Prayer List for April 26, 2009

Sunday, please pray for Iranian Christians Marzieh and Maryam. “Marzieh Amairizadeh Esmaeilabad, 30, and Maryam Rustampoor, 27, were imprisoned by Iranian officials on March 5 and incarcerated in the infamous Evin prison. Inmates at this prison are tortured and face other forms of mistreatment. The two women were imprisoned because they were practicing their Christian faith, but Iranian officials allege that they were involved in 'anti-government activities.' Iranian officials asked the women to post bail at the staggering amount of $400,000 in order to be released, but when Marzieh's sisters tried to pay the bail fee, the government officials refused to accept it. This makes it clear that the Iranian officials are determined to severely punish our Christian sisters.” (International Christian Concern)

Monday, please praise God for the release of four Christians who were detained in Libya. The Libyan government released them on April 13. (International Christian Concern)

Tuesday, please pray for Make Way Partners’ evangelist in Darfur, Sudan, and the refugees that he works with. “The camp where he oversees our medical clinic (in partnership with a Muslim doctor) has been attacked. At least 12 are dead and 30 or so wounded. Phillip fled the make-shift camp along with the locals. The local Chief and Commissioner begged Phillip to remain with the people, as now they are on the run once again. What few straw huts they were able to build for shelter have now been left behind. Everyone ran with simply the clothes on their backs, babies in one arm and dragging their toddlers behind with the other arm.” (Make Way Partners)

Wednesday, please pray that Islamic President al-Bashir would release trucks of supplies that the government of Sudan has seized. “In the past, James has been able to negotiate their freedom without paying the “taxes,” which equates to ransom. This time, Islamic President al-Bashir (who has been indicted for war crimes, including ‘Extermination’ upon the indigenous Sudanese) has said no trucks can pass without his expressed permission. James reports that there are literally hundreds of trucks being detained, including United Nations humanitarian relief trucks. al-Bashir is committed to kill the people one way or another.” (Make Way Partners)

Thursday, please pray for the people of Burma. “On April 2, 2009, the Burma Army from Play Hsa Lo forced villagers in the relocation site there to carry food and walk in front of a bulldozer. The Burma Army often forces villagers to do this in order to explode any mines which may have been placed in the road and to discourage the local Karen resistance troops from attacking. Similarly, on March 23, the Burma Army arrested four villagers from the Maw Thay Der area. The villagers were forced to walk in front of the patrolling Burma Army troops in order to check for landmines. On March 25, these villagers were then forced to register with the Burma Army and ordered to move to a relocation site. The villagers were from Keh Der, Ler Kla Der, Hu Mu Der and Klaw Mee Der villages in Tantabin Township.” (Free Burma Rangers)

Friday, please pray for “Uyghur Christian Alimjan Yimit, detained in Kashi Municipal Detention Center in Kashgar,” China . He was recently escorted to a nearby hospital in handcuffs. “Sources informed Compass Direct News that Alimjan had been beaten in prison. His attorney visited him one week earlier to discuss a court trial anticipated in May. This was only the second time Alimjan was allowed a visitor since his arrest in January 2008. Court authorities returned his case to state prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence to support charges of “leaking state secrets” and “inciting secession." Family, friends and colleagues insist that Alimjan is a loyal citizen with no access to state secrets, and that his arrest was due to his Christian faith and association with foreign Christians.” (Open Doors, Compass Direct)

Saturday, please pray that hate crimes legislation, Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, will not pass in the United States Congress. “The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would add homosexuals and transgender people to the list of protected categories under federal hate crimes law. Republicans in the Judiciary Committee offered an array of amendments to the legislation, including special protections under hate crimes law for senior citizens, unborn children, military veterans, pregnant women, and American nationals who have been the victims of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens. Democrats argued the amendments were not germane to the bill, and defeated them all on a party-line vote.” Regina Griggs, executive directive of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, PFOX, says this legislation “would make it tougher for former homosexuals -- many of whom, she says, are the focus of hateful actions by supposed ‘tolerant’ homosexuals. Griggs say the bill puts hatred of ex-"gays" into legislation. ‘The legislation doesn't protect my organization, and it doesn't protect the rights of former homosexuals to live free, happy out of the closet, if you will, and to be getting their message out to the public and into the schools.’" In Canada, Australia, and the European Union, hate crimes legislation has forced the prosecution of preachers who speak out against the persecution of Christians in Islamic regimes or of preaching on passages, such as Romans 1, which point out the sin of homosexual behavior, although preachers in none of these cases espoused any violent behavior toward others and no one committed violent acts. Indeed, hate crimes legislation is censorship of free speech. (One News Now, me)

North Korea Freedom Week is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC from April 26 - May 2, 2009.

