A 365 Day Global Prayer Journey - January 4 (Day 4)

Today our journey begins to be a little steeper. Whether this is your first or 20th time to pray for the whole world, I want to encourage you to continue to maintain the habit of seeking God daily for these requests. For me personally, coming off of 2 weeks' vacation and heading back to work only yesterday, I have fervantly asked God to enable me to maintain the depth and passion of prayer that I had over the break. The last thing I want is for this daily prayer journey to become something that I do just to check it off a list. I do want to be faithful whether I "feel" like praying or not, but when I sit before the Lord and seek to hear from Him, I want to sense His presence, as we talked about in the Preparation Phase post. He alone will make our time of prayer matter.

Ok, today please read "Global Hot Spots" on pages 10-12 of Operation World, then come back to today's post.

Despite a couple of major events during 2011 in the hot spots mentioned here (the death of Kim Jong Il and the recognition of South Sudan as a country), each of these hot spots remains a matter for serious and focused prayer. It might be easy to dismiss the concerns with Jesus' teaching that the last days will be filled with "wars and rumors of wars". That is true - but to look at all of Scripture in context reveals a God who has intervened in history in many ways, and not just for one country. Paul's words to Timothy are instructive in bringing balance here:

{1 Timothy 2:1-4 NLT} 1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

We are to pray for leaders and those in authority - why? So that believers can live quiet, peace lives characterized by godliness and dignity. Why is this important? Because God wants everyone to be saved and understand the truth.

The simple reality of life is that despite all the good intentions of Christians, when a land is so torn by war that all people can do is merely survive, outreach and evangelism are hindered. God doesn't want us to live quiet and peaceful lives so that we can be "carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease" -- instead, He wants our lives to place us in a position to more easily share the Gospel so that more people can be saved and know truth. This doesn't mean persecution won't come - or challenges and struggles of life - but our prayer for ourselves and others should be that anything that would hinder the Gospel would be diminished, and anything that would further the Gospel would be increased.

With that in mind, let's pray for the hot spots now. My prayer is below, followed by a video that will spur us to worship the God who is not finished with the world, no matter what it looks like, even in these "hot spots".

My prayer for today: Oh Lord, we know that You are the Lord of creation, the God of all people. We know that You have a great and amazing plan to transform people groups and entire countries for Your glory. But God, as we look across this world that You love so much, we see some places where the light seems to be dim ... where the enemy of our souls has enmeshed people in lies for decades, even centuries. We lift these lands up to You today Lord: For Jerusalem, the city You told us by name in Psalm 122 to pray for peace. If any place needs peace, it's Jerusalem Lord. May those who love it dwell securely. May there be peace within its walls and security within its citadels. For North Korea, in the midst of a transition to Kim Jong Un's leadership, Lord we pray for divine intervention. We pray for Mr. Un's salvation, Lord. Please lift the strongholds over this land. And Lord as there are tensions with South Korea, we pray God for peace to reign. We pray for people to be able to live quiet, peaceful lives in godliness and dignity for the purpose of spreading the Gospel. In fact, Lord, I over all these "hot spots" with that prayer: for Somalia, Central Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, China, Sudan and the new South Sudan, Iran, the Himalayan region, the Mexican border, Southeast Asia, the Caucasus region -- Lord, let peace reign. Intervene with Your divine power and love. Lord, I pray for the spiritual war that is going on in West Africa, with the "fault line" between Islam and Christianity. Lord, Muslims are not our enemies. Our battle is not with flesh and blood. But we know that the spiritual dynamics of that conflict are very evident there where religious differences make such a hotbed of conflict. Finally, Lord, I lift up to you the "hot spot" of immigration. Lord, from the earliest days the movement of peoples has brought increased awareness of spiritual needs, and we know that most of these immigrants don't know you. Immigration is bringing the unreached peoples into the cities and villages with those who already have the Gospel. But Lord it is also bringing risks of terrorism and fears of the unknown.  I pray, Lord, for great sensitivity on the part of Christians to their immigrant neighbors and to God's purpose for allowing immigration. I also pray for strong wisdom for those charged with protecting nations - help them capture anyone who has an intent to harm.In all these areas, Lord, decrease anything that would hinder the Gospel and increase anything that would further its spread. Lord, thank You that You are the God of all these cities and peoples. There truly is none like You!

http://youtu.be/XqQhZKpZVCo