2017 April Prayer Powerlines

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. -1 Corinthians 15:3-4

1. PRAY FOR THAILAND. This month, OMF (U.S.) is telling stories of God’s work in Thailand to encourage people to join in prayer for this predominantly Buddhist nation. Pray for a movement of intercessors who will lift up Thailand’s 68 million people before God’s throne.
2. MISSIONS TRAINING PROGRAM. Ask God to raise up applicants for a special 11-month Serve Asia opportunity beginning August 2017 through July 2018. The program is an intensive cross-cultural training course designed to help prepare people for future ministry in missions. The training is located in the Philippines and the application deadline is April 30.
3. LANDMINES. Decades of war from the 1960s through the 1980s have left Cambodia littered with landmines that kill or maim nearly 100 people each year. Pray that efforts to find and remove these mines would be successful and that Cambodia could be free from these dangers and remnants of war.
4. NGO REGISTRATION. The local government in a certain region of China has informed all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the area that their projects need to be halted until their registration process—which can take up to three months—is complete. Pray for the registration process to be completed quickly so that the many NGOs there can continue to be a blessing to the people.
5. STORY TRANSLATIONS. Pray for “story-crafting” efforts to translate several biblical stories into a minority people group’s language in East Asia. Lift up the workers who are working hard at translating while trying to also be creative in their storytelling and presentation efforts. Pray that they would be Spirit-led and that these projects would bear spiritual fruit.
6. TEA TIME. A worker in China needs prayer for renewed energy and a capacity to help young women who attend a weekly tea time meeting. Her goal is to help them resolve interpersonal conflicts, make people feel wanted and welcome, and to display Christian love to them.
7. NEW SECTOR LEADER. A leader of a significant ministry sector in an East Asian country is completing his term of service. Pray that the new leaders would adapt well to their new roles, which are more administrative than their current jobs. Pray for God to use them to continue to grow and develop the workers in the sector, that they might be a blessing to the Chinese people in many ways.
8. MARRIAGE RESCUED. Praise God for restoring a broken marriage between two Chinese long-term visitors in the U.S. This couple is now publicly sharing their story of what God has done for them. Pray for this couple’s continued growth in the Lord; they are still new Christians. Also ask that God would use them to strengthen and encourage many other marriages.
9. CHURCH INSIGHT PROJECT. Pray for a meeting between Andy Smith, OMF’s International Coordinator for Evangelism, and a pastor in Manila who is the National Coordinator for the OMF church research project in the Philippines. The project aims to gain insights from churches that are active in evangelism and church planting. Pray for this meeting on April 11, that it would be productive and helpful in moving the project forward.
10. PRESIDENT SUCCESSION. Continue to pray for the President succession search committee, who press on to pray and seek God’s choice for the next OMF (U.S.) President. Pray that the search committee will be unified and attuned to the Holy Spirit for direction and that God will prepare the heart of the next OMF (U.S.) President with a spirit of wisdom, understanding and vision to receive a call from the Lord.
11. HELP IN LANGUAGE LEARNING. A new missionary in Japan is asking for “divine help” as she begins learning Japanese. “May I someday be able to share the hope we have in Jesus in Japanese in ways that are meaningful to the local people,” she writes. Pray that it will be so, not only for her, but for all OMF missionaries currently in the language learning stage.
12. FIRST PASTOR. Praise God for answering prayer and raising up a Japanese pastor for a Japanese church in Hatazawa, Japan. Pray that the new pastor will minister powerfully in the Hatazawa area and will continue to see God’s hand of blessing there. Pray also for his relationship with church members to be deep and encouraging.
13. NEW BELIEVERS. A local village shaman and his family in Laos have confessed faith in Christ after some believers from his people group visited his home and shared the gospel. Please pray for them to grow in their new journey with Christ and to remain strong under persecution from relatives and other villagers.
14. GOOD FRIDAY. Today is Good Friday. Thank Jesus for his incredible sacrifice of dying on the cross to reconcile us to God. Pray for this gloriously good news to be spread with passion and clarity this Easter weekend in East Asia.
15. KIM IL SUNG BIRTHDAY. Today, April 15, is North Korea’s most important national holiday, the birthday of the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung. The “Supreme Leader” is practically deified in the DPRK. Pray for North Koreans to have access to the good news of Jesus Christ and for many to worship him alone.
