2015 November Prayer Powerlines

NOVEMBER 2015
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. -1 Timothy 2:5–6

1. DAY OF PRAYER. Today and next Sunday are the International Days of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. East Asia is one of the most active areas of persecution of Christians in the world. Lift up East Asia’s believers, asking that God would give them boldness, love and grace as they face persecution in various forms.

2. MEDICAL CONFERENCE. Pray for the Holy Spirit to raise up and equip thousands of medical professionals through the Global Missions Health Conference, happening November 5-7 in Louisville, Kentucky. Pray for strategic connections to be made among professionals, students and exhibiting organizations.

3. RADIO MINISTRY. Pray for the newly-launched one-hour daily Christian radio broadcasts in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. Christian radio programs have never aired in this area and the majority of people in the province are illiterate. Pray that many will hear and understand the gospel for the first time.

4. CONTAGIOUS PASSION. Praise God for members in Cambodia’s national church association (Fellowship Churches of Cambodia) who have a passion for church planting and sharing God’s word. Pray for this fervor to spread across the association, resulting in churches that obey the Great Commission.

5. ACADEMIC CONFERENCE. Please pray for final preparations for a Christian international academic conference this month in Taiwan. Many well-known scholars plan to attend. Pray that these researchers and their papers will inspire Chinese churches and believers to continue to reach out with the hope of the gospel.

6. GRIEVING CHURCH. Lift up one of the largest and oldest Krung churches in Cambodia as it navigates challenges. A church leader has fallen into immorality and not cooperated with church discipline; the church is now divided. Also, a church member died in a motorbike accident; her husband and son are left behind. Pray for God’s healing, redemptive hand in the life of this church.

7. DIASPORA IN AFRICA. “Not only do you give us solid training on the word of God, but you also guide us and help us when we have needs,” says an African pastor in appreciation for Wenhui and Jane Gong. The Gongs train and serve the African church in Kenya as it reaches out to the Chinese diaspora. Pray for God’s love to fill the Gongs and minister through them.

8. GENERAL ELECTION. Today Myanmar holds a general election—a rare opportunity in a nation whose government has been characterized by authoritarian rule and isolation from the international community for decades. Pray that God’s will would be accomplished through the election, and that the poor and oppressed, like the stateless Rohingya Muslims, would see justice from the government as a result.

9. VISA CRACKDOWN. Thai authorities are cracking down on visas for Laotians, who can no longer continually renew them, as Laotian students at Thailand’s Phayao Bible Seminary had done. Pray for God’s intervention or that sufficient Bible training would be developed and available in Laos.

10. ILLEGAL MEETINGS. A group of 20 believers in a creative access nation in East Asia are afraid to meet together after being visited by the police and told that their meetings are illegal. They have met together for several years, but now must stop meeting for a time. Pray that these believers would be strengthened in faith and continue to worship Jesus.

11. STEADFAST IN PERSECUTION. A historic meeting of persecuted minority believers took place in Southeast Asia recently; they gathered from two different countries to memorize Bible stories together for the first time. These stories will equip them to obey God and share the gospel. Pray that these believers remain encouraged and empowered to follow Christ and minister to their persecutors.

12. NK MARKETIZATION. The famine following North Korea’s economic collapse in the 1990s drove some North Koreans to engage in illegal market activity to procure goods. This grassroots marketization has begun to ween some people off the government. Pray that North Koreans would put their hope in their Creator, who has provided the way to salvation, rather than putting hope in the government or human efforts.

13. MISSIONAL BUSINESS. A missional coffee business is up and running in China. The business owners feel they have a quality product; they just need steady sales to make the business self-sustaining. Pray for a steady clientele, both locally and overseas, and for discipleship relationships to result from the shop’s presence in the local community.

14. NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. Praise God that one of the seven women who attend Miho Clatworthy’s women’s group in Japan has come to know Jesus as her Savior. Pray for her continued growth in faith. Her husband opposes her attendance of the Sunday worship service. Pray that the Holy Spirit would move his heart to faith.

15. CHRISTIAN CEREMONIES. In Japan, where followers of Christ are rare (less than 1 percent of the population), Western-style Christian wedding ceremonies are extremely popular. Pray that the Holy Spirit would give life to the gospel message in people’s hearts during these ceremonies, that Japanese families would see the truth and follow Christ.