Voice of the Martyrs will be holding a meeting in New Lenox, IL, May 16. For more information, go to www.persecution.com.

Prayer List for April 19, 2009

Sunday, please pray for Chinese Christian, Shi Weihan. “Shi Weihan is scheduled to stand trial on Thursday, April 9 at 9 a.m. local time at the People’s Court of Haidan District, Beijing. Shi has been in prison since March 19, 2008 for printing and distributing Christian books and Bibles without government permission. The official charge is for ‘illegal business practices,’ however, a judge has held, at least twice, that there is not sufficient evidence to convict him on this charge. Nevertheless, police have continued to hold Shi Weihan in custody in order collect additional evidence hoping to gain a conviction.” (Open Doors)

Monday, please pray for the construction of a church in Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh is supposed to have freedom of religion, “Authorities called for a five-month halt to construction of a church in northern Bangladesh, for fear of huge conversions. The construction of the Ishai Fellowship Church began in early November 2008, but after Muslims protested, the mayor halted construction. ‘The local Muslims fired all the cylinders of the society to stop building a church in this vicinity. They want me not to work for the expansion of the Kingdom of God here. They persuaded the city council authority to stop [construction of] the church,’ Mashi, a pastor of Calvary Ishai Fellowship, told Compass. ‘The mayor of the city council told me that I did not have any building plan and permission from them to build a house here, so I should stop the construction work.’” (Open Doors)

Tuesday, please praise God for the release of Brother Sani. “When a Nigerian court sentenced him to three years in jail back in late 2007, Brother Sani cried out to God for help. And thankfully, the Lord heard his cry. Today, having served less than half his sentence, Sani is a free man!” (Open Doors)

Wednesday, please praise God that the Georgia House of Representatives has “passed a resolution in favor of home schoolers in Germany. Home schoolers in that country face hefty fines and the potential loss of their kids if they home school. One German family, the Romeikes, are seeking asylum in the U.S. after facing persecution for home schooling.” (OneNewsNow)

Thursday, please pray for Iranian Christians, Brother Mohsen, his wife Feresthe, and their 12-year-old son. Iranian police arrested Mohsen for his conversion to Christianity from Islam and to get the names of his contacts. After torture which damaged his face, spinal cord, and teeth, he became so ill that the police released him. He and his family escaped to Turkey where they applied to the UN for refugee status. It can be very difficult for those fleeing “Islamic justice” to receive approval from the UN because some of the worst oppressor governments serve on the hearing committees and they cover for one another’s oppression. (Open Doors, me)

Friday, please praise God that Make Way Partners evangelist, Philip, has been released in Sudan and has about 70 mostly Muslims attending his services in Darfur. Please pray that the organization’s supply trucks will be released without ransom from a group in Juba, Sudan. (Make Way Partners)

Saturday, please praise God for the release of a Christian convert in Saudi Arabia. “On March 28, Hamoud Bin Saleh, a Saudi Christian arrested in January for writing about his conversion from Islam and criticizing the Saudi kingdom's crackdown on individual rights, was released from prison, according to Compass Direct News. Saleh is reportedly forbidden to travel outside the country or appear in the media. In a recent post on his blog, Saleh attributed his release to several human rights groups that campaigned on his behalf. ‘A nation which lives in this system cannot guarantee the safety of its individuals,’ he blogged, according to Compass Direct. In Saudi Arabia the penalty for converting from Islam, also called apostasy, is death. Still, in recent years, there have been no known cases of Saudis formally been convicted and sentenced to death.” (Voice of the Martyrs, Compass Direct News)

North Korea Freedom Week is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC from April 26 - May 2, 2009.

