English October 18-2018

Sabeel Wave of Prayer

18thOctober 2018

This Friday the ‘Great March of Return’ continued through its 29th Friday with at least 252 legitimate protestors (including fifty children) injured and seven killed, including two teenage boys, by live fire from Israeli occupying forces. The protestors continue to demand their right to return to their homeland, which they were forced to leave seventy years ago and the brutal siege of Gaza.

• Good shepherd, no refugee is a stranger to you and no one is ever far from your loving care. We pray that you would watch over the legitimate protestors as they continue in their efforts to return home. We pray for healing of the hearts of refugees who have endured unimaginable tragedy and trauma. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Ahed Tamimi has been on a tour of Europe and Turkey over the past few weeks. Palestine is full of prophetic voices who need an opportunity to be heard.

• Lord, teach us to speak prophetic words when our world is out of balance; when the needs of the poor are shunned and the cares of the voiceless go unheard. Teach us to speak prophetic words when hope is in short supply; when our best efforts still fail; when events occur, which seem senseless and without meaning. Lord, in your mercy…

Aisha Muhammad Talal al-Rabi,a mother of eight children, from the Bidya village near Salfit in the northern occupied West Bank, was killed and her husband was injured, after Israeli settlers hurled rocks at their vehicle near the Zaatara checkpoint in Nablus.

•    Lord, we pray for the protection of all people from the violent and racist attacks of illegal Israeli settlers. We ask for your spirit to guide us towards a path of liberation from the evil occupation which fosters hatred and conflict. Lord, in your mercy…

Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old American student, accepted to study at the Hebrew University, was refused entry to Israel despite having been granted a visa by the Israeli Embassy in America. The Tel Aviv District Court refused her appeal; however, she has now placed an appeal with the Supreme Court and awaits a decision. The refusal was based on the grounds that she is a supporter of the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions, (BDS), movement.

•    O Lord we pray that those wishing to visit, study, or work in Palestine and Israel should have equal opportunity to do so. We pray that Israeli lawmakers may rule that those students who support Palestine do not necessarily pose a threat to the state of Israel. Lord, in your mercy ...

The olive harvest has started in Palestine. Many Palestinian communities, who earn their living from this harvest, are unable to reach their olive groves due to the separation wall, or their proximity to illegal settlements, or due to the threat of military intervention. 

        

• God, we lift our prayers for those Palestinian farmers who undertake great risks to harvest their produce. We give praise to you Lord God, who through the mouth of your prophet proclaimed that one day ‘..they shall sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees and no one shall make them afraid’ (Micah 4:4) Lord, in your mercy…

  

Sabeel continues to hold weekly services on Thursdays. Visitors are always welcome for a time of fellowship and to pray together the ‘Wave of Prayer’.

•    Lord, we are so thankful for your promise that, ‘where two or three are gathered in my name, there  am I among them,’ (Matt 18:20).  Lord we welcome you amongst us today and celebrate the gift of life that you have lavished upon each of us.  We ask that you would open our ears so that we may hear your voice. Lord, in your mercy…

• We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.