What is the Hope Project?

As we get closer and closer to the time that the Apostles and prophets described thousands of years ago, the more vital hope will be to Christians’ success on the battlefield.

The silent majority, I believe, are battling the same fears and doubts that nonbelievers are simply because we’re too focused on what the enemy around us is doing.

Yes, we do need to know the signs, but that doesn’t mean we need to put our signs in the back of our closets. Bring them out, wave them around and share them with others!

What signs am I talking about?

You know…the ones that God gives us in His Word. Signs like:

“Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

“I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Philippians 4:6-13, (KJV)

There are many other “signs” which, God willing, I’ll be sharing at some point.

But for now, I’ve finally decided the scope of this project…at least for now.

As an unrepentant (sort of) news junkie, I’m always interested in the world around me, so I figured why not put it to good use…spiritual warfare!

Here’s how I envision it will work.:

• I’ll search the news and find something that stands out to me. (this will be the hardest part because there’s just so much!)
• I’ll share the news here on my blog.
• I’ll post relevant scriptures we can use in our warfare and
• I’ll write out a simple prayer that we can use to fight against the principalities behind the event.

Not sure how this will play out, and I’m not very eloquent at praying, but I’ll give it a shot.

And the best part…you, dear reader, are encouraged to pray along with me and even better, post your own prayers in the comments.

News item, from RT

Kids were playing outside as coalition strike ‘directly targeted’ Raqqa citizens – witness to RT

Civilians who escaped from Raqqa, an Islamic State stronghold in Syria, have told RT about the horrors they faced during an airstrike by the US-led coalition, which they say “directly targeted” their homes while children were outside.

The witnesses told RT’s Ruptly video news agency that they believed coalition forces were aware that there were no insurgents in the area, as what they think was a coalition aircraft had filmed them hours before the strike. The aircraft targeted the civilian houses while children were playing in the streets, one man said.

“We were directly targeted by the coalition after their reconnaissance craft filmed us, it was at a low altitude,” an eyewitness told Ruptly at Al-Qamishli National hospital in Hasaka on Tuesday.

“It was very clear that there were no insurgents in that area, there were kids playing in the streets and we were bringing water from a water tap, sipping drops. We were filmed, then directly targeted after hours. Our house and the civilian houses around us were directly targeted.”

At least 78 civilians were killed in Raqqa as a result of US-led coalition airstrikes over the past 24 hours, Syrian news agency SANA reported on Tuesday, citing local and media sources.  

The airstrikes also received condemnation from the UN. Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, called for forces to “protect civilians and civilian infrastructure” as “up to 25,000 people remain trapped in the city.”

“Our humanitarian colleagues tell us they are deeply concerned by unconfirmed reports of a high number of civilians killed by an airstrike in Raqqa city over the last 24 hours,” Dujarric said.

Meanwhile, a large number of the Islamic State terrorists (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Raqqa have left to join the final battle for the besieged city of Deir ez-Zor, according to the Russian military.

Raqqa has been under siege for three months, but the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led coalition, have not yet captured it. Civilian casualties have been frequently reported since the beginning of the assault.

A UN report says at least 300 civilians were killed in Raqqa in the three months since March, as cited by Reuters.

“They are not taking responsibility for the true scale of civilian casualties,” Nicolas Davies, author of ‘Blood on our Hands,’ about the invasion of Iraq, told RT.

“In 2007, the UN said very clearly that the bombing in civilian areas is a violation of international human rights law and that the presence of a few combatants in a civilian area does not change the nature of that area.”

Davies also recalled the consequences of other strikes in Mosul, Kobani and Fallujah, which he said “had been simply reduced to rubble by the US bombing and artillery fire.”

And, just to confirm from another source…in this case the rag known as The New York Times;

The military recently confirmed that American-led airstrikes had been responsible for at least 352 civilian deaths since the start of the war against the Islamic State. But Airwars estimated that the total was eight times higher. The group found that at least 3,100 civilians were killed in American-led airstrikes from August 2014 to March 2017.

So both RT (Russia Today) and (NYT) agree…lots of civilians have been slaughtered.

Let’s pray:

Father, please comfort those who have lost loved ones. You are the God who sees. You are a Father to the orphans, a husband to the widows…may Your Kingdom shine like the stars, consuming the darkness in Raqqa. May the hearts and minds of those who reside in that dark land be awakened and your Word accomplish the task you’ve set before those who know You and who are called to preach the Kingdom of God.

Amen.