Praying for the Supreme Court

by Richard Long,

  We took our Nazarites on a tour of the Supreme Court this week.  It gives us a chance to pray in the building and get a sense of what is currently happening.

  We learned that on Friday (today) that a very important case would be heard.  You may have read about this in the news.  The young prisoner of war, Omar Khadr, is having his repatriation status discussed at the highest level.

  This gives us lots to pray about.  We prayed onsite for him that despite the years of sitting in Guantanamo Bay, that the Lord would redeem the years of his life.  For some, this is a case of pure and simple of a “child-soldier”.  For others it is about terrorism.  Both are issues that need our intercession.

  Another key issue is the relationship between our top court and the current government of the day.  Can the courts intervene in foreign policy and force an elected government to do what they deem constituitional?  We need to pray for that concern.

  All of this might become a moot point, because the American government has finally announced today that he will be tried along with some others in their court system.  That will need our prayers too.

 

Prayer Team from Vernon, B.C.

by Richard Long,

  As much as possible we like to get some team pictures from week to week. 

  What is remarkable about this pic is what you can observe.  For example you will see 3 generations of people from actually 3 different congregations.   Notice that there are actually more guys then gals on this prayer team.  That’s unusual!

Also you can see our directors – Rob and Fran Parker in the bottom right hand corner.  And this picture celebrates a great night at NHOP because the team from Vernon hosted their M.P and his wife for dinner and then an evening session.  That’s M.P. Colin Mayes (the tall guy in the back) and his wife Jackie standing in front of him on his right hand side.

  By the way if you have been to NHOP and we don’t have a pic of your team, please send one!

Parliamentary Committees

by Richard Long,

One of the major advances the Lord has led us into this Fall is the whole area of Parliamentary Committees.  We have been praying about this for over a year, but only in the last few weeks have we sensed the favour to move full speed ahead. 

Previously we have prayed for the various Committees and their issues as we watched them online or on CPAC. ( There are 26 Committees and every M.P. sits on at least one unless they are a cabinet minister, in which case they lead that department.)

  But in the last few weeks we have begun to devote some of our prayer watches and more significantly, deployed our new Nazarites to study and develop research around specific Committees.  They have all now had the opportunity to sit in on a Committee and some have had multiple opportunities.  Interestingly, it was M.P.’s who opened the door for us and encouraged us to make ourselves present. 

Even the prayer team that is with us this week from Vernon, B.C. had the opportunity today to split up and attend various Committees during the second half of the afternoon.  Why is this good?  Well, as opposed to Question Period, Parliamentary Committees are the place where the real work of Government takes place as members from all parties have to hammer out legislation, and learn to compromise and work together.  It’s refreshing!

Perhaps you are interested in seeing more of this in action.  You can actually tune into specific Committee meetings on both CPAC and also ParlVu and see when they are being televised or broadcast on the internet.

The Christian Institute – UK

by Richard Long,

If you are interested in trends and prayer issues for the United Kingdom, we find that “The Christian Institute” is very informative.  A free email subscription to their newsletter brings in a weekly update of the hot issues “across the pond.”

One reason we subscribe is to see what is coming down the pipe here in Canada.  A lot of the issues that are being faced by the Church in the UK are similar to ours or maybe even a few steps further down the road.  Often what happens there, will eventually happen in our Parliament.

Check out The Christian Institute website here.

The Speaker of the House

by Richard Long,

The Honourable Peter Milliken today was honoured by all party leaders in the House of Commons.  He is now officially the longest serving Speaker of the House in the history of our nation.  I believe the number is 8 years, 8 months, and 13 days.

If you have ever been to Question Period or seen it on television you know how critical it is to have a fair-minded and wise person in this role.  On several occasions we have had a chance to meet and talk with Mr. Milliken.  He is a very approachable leader and very warm in his interactions.  We know he personally works to build bridges among politicians from the various parties, by hosting weekly dinners that cross party lines in his official dining room on Parliament Hill.  He also gets to live on the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park.

Let us thank God for raising up this man to this role in this hour of our nation’s history.  It was very good to have a few moments in this session of Parliament were everybody was in an honouring mode and celebrating the achievements of one of their own.

Are you using our Parliament Prayer Post?

by Richard Long,

  At the beginning of this year we launched an extra resource to help you pray for our Parliamentarians.  Maybe you already use it.  If not, please consider using the RSS feed to get it sent to your email every day.

  Today’s selection is an important one at a time when election fever is growing in advance of Parliament returning next week on Sept. 14th.

Here’s an excerpt …

Michael Ignatieff is the leader of the Official Opposition and the Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Etobicoke – Lakeshore, Ontario.  He is the leader of the Liberal Party and this is his 2nd term in Parliament.

During the 1960’s he was active within the Liberal Party.  He volunteered with Lester B. Pearson’s campaign and traveled with Pierre Trudeau as his national youth organizer.  Yet following these early years he left the political scene to pursue the world of Academia.  He attended the University of Toronto and moved to Harvard to attain his Doctorate.  He has held teaching positions at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, the University of California and the University of London.

Read the rest of the Parliamentary Prayer Post including some prayer points.

God’s Verdict Outranks History’s says PM

by Richard Long,

   Very interesting headline article in the Globe and Mail online today.  “God’s Verdict Outranks History’s says PM”.  It’s taken from an interview that Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave to a Quebec magazine back on St. Jean Baptiste Day in late June.

  He is of course absolutely right.  Any Christian, and people of most other faith’s would agree, though maybe not say it so boldly.   I for one am very glad to have a national leader who cares what the Eternal One will say about his life.  And it is very clear that Stephen Harper thinks he will be judged on what kind of a father and a husband he has been more than the politics.

  The other side of this story is the reaction in the media and online.  If you want to get the sense of how many Canadians really have a knee-jerk reaction to accountability to God then just check out the nasty and vehement comments at this online article.  Prepare yourself prayerfully first.  For me it was a reminder of how much mercy and divine intervention we need in our nation. 

A good reminder to pray for our Prime Minister today!

O Canada – Peter Hartgerink

by Richard Long,

A good friend right from the beginning of our ministry here in Ottawa is Peter Hartgerink.  He writes his own blog and had a challenging and insightful article a couple of days ago on Dominion Day.

Here’s an excerpt, with his permission …

O Canada

God keep our land glorious and free.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Did you ever stop to think about what those words mean?  We sing these words every time we sing our national anthem, but are these words true of us?  Are we standing on guard for Canada?

There are different ways of serving your country.  Some serve in the Armed Forces, others serve as Members of Parliament, judges, police officers, and in a host of other ways.  But what about the rest of us?  Can ordinary Canadians stand on guard for our country in a meaningful way?

I believe we can.  There are at least two very simple practices which, if they were adopted by every Canadian who believes in Jesus, could have a huge impact on our nation.

Read the rest of the article here …

Watch the 44th National Prayer Breakfast on CPAC

 

by Richard Long,

Thanks to our public broadcaster CPAC, you can watch the proceedings of the National Prayer Breakfast online.  It was an amazing message by Dr. Ravi Zacharias and wonderful music by Paul Brandt.  You will see and hear everything from the bagpiper ushering the special guests in, to the Scripture readings by various M.P.s like Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff.

Website for Canadian Prayer Breakfast

There is a great website with a detailed report of the National Prayer Breakfast that we enjoyed along with approx. 900 others back at the end of May.  Please pray for these folks like Jack Murta (a former cabinet minister) and M.P. David Anderson who work hard all year to facilitate prayer and fellowship among our M.P.’s across party lines.