Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
-Proverbs 3:5-6
Who do Czechs trust?
People I know 87%
President 71%
Radio 67%
Television 64%
Army 61%
Surveys 58%
Press 56%
Czech people 52%
Police 47%
Prime Minister 46%
Courts 42%
Businesses 38%
Trade unions 37%
Churches 27%
Political parties 22%
Source: Centre for the Study of Public Opinion, Czech Republic (2006)
I wonder what the results for this survey would be if if was offered in America?
Or if the survey was offered to each of us?
I pray that each of us will come to know and trust the Lord above all in our lives.
God has many promises for those who put their trust in Him.
It is written that:
"The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted." Prov. 29:25
"The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him." Psalm 28:7
"In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Psalm 56:11
The Lord wants what is best for us, that He cares for us and that He will never leave us or forsake us! He is trustworthy.
According to a missionary who is currently serving in Prague, Czech Republic, "trust in the church has been declining for the past several years. Neighboring European countries rate their trust of the church at 50-70% compared with only 27% of Czechs who trust the church."
The missionary said "at first glance this may seem like bad news for us as church planting missionaries. However, because of the relational aspect of our ministry, we are able to gain the trust of the vast majority of people that get to know us! According to the survey, 87% of Czechs trust people that they know more than they trust any other group or individual. Again and again we have seen Czech people come to faith in Christ through trusting relationships they have developed with Christians who cared enough to be their friends and get to know them...people generally trust us not because we are from a church; they trust us because we have taken the time to get to know them and to become their friends."
I pray that we will stand firm in our relationship with the Lord. Then when we become friends with the people God has placed around us by His grace they will come to know the goodness of the Lord as well!
Please see this wonderful article for more promises about trusting the Lord in every aspect of our lives:
http://hatchcreek.com/2009/03/03/can-we-trust-god/
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Prayer
In a recent Reader's Digest poll, it was reported that citizens of the Czech Republic prayed the least out of 19 countries included in a worldwide survey.
Only 8% of Czechs said that they pray daily. This is quite a contrast to the 78% of Malaysians who pray daily and the 55% of Americans who pray every day. Of the Czech respondents, 65% said that they never pray at all.
(Please follow this link for the full results of this survey.)
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/how-often-do-you-pray-around-the-world-with-one-question/article121601.html
Oh that the Czech people would know the power of prayer!
God's will for us is that we would "pray continually."
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Why do we need to pray?
Prayer is talking with God. If a person never talks to a friend or relative, their relationship with that person does not grow. God wants us to communicate with Him so that we know Him and become closely connected with Him.
God has offered people who pray to Him many precious promises.
God promises that He will answer our prayers:
"I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure, just as gold and silver are refined and purified by fire. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' " -Zechariah 13:9
God promises that He hears us and answers requests that are made in accordance with His will:
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" -1 John 5:14-15
God promises that He will forgive our sins:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9
The Lord also wants us to pray so that we will remain obedient to Him.
"Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak." Matthew 26:41
Through Christ we have been given a wonderful blessing - we can talk with our Creator who is the Maker of the universe!
Let us pray in faith that the Lord would open many Czech people's hearts to receive this blessing!
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." -Luke 17:6
Let us pray that for his glory the Lord will be pleased to increase the number of Czech people who know Him, love Him and come to Him each day in prayer.
Only 8% of Czechs said that they pray daily. This is quite a contrast to the 78% of Malaysians who pray daily and the 55% of Americans who pray every day. Of the Czech respondents, 65% said that they never pray at all.
(Please follow this link for the full results of this survey.)
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/how-often-do-you-pray-around-the-world-with-one-question/article121601.html
Oh that the Czech people would know the power of prayer!
God's will for us is that we would "pray continually."
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Why do we need to pray?
Prayer is talking with God. If a person never talks to a friend or relative, their relationship with that person does not grow. God wants us to communicate with Him so that we know Him and become closely connected with Him.
God has offered people who pray to Him many precious promises.
God promises that He will answer our prayers:
"I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure, just as gold and silver are refined and purified by fire. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' " -Zechariah 13:9
God promises that He hears us and answers requests that are made in accordance with His will:
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" -1 John 5:14-15
God promises that He will forgive our sins:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9
The Lord also wants us to pray so that we will remain obedient to Him.
"Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak." Matthew 26:41
Through Christ we have been given a wonderful blessing - we can talk with our Creator who is the Maker of the universe!
Let us pray in faith that the Lord would open many Czech people's hearts to receive this blessing!
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." -Luke 17:6
Let us pray that for his glory the Lord will be pleased to increase the number of Czech people who know Him, love Him and come to Him each day in prayer.
New modern version of the Bible in Czech!
Praise God for a more readable version of the Bible in the Czech language!
Here is an explanation about the reasons for the need for a modern translation of the Bible in Czech:
“We belong to a generation of people who were not raised in the Christian faith, and we are not very familiar with the language of the existing Bible translations that were quite archaic. The only available translations were the beautiful Bible Kralická, or the Bible of Kralice, from 1613, which is very much like the English King James Version – beautiful, very lusty language, very precise translation, but its language was of course very incomprehensible, as it was 400 years old. The only other alternative was the Czech ecumenical translation which came into existence in the 1970s. This translation is more understandable but for today’s people, it’s still difficult to understand, especially now, 20 years later, when for example my children had a very difficult time reading the children’s bible based on this translation. So this is why we started to work on a new translation 17 years ago.”
Let us pray that many modern Czech people will read this accessible version of the Word and come to know Jesus personally as their Lord and Savior.