Voice of the Martyrs will be holding a meeting in New Lenox, IL, May 16. For more information, go to www.persecution.com.

Prayer List for April 19, 2009

Sunday, please pray for Chinese Christian, Shi Weihan. “Shi Weihan is scheduled to stand trial on Thursday, April 9 at 9 a.m. local time at the People’s Court of Haidan District, Beijing. Shi has been in prison since March 19, 2008 for printing and distributing Christian books and Bibles without government permission. The official charge is for ‘illegal business practices,’ however, a judge has held, at least twice, that there is not sufficient evidence to convict him on this charge. Nevertheless, police have continued to hold Shi Weihan in custody in order collect additional evidence hoping to gain a conviction.” (Open Doors)

Monday, please pray for the construction of a church in Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh is supposed to have freedom of religion, “Authorities called for a five-month halt to construction of a church in northern Bangladesh, for fear of huge conversions. The construction of the Ishai Fellowship Church began in early November 2008, but after Muslims protested, the mayor halted construction. ‘The local Muslims fired all the cylinders of the society to stop building a church in this vicinity. They want me not to work for the expansion of the Kingdom of God here. They persuaded the city council authority to stop [construction of] the church,’ Mashi, a pastor of Calvary Ishai Fellowship, told Compass. ‘The mayor of the city council told me that I did not have any building plan and permission from them to build a house here, so I should stop the construction work.’” (Open Doors)

Tuesday, please praise God for the release of Brother Sani. “When a Nigerian court sentenced him to three years in jail back in late 2007, Brother Sani cried out to God for help. And thankfully, the Lord heard his cry. Today, having served less than half his sentence, Sani is a free man!” (Open Doors)

Wednesday, please praise God that the Georgia House of Representatives has “passed a resolution in favor of home schoolers in Germany. Home schoolers in that country face hefty fines and the potential loss of their kids if they home school. One German family, the Romeikes, are seeking asylum in the U.S. after facing persecution for home schooling.” (OneNewsNow)

Thursday, please pray for Iranian Christians, Brother Mohsen, his wife Feresthe, and their 12-year-old son. Iranian police arrested Mohsen for his conversion to Christianity from Islam and to get the names of his contacts. After torture which damaged his face, spinal cord, and teeth, he became so ill that the police released him. He and his family escaped to Turkey where they applied to the UN for refugee status. It can be very difficult for those fleeing “Islamic justice” to receive approval from the UN because some of the worst oppressor governments serve on the hearing committees and they cover for one another’s oppression. (Open Doors, me)

Friday, please praise God that Make Way Partners evangelist, Philip, has been released in Sudan and has about 70 mostly Muslims attending his services in Darfur. Please pray that the organization’s supply trucks will be released without ransom from a group in Juba, Sudan. (Make Way Partners)

Saturday, please praise God for the release of a Christian convert in Saudi Arabia. “On March 28, Hamoud Bin Saleh, a Saudi Christian arrested in January for writing about his conversion from Islam and criticizing the Saudi kingdom's crackdown on individual rights, was released from prison, according to Compass Direct News. Saleh is reportedly forbidden to travel outside the country or appear in the media. In a recent post on his blog, Saleh attributed his release to several human rights groups that campaigned on his behalf. ‘A nation which lives in this system cannot guarantee the safety of its individuals,’ he blogged, according to Compass Direct. In Saudi Arabia the penalty for converting from Islam, also called apostasy, is death. Still, in recent years, there have been no known cases of Saudis formally been convicted and sentenced to death.” (Voice of the Martyrs, Compass Direct News)

North Korea Freedom Week is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC from April 26 - May 2, 2009.

Voice of the Martyrs will be holding a meeting in New Lenox, IL, May 16. For more information, go to www.persecution.com.

