Pastor Mike called out: “North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, & Afghanistan.” He asked the significance of these names. Maybe you know they are the names of the top ten offenders of the 50 countries that make up the World Watch List 2024. Believers in these countries pay the cost of following Jesus. Extremists exploit instability in Africa, foreign influence bolsters autocratic regimes, and there are unprecedented attacks on churches. Over 365 million Christians around the world face discrimination for their faith. My mind boggles with the sheer numbers. Yet, despite this, the Christian Church grows.
THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER
Every morning, I read and pray for one of the countries on the World Watch List. In my Global Prayer Guide I follow an additional different country. My geography skills have proven very inadequate as countries change names and shapes. God knows the locations. My heart breaks as I follow the testimonies of Voice of the Martyrs.
I DON’T PERSONALLY KNOW THESE PEOPLE
I do not personally know these people I pray for. Their situations are unimaginable to me. Yet I pray and then pray some more. Why? Because of this passage: “This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.” (I John 5:13-14)
OUR SAVIOR HEARS
God understands each situation and every individual on this earth. He knows about the believers who spend years in solitary confinement in metal shipping containers in the heat of Eritrea. The Holy Spirit groans for those in Korea, imprisoned in concentration camps because they possessed a Bible. Our Savior hears the cries of refugees from Sudan whose homes are destroyed by militants.
NOT WISHFUL THINKING
It is easy to get discouraged and think that our little prayers do not matter. Did you ever wonder why James 5:17-18 points out that Elijah had “a nature like ours”? Matt Bradson writes that we are to pray for huge movements of the Holy Spirit: “Even Elijah was only human. God can answer our big, rain-stopping, holiness-pleading prayers just like his.” If as a righteous person you pray according to God’s will, expect God to answer the prayer. He will grant what you ask. That is based on God’s promise, not wishful thinking.
WHAT TO PRAY FOR
How can you know exactly what and how to pray? Check out the resources I have already mentioned. Even more, learn to plunder Scripture as you pray, interceding for people using the words of the Apostle Paul or the Psalms. “Plunder” means “take goods violently from a place, especially during a war.” Do you open your Bible with force and realize that this is your sword for global warfare?
SPEAK INTO GOD’S EAR
Notice the Apostle Paul didn’t mess around only tiny requests. He drives right to the heart of what people really need. At the beginning of Philippians, he writes, “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Why not begin today using this as your prayer for believers in North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, & Afghanistan? God has offered His ear. Speak powerfully into it!
Click here for the miraculous testimony entitled “A Die-hard Shia Muslim Becomes a Believer”