7 Days of Prayer: Sunday, 10 December 2023

By Justin Long

Advent prayer guide for India. Friends of ours have created a beautiful calendar that focuses prayer on unreached peoples in India. You can view it online here. The calendar, and many are other prayer guides and prayer tools, are linked on our prayer index.

Join us in beseeching (δέομαι) the Lord of the Harvest this week for…

1. We pray for the 16 million people (and more) of India who have been impacted by Cyclone Michaung. The city of Chennai was flooded. At least a dozen people were killed. Videos show people wading in deep water and helicopters dropping rations to the stranded. Pray for believers in the area (and churches and missions) to have opportunities to help their neighbors.

2. We pray for the million and more Somalis who have been displaced by flooding. Somalis have suffered from disaster after disaster. Somalia has a semi-arid climate. It receives little annual rainfall, making droughts common; but its two rainy seasons can be heavy and intense, leading to severe floods. El Nino has brought even wetter conditions than normal. Pray Psalm 69 over Somalia: “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.”

3. We pray for the many who have been suffering in Sudan, the “war the world forgot.” (Those of us in deomai have not forgotten this war, but pray for it weekly.) It seems the RSF is close to “taking Darfur,” and with every conquest comes massacres, pillaging, kidnappings, and abuse. Cease talks have been suspended by the mediators, and the capital of North Darfur is bracing for violence, thinking it is surely the next domino in line. We continnue to pray for believers in the region, for the suffering, for the ministries working amongst the refugees, and for an end to the violence. “The Lord is close to the broken hearted…” (Psalm 34:18)

4. We are thankful for, and pray for, new avenues of access to Bhutan and Nepal. Traveler magazine reported this week on new safari-style travel in Bhutan that allows people into less-explored areas of the country; and many spiritually hungry Indians on pilgrimage, who would normally be headed to Tibet, are instead visiting spiritual pilgrimage sites in Nepal. Pray for believers to be able to meet these pilgrims and find innovative ways to travel into Bhutan. Pray for these spiritually-hungry pilgrims to have dreams and visions of Jesus!

5. We also thankful for new tourism opportunities in Kashmir, and pray for believers to use these and other possibilities to bring the gospel into this area. Kashmir is one of the Top 40 Least Reached Provinces. Access to it has been severely limited. Pray that the Kingdom will use these newly open doors to flow into the region! Praying “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isaiah 52:7) seems appropriate to the area.

6. We continue to praise God for a strand of seeming openness in China. The government says its visa-free travel policy is boosting tourism and indicates it will continue to open this door. Additionally, during the recent conference in California, Xi Jinping indicated they would be “rolling out more measures to facilitate travel and promote people-to-people exchanges.” Is God shaping the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21:1)? We “despise not the day of small beginnings,” but rather pray that believers will move through these small windows.

7. We pray for the million or more in Burkina Faso, and the wider Sahel, who suffer  under the blockades and violence if jihadist groups. We pray that the Kingdom would spread in the midst of this darkness, and that believers would find ways to be a blessing. We pray especially for peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) within the individual areas, who will both work for peace and bring the Prince of Peace.

Sign up to get this each Sunday

This is a weekly guide to beseeching (δέομαι/deomai, Matthew 9) the Lord of the Harvest for the unreached peoples and places of the world. Written by Justin Long, it’s based on the events listed in his Weekly Roundup, as well as on information received from disciple-making movements and other sources around the world. If you’re interested in his Weekly Roundup (out each Friday), you can see a sample and sign up for it here.