerful,
which is nourished by the assurance of your love.
We pray to you, Lord,
for the sustenance of life for the people of these five countries,
Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
Stir up the strength and courage of all those who are engaged
in lifting these countries out of poverty.

Source: www.oikoumene.org