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Praying Globally
Prayer requests from Global Diaspora Forum participants
Please continue to pray for the authors and editors of the diaspora missiology compendium as they revise their chapters and sections based on feedback from the Forum. Ask God to provide a suitable publisher.
Ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers to work among international students. Pray for international students who begin to follow Christ while abroad – that they would be prepared to live out and nurture their faith after returning home. Pray for the development and distribution of appropriate discipleship training materials. Ask the Spirit to bring comfort and help for students who have already returned and are currently struggling in their faith.
Lift up the many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who are separated from their families. Pray for OFWs to encounter Jesus while working abroad and to grow in maturity. Ask our Heavenly Father to strengthen these families and provide the extra emotional support they need through His people.
Pray that God will give the Church creativity to use technology so that diaspora churches may be strengthened for the sake of His kingdom.
Please intercede for Bhutanese Nepali refugees, who have an alarmingly high rate of suicide. Pray to tear down the work of evil spirits which are promoting depression and deception. May the God of all comfort bring everlasting peace to the families who have lost someone due to suicide. Pray for Bhutanese Nepali churches to effectively address this issue in holistic ways.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to move among North American indigenous peoples (often called First Peoples in Canada and Native Americans in USA) to refresh and revive churches. Pray that as more turn to Christ, broken communities will be restored and vision for outreach among other groups who have experienced forced displacement and marginalization.
Most migrants are between 18 and 29 years old. Pray for churches in every place to extend friendship to them and become a family away from home. Pray for many of these young migrants to turn to Christ.
Diaspora People in Focus: Islamic militants
According to a UN report, over 25,000 individuals from over 100 nations have become foreign militants for Al-Qaida, Islamic State and other such groups. Most of these diaspora militants are in Syria and Iraq, but many are also in Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, North Africa and the Philippines. A large number of foreign fighters are from North Africa, France and Russia.
As the Lord Jesus taught, pray for Islamic militants persecuting brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask God to soften militants’ hearts toward Him. Pray that God will break their weapons. Ask God to reveal Himself to these men and women through dreams and visions before their hands commit more violence. May many become true servants of the Living God and agents of reconciliation, just as Paul of Tarsus did. Lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ and ask that, by God’s grace, they persevere in faith and demonstrate Christ’s love for their persecutors.
Country of Diaspora: Pakistan
Pakistan has about 4 million international migrants, including about 1.5 million Afghans, the second-largest refugee population in the world. Along with the world’s second largest Muslim population, Pakistan has the second largest concentration of unreached, unengaged people groups. Much of the country’s financial resources are spent battling Islamic fundamentalists, which leaves little for improving infrastructure and education.
Please pray that the spirit of fear would be broken and that the Holy Spirit would move across Pakistan. Pray for children and youth to have safe access to quality education and that the influence of madrassas would decline. Most Christ-followers in Pakistan come from Hindu backgrounds; pray that they would be equipped to reach out to and disciple people from Muslim backgrounds. Pray for Afghan refugees who have come to Christ to be strengthened in their faith. Ask God to send forth many more long-term laborers to dwell among the Pakistanis who have never heard of Jesus.
(Information from Operation World, Associated Press and Migration Policy Institute)
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