by Wes Hopper

"There is a place that you are to fill that no one else can fill, something you are to do which no one else can do."
Florence Scovel Shinn

One of the reasons that we might get discouraged is that we don't realize the truth in today's quote.

Let's face it - not everything we want to do turns out the way we want it. Not everything we want to achieve turns out the way we imagined.

Then we become discouraged, and, to one degree or another, we start to believe that what we do is not that important.

Florence Shinn noticed that kind of discouragement in her coaching clients 100 years ago, and our quote is what she told them.

We know we can't bake tasty cookies without some sugar and spice, yet when we look at the sugar it doesn't seem like much.

But we can sure taste the difference if it's missing! And the world will notice the difference if you're missing. You have your own unique spice to add to the life of the world.

If you want to feel good about life, see yourself as you are - an irreplaceable and necessary spice in the cookie-dough of life!

And when someone else spices up your experience of life, be sure and thank them.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

In today's gospel we see the request by the disciples that the Lord teach them on prayer. In answer, the Lord gives us three basic teachings or prescriptions for prayer.

by Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, Alberta, Canada

Gospel: Luke 11:9-13

Two men were shipwrecked on a deserted island. Frustrated by their situation one man began to pray, "Dear Lord, I know that I haven't been a very good person. In the past I have lied, cheated, and hurt people with my behavior. I drink, smoke, swear and gamble. But God, if you get us out of this mess, you'll see a changed man. I'll…."

At this point his friend shouted, "Hold it. Don't say another word. I see a boat and it is coming in our direction." It is interesting how some people view prayer. (1)

I think there are a lot of people - Christians included - who view prayer like these two men. The first chap turned to God in prayer only as a last resort. If there were other options, he most likely would have considered them first. Only when he is in a desperate situation that he believes he cannot get out of does he turn to God for help. The content of his prayer reveals he is praying to God in a conditional way - if God will rescue them from the mess they're in, then he is about to promise God certain things and make changes in his life. This method of praying is really bargaining with God - if you do this God, then I'll do thus and so. However, in most cases, such prayers are likely not going to change God. We cannot manipulate God like that to get what we want. God knows the deepest thoughts and motivations of our hearts, souls and minds. Such conditional, bargaining prayers are often not sincere - since when times improve and things are going well again, often the folks who prayed such prayers forget about God and fail to honour what they had promised God.

In the case of the second chap, who stopped his friend from praying any further; he may either have been skeptical that his friend could keep promises to God; or perhaps he didn't want his friend to stop living a sinful lifestyle; or perhaps he placed more faith in himself and other human beings to get them out of their mess than he did in God.

At any rate, I think that we too, at times, are tempted to pray conditional prayers; to bargain with God in our prayers - thinking incorrectly that we can manipulate God in order to get what we want. Or perhaps at times we, like the second chap, abandon prayer altogether; thinking incorrectly that we don't need God and we don't need to pray. Rather, we can do everything on our own or we can rely on other human beings to get what we want.

I must confess that our gospel today is a challenging one for me personally. I often feel guilty or feel badly that I come to God in prayer as if I were a shopper with an endless list of items that I want. Too often I think we get our priorities mixed up. We pray for what we want rather than what we really need. Yet, I counsel myself by the reminder that even Jesus and the apostle Paul could get it wrong in their prayers by mixing up wants and needs. You remember in Gethsemane that Jesus prayed for his heavenly Father to remove the cup of suffering and death from him. Afterwards he prayed the best prayer of all - not my, but thy will be done. Paul too had prayed that the Lord would remove his "thorn in the flesh." Yet, the answer he received was that no, God would not remove it - rather, God's power was made known through weakness.

Yet, in today's gospel, one of the most important messages Jesus teaches is to be persistent in praying: "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone - not a small chosen minority, NO! EVERYONE - who asks receives, and EVERYONE who searches finds, and for EVERYONE who knocks, the door will be opened."

As wonderful and full of promise as these words are I think that they've been misunderstood and misinterpreted by a lot of folks over the years. I DO NOT believe that Jesus offers his followers a blank check here; he DOES NOT mean that if you pray to win the fifty million dollar lottery you shall win; nor that if you pray you can fly off of Niagara Falls and land safely below without being killed, you will be able to do so! Such prayers are certainly incorrect and harmful. Nor does Jesus say here that he will give you ANYTHING OR EVERYTHING you pray for. For example, if you pray to understand the intricacies of thermodynamics and quantum physics at the age of five, most likely the answer to your prayer will be 'No'; or if you are one-hundred years old and you pray to be a healthy twenty-five-year-old, most likely the answer again shall be 'No.'