16. BOARD OF TRUSTEES. The OMF (U.S.) Board of Trustees will be meeting April 21–22 to spend time praying and discerning God’s leading for the U.S. team. Praise God for these faithful servants. Pray for the board members to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and to be steadfast, knowing that their labor is not in vain (see 1 Cor. 15:58).
17. SHOW OF SOLIDARITY. The kidnapping of a Malaysian pastor earlier this year has spurred a public show of unity and prayer among Malaysian Christians. Pray that Malaysian believers would follow Christ without fear and be loving witnesses to the joy of knowing Jesus in their daily lives.
18. MOBILIZATION TRAINING. Mark Bradley at OMF’s International Center in Singapore is working with four other people to develop and do an assessment for the Mobilization Training Project. Pray for this team of people as they begin to reach out to many other mobilizers to assess OMF’s training needs.
19. CONSULTING ASTROLOGERS. Consulting astrologers for future direction or insight is not an uncommon practice in places like Myanmar. Please pray that Christians interacting with family members who consult astrologers will stand firm in their faith and in the assurance of God’s sovereignty.
20. DZUD, AGAIN. Thousands of Mongolian herders are facing disastrous livestock losses from a dreaded severe weather phenomenon known as the “dzud,” which normally only occurs every 12 years but has recently started appearing every four years instead. Thousands of animals have died, leaving Mongolia’s herders in desperate need. Pray for relief efforts to ease some of the hardship.
21. NEW WORKERS. The OMF Philippines team currently has 78 workers on the field and is praying for 93 new members by 2022. Five of those workers may join this year. Ask God to raise up new laborers for the harvest in the Philippines, that people would come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.
22. TRIBAL CHRISTIANS. Praise God for the 61 churches and nine outreaches taking place among a tribal people group in the Philippines. Pray for continued church planting efforts amid challenges posed by the National Council of Indigenous People, which labels these tribal followers of Christ as betrayers of their culture. Ask God to strengthen tribal Christians in the face of persecution.
23. INDONESIA’S MUSLIMS. Jakarta, Indonesia, is home to Istiqlal, Southeast Asia’s largest mosque. The structure can hold up to 100,000 worshipers and is the pride of Indonesia’s 224 million Muslims. Pray that the love, grace and power of God would be made known throughout Indonesia, especially through the testimonies of Christians.
24. SPIRITUAL NEED. All Malays are, according to their national identification cards, Muslim. However, Malays seem uninterested in God and religion as more than a cultural routine. The privilege and prosperity they enjoy may contribute to this indifference. Pray that Malays would realize their spiritual need and become interested in hearing the Good News.
25. KAIROS COURSE. Praise God that more and more Taiwanese church members are understanding the importance of cross-cultural mission through Kairos courses. Pray for local churches to be more open to hosting this course and that OMF Taiwan’s partnerships with local churches and organizations would flourish, to the glory of God in Taiwan.
26. SUDDEN SPIRITUAL INTEREST. Lift up Jack, a young Taiwanese man. He has attended many events offered at an OMF ministry center, but has not expressed interest in spiritual things until now. Pray for the OMF missionary who met up with Jack recently to teach him what the Bible says about prayer. Pray that Jack will approach God in prayer and that he will come to Christ as a result.
27. PRAYER FIRST. “We were excited to launch a big evangelism project, but what did Jesus want us to do?” This question was recently posed by a group of missionaries in Thailand upon realizing that they needed to prioritize prayer above plans. Pray for missionaries throughout East Asia to prioritize prayer in their ministries, resulting in more effective outreach to the lost.
28. ADDICTION. Villages of the Mien people in Thailand are seeing an increase in opium usage this year. An estimated 50 percent of Mien men are addicted to opium and unable to break free. Pray for God’s Spirit to break chains of bondage and clear away the cloud of spiritual confusion that makes the gospel hard for them to grasp.
29. CROSS-TRAINING. The OMF (U.S.) Finance team works hard on behalf of OMF staff, members and donors, and this means sometimes a vacation is in order. Pray for Finance staff to finish cross-training those who will cover their responsibilities while they take vacation time, so that they can enjoy a relaxing time away.
30. PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT. Praise God that 12 new workers are now trained for partnership development. They are planning to work in places including Thailand, Japan, the Philippines and a few Creative Access Nations. Please pray for God to raise up ministry partners to join in his work in East Asia by partnering with those who are going.

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