A missionary writes, ‘The military is working to bring down terrorists along the Afghan border. Pray this might be coordinated with Afghanistan so that terrorists cannot cross borders to escape. The Joshua project states Pakistan is one of the most unreached countries in the world. God says that before Jesus returns ‘there will be one from every tribe and tongue’ who accept Him as Lord and Saviour. A stronghold the devil has over Pakistan is caste; we can only work in one group at a time. There is a problem identifying these people groups. For the south of Pakistan, a survey identified 496 unevangelised people groups - very few have been reached. The survey’s lists and results were sent to appropriate organisations and it has just been found that these lists have been mislaid. Pray that all these files and lists will be found and that the Jesus film will be completed for those who have never heard the gospel.’

According to the UN, last year the number of people living in a country other than the one of their birth reached 244 million. God is doing something through diaspora - the individuals and peoples who have been scattered through migration. What Scripture shows from Genesis to Revelation is that God moves people from one place to another so that He might be known. The Bible is full of diaspora people, whom God sent to a different place for the glory of His name among the nations: Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Esther, Paul and Jesus. The pattern of God moving people around for the increase of His kingdom has not changed. According to Acts 17:26-27, the Lord ‘determined allotted periods and the boundaries of every nation’s dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.’

Three Christian tourists from Azerbaijan visiting their Christian friends in Tehran were arrested by Iranian intelligence police at a residential house, believed to be a house church. They were immediately transferred to an unknown location. They were identified as Bahram Nasibov, 37 years old and married; Yusif Farhadov, 52 and married; and Eldar Gurbanov, 48 and married. 45-year-old Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, an Iranian Christian convert with an Islamic background, was also arrested. He is being held separately from the rest and there is no word on his whereabouts. The three Azeris’ wives have not been able to contact them since their arrest. One of the men was allowed to make two very short phone calls, during which he said, ‘All three of us are in good health and are held together in one place.’

Former congressman Tom DeLay encountered Jesus over 30 years ago and the transformation he underwent inspired him to write a book, jointly with Baptist pastor Wallace Henley, calling America back to its godly heritage. He spoke in depth about the process of repentance and revival that can lead to transformation in a nation. ‘How does a nation repent? Well, 100% of the nation isn’t going to repent, but when the remnant community, which is the core of the spiritual heart of the nation, awakens to repentance it radiates to others and others pick up the theme across the culture. When that occurs, that's when revival really strikes,’ Henley said. ‘God is at the core of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the Constitution is at the core of our government. We need a God-centred revolution for the Constitution, resulting in a rebirth of our culture.'

The announcement by Jabhat al-Nusra that it was severing ties with al-Qaeda signals the terrorist organisation’s desperation. Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian forces are working together; Jabhat al-Nusra and its allies have instituted brutal Sharia rule, as documented by Amnesty International. It is hoped that US-Russian negotiations will produce an agreement on military coordination that will bring further bad news for what is now called the ‘Front for the Conquest of Syria’, The roll-out by Jabhat al-Nusra of its new brand would have been comical if there was a place for humour when dealing with the al-Qaeda affiliate and its bloody record worldwide. Ahmed Hassan Abu al-Khayr, the deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, announced that he had ordered the split ‘for the good of Islam and the Muslims.’ Amnesty International said the Aleppo Conquest coalition organisations working with Jabhat al-Nusra are practitioners of an ideology and governance barely distinguishable from IS.

The Pentagon has said it is investigating what could be its deadliest strike on civilians in Syria since its anti-IS campaign began two years ago. Syrian opposition groups and monitors said a strike on 19 July is likely to have killed over 100 civilians, including whole families in Syria’s Aleppo province. Speaking from Baghdad, Colonel Christopher Garver said that the anti-IS coalition reviewed reports of US warplanes killing civilians and has completed a preliminary probe. The result was that the information available was credible enough to warrant a formal investigation, which has now been initiated. Meanwhile the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights continues to monitor and report on civilian casualties as airstrikes continue. Researchers and reporters based in the Middle East have catalogued 74 civilians killed last week, but how many more may have died in US and allied airstrikes remains unclear.

For the first time since the games were inaugurated in Greece in 776 BC, a team of refugees will compete in the Olympic Games. Ten refugee athletes from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Congo will be in the newly-formed Refugee Olympic Team, competing in swimming, track and judo. When the team enters the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, during the opening ceremony on 5 August, they will be representing not their country of origin but the millions of refugees worldwide. Their anthem, instead of a national song, will be the Olympian theme, and their banner will be the Olympic flag. Open Doors USA's director of communications Emily Fuentes says that having a refugee Olympic team is meaningful since it 'brings attention to the unprecedented refugee crisis that we're having in our world right now. For the refugees, having athletes to represent them in the Olympic Games will show that they still have a place in the world.'

She was told she might never run again, after major knee injuries in 2008, but instead sprinter English Gardner qualified for the Olympics this weekend after becoming the fourth-fastest American in history. Gardner won the 100-metre sprint at the US Olympic track and field trials in Oregon on Sunday in record time. According to NBC, her time would have won an Olympic gold medal every year except 1988, when Florence Griffith-Joyner ran 10.62. When Gardner crossed the finish line she was overwhelmed and immediately started praising Jesus. 'Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Oh, God I praise You. I give you so much glory,' she said, slapping the ground while on her knees. The video of her record-setting race has more than one million views and 15,000 likes along with 800 comments. See:

As the implications of the referendum vote continue to sink in, it is vital that we keep praying for this nation at such a significant moment in its history. May Christians across the nation know that in these uncertain times God is our rock, and live and proclaim the good news of the Gospel in villages, towns and cities. We also pray blessing on Europe, that the Gospel will flood the nations, remove the barriers and make the way for His kingdom to come to every nation on the continent. For more useful material, click on the 'more' button and download prayer topics based on the Lord's Prayer.

After the second round of voting by Conservative MPs yesterday, the two remaining candidates are Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and Angela Leadsom, minister for energy and climate change. There will be a postal vote by Conservative party supporters to decide the outcome: the winner will become the next Prime Minister. Meanwhile, it is still uncertain whether Jeremy Corbyn will face a challenge to his leadership of the Labour party, and Nigel Farage has announced that he is stepping down as leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which supported Brexit.