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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we will be joining in the 15 Days of Prayer for the Buddhist World.

Photo credit: worldprayerguides.com

Buddhism is the fourth-largest religion in the world according to Wikipedia and accounts for 6.9 percent of the world’s population. The annual Buddhist World Prayer Focus is calling Christians and churches worldwide to take 15 days, January 28 – February 11, to learn about and pray for our world’s Buddhist friends.

For many Christians who seek to understand Buddhism, it is an extraordinarily complex and often confusing worldview. As Christians, we long that all the world’s people will have an opportunity to freely see, hear and understand the grace of God incarnated in Jesus Christ.

Please join us for YWAM’s prayer day on January 14 called The Invitation as we pray for the 15 Days of Prayer for the Buddhist World movement and for Buddhist people. If you only have a few moments to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Kingdom of God in the lives of Buddhists around the world. You may also join in the 15-day global annual Buddhist World Prayer Focus January 28 – February 11, 2021 (https://worldprayerguides.org/buddhist-prayer-guides/ ) which is just before the start of the Chinese New Year on February 12.

Photo credit: thegreatcourses.com

Prepare to Pray:

In most nations where there is a Buddhist majority there is, at best, a very small Christian presence. An estimated 86 percent of Buddhists have never spoken with a Christian (https://www.prayercast.com/buddhism.html). However, Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 that, “…if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”

As you pray during The Invitation, you are adding your seed of faith to that of Christian workers and local fellowships around the world who are bringing the light of Christ to their Buddhist neighbours.

1. Ponder Matthew 17:20.
2. Spend time with the Lord reinforcing this promise in your heart and in your mind.
3. Commit your seed of faith to the work around the world of witnessing Christ to Buddhists.

Begin to pray by watching this video from https://www.prayercast.com/buddhism.html. Join with this prayer.

Pray for the Buddhist World

• As you pray, keep in mind some of the ways Buddhist cultures understand spirituality.
  • Buddhists do not believe in a creator God but do believe in various spirits and gods. They do venerate bodhisattvas or spiritual teachers who are worthy of respect.
  • Folk Buddhists believe there are good and evil spirits, including spirits of dead ancestors, but all these spiritual beings are caught up in the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
  • Buddhism is not about belief alone but about doing. Achieving merit through almsgiving to monks and donations to temples is an important, traditional Buddhist practice.
  • Buddhists are not seeking eternal life – they already believe they exist in an endless cycle of death and rebirth. They desire liberation from endless life and suffering.
• Many Buddhists are more likely to be impacted by the stories of Jesus’ supernatural power and His free offer of salvation. Pray for miraculous healings and the revelation of grace (John 1:14).
• Pray that Christians would listen to the Buddhist people around them. Pray that they will learn from them and from the Holy Spirit how to love those around them, even when faced with rejection or persecution (John 14:15–21).
• Pray that God will help you to know how to pray for Christians who live among Buddhists, so they know how to share the good news (1 Cor 1:18–25).
• Pray for countries with large Buddhist populations: China, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Nepal, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bhutan, Macau and Mongolia. (For prayer points for each of these countries, see https://www.operationworld.org/countries-alphabetically.)
• Pray for a prayer movement for the Buddhist world. Pray that many churches and individuals would join in prayer for Buddhists using tools like the 15 Days Buddhist World Prayer Guide.

“Walking with God down the avenue of prayer we acquire something of His likeness, and unconsciously we become witnesses to others of His beauty and His grace.”

(E.M. Bounds)

Take Action

• Join the global movement. Get your copy of the 15 Days Buddhist World Prayer Guide now and pray during January 28 – February 11, 2021 worldprayerguides.org/buddhist-prayer-guides/ (You can pray through this guide at any time during the year, but we encourage as many as possible to use it from January 28-February 11.)
• Identify a group of Buddhists that you could serve, either locally or far away.
• You can find info about the Buddhist world, including resources for prayer, at: www.prayercast.com/buddhism.html. Pray regularly for Buddhist people. Buddhism is complicated and can be hard to understand, but God responds to our prayers for Buddhist people, whom He loves.
• For more information on Buddhism and how to communicate with Buddhists, read Poles Apart, by John Davis, who was a missionary to Thailand. You can find the free PDF here.
• Updated Buddhist World Prayer Guides are produced every year. Visit World Prayer Guides at: worldprayerguides.org to order more and to find prayer guides for other groups and causes in many languages. Join others in praying for other religions: Muslims in April/May; and Hindus in November. https://worldprayerguides.org/categories
• Learn more about the organization that produces these prayer guides and consider supporting or contact the World Prayer Guides organization. https://worldprayerguides.org/about-us/; https://worldprayerguides.org/donate/; https://worldprayerguides.org/contact/.
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