Retrieved 4/20/09 from: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/114839
Here is an explanation about the reasons for the need for a modern translation of the Bible in Czech:
“We belong to a generation of people who were not raised in the Christian faith, and we are not very familiar with the language of the existing Bible translations that were quite archaic. The only available translations were the beautiful Bible Kralická, or the Bible of Kralice, from 1613, which is very much like the English King James Version – beautiful, very lusty language, very precise translation, but its language was of course very incomprehensible, as it was 400 years old. The only other alternative was the Czech ecumenical translation which came into existence in the 1970s. This translation is more understandable but for today’s people, it’s still difficult to understand, especially now, 20 years later, when for example my children had a very difficult time reading the children’s bible based on this translation. So this is why we started to work on a new translation 17 years ago.”
Let us pray that many modern Czech people will read this accessible version of the Word and come to know Jesus personally as their Lord and Savior.
Retrieved 4/20/09 from: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/114839
Monday, April 13, 2009
Jesus is not known by Czech children
"At one junior school, an evangelical vicar asked the children who they thought Christ was. Most of the children knew that the expressions “Christ” or “Jesus and Mary” were used when something annoys or surprises us. Several of the children genuinely thought that Jesus was an extraterrestrial who visited Planet Earth some time ago. One girl thought that it was the make of a mobile telephone (she had heard the commercial saying “Go Jesus go”). One pupil in year one wrote on his questionnaire that Jesus is another name for a Christmas tree."
Retrieved 4/11/09 from: http://czechkid.eu/si1100.html
This is a tragedy! The Lord is NOT a Christmas tree.
Let us pray that Czechs of all ages will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Acts 16:30-31
He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."
Retrieved 4/11/09 from: http://czechkid.eu/si1100.html
This is a tragedy! The Lord is NOT a Christmas tree.
Let us pray that Czechs of all ages will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Acts 16:30-31
He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."
History of Christianity in the Czech Republic
The origins of Christianity in our country are linked with the appearance of two missionaries from Southeast Europe, Cyril and Methodius (who were posted to the Greater Moravian Empire in AD 863). Christianity gradually found a home in the Czech lands, firstly because of the conversion of princely circles, and secondly by means of the strenuous work of missionaries, catechists and priests. Czech Christianity bloomed most under the government of Charles IV.
However, even by the end of the latter’s reign the Czech church had begun to take on the ideas of the Reform movement, which at that time had an influence on European Christianity. The rector of Charles University stood at the head of the reform preachers. After he was found guilty of heresy and burned in Kostnice (in 1415), his followers refused to accept the church verdict and withdrew their vow of obedience. After a series of unsuccessful religious crusades against the “Czech heretics” and the subsequent reconciliation, Czech society remained divided into the heretical (Hussite) majority and the Catholic minority. Later on, the Czech heretics, inspired by Martin Luther and John Calvin of the 16th century, joined the worldwide Reformation.
In the first half of the 17th century, there was a ferocious internecine war (lasting thirty years) between the Protestant and Catholic parts of Europe. The result was the majority non-Catholic nation fell under the government of the strongly Catholic Habsburgs within the framework of the peacetime redistribution of Europe. After the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), there began a period of strict re-Catholicisation, when the majority of Czechs either had to emigrate (this affected mainly the aristocrats) or change their religious affiliation. Understandably, this led to a considerable decline in religion. Later, during the period of the growing national consciousness of the Czechs, there was a conflict between religious and national identity. The emancipation of the country (at that time already re-Catholicised) from the Austrian, German-speaking authorities meant a weakening of the links to the Catholic faith associated with the governing Hapsburg family. The decisive symbols of the Czech national revival were for this reason naturally taken from the period prior to the Habsburg re-Catholicisation. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I (1918), there was strong anti-clerical feeling in Czech society. Indeed, the return to the Hussite inheritance typical of the First Republic related more to national emancipation than the Christian faith. The trauma of World War II and forty years of Communist “scientific atheism” also had a deleterious effect on the Czech church, and contributed to the Czech Republic being these days one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, and perhaps in the whole world.
Retrieved 4/11/09 from: http://czechkid.eu/si1100.html
However, even by the end of the latter’s reign the Czech church had begun to take on the ideas of the Reform movement, which at that time had an influence on European Christianity. The rector of Charles University stood at the head of the reform preachers. After he was found guilty of heresy and burned in Kostnice (in 1415), his followers refused to accept the church verdict and withdrew their vow of obedience. After a series of unsuccessful religious crusades against the “Czech heretics” and the subsequent reconciliation, Czech society remained divided into the heretical (Hussite) majority and the Catholic minority. Later on, the Czech heretics, inspired by Martin Luther and John Calvin of the 16th century, joined the worldwide Reformation.
In the first half of the 17th century, there was a ferocious internecine war (lasting thirty years) between the Protestant and Catholic parts of Europe. The result was the majority non-Catholic nation fell under the government of the strongly Catholic Habsburgs within the framework of the peacetime redistribution of Europe. After the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), there began a period of strict re-Catholicisation, when the majority of Czechs either had to emigrate (this affected mainly the aristocrats) or change their religious affiliation. Understandably, this led to a considerable decline in religion. Later, during the period of the growing national consciousness of the Czechs, there was a conflict between religious and national identity. The emancipation of the country (at that time already re-Catholicised) from the Austrian, German-speaking authorities meant a weakening of the links to the Catholic faith associated with the governing Hapsburg family. The decisive symbols of the Czech national revival were for this reason naturally taken from the period prior to the Habsburg re-Catholicisation. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I (1918), there was strong anti-clerical feeling in Czech society. Indeed, the return to the Hussite inheritance typical of the First Republic related more to national emancipation than the Christian faith. The trauma of World War II and forty years of Communist “scientific atheism” also had a deleterious effect on the Czech church, and contributed to the Czech Republic being these days one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, and perhaps in the whole world.
Retrieved 4/11/09 from: http://czechkid.eu/si1100.html
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