Study: Muslims = Quarter of World Population
A new study reveals nearly one in four people in the world practice Islam.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says the total global population is estimated to be 6.8 billion. Of this number, Muslims of all ages living in more than 200 countries in the world today total 1.57 billion or 23 percent.

When compared to Christianity, there are an estimated 2.1 billion Christians of all ages living in the world today.

The report gives precise numbers on a religious population whose size has long been debated.

The study also maps out where the world’s Muslim population lives in a very comprehensive fashion. It also contradicts the idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims.

Here are some of the key findings of the Pew Forum’s study Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population.

60 percent of all practicing Muslims in the world live in Asia.
20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa.
15 percent live in sub-Saharan Africa.
2.4 percent live in Europe and less than 1 percent in the Americas.
The world’s largest Muslim population can be found in Indonesia. There are more than 200 million Muslims living there.
The report finds that India, which is majority Hindu, has the third largest Muslim population of any nation with more than 161 million Muslims. Germany has four million Muslims and that’s more than the entire country of Lebanon.

There are concerns about the growth of Islam, because in Muslim countries ruled by Islamic law, religious liberty is rare or nonexistent.

“Look at how Christians today are treated in countries where Islam is dominant,” said Geert Wilders, Dutch politician and filmmaker. “Try buying a bible in Saudi Arabia. Try to visit a church in Iran. Try to do anything Christian in an Islamic country. There is no room for it. They are intolerant.”

Are you an intercessor? Some people think they are intercessors, but they are simply praying for many needs. That is not true intercession.

What is Intercession?
Many people think that intercession is bringing a whole long list of things to the Lord and praying through them one by one. But that is not what intercession is and a great many people are misdirected in this area. In the words of a great preacher, “Intercession is not bringing a list to the Lord. Intercession is coming to receive a list from the Lord.” Below is a very brief summary of the basics of intercession.

How Do you Go About Interceding?
An intercessor is basically someone who stands in the gap as the Lord’s spokesman. You need to simply come to the Lord in prayer and make yourself available to Him, and allow Him to reveal to you who and what you are to pray for. Then you follow through with what He gives you. You can bring a need to the Lord on your own, but then wait for His direction and timing. It may not be right to pray about it then, but at a later stage the Lord will remind you of that need, and you can be led to deal with it more fully. To be effective you need to constantly wait on His direction and get your mind out of the way.

How Does the Lord Speak?
The Lord speaks to you through various means, but by far the easiest and safest way is for Him to give you visions. If you can pray in tongues, that is all you need to do, and as you are praying the Lord will bring someone to your mind, or He will show you a situation He wants you to pray about. It is not common for you to hear an audible voice, but you will likely have someone come to mind, or you will ’see’ them in your mind.

Keep a Diary of Visions
It is really exciting if you are moving in intercession, to keep a diary of what the Lord shows you, and what you felt He was telling you to pray about. Then, when you begin to get answers that line up with what is in your diary, it will motivate you and help you to move fully into it. If you are first starting out, you may have a very small success ratio, but keep at it, because sooner or later you will see more and more answers coming to pass, and you will become confident in this ministry.

Practice Continually
Just a small note of warning: This is something that needs to be practiced constantly. You need to fine-tune your spirit to the Spirit of the Lord, and start to know His will more and more clearly. And the only way to do that is to pray in tongues continually. Hebrews 5:14 says this: But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

It is through use that you are going to grow and discern more easily what the Lord is wanting you to speak out.

Article provided by: Daphne Crause
Global Ministries Resources International

“Building Relationships Globally Through Prayer”

VISION

To establish a worldwide network of intercessors who will pray in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 6:10)

MISSION

To usher in the Kingdom of God throughout the world. (Revelation 11:15)

To create a body of intercessors whose foundation is based on relationship, unity and interaction who are spiritual warriors purposed to transform nations.

To raise spiritual warriors who will bind the strongman of their cities and regions, free its captives and restore Kingdom authority.

STRATEGY

Activate intercessors to take responsibility for holistic transformation for their communities, regions and nations.

VALUE

Create a platform of relational unity for intercessors worldwide based on shared values.

Our goal is to establish a worldwide network of intercessors who will pray in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 6:10. In the midst of critical times God is raising up a coalition of spiritual warriors whose foundation is based on relationship, unity and interaction. These kingdom warriors are those who will cry out to God to infiltrate the seven societal mountains throughout the world and take responsibility for transformation of their communities, regions and nations. Now is the time to come into apostolic alignment and join our hearts in strategic prophetic intercession.

Kingdom Prayer Network is a “communication hub” that unites not only existing prayer networks, but intercessors that are answering the clarion call to prayer. As Operations Director I am purposed to provide current global prayer alerts, breaking news, articles and global prophetic updates. We will also offer cutting edge teachings that will equip you to join in creating a worldwide web of intercession that will usher in the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.

God has raised up many networks worldwide that are committed to strategic prayer for cities and nations. I believe that just as the pieces of a puzzle are joined together to reveal a complete picture, that as intercessors are fitly joined together under the banner of the Lord it will enhance and broaden the scope and effectiveness of intercession worldwide. I look forward to joining with each of you in strategic prayer until the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord!

Prophetess Debbie Lewis
Arise Ministries International
Austin, TX

Welcome to a Network that will work!
By Apostle George Akalonu

It is a matter of privilege for me to be required to direct a vision that God has committed to vessels my wife and I have grown to respect and submit to, even Apostles Vance and Debbie. We were privileged to drink and continue drinking from the fountain of wisdom and understanding of mysteries of the Kingdom which God has graciously placed within their tender hearts.

In years of prayer and Kingdom strategy sessions, the vision of a platform which will network serious minded intercessors and prayer ministries across the world became an obvious divinely orchestrated need. Both in Austin, Texas where the Apostles live ; London, England where Grace and I make our home and the depth of Africa where our paths first crossed at the turn of this decade, this need stared and continues to stare us in the face.

As the vision moves from passionate hearts through the  drawing table and now to execution phase, it is my pleasure to invite all the brethren whose hearts burn with the same burden for “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven” to  partner with us to roll off a truly functional  Kingdom Prayer Network which will proactively take the battle to the gates of the enemy and put the Church back in the business of standing firm while the gates of hell rage.
We ask you to come on board this network, bringing with you the passion for the glory of the Lord; the zeal of the Lord and an unyielding commitment to see Satan and his cohorts held in check so that the Kingdom of God can be ushered into all the realms of society that yearn for the Lordship and dominion of Christ Jesus our King.

Apostle George Akalonu
International Coordinator
International Ministers Fellowship,Inc.
Houston,TX . London,UK . Owerri,Nigeria

Moreover, if you are an intercessor who is not connected to a prayer network, please accept this invitation to join us as we expand the Kingdom of God globally. Our aim is to confront humanism, the anti-Christ spirit and other demonic strongholds through passionate and strategic prayer. When we as Christians learn to relate, submit to authority and become vulnerable and transparent, we will experience life-changing transformation that will impact our sphere of influence and shift spiritually the environment where we live. As we willingly accept the refinement process, our prayers will begin to emanate from the heart of God.

Please join Apostle Debbie and myself, along with Apostle George Akalonu, the Kingdom Prayer Network Director and Prophetess Debbie Lewis, Minister of Operations, as we build a coalition of spiritual warriors who will comprise the end time army purposed to see God’s Kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven.

Apostles Vance and Debbie Russell
Arise Ministries International
Austin, TX . San Antonio, TX . London, UK