“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”  Jer. 1:5

Dear Intercessors,

The Message says the scripture this way, “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you.  Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you.”  Yes, Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the nations.  But God also has a holy plan for you and me and each life that is conceived in the womb.  And He had holy plans for each of the millions of babies who were “tottered off to slaughter.” (Proverbs 24:11)  As we are completing a decade of time, we think of the connection between the time of Moses, a deliverer, and the killing of the babies; Jesus and the slaughter of the infants and now, the 21^st century when we anticipate the return of Jesus, the Deliverer.  Always, there is the enemy’s attempt to kill the righteous seed.

We can feel a certain affinity with Jeremiah, whose troubled life spanned one of the most troublesome periods in Hebrew history, the decades leading up to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., followed by the Babylonian exile.  In looking for a companion who had lived through catastrophic disruption and survived with grace, Christians can look to Jeremiah and receive him as a true, honest, and God-revealing companion for the worst of times. (Some excerpts from The Message).

We, too, live in troubling times…it would seem the best of times and the worst of times at the same time. At the writing of this letter, our representatives in Congress and the Senate are battling over language concerning abortion in our nation’s new Health Care Plan.  Americans have become increasingly more pro-life while our representatives have become more pro-abortion.  Those of us who pray at the NEOIN prayer slot at the House of Prayer on Mondays from 10-Noon, watched the broadcast from IHOP in Kansas City this week with Lou Engle and others crying out for an end to abortion and the beginning of revival in our land.  Can a righteous God ignore the crying out of the blood spilled in our land these 36 years and grant us our request for revival?  I think not.  II Chronicles 7:14 remains unchanged, “If my people who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN WILL I HEAR FROM Heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The Psalmist says, “…I resort to prayer.” (Psalm 109:4) and so do we.  We serve a God of Hope, and that hope is the “steadfast anchor of our souls.”  In January NEOIN will begin to link arms with other ministries in the city, C-HOP and HarvestNet to establish a calendar to contain the names of individuals who will sign up to fast and pray at designated times of their choice in 2010.  You can soon log on to www.ClevelandPrays.com to be a part of what God is doing in NE Ohio.  We are hoping to link with the Ohio Reformation Network in the state to pass on a “torch” of fasting and prayer between churches and ministries! 

Yes, Lord our hope is in You!  We pray this month particularly for all our brothers and sisters who “stand in the gap” for life in our region.  They labor on “hard ground” in perilous times.  May we be an Aaron and Hur who hold up their arms during the battle and covenant to pray for them until the Lord brings the victory for life!