For from him and to him and through him are all things.
To him me be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)
An expression of Praise to God
Christians all over the world sing the Doxology as a closing hymn at the end of worship services. As we move forward into 2023 we want the words of this hymn to resonate within us. Take time each day this month to praise God for his many blessings throughout his work in East Asia. Let us be encouraged as we practice the spiritual habit of praise.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heav’nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
January 1 • Unity among teams
Missions is from anywhere to everywhere. Some of our teams in Asia have members coming from three or more continents, demonstrating God’s love for all peoples! Praise the Lord for great unity.
January 2 • US team
Praise God that the US team is actively supporting, enabling, equipping and sustaining about 500 people sent from the US in their various ministries and engaging the American church by coming alongside many churches to further missions in East Asia.
January 3 • East Asia Muslims
Thank God for the strong, growing opportunities for Silk Road people to engage in business and to access training.
January 4 • Provisions
Praise God for continuing to provide food and internet access for those who are still in lockdown.
January 5 • Movement in China
Praise God for the building momentum of Chinese churches sending believers cross-culturally.
January 6 • Strategies in Japan
Praise God for OMF Japan completing an intensive reevaluation of its church planting strategy, which will lead to a greater eternal impact in all ministry endeavors.
January 7 • Skylands future plans
Praise God for a good scouting/vision trip in an area among Tibetan Buddhists where this team hopes to start sending workers.
January 8 • Baptisms in East Asia
Praise the Lord for reports of baptisms from all regions of East Asia. New believers are taking this step in pools, rivers, bathtubs, lakes and baptismals–and we rejoice with them!
January 9 • Adult Third Culture Kids
Our U.S. TCK team works with many adult TCKs. Praise God for several of them reaching out to us with interest in understanding their past experiences in order to find healing.
January 10 • Philippines
The Magunidanao people of the Philippines love stories. Praise God for a recent story-telling seminar where attendees gained good insights on sharing stories. Since then, they have had a positive response from the community in applying what they learned from the story sessions.
January 11 • Diaspora Returnee Ministries
Praise God for inroads in reaching out to unreached Asian diaspora and coming alongside Asian diaspora churches. This year OMF was able to hold a global consultation that stimulated many people into action.
January 12 • Romania to Japan
The OMF New Horizons team partners with churches, local organizations and other mission agencies to place people where they can serve effectively. Praise God for a short-term worker who just arrived in Japan…from Romania!
January 13 • Prayer in Thailand
Praise the Lord that Thai Christians (less than 1% of the pop.) are engaging in a 24/7 prayer effort for God’s purposes in the whole world! Praise God also for their participation in the Kairos and Perspectives courses on world mission.
January 14 • Bible translations
After years of work, two separate Bible translations have been completed and, by mid-2023, they will be shared online.
January 15 • Mission Conferences
OMF has sending centers all around the world. Praise God for mobilizers who attended conferences in 2022, and for all of the participants they talked to and prayed with.
January 16 • Skylands workers
Since October of 2021, the Lord has increased Skylands Mongolia members from just two to now seven long-term, one short-term couple, and three young interns from a nearby country! Praise the Lord that during COVID, we did not lose any members but actually gained. And they all are in the field now!
January 17 • US team growth
Praise God for bringing and preparing the right people to the right positions in His timing. God has increased the U.S. team in abundant ways in 2022, providing improved capacity for us to care for all those whom we support.
January 18 • New workers in Japan
Many new members have been able to get into Japan in 2022. Praise the Lord that Japan Daniel Training (a program for new missionaries to the field) is running at full capacity, requiring alternative training paradigms to be developed.
January 19 • Training & Development
Praise God for the Training and Development team who work hard to provide timely and useful training to OMF members and beyond. Praise for the way they are working together to find a suitable platform to host future training for OMF.
January 20 • Cambodia
In November 2022 a group of churches that are a part of a church association that OMF planted held their General Conference seeking vision and fruitful ministry for the years to come. Praise God for this milestone and what God has done, and is still doing, in the Khmer church.
January 21 • Taiwan
The ministry in Taiwan, as in many fields, has been greatly affected by COVID restrictions. Praise the Lord that the Taiwan government has relaxed those restrictions. Once again it is possible for those serving with OMF to get resident visas. It is also possible for Serve Asia teams to come to Taiwan. Right now, 11 Serve Asia opportunities have been set up for 2023.
January 22 • Chinese believers
Praise God that in November 2022 Chinese believers celebrated 1,000 consecutive days of prayer since the pandemic started. It was unprecedented and it is not stopping anytime soon.
January 23 • Vietnam
It is common for people from smaller towns to hear the gospel when they move to larger cities for work. Praise God they often share the gospel with relatives and neighbors back in the little-reached areas they came from.
January 24 • Hudson Taylor Film
The Hudson Taylor film project continues to move forward. Praise God for the growing passion for this film on the part of Chinese/Chinese-heritage brothers and sisters and for generous donations towards the Phase 1 production budget. https://www.halfcrownmedia.com
January 25 • Provision for Skylands
Praise the Lord for a grant of over 100,000 USD given to Skylands for Evangelism, Discipleship, and Leadership Development among the Tibetan Buddhist people groups. God’s faithfulness is so unbelievable.
January 26 • Orientation Course
After several years of OMF’s Orientation Course (in Singapore) being virtual, praise God for 11 people from 6 countries who attended the November OC at the International Center. Pray for good transitions and cross-cultural adjustments as they go to seven different places of ministry across the Fellowship.
January 27 • OMF New Horizons
New Horizons is a global team seeking mutually beneficial partnerships in countries without an OMF sending center. Praise the Lord for new developments for Africa and India. Praise God that each participant at the Brazilian Missions Congress (Nov., 2022: 2000 attendees) received an OMF prayer guide for East Asia!
January 28 • Social media
Social media can be used wisely to sow broadly and find people open to the Good News among those who wouldn’t normally get a chance to hear the gospel. Praise God that one team found such a person of peace in a nearby neighborhood and was able to share in person.
January 29 • Publishing in Thailand
Praise the Lord for Bible resources in Thai! Kanok Banasan (OMF Publishers) was able to translate and print the Lion Handbook to the Bible, and it is selling very well. Many of the Bible Project videos are available in Thai, and there is hope that more will be available in the future.
January 30 • Covid in East Asia
Covid has changed so many parts of daily life for people all over the world. Praise God that vaccines are being made available to hard-to-reach places in East Asia.
January 31 • All the details
God, we praise you for all the details you work out to get people into East Asia. From visas to work permits to schooling options for kids to housing to plane tickets, you are in all the details! Praise God that He is Jehovah Jireh–the God who provides.
Click here to download the January 2023 Prayer Powerlines.
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