Dharmacakra, symbol of the Dharma, the Buddha’s teaching of the path to enlightenment
Photo credit: Wikipedia

 How We Prayed

December 2020 – Care for Creation

• The working group who put together the creation care guide prayed. God led them to a time or repentance. They also prayed for poor and marginalized communities who are most affected and that YWAM locations would hear from the Lord about ways to care for the planet and be an example in our communities.
• The working group also asked that we share information about the UN climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow – https://ukcop26.org.  There is a group of YWAMers who will arrange an outreach and intercession team around this important conference. You can get more information here: https://www.climateintercessors.org

November 2020 – Haiti

• YWAM Wiler, Switzerland took up an offering for YWAM Haiti and was able to connect through The Invitation.

Future Topics:

• February 11 – Loneliness

The Dalai Lama. Photo credit: theguardian.com

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we will be praying about Caring for God’s Creation.

Care For Creation
Photo credit: Barbara Ruegger

As we end this year 2020, YWAM invites you to join with us in prayer for creation. Creation care is not a reaction to the environmental problems we see around us but an act of worship. It is our God-given responsibility to steward all of creation including every living thing that dwells with us on earth. Part of our call to discipleship is therefore to disciple the communities around us to care for God’s creation too.

A lack of care for creation affects the poor directly. Often it is the poor and marginalized who are most affected by the degradation of creation. They are dependent on the land for survival: for fuel, water and food. Their plants and animals are dependent on the environment around them to survive. For example, YWAM Zimbabwe is helping villagers who stuggle to irrigate their crops because of deforestation (see the three-minute video). We cannot care for the poor without caring for creation.

Our work brings hope and dignity to communities in Africa and Asia by training leaders to find their own solutions to poverty.

Dave and Ali Swann

God created a world that is diverse and yet connected. Our welfare is tied to the welfare of the plants and animals–God’s provision–so that all of creation will flourish and reflect His glory.

Please join YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, on December 10 to pray with us about God’s creation. If that isn’t the best day for you or your community, please choose another day that works better. If you only have a few minutes to pray, please pray for God to guide each of us to be a good steward of the resources He has given us on this planet. If you have children, please ask them to join you in this prayer. And for this month we have a very special opportunity for you to join in prayer through a Zoom call with the people who provided the content for The Invitation this month: December 10th at 16:00 hours European Central Time.  Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82389450825

Photo credit: Dave and Ali Swann

Prepare to Pray:

Begin by meditating on Psalm 104. Contemplating creation draws us into awe and worship.

Also, consider doing one or more of these activities. If you have children present, ask them to join you. In this edition we have specifically included children by adding kid-focused activities to some of the prayer points. We think it is important to include the children because how we care for creation has a great impact on their future.

• Go for a walk and praise God for what you see.
• Bring some of God’s creation into your prayer room: leaves from trees, flowers, or specially formed stones. While praying and praising God for His creation you can hold those things.
• For kids: Have children draw their favorite animal and let them have a time of thanksgiving for all the different animals God created. Follow this with a time of prayer for safety and protection of these creatures (Rom 8:19-22).
• Prepare to plant a seed or a flower. You could either prepare the ground outside or put soil into a pot. Once the soil is prepared, if possible, let each participant hold in their hands one of the unplanted flowers, bulbs or flower seeds.
• Then consider using the call-and-response reading that you will find at the end of this letter.
• Finally, plant the flower or seed or hold in your hand one of the objects you’ve gathered and pray this prayer. from Every Moment Holy, by Douglas McKelvey.

“Help us, O creator God, to see the world as your sanctuary shimmering with your sacred presence. Inspire us to protect this living cathedral in all the ways needed to support its flourishing.”