On the other hand, what Jesus is saying here is full of promise. He invites EVERYONE to ask, search, and knock. No one is left out here - he offers the invitation to you, me, and all people. The implication of his offer here is that HE DOES ANSWER EVERYONE who asks, searches, and knocks. The answer may be: 'yes,' 'no,' 'wait,' or perhaps even 'you're asking for the wrong things; you're searching in the wrong places; you're knocking on the wrong doors.' Such answers are all necessary and the best for us at the time; given the nature of the prayers we pray and the circumstances in which we pray them.

Sinners that we are, most likely we don't always get it right when we pray; thus Jesus' instruction to be persistent in praying - keep asking, don't stop searching, continue with your knocking. In fact, ultimately what is most important for us is not necessarily that:
we receive what we ask for or
find what we search for or
walk through the door we're knocking on.

NO! Rather, what is ultimately most important is that we DISCOVER AN INTIMACY WITH OUR LORD THROUGH PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER. We come to realise that it's about relationship with Christ and basking in and valuing that relationship more than everything or everyone in the world.

Prayer is being known by and knowing our God of love as OUR Father, OUR Messiah and OUR Holy Spirit. In the intimacy of prayer, we not only commune with God the Creator of the universe; we also bear our deepest secrets to Jesus our most Trustworthy Friend and Brother; and we are graced with the presence of the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and reassures us of the promise that we are forgiven. With this gift of intimacy with God through persistent prayer God sometimes gives us the spiritual hug we need when we're lonely or rejected; or the state of joy by simply being alive; or the courage required to face a situation of conflict at home, on the job, or in school.

Another way of stating it is that through the gift of intimacy with God; we come to see our wealth is not in what we do not have; rather, it is in what we already have been given.

Jesus speaks about this intimacy of prayer with him by comparing it with sinful, imperfect parents providing for the needs of their children. Even they know how to give the right gifts to their children when they ask. If sinful, imperfect parents do not give their children a snake when they ask for a fish; or when they do not give their children a poisonous scorpion when they ask for an egg - then how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

In other words, it is not that God is hard of hearing that we are admonished to be persistent in prayer. Rather, it is because God, our heavenly Parent, wants an intimate relationship with each one of us and by giving us the gift of his Holy Spirit we shall come to trust in God as we ask, search and knock; knowing that whatever God gives us by way of answering our prayers; it is all and always for the best.

Reference:

1 Cited from: Emphasis: A Preaching Journal for the Parish Pastor, Vol. 25, No. 2, July-August 1995 (Lima: OH: CSS Publishing Co., Inc.), p. 36.

by Pope Francis

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42; Jonah 4:1-3

In his homily on September 8 2013 at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis explained that a Christian is a person who has a heart that knows how to pray and knows how to forgive. The Gospel of the day was dedicated to the story of Saint Martha, the titular saint of his residence. The Pope took the Gospel story as the starting point, reminding us that "prayer works miracles" as long as it is not a purely mechanical act.

The very human figures of Saint Martha, from the New Testament, and the Prophet Jonah of the Old, the central characters of the day's readings, are united by a common incapacity: they did not know to pray. Pope Francis built his homily on this aspect, beginning with the famous scene in the Gospel where Martha asks Jesus, in an almost critical tone, to have her sister to help her do the serving, rather than sitting at His feet listening to Him. Jesus replied, "Mary has chosen the better part." This part, Pope Francis said, is "that of prayer, that of the contemplation of Jesus":

"To the eyes of the sister, this was time lost, it even seemed, perhaps, a bit of a fantasy: gazing upon the Lord as if she were a awestruck child. But who wants that? The Lord: 'This is the better part,' because Mary heard the Lord and prayed with her heart. And the Lord tells us: 'the first task in life is this: prayer.' But not the prayer of words, like a parrot; but the prayer, the heart: gazing on the Lord, hearing the Lord, asking the Lord. We know that prayer works miracles."

