Pray for North Africa

Pray through these verses of Isaiah 61 for the week of June 9th-15th

Thanksgiving, Worship, Intercession (TWI) Ideas:

• Thank God for how life comes after death, joy after grief, singing after mourning.
• Worship God for allowing all people of the earth to come to know him; for His generosity, sovereignty, and special attention to those who suffer.
• Intercede for those who have a blockage when it comes to thanking and worshipping God. Ask for creative ways that workers for the Kingdom can sow seed and tend to new sprouts of faith in North Africa.

Isaiah 61:9-11, ESV

Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
    and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
    that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.

Pray through the passage again, and ask God with each verse how a person you know in North Africa can live this out today. If any words, images, or ideas come to mind, send them on.

Isaiah 61:9-11, CEB

Their offspring will be known among the nations,
    and their descendants among the peoples.
All who see them will recognize
    that they are a people blessed by the Lord.

¹⁰ I surely rejoice in the Lord;
    my heart is joyful because of my God,
    because he has clothed me with clothes of victory,
    wrapped me in a robe of righteousness
    like a bridegroom in a priestly crown,
    and like a bride adorned in jewelry.
¹¹ As the earth puts out its growth,
    and as a garden grows its seeds,
    so the Lord God will grow righteousness and praise before all the nations.

Pray through the passage again, and ask God with each verse how He wants to activate these jubilee promises in your life.

Isaiah 61:9-11, The Living Bible

⁹ Their descendants shall be known and honored among the nations; all shall realize that they are a people God has blessed.

¹⁰ Let me tell you how happy God has made me! For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and draped about me the robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. ¹¹ The Lord will show the nations of the world his justice; all will praise him. His righteousness shall be like a budding tree, or like a garden in early spring, full of young plants springing up everywhere.

Take time to ponder how Isaiah 61 is Jesus’ description of His ministry; it is a ministry for the brokenhearted, imprisoned, oppressed. Jesus’ gospel makes most sense to those who lack the typical comforts and security of the modern world.

Luke 4:14-21

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^[f]

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Ask our heavenly Father that this scripture would be fulfilled in our hearing today; by the way Jesus lives and breathes in us and in those around us.