Solar Panels
Photo credit: Dave and Ali Swann

Pray for Creation:

• Pray for Christians to be united in caring for this planet despite any differences.
  • For kids: stand in a circle and all hold hands to make your unity real.
• Pray for the marginalized. They are most vulnerable in a suffering world. Pray for fishermen affected by pollution, farmers affected by deforestation or drought, villagers suffering from contaminated water.
• Pray for the political decision makers, businesses and banks to seriously consider the impact of their decisions on creation.
  • For kids: Make a banner expressing what you would like to say about creation and have a prayer march. You can later decorate your room with the banners.
• Pray for YWAM locations:
  • For God to give us His creativity to be able to improve the way we do things so that we can practically demonstrate our care for creation.
  • For our locations to be places of hope and trust in God’s faithfulness.
  • That the communities around us will see the beneficial consequences of our actions and want to follow our example.
• For YWAM ministries that help the poor by improving their environment. These ministries include: planting trees; demonstrating sustainable farming techniques; digging wells to give clean water; developing biogas technologies; or teaching aquaponics.

Great Green Wall Initiative

• Pray for a YWAMer in Chad who is working with local authorities to begin a Planting 2021 project which will contribute to the Great Green Wall initiative across northern Africa. The trees planted through this initiative have reduced desertification, have provided more water in dried-up wells, and even have improved school attendance. Learn more through this BBC summary https://youtu.be/4xls7K_xFBQ
• For YWAM training programs like the School of Sustainable Development in Costa Rica to be developed to educate YWAM workers and to equip people in communities.

Photo credit: Climate Impact News

Take Action

• Start small at home: avoid any food waste, learn to make new meals with leftovers or dry bread etc. Consider how much (hot) water we use. How long should my shower be? Turn off excess or unnecessary lights, use LED lightbulbs, etc.
• Reflect on biblical beliefs and values regarding creation using this PowerPoint developed by Dave and Ali Swann of YWAM Burtigny, Switzerland: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13cl4RfuSqzQMY7ZwxlM22BRdAccHzmSn/view?usp=sharing
• Brainstorm together: what creative sustainable solutions or projects could your group or YWAM location adopt? For example: recycling, use of plastics, vegetable gardens, reducing travel, using different travel methods, composting, etc. Ask yourself or your community these questions:
  • What attention are we giving to the questions of creation care?
  • How would we rate our biblical awareness on these topics? How much Bible study and prayer do we devote to creation care?
  • How is this reflected in our community lifestyle?
  • What seminars, courses, schools could we attend or run on these topics?
  • How can we demonstrate care for creation as part of our discipleship to the communities around our locations?
• Activities for children:
  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/16oWLJjXj7Tg2QT6zuYd4OgkhC9W728Np/view?usp=sharing
  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RHc0206HCaW26fDJvCNmRFjYBSDJOS2K/view
• Here is a presentation of the School of Sustainable Development (SSD) from YWAM Heredia, Costa Rica. As you watch, think of the ways your location could care for creation.

• Planting trees on our properties and in our locations is fun! YWAM has several tree planting initiatives that can inspire us. Watch this video that explains how planting trees can help people:

• If you want more ideas or have questions please contact YWAM’s University of the Nations Science and Technology department: SCI@uofn.edu
• Calculate your carbon footprint: https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
• Review Relevant Resources:
  • Movies and video:
    • For an overview of what people can do to care for creation, watch this video from Katherine Hayhoe, USA Evangelical Alliance:

• • • Watch this video, directed at Christians:

• • • Brave Blue World (Netflix) shows different ways to save, preserve water and help with sanitation.
    • David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Planet” movie
  • Books:
    • Here are some good books on caring for creation: https://drive.google.com/file/d//view?usp=sharing.
    • Becoming Whole (https://becomingwholebook.com).
    • Planetwise: Dare To Care For God’s World by Dave Bookless

• Websites and online classes:
  • Water for Life helps bring clean water: http://www.waterforlife.org/about.
  • Arocha (arocha.org/en) is an international Christian creation care organization.
  • These free online university courses focus on climate and the environment. https://www.climatecommunication.org
  • Thoughtful Eating provides biblical principles regarding food: http://www.jubilee-centre.org/thoughtful-eating
  • Read about insect collapse. This recent study showed that over 40 percent of insects worldwide are threatened with extinction: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320718313636.
• Testimony of Jeannette Gaitou, who works in Niger as an agricultural engineer:
  • “This is our story in a nutshell, the point is that we are clearly seeing the difference between the productive (or constructive) results of working in a way that is in accordance with God’s mandate to take care of creation and the unproductive (or destructive) results of ways of working that do not take care of creation.” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PA_kL41S35cOjgApEBHPfm7cHfa648x_V_C-F7fmx3w/edit?usp=sharing
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

North Pacific Gyre

North Atlantic Garbage Patch The Size of Texas
Photo credit (left to right, top to bottom): Wikipedia, International Marine Consultancy, JP Viser

How We Prayed – November 2020 – Haiti

• YWAM Vancouver prayed for the church and the country overall. They sensed God giving them the following scripture: John 8:32, John 17:17, John 14:6 and Matthew 7:24-27. YWAM Vancouver stated “it was a pleasure to pray for Haiti.”
• People in Switzerland reported that the Lord put on their hearts to send a gift to YWAM Haiti after praying.