And prayer produces a miracle even in the ancient city of Niniveh. Jonah, on God's instructions, had preached the imminent destruction of the city; the city, though, was saved because the inhabitants, believing the prophet, were converted, and from the greatest to the least called upon the divine forgiveness with all their strength. However, even in this story of redemption, the Pope took note of the erroneous attitude of Jonah, who was more disposed to justice without mercy. His attitude was similar to Martha's, inclining to service that excludes interiority:

"And Martha does this. Does what? But she didn't pray! But there are others like this stubborn Jonah, who are the executioners. He went, he prophesied, but in his heart he said: 'But if they deserve it. If they deserve it. If they were asking for it!' He prophesied, but he didn't pray! He didn't ask the Lord to forgive him. Only to beat them. They are executioners, those that believe themselves to be just! And in the end, the book of Jonah continues, it is seen that he was a selfish man, when the Lord saved Nineveh through the prayer of the people, he was angry with the Lord: 'You are always like that. You always forgive!'"

And so, the Pope concluded, prayer that is only a formula, without heart, as well as pessimism or the desire for justice without forgiveness, are the temptations a Christian must always guard against in order to be able to choose "the better part":

by Mel Lawrenz, The Brook Network

Prayers for Your Day

Many people benefit from using set prayers for different life circumstances or during different times of the day. An ancient Jewish pattern of prayer is to offer oneself to God as the first thought of the day, and at day's end. Both of these prayers focus on the idea of "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," which were Jesus' last words on the cross, but also were the words of a common Jewish daily prayer, almost like the modern: "Now I lay me down to sleep..." Perhaps you will find them useful.

A Morning Prayer

Dear Lord... As this day begins I confess that I will need you every moment. I long to know you more deeply today. Help me in what I say to other people. Give me wisdom in each decision I will make. Make love and truth the motives behind everything I do. And when I fall short, help me not to give up, but to find an extra measure of your strength. This day is your creation and your gift. I commit my body and spirit to your good purposes. In Jesus' name, Amen.

An Evening Prayer

Dear Lord...As this day ends I am glad to be able to rest in you. I believe that you are with me and that you hear my prayer. May the good things that happened today be planted deeply in the memory of my heart and shape me into a better person. Help me to learn from my mistakes and sins. Thank you for the promise of a new beginning tomorrow. Now allow me to rest in you and you alone, body, mind, heart, and soul, to awake refreshed in the goodness of your care. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Editor's Note:

by Joey Cochran

How's your prayer life? On a scale of 1 to 10 from non-existent to stellar how would you rate it? I bet most charitably argue for a 6 to 8. Few might place them self in a 9 or 10.

Rating myself honestly, I am a solid 3. I know. That's a low score! But let's be honest. We live in a world of distraction. If we give ourselves to prayer for a cumulative 30 minutes a day, then that might be a good day. Think about it. Do you think you pray for 30 minutes a day? Okay, now compare yourself to a Jonathan Edwards or George Whitefield: two men who gave themselves to prayer for 2 to 4 hours a day. True, these guys are probably not the norm. But still, I imagine that people prior to TV, computers, and e-mail gave themselves to private prayer much more than we do.

As I reflect on my prayer time, there are many obstacles to get past before I even get into my closet to pray. Here are four prayer killers and how I've been learning to keep them at bay:

Toys

I've got a lot of toys that threaten my prayer time. I've got my smart phone, my TV, and my gaming console to name a few. All of these contend for time. They beckon when I am most free for prayer.

For instance, I recently had to wait outside a coffee shop for 5 minutes before it opened. Instinctively, I reached for my phone to pass the time, but then I suppressed the urge by refreshing two Scriptures to mind: Romans 12:12 "Be constant in prayer" and 1Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing."

Clinging to these verses develops an attitude that gravitates towards prayer, especially in the gaps. Don't give up on this discipline; persevere in it; keep returning to prayer. When prayer comes to the forefront of your life, you'll carve out even more time for the discipline.

Trials

Each person navigates trials in life. You might lose your job, come down with an illness, have unexpected expenses, or experience loss. Trials can take your prayer life towards a dead end, but trials can also cause your prayer life to flourish. What determines the path you take your prayer life when you face a trial?

An indelible link is found in James 1:2-5. Trials are testings that press the one under trial into God for wisdom. Fundamentally, the path you take is determined by the posture you take to God. The foolish or prideful will head down a dead end path. The wise and humble will seek after God. When you face a trial, set your heart upon God. Run to him, and run to him in prayer.

