We call for the people of Australia to pray for the Murray-Darling River System and a final end to the drought which still afflicts inland South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. We pray that the farmers of Australia will support this prayer initiative. A leaked scientific report says that parts of the Murray-Darling River System are 'beyond recovery' unless they get water by October 2008. A headline in the Herald Sun, 4th July 2008 said 'Murray River's Ugly End'. Peter Cosnier, member and director of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists said in the article, "The dire straits of the Murray mean we now face the end play of the shameful history of management of Australia's greatest river system." Senator Penny Wong blames the catastrophe on man-made global warming. The truth is that the land and river system need healing from the hand of our Father in heaven.
Warwick Marsh, Australian Heart Ministries and Peter Walker, Australian Indigenous Christian Ministries, are calling for the praying people of Australia to join with them in prayer for the healing of the inland river systems. A River System Prayer Pilgrimage will be held on 30th September and 1st October 2008. Christians are invited to celebrate Holy Communion and to pray at the headwaters and dams of the rivers and creeks that feed into the Murray-Darling River System. The act of taking communion is a celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and a public proclamation of the grace of God across our nation.
The River System Prayer Pilgrimage will meet at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 1st October 2008 at the Frank Fatherby Park, Wentworth, the junction of the Darling River and the Murray for prayer.
Combined Prayer Rally will be held at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 1st October 2008 in Mildura. Venue to be announced. Should the Lord answer our prayers before that date both these meetings will become prayer and thanksgiving services.
Australian Indigenous Prayer Network and Australian Prayer Network are supporting the pilgrimage. We ask that other networks, ministries, churches and people of faith join with us as together we pray for the healing of the land according to 2 Chronicle 7:14, 'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land'.
Many have been praying for the rivers and the problem of drought over the last few years. The National Solemn Assembly, Canberra in March 2007 by the Australian Prayer Network was a turning point in prayer for this nation. Your prayers are making a difference and God has certainly brought respite in the coastal areas of NSW, Victoria, inland and coastal Queensland in particular. It behoves us to now join hands with our brothers and sisters of the inland areas of NSW, Victoria, and South Australia and pray for the mercy of God to be poured out on 'this dry and thirsty land'. We also ask that we lift the farmers in prayer as they bear the burden and pain of the drought. We need the rain of the Holy Spirit as well as natural rain. Let the words of Ezekiel 47 come to pass so that Australia might truly become the 'Great South Land of the Holy Spirit'. May the coming rain be a sign to our nation of the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Fatherhood Foundation
Ministries
Call to Prayer for the Murray-Darling River System
Sunday, 7 September 2008, 15:10 (EST)
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