Issue # 17
April 24-30, 2014
PRAY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS ADMINISTRATION President Obama is on a four-day trip to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines in order to reset his “Asia pivot” hoping to convince Pacific allies of the United States’ continued focus on them and their security. In honor of Earth Week, Environmental Protection Agency Chief Gina McCarthy is on tour across the U.S. to promote President Obama’s climate change agenda and encourage the public with ways to reduce carbon pollution. Pray for President Obama as he concludes his travels on Sunday and for wisdom in his foreign and domestic policies.
PRAY FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS Senator John McCain (Arizona) questioned the Administration’s resolve to stop Russia from helping armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. After Vice President Biden called on Russia to stop, McCain asked, “Or else, what?” The District of Columbia’s attempts to decriminalize marijuana use may have met its match in D.C. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton who is calling on Congress to overturn the District’s position. Pray for wisdom for the members of the House and Senate as they deliberate on matters of local and foreign issues.
PRAY FOR OUR JUDICIARY The Supreme Court upheld a Michigan voter initiative that banned racial preference in admission to the state’s public universities by a 6-2 vote (Justice Kagan not voting), but it did not prohibit affirmative action policies. A federal appeals court has ordered the U.S. government to release a redacted copy of a Justice Department memo discussing the legal basis for using deadly drone strikes to kill an American citizen overseas. Pray for America’s judges and the Justices of the Supreme Court as they deliberate cases impacting many citizens.
PRAY FOR THESE NATIONAL LEADERS IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK: Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce. Walter Jones, U.S. Representative for North Carolina. Judge G. Steven Agee, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Bryan B. Battaglia, Marine Corps Sergeant Major. For more information on these prayer requests and Daily Member Updates please visit presidentialprayerteam.org.
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OTHER PRAYER CONCERNS: WARS AND TERRORISM A $375 million hole in the Afghan budget is threatening public projects and civil servants’ salaries, putting the aiddependent economy under stress just as Afghanistan awaits a new leader and U.S. troops go home. The number of troops in Afghanistan may fall significantly below the 10,000 minimum prerequisite laid out by U.S. military leaders to train Afghan forces as debate continues in the Pentagon about the U.S. footprint to remain there. Pray about the difficult logistics and high costs of withdrawing troops and equipment from Afghanistan.
FOREIGN INTERESTS AND CONFLICTS The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have supplied Syrian rebel groups with a small number of advanced American antitank missiles for the first time in a pilot program that could lead to larger flows of sophisticated weaponry. Boko Haran Islamist militants from Nigeria regularly come across the border into Niger looking for recruits, enticing young teens by offering them skinny jeans and red t-shirts, as some 500 people a week flee Nigeria seeking refuge. Pray for people – in many cases, Christians – standing firm against Islamist militants around the world.
THE ECONOMY The American middle class is no longer the most affluent in the world as Canada takes the number one spot, while the poor in the U.S. appear to be getting poorer, as the poor of much of Europe earn more than working poor in the U.S. Even accounting for the extended winter weather, U.S. home resales fell to their lowest level in more than 1-1/2 years in March, quite a bit more than economists had expected, and a rebound did not appear to be in sight. Pray about the ongoing sluggish American economy, and for the millions who remain unemployed.
ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST The Palestinians would extend the current peace negotiations if Israel agrees to a three-month settlement construction freeze during which the sides would agree on borders of a future Palestinian state, PA President Abbas announced. A seven-year-old rift between rival Palestinian factions seemingly ended Wednesday as officials from the PLO and Hamas agreed to form a unity government and call for new elections. Pray about the Palestinian coalition and their ability to enter into further peace negotiations with Israel.
HEALTH CARE A new computerized eye training program of daily visual workouts could up-end the long-held belief that glaucomarelated vision loss is irreversible, a new study shows. The workout involves the brain’s talent for learning new tricks. Nearly half of the nation’s 38,329 drug overdose deaths in 2010 involved painkillers like hydrocodone and oxycodone, making many skeptical that a new pain-killing drug would not become more addictive and lethal. Pray about the research and technologies being employed to overcome pain, disease and disabilities. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. Titus 2:11-12
For more information on these prayer requests and Daily Member Updates please visit presidentialprayerteam.org.
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