Constancy

It might seem like a strange word to use here. But the truth is, sometimes we don't pray because we just don't believe anything will change. It can lead to despair from a feeling of hopelessness about this. Perhaps it's a broken relationship that seems too far-gone to mend, or your financial hole keeps getting deeper, or your health is failing. Despair over the constancy of persistent life problems can be a prayer killer.

To thwart this obstacle, cling to Gods' promises. Psalm 119 talks about the promises of God over a dozen times. For example, Psalm 119:116 say, "Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!" This psalmist clung to Gods' promises in the midst of affliction, anxiety, and danger. His cries to God permeate with hope in Gods' promises.

To win the bout with constancy, hide Scripture in your heart that proclaims the good promises of God. Meditate on His Word during those times when you are most prone to despair.

Control

Prayer is a declaration of helplessness. It is saying that we are dependent on someone else – God. Since many people equate helplessness with weakness, they just won't pray. That's because deep down inside each of us is a desire for control. Control is comfortable and safe. But in reality, none of us have it, though we wish we did.

I love what Gordon D. Fee says about prayer in his comments on 1Thessalonians 5:17 in his commentary, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians. "Continual prayer is the ongoing reminder that God's children are always and wholly dependent on their heavenly Father for all things" (215).

If you want to overcome the obstacle of control, you have to release your need for control. Recognize God's sovereignty over all things and trust Him to bring the contours of your life in line with his providential concerns. Just as Fee alludes, the more you pray, the less you will seek control. And the less you seek control, the more you will pray. Release control by becoming dependent on God through prayer.

These are not the only obstacles to prayer. But they're four big ones I face most often. What about you? Can you relate to these? What other obstacles to prayer do you face and how do you overcome them?

About The Author:

Joey Cochran, a ThM graduate of Dallas Seminary, is the church planting intern at Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, Illinois.

by Melissa Kruger

It's that time of year again. Yellow buses practice their circuitous routes, stores brim with school supplies, and teachers adorn their rooms with inviting bulletin boards and welcoming smiles. Back to school is officially upon us.

I ended the summer reading through the Psalms and Proverbs. As I drank in the wisdom of these two books, certain passages in particular have encouraged and directed my hopes for my children as they head back to school. These verses have shaped my prayers and given words to the longings of my heart. As my children spend less time in my presence, I am thankful that I can bring all my concerns and cares before the Lord in prayer.

Lord, I pray that my children would understand their need for Jesus and rejoice in the good news of the Gospel. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death (Psalms 68:19-20).

Lord, I pray that my children will love learning; that their hearts would seek to understand the world you have created. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly (Proverbs 15:14).

I pray that as they learn about your world, they would behold the majesty of your glory. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. (Psalm 19:1)

Lord, I pray that you would surround them with friends who make wise choices and encourage their faith. Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm (Proverbs 13:20).

I pray that their teachers would be wise and gentle. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit (Proverbs 15:2,4).

Lord, I pray that they would work with diligence and put forth their best efforts. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied (Proverbs 13:4).

I pray that they would be thoughtful with their words and respectful in their replies. The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things (Proverbs 15:28).

I pray that you would free them from the pressure of trying to be like everyone else by instilling in them the confidence to know that they are uniquely made by you. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well (Psalms 139:14).

I pray that they would receive correction well. The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence (Proverbs 15:31-32).

I pray that they would share their faith with others. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom (Psalm 145: 11-12).

I pray that when they do what is wrong, they would bear consequences that lead them to repentance. I pray that when they do what is right, you would bless their obedience that they may learn to love your ways. The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his way (Proverbs 14:14).

I pray that your Word would be on their hearts and in their minds as they learn. Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD (Proverbs 16:20).

I pray that they would be kind to others. Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor. (Proverbs 21:21)

I pray that you would give them the grace of self-control. A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls (Proverbs 25:28).

Lord, I pray that your grace would rest upon my children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalms 90:17)

I pray that you would protect them from all evil. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life (Psalm 121:1-2,7).

More than anything else, may their lives glorify you. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever (Psalm 86:12).

O Lord, hear our prayers! Amen.

About The Author:

Melissa Kruger serves as Women's Ministry Coordinator at Uptown Church in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the author of 'The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World' (Christian Focus, 2012). Her husband Mike is the president of Reformed Theological Seminary.

Does that sound like a prayer to you? Or is it more like a child asking his father for what he needs? God invites us to come to Him as a little child. It's as simple as saying, "Daddy, I need you."