Prayer List for April 5, 2009

Sunday, please pray for “Christian bookshop owner Shi Weihan (38) (who) has been detained in prison since March 2008. Twice courts have rejected the police’s case against him due to insufficient evidence. Shi’s case was supposed to go before the courts for a third time on March 20th for what we believed would be a critical and decisive hearing. Chinese authorities delayed the court date which means there is still time to send the Chinese Ambassador an email on his behalf.”(Open Doors)

Monday, please pray for a Pakistani-born preacher in London, Reverend Noble Samuel, who was beaten by Muslims and threatened after clashing with Muslims on his television show, the Asian Gospel Show. The Muslim station owner condemned the attacks on air. (Fox News, Open Doors)

Tuesday, please pray for the Christians of Karnataka state, India. “The Hindu nationalist government in the southern state of Karnataka, which recorded the second highest number of attacks on Christians last year, is planning to introduce the kind of ‘anti-conversion’ law that has provided the pretext for anti-Christian violence in other states.” (Open Doors)

Wednesday, please pray for the people of Darfur and southern Sudan. “The four-year conflict between al-Bashir’s jihadist-backed militia (Janjaweed) in the north against the mostly-Christian people of the south has driven more than 2.7 million people into temporary camps, most with nothing but the clothing on their backs. More than 4 million have been killed. Although Sudan signed a peace treaty in January 2005, the country is still in a state of turmoil. Prior to January, the Janjaweed bombed or burned schools, churches, homes, clinics and crops and poisoned wells. Up to 2 million women and children were enslaved. Thousands of those slaves are now being released but have no home to go to.” To worsen matters, the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled13 aid groups in March following his indictment by the International Criminal Court. He has allowed Make Way Partners, World Relief, and Samaritan’s Purse to stay, but the amount of work has increased for each agency. (Make Way Partners, me)

Thursday, please pray for Pastor Walter Hoye, jailed in California for holding a sign offering aid to women planning to abort their babies outside an abortion clinic. While he is in jail, he is talking to the other prisoners about the Lord. He refused probation because he would have had to promise not to assist women. Pray for him, his family, his church, and for the salvation of inmates. (OneNewsNow, me)

Friday, please pray for “Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad and Maryam Rustampoor (who) were arrested by Iranian security forces and labeled ‘anti-government activists,’ according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). Thirty year-old Marzieh and 27-year-old Maryam are being held at Evin Prison, which is notorious for treating women badly. ‘Both women are allowed just a one minute telephone call everyday to their immediate families. Both are unwell and in need of urgent medical attention,’ FCNN reported. During their last call on March 28, Marzieh said that she was suffering from an infection and high fever. She said, ‘I am dying.’” Both are committed Christians. (Voice of the Martyrs, Farsi Christian News Network)

Saturday, please pray for the Christians of Kot Lakha Singh village in Punjab, Pakistan. Following the elopement of a Muslim girl and Christian man, the girl’s father, Noor Husain, took Muslim friends on a rampage through the village, dragging Christian women from their homes and parading them through the streets. They had also desecrated the church. Twenty-one Christian families have left the village, leaving only four. (International Christian Concern)

North Korea Freedom Week is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC from April 26 - May 2, 2009.

Prayer List for March 22-28, 2009

Sunday, please pray that God will work in Mexico where drug networks are increasing in size, wealth, and violence. “Mexican officials say the violence killed 6,290 people last year _ and more than 1,000 in the first eight weeks of 2009. Warring drug cartels are blamed for more than 560 kidnappings in Phoenix in 2007 and the first half of 2008, and killings in Atlanta, and Birmingham, Ala.” Please pray for the church in Mexico. If it is effective, it will become a target as it is in Colombia, but if it is not filled with God’s power, the situation in Mexico will likely deteriorate as people are pulled into one side or the other. (NewsMax, me)

Monday, please pray for the growing Christian conversions in the Islamic country of Bahrain. “Pray that the Spirit of God would open the Bahraini believers' minds so that they would understand more fully the message of Christ. Pray that their fellowship would deepen with one another, developing into a mighty Church.” (Arab World Ministries)

Tuesday, please pray for Christians in China who are studying Arabic to take the Gospel into the Muslim world. “Pray for all Asian workers who face the challenges of learning both English and Arabic. Pray for their future employment that will provide long-term entry into the Arab world. Pray that these pioneers of the Chinese Church would blaze a trail for a movement of Chinese missionaries into the Arab World.” (Arab World Ministries)

