PRAYER FOR THE WORLD - FRANCE

by Julie Edmond

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.

As Christians we should have world vision. The extent of our vision determines what happens around us. When we pray for our town, our church is effected. When we start praying for our country, our town is effected. When we enlarge our vision to embrace the nations, our own nation will begin to change.

God promises to give us nations as our inheritance, nations that we can be concerned about or pray for. We can support missionaries to that nation or go ourselves short or long term. You may already have countries at heart. Make your inheritance a reality by doing something about it by informing yourselves or praying for example. If you've never thought about the world, start now! The kingdom of heaven is multi-national, and we should support one another. Can you imagine being able to say to someone in heaven

"I prayed for you when there was such and such a war and famine?"

God loves the world. God loves the nations. Every tribe, people and culture has a place in God's heart and we should pray to receive His heart for the world. If you do, be prepared to receive His sadness as well as His joy for this world and all it holds.

FRANCE

After spending my second year in France. I'd really like to encourage you to pray for this country. There are Christians in France, there are even growing, lively churches, but there aren't enough. In Toulouse, the fifth city of France, I knew most of the Christians of my age personally. In a big city in England they'd be far too many Christians for that to be possible! Most of the churches are struggling financially and spiritually because of the lack of members and the lack of mature Christians. They lack the stable influence of generations of Christians. Most French churches are full of first-generation Christians, parts of families who still have lots of problems to sort out. Pray for the French Christians, pastors and elders.

France is in need of new evangelism. There are 39,000 communes (towns with their villages) that have no "alive" Christian witness in the form of a church, prayer group or bible study. France is a very Catholic country and the home of the place of pilgrimage for many Catholics from all over the world. It is the place of Lourdes, where visions of Mary were seen by a young girl. Since then many miracles of healing have been executed by "la vierge". This and widespread worship of Mary is also one of the spiritual forces over France that needs to be prayed against. Traditional Catholicism in France is also very superstitious and harbours many faith healers. However there is a revival beginning in the Catholic church, and some people are coming back to the Bible, and giving less importance to Mary. Pray for God to restore His church, to His ways.

Because the Catholic church has not been able to satisfy people's spiritual appetite, they are turning to the occult in their hundreds. There are all sorts of strange sects in France. They are well publicised and often have people "evangelising" on the streets. French people take horoscopes, tarot cards and palm readings very seriously. Clairvoyants can be quickly found by looking at the regular papers and magazines. Faith healers outnumber both pastors and doctors put together! There are more witches in France than in any other country in the world. Incredible isn't it? The average French person is, or has been involved in the occult in some way. It is a serious spiritual opposition to the spread of the gospel that we need to pray about.

The bi-centenary of the French Revolution was held earlier on this year. This is another spiritual opposition to the gospel that we need to be aware of. The symbol of the French Revolution and of the Republic is Marianne, a prostitute, the goddess of Reason. This led to the worship of Reason in France, and especially philosophy. We only have to think of Camus and Saitre - two great French philosophers who set themselves against Christianity - to see the effect this has had in France.

Strongly linked to this are the Free Masons. They were at the beginning of the Revolution and have infiltrated the French Government at all levels. The preparations for the celebration of the bi-centenary in Paris were given to the Free Masons, another occult stronghold in France.

Pray for a true revolution in France - the revolution which changes the heart of things and which only Jesus Christ can bring.

Pray about the many Muslims in France. There are three to four million practising muslims in France, of which 150,000 are converted French people. In the conglomeration of Paris there are 400 mosques and Islamic places of worship. Islam has become the second religion of France, and the muslims want France to become an Islamic country. We must offer them the truth in love.

Lastly pray for the many tramps and homeless people on the streets in all the big towns and cities. You can't avoid being acccosted by beggars wherever yo go. The French have become hardened to it and mostly ignore them. It's a sad thing to get used to.

So, Get on your knees and change history!

All articles are (c) their respective authors, and appeared in, or were submitted for the Christian Friendship magazine published in Immingham, England, 1989-1990.
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