God holds the key to all your longings: provision, protection, belonging, compassion, forgiveness. And He wants to provide them for you . . . just ask Him. He strengthens and encourages you and your family through your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer—corporate family prayer—is the power source from which that faith derives its life. Families that pray together lay hold of the very power of God to cope with the challenges of daily living.

Prayer is really quite simple. It is the single most important experience your family can share.

Prayer can be as dynamic and varied as your own imagination and creativity. Mealtime and bedtime are great starting points, but God has so much more in store for you as your family learns to talk to Him. Prayers can be spoken aloud, sung, staged, danced or even painted. The possibilities are endless as you turn your family's heart toward the Lord. You'll want to begin a journal of requests in order to refresh your memory and jump-start your words of thanksgiving.

God wants your family to shine like lights in a rapidly darkening and dysfunctional world. He desires each member to have his or her eyes open to realities that others refuse to see. He longs for you to walk with Christ through a larger, more wondrous world than some are capable of imagining. Take the roof off and establish a direct link between your home and the heart of the King of all creation.

No greater or more crucial task has been entrusted to us as parents than that of teaching our children to pray. Your children have already had practice when they've said, "Dad, may I have some bread?"

by Eric Metaxas

By now, you've probably heard about the shocking suicide of comedian and Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams.

Shocking, but if you know anything about suicide and Williams' personal history, not entirely a surprise. Williams had been open about his problems with alcohol and drugs. What's more, Williams had been, according to his publicist, "battling 'severe depression.'"

Alcohol, drugs, depression, all of these are associated with suicide. And as psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison of Johns Hopkins writes in her book, "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide," the most common factor in suicide is mental illness, in particular "mood disorders" such as clinical depression and bipolar disorder.

Now, as somebody who has suffered from this myself over the years, I have to say it's very important to be clear about what doctors mean by clinical depression. It is not being sad, even for extended periods of time. Sadness is part of the human condition. But clinical depression is a medical condition "which paralyzes all the otherwise vital forces that make us human," leaving us with a life that is "bloodless" and "painless."

In his book, "The Noonday Demon," which chronicled his life with severe clinical depression, Andrew Solomon has written that the opposite of depression isn't happiness, it's vitality.

And as Jamison tells us, the presence of mood disorders not only makes it more likely that a person will attempt suicide, but also will incline them towards more "serious" efforts in that direction—that is, efforts that exhibit more forethought and planning.

Depressed people often self-medicate with alcohol and drugs, which, according to Jamison, "more often worsen [the pain]" and "undermine the individual's willingness to seek out and receive good clinical care." They also reduce inhibitions and increase risk-taking, thus reinforcing whatever tendencies toward self-destruction a person may possess.

A friend of mine told me that several time he'd seen Robin Williams attending Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. Apparently Williams was looking for answers. Maybe he found them, and maybe he didn't; but we serve a merciful God whose thoughts and ways are not our own.

I say this because tragic events over the past few years have reminded us that Christians are not immune to the scourge of suicide. Outstanding Christians such as Tony Dungy and Rick Warren have lost sons to suicide. As Warren and his wife, Kay, told Piers Morgan of CNN, they had talked their son Matthew off the proverbial ledge many times in his tragically-short life.

Like most of those left behind in the wake of suicide, they wondered if there was anything more they could have done, and concluded that the answer was "no." As Warren told Morgan "If love could have kept my child alive, he'd be alive today, because he was incredibly loved."

In the wake of Matthew Warren's suicide, discussion about how churches deal with depression intensified. Christian leaders wrote about their own struggles with depression. And let me add my name and that of the colleague who helped me prepare this BreakPoint commentary to the list of those who struggle with depression.

If you or anyone you love suffers from depression, please get help.

Why some people ultimately succumb to what Christianity Today writer C. Michael Patton called "the asphyxiation of hope" and others don't is something we just don't know.

What we do know is that Christians are called to walk alongside those who suffer.

About The Author:

Eric Metaxas is a co-host of BreakPoint Radio and a best-selling author whose biographies, children's books, and popular apologetics have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Witnesses report that ISIS entered the Cathedral of St. Ephrem in the Shurta neighborhood and destroyed a cross made with red glass; it also hung a huge black flag of the Islamic State on the wall of the building to cover a large cross on the facade of the cathedral. The cathedral is now being used as headquarters for ISIS.