Wednesday, please praise God for massive conversions in China. “First, China continues to change. Since the Olympics, our contacts on the ground tell us the church is growing like wildfire, experiencing increasing religious freedom. In fact, an estimated 10,000 people are coming to Christ each day!” Please pray for the church as persecution is on the increase again. “But in the midst of this growth and increasing freedom, we are getting reports that Christians are still being arrested and churches are being shut down in certain areas of the country. And we have evidence that the government continues to repress the distribution of Bibles.” (Open Doors)

Thursday, please pray for “Hector Aleem, a human rights activist, (who) remains in jail on trumped up charges of blasphemy and abetting. Last November, a Muslim scholar received a text message insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad . Authorities arrested and charged Aleem for the crime. Recently however the investigating officer ruled out the possibility of a blasphemy charge since evidence showed the text message came from an unlisted phone number that did not belong to Aleem. According to Compass Direct News the deputy secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Human Rights said Aleem may have been framed due to his social activism. Aleem is the director of a small Non-Governmental Organization that lobbies for the rights of Pakistani Christians in Islamabad.” Even if found not guilty, Aleem could become the target of radical Muslims. (Open Doors)

Friday, please pray for Sudan where foreign aid organizations are being ousted. “A moment of context: one of the reasons Sudan is widely considered the worst place on the planet for human trafficking is because five decades of war has left the entire country in an ancient state. The largest country in Africa and nearly one-quarter the size of the United States, SudanSouthern Sudan boasts less than three miles of pavement and has no bridges to deliver life-saving supplies. There is no governmental infrastructure to protect the orphans and, yes, Western Aid Agencies are being kicked out; they are accused of being foreign spies. All of these factors make Sudan the “perfect storm” for human trafficking.” (Make Way Partners) has an estimated 1,000,000 orphans who are vulnerable to slave raiders, wildlife and exposure from living alone and without shelter in the desert.

Saturday, please praise God that new Iranian Christian, 27-year-old Hossein Karimi is free after being detained in prison for 27 days. “Hossein, a new convert, had been arrested on charges of attending home churches, evangelizing, storing Bibles and converting to the Christian faith, FCNN reported. Hossein was arrested by Iranian secret police on Jan. 30 and was held for 27 days in an unknown location until his release. He’s now waiting for the courts to give him a scheduled date to appear to present his case.” (Voice of the Martyrs)

Prayer List for March15-21, 2009

Sunday, please pray for the family and congregants of Rev. Fred Winters who was murdered in his church in Maryville, Illinois, USA, in front of his congregants last Sunday by a gunman. (Associated Press, OneNewsNow)

Monday, please pray for seven people who disappeared aboard a missionary plane in Venezuela on February 16. “(S)earches have failed to locate the plane he (Bob Norton) was piloting, which also carried his wife, two adults accompanying two sick children, and a missionary who taught at an Adventist school.” It is believed that the plane crashed in the jungle. (Associated Press)

Tuesday, please pray for the Christians of Garissa, Kenya. “The trouble began in June 2007 when Muslims built a mosque only three meters (10 feet) from the church building in the semi-arid desert town of Garissa. Tensions continued to grow and last September a gang of angry Muslim youths destroyed the church building. Since the attack the church members have been meeting at the town show grounds which offers few trees to protect the congregation from the scorching sun and blistering heat.” (Open Doors)

Wednesday, please pray for a 35-year-old pastor and congregation in eastern India. “In an effort to stop conversions to Christianity, a 25-year-old ailing man on Sunday, March 8th, exploded a crude bomb in a church and shot the pastor. “Rajesh Singh (the perpetrator of the crime) threw a crude bomb through the window of the church, and the sound of the explosion created a chaos in the congregation,” said Inspector Mandal. As members of the church began to run out, he added, Singh came into the building and shot the pastor with a handmade pistol from point-blank range. “In his statement, Singh said he was personally against Christian conversions and wanted to kill the pastor to stop conversions,” Mandal said. The pastor is out of danger. Please pray for his recovery and for the recovery of several women who were burned in the bomb blast. (Open Doors)

