Dear friends in Prayer:

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people.  Revelations 5:8

How vital are the worship (harp) and the prayer of the saints (bowl full of incense)!  As we see the people of God worldwide becoming a UNITED people of prayer & worship, we can expect that Revelations 5:9 is not far behind!

and with your blood you purchased for God members of every tribe and language and people and nation.

Here is Skopje and in Macedonia, we are still longing to see all people reached and transformed by His Glory.  So many are still walking in darkness – without a living relationship with the Lord Jesus!  We see that we need to KEEP seeking the Lord in prayer, brokenness, and humility – IF we are to see one day what we want to see – ALL ethnic groups of this nation.

So thanks be to God, that for the second year in a row, Macedonia took part in the Global Day of Prayer on May 11, 2008.  The GDOP gathering this year was organized by a team of servant leader pastors in the capitol city of Skopje.  This group was coming together over several months to pray for and plan for this gathering.

10 Days of 24 Hour Prayer:
From May 1-10, there was established a city-wide house of prayer.  Out of 10 denominations represented in the city, 6 participated in the 24-hour house of prayer.  Each denomination took responsibility for keeping the house of prayer full.  As last year, this was a very encouraging time for believers.  Many had never prayed for 1 hour before – but as the presence of the Lord filled that room, they witnessed the peace of the Lord and wanted to remain longer!
We have already heard that this 10 days of prayer has invigorated prayer ministry at the local churches around the city.
Now we are seeking the Lord to give us faith for a permanent house of prayer in Skopje!  

GDOP, May 11, 2008 – Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
On this day, we asked all the churches in the city to close their doors, and come together as ONE Body of Christ in Skopje.  Together we were about 450 believers gathering together to worship the Lord.  One change for this year was to have worship teams from 3 different churches to lead the worship.  This was excellent as we had the chance to express our worship to the Lord in different styles.  Diversity in unity was expressed through the worship time.  There was celebration, there was shouting, there was silence.  The presence of the Lord was upon us and moving in our midst – Glory to God!  
Out of this time of extended worship,  the Lord moved us into a time of repentance.  All of the pastors and church leaders were invited to come forward – to pray and to cry out to the Lord, repenting of the sins of the church and the nation.  It was very impressive to see 20 or more leaders coming before the Lord in the presence of all the people.  This was something new and refreshing from the Lord and all the people realized it!  All the people present were then asked to pray for not only their pastor but ALL the pastors.  We can imagine that for many this was the first time they prayed for another pastor other than their own. Thanks be to God for these Biblical and practical steps of unity!
Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
       running down on the beard,
       running down on Aaron's beard,
       down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
       were falling on Mount Zion.
       For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
       even life forevermore.

Out of this we saw all the people enter into a time of repentance.  There were even some who gave their life to Jesus.

Throughout these 10 days and this Global Day we sensed that the Lord was doing some new and deeper things in our midst:
•A stronger sense of belonging to one body
•A bigger desire for purity
•A stronger desire for prayer in all level, denominational and cross-denominational
•A stronger expectation for the future of the Macedonian church

One pastor said:  “God gave me a greater desire to see BIG things in Macedonia and to see the body of Christ healthy and strong in unity and repentance.”

Children Praying
This year, for the first time, we also had a special ministry time for children.  In a separate room we had about 50 children who were lead in time of prayer, worship, and other activities.  We pray that this will be the beginning of seeing a generation of worshipers raised up in Macedonia!

Going Forward
The prayer movement in His Church in Macedonia and the region IS growing and needs to KEEP growing.  By faith, here are some of the prayer strategies that the Lord is revealing to us for the months ahead:

September 2008: “30Days” prayer initiative: mobilizing the Church to pray for Muslims worldwide and specifically in Macedonia during the month of Ramadan, September 1-30, 2008.
September 2008: GDOP Leaders Regional Meeting: bringing together GDOP prayer leaders in all the nations of the SE Balkans – to pray together, build relationship, share testimony, and hear from the Lord about what He is doing and wants to do in His Church regionally.
October/November 2008: Pastors’ Prayer Summit in Macedonia AND Lord willing, in Albania as well.  Bringing pastors together to wait on the Lord for times of prayer, worship, repentance, healing, & restoration.

Thanks be to God for His leading and guidance.  Please KEEP on praying with us and for us – here in Macedonia and the whole Balkans.  We see that He is doing a fresh and new thing and we do NOT want to miss out on it!

Bryan Brenchley  praymacedonia@gmail.com