16. SALVATION FOR HMONG. In 1975, there were no known Hmong believers; today, more than 150,000 Hmong have come to believe. Even still, many in this ethnic minority of Vietnam hang a red or blue cloth above their doors to protect them from evil spirits, unaware of the salvation available in Jesus. Pray for Hmong to come to know God.

17. WORKING TOGETHER. Recently, four radical Muslims attacked an indigenous church planter in Borneo. In response, village members—98 percent of whom are Muslim—have come together with church members to find out who the attackers were. Pray for continued cooperation between Muslims and Christians and that this attack will create opportunities for Christians to share the gospel.

18. MODEL FOR OTHERS. Step by step, God is working in the heart of a Muslim woman in Southeast Asia. The woman hopes to be a good role model for her family. Pray that she would soon call on Jesus as Lord and model Jesus to her siblings, becoming a godly influence on the whole family.

19. NETWORK GROWTH. Praise the Lord for the recent growth of the MABCAM network in the Philippines (Manobo Bible Church Association of Mindanao). The group’s leaders are developing a program to help members grow spiritually so that they will be more effective in sharing the gospel. Join the work by lifting up the preparation of the program material.

20. PROJECT PAUL. There are over 5,000 sub-districts in Thailand (among about 43 million people) without a church. Project Paul training continues to challenge and equip Thai believers to do church planting. Pray that all who attend these trainings will practice what they have learned. Ask also that OMF can help facilitate more training efforts throughout Thailand.

21. SIGNS OF HOPE. Lift up a fledgling church in Central Thailand. Although there are “serious needs for revival and growth,” OMF workers feel that there is potential. Pray that God, who began a good work there, will bring it to completion. Pray also for the workers to remain encouraged.

22. TCKS IN CHIANG MAI. Praise the Lord for the arrival of new dorm assistants at an international school in Chiang Mai for third-culture kids, including some OMF TCKs. Pray for families who are sending their children to the dorms in Chiang Mai and ask for a good, encouraging atmosphere to be established at the school and dorm during this school year.

23. NEW OPPORTUNITIES. Please join us in praying for God to raise up people to fulfill several dozen short-term positions spanning four countries and 10 teams working among Muslims in East Asia. Related to this, pray that God would provide 80 new long-term workers for the Muslim field by 2018.

24. GROWING PAINS? A team serving in East Asia has doubled in size in the past year. While this is a good thing and an answer to prayers for more workers, pray now for good relationships and unity among the foreigners on the team and the local East Asian interns they are working with as well.

25. CATCH UP. The OMF (U.S.) Finance Department has been in transition for several months. Recently, however, a new finance manager arrived. Pray for the members of the department to be able to catch up on everything that was being postponed until recently.

26. THANKSGIVING DAY. Today is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. We have much for which to be thankful! Thank God for his grace, mercy and power displayed over OMF’s 150 years of service in East Asia. Thank him for the expansion of the church into hard-to-reach areas of Mongolia, Cambodia and Laos, to name a few.

27. WANTED: PRAYER GROUP LEADERS. The OMF (U.S.) Prayer Mobilization Team is training and coaching prospective prayer group leaders and prayer mobilizers. We want to see the number of prayer groups in the U.S. grow; we have the capacity to continue to train more prayer mobilizers. Please pray for this ministry to be fruitful and for increased intercession for God’s work in East Asia and around the world.

28. URBANA PREP. The week after Christmas, December 27-31, OMF mobilizers will participate in the Urbana Student Missions Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. More than 16,000 students are expected to attend. Pray for the Mobilization Team’s preparation as they get ready for this large event.

29. SERVE ASIA TRANSITION. After eight years of service and mobilizing hundreds of Serve Asia workers, Cheryl Eichman recently stepped down from her role as Serve Asia Manager. Pray for God to provide a new Serve Asia Manager to lead the team as it mobilizes short-term workers to go to East Asia.

30. 2015–2016 FOCUS. OMF Australia has a focus on mobilizing for both Myanmar and Vietnam for 2015- Pray that the OMF Australia office would clearly cast a vision for these two nations and that many people will catch the vision for these unreached places and desire to serve there.

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