Thursday, please pray for two Christian ethnic Uyghurs who have been imprisoned unjustly by the Chinese government. “Osman, a Uyghur Christian, was arrested on November 19, 2007, charged with “revealing state secrets," and sentenced to two years of “re-education through labor.” Osman was severely tortured by police during a previous arrest. His health has rapidly deteriorated while being held in a labor camp and forced to work 12-15 hour days. Alimjan, a Muslim convert to Christianity and house church leader, was arrested on a “national security issue” charge on January 12, 2008. The Xingjian Court cited “insufficient evidence” in Alimjan’s first trial.” You can e-mail the Chinese ambassador through Open Doors’ website at opendoorsusa.org. Click 1 in the upper right corner box. (Open Doors)

Friday, please pray please pray for the people of Sudan. The Islamic government of the north seemed to instigate a return to civil war by sending a militia leader from the north who was guilty of atrocities in the south as a general of the combined army into the south. Fighting killed 26 civilians and 31 soliders of the two sides. Also, since the indictment of the Muslim president of Sudan, Al’ Bashir, by international courts for war crimes, the government has ousted 13 aid groups. Five staff members of Doctors Without Borders have been kidnapped. Much of the aid goes to the south which is divided between animists and Christians and has been devastated by the civil war. Other aid goes to Darfur, which is a Muslim area, but is a different denomination than those in power. (Jamestown Foundation, Associated Press, OneNewsNow, Make Way Partners, me)

Saturday, please pray for a Turkish Bible Society bookstore in Adana, Turkey, that has been repeatedly vandalized. (Voice of the Martyrs)

Prayer List for March 1-7, 2009

Sunday, please pray for the Christians of Iraq. Iraq has been listed as the world’s number 2 worst persecutor of Christians. In some areas radical Muslims have been demanding identity papers at gunpoint and sometimes shooting Christians for no offense other than being Christian. However, God is moving among Muslims in Iraq. Pray that His Spirit will continue to move, that He will place His people under His wing of protection, and that He will bring to repentance or justice those who wantonly murder His people. (International Christian Concern)

Monday, please praise God for and pray for a Christian evangelist named Philip who feels compelled to take the Gospel to a refugee camp in Darfur, Sudan, that holds 22,000 desperate people, primarily women and children. At least two babies a day die of lack of clean water. The people face attacks by the Muslim Janjaweed. Both Muslims and a few Christians live in desperation in this camp. Philip is now in Kenya gathering medicine and aide. Please pray for him and these poor, desperate people. (Make Way Partners)

Tuesday, please praise God that “In one valley that was laid to waste by the Burma Army, two villages have been re-established, as well as a clinic, school and two churches. The KNU (Karen National Union, the ethnic pro-democracy resistance in this area) has built a sprawling community of homes, bamboo offices, sports fields, barracks, and food depots. Almost every organization that assists the Karen people has offices here. Everywhere we went we met hopeful people who continued to work their fields, and, as soon as the Burma Army slows down its operations, they move back into their own villages. While it is true that at any moment the Burma Army could mass enough troops to push the people out, in many areas the Burma Army have yet to do this. THIS IS DUE TO THE TENACITY AND RESILIENCE OF THE PEOPLE AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE RESISTANCE.” (Free Burma Rangers)

Wednesday, please pray for the state of Orissa, India, where the government took four months to quell anti-Christian violence committed by radical Hindus. “Since August, more than 60 Christians have been killed; 18,000, wounded; 181 churches, razed or destroyed; 4,500 Christian homes, burned; and more than 50,000 Christians, displaced, of whom more than 30,000 remain in refugee camps or in hiding in the jungle, according to media reports.” The Catholic Archbishop of Orissa charges that the government turned its back on the violence because the people of the area were poor. Archbishop “Cheenath, frustrated over the lack of concern for Orissa, wrote a letter to the Indian prime minister saying that he does not understand how the government can stop the Mumbai attacks in three days, Karnataka in five days, but couldn’t stop the attacks on Christians in Orissa after more than four months.” Some reports also claim that discrimination against Christians occurs in the refugee camps. (Michael Vu, Christian Post, Open Doors, International Christian Concern)

Thursday, please pray for the Christians of Afghanistan. Although the Taliban is not in power, becoming a Christian is dangerous. “Christian groups estimate the number of Afghan Christians ranges between 500 and 8,000—in a country of 30 million Muslims.”(Christian Science Monitor, International Christian Concern)