Future Topics:

• January 14: Buddhism

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

Responsive Reading

As you prepare to pray, take part in reading aloud the following prayer, which is written in the form of call-and-response. You may wish to copy the text of the prayer into a PowerPoint ahead of time, to make it easier to join in this shared practice. Appoint a reader to start and then have the remainder of the community join in the shared response:

Reader: In a world shadowed by cruelty, violence and loss, is there good reason for the planting of flowers?

Response: Ah yes! For these bursts of color and beautiful blooms are bright dabs of grace, witnesses to a promise, reminders of a spreading beauty more eternal, and therefore stronger, than any evil, than any grief, than any injustice or violence.

Reader: What is the source of their beauty? From whence does it spring?

Response: The forms of these flowers are the intentional designs of a Creator who has not abandoned His broken and rebellious creation, but has instead wholly given Himself to the work of redeeming it. He has scattered the evidences of creation’s former glories across the entire scape of heaven and earth, and these evidences are also foretastes of the coming redemption of all things, that those who lie in this hard time between glories might see and remember, might see and take heart, might see and take delight in the extravagant beauty of bud and bloom, knowing that these living witnesses are rumors and reminders of a joy that will soon swallow all sorrow.

Reader: In the planting of these flowers, do we join the Creator in his work of heralding this impending joy?

Response: Yes. In this and in all labors of beauty and harmony, praise and conciliation, we become God’s coworkers and faithful citizens in His kingdom, by acts both small and great, bearing witness to the perfect beauty that was, to the ragged splendor that yet is, and to the hope of the greater glory that is yet to come, which is the immeasurable glory of God revealed to us, in the redeemed nature of all things.

[Note: Prayers in this section have been adapted from Every Moment Holy by Douglas McKelvey, and from Abbey of the Arts by Christine Valters Paintner.]

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we will be praying for the island nation of Haiti.

Land of Many Beautiful Mountains and People
Photo credits (from left to right): YWAM Port au Prince, YWAM Soccer Ministry

Once known as the “Pearl of the Antilles” because of its resources and natural beauty, Haiti is now noted as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. In its earliest colonial days Haiti was a leader in the production of sugar, coffee, indigo, cacao, and cotton. Haiti has also been called the land of many beautiful mountains and people. Today, Haiti is marked by political instability and corruption, civil unrest, crime, and extreme poverty. Of the 11.4 million people who live in Haiti, it is estimated that in 2019 the average Haitian lived on $2.18 per day (www.worldbank.org).

YWAM has had a presence for 34 years in Haiti. Today we have locations in Port au Prince, Saint Marc, Les Cayes, The Cap-Haitian, and Port de Paix (new next year).

Please join us for YWAM’s prayer day called The Invitation as we pray for Haiti. If you only have a few moments to pray, ask God to redeem the people of Haiti through a moving of the Holy Spirit and through personal relationships with Christ. Pray for the removal of systemic evils holding back this nation.

Haiti
Photo credit: www.worldometers.info

Prepare to Pray:

Note what comes to mind when you think about Haiti. Jot down words that you think of.

Now think about God and the Haitian people. Refer to the quote below. Make notes about how God sees the people and how He might describe them.

Optional: Do a search for images of Haiti and scroll through the pictures before you pray. You could also find pictures of Haitian people and print them/cut them out. Make a collage to use during this time of prayer.

Enter into your time of prayer thinking about the Haitian people as you believe God would.

The landscape of Haiti is nature showing off her beauty and the people of Haiti is God showing off her beautiful image to the world.

