EASTER PRAYER REQUESTS

How can you be praying for Israel and her neighbors this Easter season? Here are a few urgent prayer requests....

* Please be praying for the family and friends of the Catholic bishop that was just murdered in Iraq. Father Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped after Mass in the city of Mosul several weeks ago. Pray for comfort, for courage, and for the Catholics in Iraq to be able to love their neighbors and their enemies as Christ gives them strength after this horrendous tragedy.

* Please pray that those responsible for this murder will be brought to earthly justice, and that they will seek and find eternal forgiveness from our Risen Savior.

* Please pray for all Iraqi Christians this Easter weekend, that the Lord would give them great courage and boldness to stand strong and to be seen a positive force for peace and reconciliation throughout all of their country.

* Please also pray for the family of Israeli pastor David Ortiz and his wife Leah in the town of Ariel. Their 15-year old son, Ami, was injured when a bomb was sent to their home yesterday, disguised as a Purim present. Please pray for complete healing and a speedy recovery. Pray for courage and strength for the family at this difficult time. Please also pray for the Lord to give strength and courage and His gentle favor on all of the pastors and believers in Israel this Easter weekend.

* Please continue to pray for those Israeli yeshiva students, their families and friends who were affected by the recent terrorist shooting in Jerusalem.

* Please pray for the 500,000 Israelis who live near the border of Gaza that continue to be hit with dozens of rockets and missiles every single day with no end in sight.

* Please also pray for the Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza who will celebrate Easter this weekend at the risk of their lives. Pray for their courage and strength in the face of the radical Islamic jihadists who seek destroy Christians, Jews, as well as fellow Muslims who are not as radical as they.

* Please continue to pray for the poor and needy and the victims of war and terrorism in Israel and the Muslim world. For Jesus told us in Matthew 25:31-40, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'"