ISIS was helped by members of its own police force, which it has created by recruiting young Muslims from the neighborhoods of Hathar, Qayyarah, Shirqat, Baaj, and Rabia, and paying each one 500,000 Iraqi diners per month.

ISIS entered the Syriac Catholic Diocese and smashed icons and statues of the Virgin Mary, and set fire to pictures of patriarchs and bishops.

The number of Assyrian families remaining in Mosul is estimated at 25.

Commerce in Mosul has come to a near complete halt and most markets are closed.

Yesterday the the Iraqi government dropped leaflets over Mosul, encouraging residents to help the Iraqi army and stand up against ISIS . The reaction from the residents to the leaflets has been positive.

ankawa.com contributed to this report.

The following is the complete list of the Christian institutions in Mosul, grouped by denomination.

Syriac Catholic Church:

1. Syrian Catholic Diocese - Maidan Neighborhood, Mosul
2. The Old Church of the Immaculate - Maidan Neighborhood, Mosul (The church goes back to the eighth century AD)
3. The New Church of the Immaculate - Maidan Neighborhood
4. Church of Mar (Saint) Toma - Khazraj Neighborhood
5. Museum of Mar (Saint) Toma - Khazraj Neighborhood
6. Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation - Muhandiseen Neighborhood
7. Church of the Virgin of Fatima - Faisaliah Neighborhood
8. Our Lady of Deliverance Chapel - Shifaa Neighborhood
9. The House of the Young Sisters of Jesus - Ras Al-Kour Neighborhood
10. Archbishop's Palace Chapel - Dawasa Neighborhood

Syriac Orthodox Church:

1. Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese - Shurta Neighborhood
2. The Antiquarian Church of Saint Ahodeeni - Bab AlJadeed Neighborhood
3. Mar (Saint) Toma Church and cemetery, (the old Bishopric) - Khazraj Neighborhood
4. Church of The Immaculate (Castle) - Maidan Neighborhood
5. Church of The Immaculate - Shifaa Neighborhood
6. Mar (Saint) Aprim Church - Shurta Neighborhood
7. St. Joseph Church - The New Mosul Neighborhood

Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East:

1. Diocese of the Assyrian Church of the East - Noor Neighborhood
2. Assyrian Church of the East, Dawasa Neighborhood
3. Church of the Virgin Mary (old rite) - Wihda Neighborhood

Chaldean Church of Babylon:

1. Chaldean Diocese - Shurta Neighborhood
2. Miskinta Church - Mayassa Neighborhood
3. The Antiquarian Church of Shimon alSafa - Mayassa Neighborhood
4. Church of Mar (Saint) Buthyoon - Shahar AlSouq Neighborhood
5. Church of St. Ephrem, Wady AlAin Neighborhood
6. Church of St. Paul - Majmooaa AlThaqafiya District
7. The Old Church of the Immaculate (with the bombed archdiocese)- Shifaa Neighborhood
8. Church of the Holy Spirit - Bakir Neighborhood
9. Church of the Virgin Mary - Drakziliya Neighborhood
10. Ancient Church of Saint Isaiah and Cemetery - Ras AlKour Neighborhood
11. Mother of Aid Church - Dawasa Neighborhood
12. The Antiquarian Church of St. George- Khazraj Neighborhood
13. St. George Monastery with Cemetery - Arab Neighborhood
14. Monastery of AlNasir (Victory) - Arab Neighborhood
15. Convent of the Chaldean Nuns - Mayassa Neighborhood
16. Monastery of St. Michael - Hawi Church Neighborhood
17. The Antiquarian Monastery of St. Elijah - Ghazlany Neighborhood

Armenian Orthodox Church:

1. Armenian Church - Maidan Neighborhood
2. The New Armenian Church - Wihda Neighborhood

Evangelical Presbyterian Church:

1. Evangelical Presbyterian Church - Mayassa Neighborhood

Latin Church:

1. Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and Convent of Katrina Siena Nuns - Sa'a Neighborhood
2. Convent of the Dominican Sisters, - Mosul AlJadeed Neighborhood
3. Convent of the Dominican Sisters (AlKilma Monastery) - Majmooaa AlThaqafiya District
4. House of Qasada AlRasouliya (Apostolic Aim) (Institute of St. John the Beloved)

Cemeteries:

1. Christian Cemetery in the Ekab Valley which contains a small chapel.