Professor James Small of the World African Diaspora Union

Prayer Time at YWAM Saint Marc
Photo credit: YWAM Saint Marc

Pray for Haiti:

• Ask God to redeem the people of Haiti through a moving of the Holy Spirit and through personal relationships with Christ. Pray for a revival.
• Pray for those who call themselves “Christian” to turn away from ungodly practices such as voodoo.
• Pray for the removal of systemic evils holding back this nation.
• Pray for families as they are suffering the most. Unrest keeps people from earning what little they can.
• Pray for schools as they try to open and educate through the violence.
• Pray for a light to shine in corrupt areas in the country. Haiti has been reeling from civil unrest for two years now and it has greatly impacted the average Haitian family. The unrest is primarily due to corrupt government and businesses in operation. Pray for godly leaders in government and businesses.
• Pray for wisdom for YWAMers and Haitian leaders as Haiti navigates this season of Covid. Many Haitians are unable to quarantine because of the need to work, and many don’t have a living situation that allows them to distance themselves effectively.
• Pray for political stability as Haiti has been in some sort of political unrest since 2018. There is opposition to the current president and the opposition is well funded. At its worst, the unrest caused people to be stuck in their homes, unable to travel, because paid thugs would seize control of the main highway. This has led to inability of goods to be distributed out of the capital, causing extreme price increases.
• Pray for acceptance within the church of young people. One of the focuses within YWAM is the younger generation and their desire for self-expression (clothes, hair, etc.) but the inability to be active in the church. Pray for the churches to allow the youth to be accepted as they are.
• Pray for our YWAM family as there is a great struggle financially to work through these times. No outreach teams can be received due to travel warnings. Pray for finances to meet minimum monthly operating expenses for all YWAM operations. Pray for creativity and wisdom as the YWAMers work to raise funds and for God to bring people who are willing to be active partners with the YWAM workers in the country.
• The YWAM locations have had to be flexible as a result of Covid. Pray for wisdom and creativity as the leaders strategize. Pray for unity and lasting friendships between the people at the various locations. Pray for effective ramp-ups as new ministries and strategies are implemented. Pray for patience.
• Pray for strong foundations for the YWAM locations and ministries so that they will last for many, many years into the future. Pray for strong relationships among the staff that will lead to strong culture at each YWAM location.

Photo credit: YWAM Cap-Haiti

Take Action

• Contact a YWAM location in Haiti and ask them how you/your location can support them.
• Seek God to give you an amount that He wants you to provide to a YWAM location/worker in Haiti. Pray for God to provide that amount. Pray for that amount until it is provided. Ask others to do the same.
• Check out YWAM Kona’s new recording “The Commission.” Share it with others so that the sound of “GO” is sung around the world:  https://YWAM.lnk.to/TheCommissionWe won’t stop til the whole world knows!
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

Photo credit: YWAM Port de Paix

How We Prayed – October 2020 – YWAM’s 60th

• YWAM Worcester, South Africa told us they prayed for YWAM’s 60th anniversary.

Future Topics:

• December 10: Care for Creation
• January 14: Buddhism

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This year is YWAM’s 60th year and we are taking this month to pray and give thanks to those first 60 years …

First YWAM Crusade – Samoa – 1965

This year is YWAM’s 60th year and we are celebrating! Please join us this month for YWAM’s prayer day, called The Invitation, on Thursday, October 8.

Our story started when God spoke to Loren Cunningham, YWAM Co-Founder, through a vision of waves of young people going to the nations. We are some of those young people. Our lives have been changed because of how God met Loren in the late 1950s and then led Loren and Darlene Cunningham to start YWAM. As we reflect back on God speaking to Loren as He did, we realize that moment has significant parallels to other moments throughout history, moments when God stepped in to share His heart and His purposes for the world. Indeed, we have come to realize that the vision Loren saw, this unexpected encounter, was a God-initiated, destiny-defining, foundational covenant from God to birth a new missions movement.

If you only have a few moments to pray thank God for His works He has done through YWAM.

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1: 17-18

A special note about The Invitation: This month also marks the five-year anniversary of The Invitation. We thank all who have made this possible through participating in prayer, gathering others to pray, providing prayer information, translating content, and giving leadership and administrative help. If you have any feedback or suggestions for us please send an email to prayer@ywam.org. Let us know: Do you use the “Prepare to Pray” section? What do you like best about The Invitation? What would you like to see improved?

Prepare to Pray:

As a group or individually, ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of all there is to celebrate with YWAM’s 60^th anniversary. After an appropriate time make a list of all that God revealed to you. What did He reveal? People? Ministries? Events? Nations? Redemption? Salvation? Grace? Mercy?

Take time to celebrate and be full of gratitude for what God has initiated and brought to pass over these past 60 years.