Friday, please pray for the church in Libya which is so oppressed that the few Christians there do not dare meet in private. “Libya remains one of the world's least reached nations. Among 6,000,000 Libyans live only a handful of known believers….Opportunities for outreach are rare.” (Arab World Ministries)

Saturday, please pray for Arab women who live in repressive and abusive situations. “Christian women are creating these safe environments for Arab women to explore their emotional health. Pray that these meetings would be led by the Holy Spirit. Many times counselors must address demonic influences in Muslim women's lives due to the mingling of Islam with animistic and occult practices. Pray that Christian women would discern such activity and pray with power in Jesus' name to see these women set free. Pray that Muslim women would find peace through the Prince of Peace. Pray for training in counseling for Christian women who are reaching out to Arab women.” (Arab World Ministries)

Prayer List for January 25-31, 2009

Sunday, please pray for Yao Lifa, a Chinese political activist, who has disappeared. “Yao Lifa, a well-known advocate of free elections from Hubei province in central China, was due to attend the reception held by the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, the provincial capital” to celebrate the inauguration of President Obama. “Yao Lifa, 50, a school official in the small city of Qianjiang, achieved nationwide celebrity as a fast-talking and tireless advocate of democratic votes, winning himself a place on the local Communist Party-controlled assembly. But Yao Lifa's campaigning and mobilisation of disaffected farmers irked officials. Under a shadow of official disfavour, he failed to win re-election but threw himself into a life of organising other independent candidates. He also signed the "Charter 08" petition issued last month demanding democratic political reform, which has pitted hundreds of dissidents and rights advocates against the Party.” His son believes he has been secretly arrested. (Yahoo)

Monday, please pray for MakeWayPartners to be able to provide and staff a sterile surgical unit for their mission in Sudan. They recently lost a pregnant mother and baby due to the long journey through the countryside to reach a suitable sterile surgical unit. (MakeWayPartners)

Tuesday, please pray for justice to be done in the assault and murder of a seven-year-old girl, Ma Ne Mya “of Ma Oo Bin village in the area close to Kyauk Kyi Town, Nyaunglebin District” by a Burma Army soldier on December 27, 2008. “The Karen Women's Organization is demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of an SPDC soldier who raped and killed a young girl in Burma's northern Karen State last week, as well as punishment of his commanding officer for failing to take action over the crime.” The commanding officer, Captain Thet Khaing, has done nothing to the soldier. Not only does it leave an injustice, it endangers all women and children because other soldiers will think they can commit atrocities with impunity. (Free Burma Rangers)

Wednesday, please pray for the Christians of California, especially those in San Francisco, who have taken a stand for traditional marriage by supporting Proposition 8. Homosexuals have trashed churches by putting swastikas and insults on buildings. San Francisco officials have turned a deaf ear to the attacks on the churches. (Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow)

Thursday, please pray for the Christians of Mosul, Iraq. “Yassr tells us that terrorists in police uniforms are patrolling the streets of Mosul, setting up rogue checkpoints in what appears to be an organized campaign to force the city’s Christians to flee. One brother was stopped in the street by militia men who demanded to see his identity card. Seeing he was a Christian, the extremists shot him in cold blood. As many as 20 Christians have been killed in this way in Mosul in recent days. “Among the fatalities is a 15-year-old who played in the street with his Muslim friends, an elderly man, and even a man in a wheelchair,” says Olaf, Open Doors coordinator for Iraq. “Having ‘Christian’ on your ID card is enough to get you killed!” As a result, Christians have been fleeing Mosul in droves.” Please especially pray for those who have neither the money nor the means to leave. (Open Doors)

Friday, please pray for “the health and safety of the son of martyred Iranian pastor Hossein Soodmand. (Fears) are escalating as Ramtin Soodmand awaits trial for ‘promoting anti-government propaganda.’” The Iranian government could sentence him to death. (Open Doors, me)

Saturday, please pray for an Indonesian Christian, Rini, and her 4 children. Since her conversion 3 years ago, her husband has abandoned the family. Her family has also threatened and physically attacked her. (Open Doors)