Far East Evangelism Team – Outreach to Refugee Camp
Hong Kong, 1980

Pray for YWAM:

• Thank God for His faithful and gracious leadership during these 60 years of YWAM.
• Thank God also for sustaining Loren and Darlene Cunningham and other leaders who have stepped out in obedience and been faithful to God’s vision.
• Thank God for those who have faithfully prayed, supported, and invested financially in YWAM and YWAMers in any way through these 60 years. Pray that they would be blessed, encouraged, and strengthened in their faith.
• Thank God that within a generation millions of young people have had their lives touched by God because of this vision of the waves.
• Express gratitude to God for each of the ways He has blessed you personally through YWAM.
• Pray for God to speak to young people all over the world like He spoke to Loren about going into all the world.
• Pray that YWAM would continue to be a bridge for millions of young people to be involved as missionaries.
• Pray for YWAMers all over the world to continue to be faithful to God and to walk in obedience, faith, humility, and courage in this decade ahead.

YWAM’s Four Legacy Words
Photo credit: David Cole

Take Action

• Contact those who have invested in prayer, friendship and financially supported you over the time you have been part of YWAM and encourage them and bless them in the way God shows you.
• Plan and host an online or in-person celebration for YWAM’s 60^th according to your current situation.
• Check out the newly revised YWAM.org website. On the menu, pick the “For YWAMers” option and familiarize yourself with the YWAM Vision, Values, Covenants and Legacy Words.
• Read/re-read Is That Really You, God? by Loren Cunningham with Janice Rogers, YWAM Publishing.
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed – September 2020 – YWAM’s Global Prayer Initiative

• As many as 4,000 YWAM leaders and locations (missionaries holding 220 different types of passports) connected face to face and online around the four themes of Remember, Repent, Realign and Release. Many fasted and prayed at different times throughout the month.
• John Dawson, one of YWAM’s elders, reflected on Psalm 81 and the story of Gideon. He also noted “There is intense groaning in the earth. In this season I am reminded that our real calling deeper than the healing of the nations. It is healing the heart of God.”
• Several young YWAM leaders have noted that coronavirus could be a defining moment for their generation. Many had expected significant breakthroughs before the pandemic but now see “breakthrough” in a different light.
• Received from the mother of a young woman that completed a YWAM DTS several years ago: “My daughter was rebelling from the truth and our family when she applied to do her DTS. Halfway through the DTS my husband received a phone call asking for forgiveness! Her chains had been broken and we see the fruits in her life now. Thank you Lord and thank you YWAM!”
• Another was given Ezra 9 to study and pray. And prayed: “Let us truly break our spiritual pride to hear what the Spirit is really saying to the churches today and resist the devil in all his various schemes at every turn.”
• And another was given 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 to share with the YWAM family.
• A YWAM leader noted that God has put it on his heart to pray for revival for Cambodia more than ever before.

Future Topics:

• November 12: Haiti
• December 10: Care for Creation
• January 14: Buddhism

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we engage in a special global prayer initiative that will be going for the full month of September.

Photo credits (from left to right): vimeo.com, YWAM Dunham

The Founders’ Circle and other senior elders in YWAM have sensed an urgency to call YWAM to a Global Prayer Initiative for the whole month of September. This will be launched September 1-3 with YWAM elders/leaders and their networks across the world participating. Throughout September everyone in the YWAM family and friends are invited to join in unity together in this initiative.

In line with this, we would like to dedicate our regular monthly prayer, The Invitation, on September 10 to this focus.

During this time to seek God we want to pray on behalf of the nations we are in and to pray for our calling as a missionary movement in preparation for a renewed commissioning and anointing to be His agents of hope. In the days ahead we propose that we focus our prayer around four themes: Remember, Repent, Realign, and Release.

For personal preparation, pray that all of us in YWAM would remember our assignment in intercessory prayer for the nations and we would be a people who uphold God’s unchanging character. Pray also that we would examine our foundational vision, values, covenants and legacy words and realign where there has been drift, and from this time of prayer there would be a new empowering of God’s Spirit.

If you have a longer time to pray, or if you are praying with a group, please see below how you can pray deeply around these four themes.

Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.

Photo credit: anglicanjournal.com

Prepare to Pray:

As you gather to pray, or as you prepare to pray on your own, take a moment to begin by listening to this three-minute video from one of YWAM’s elders, John Dawson, as he explains how to enter into this prayer time:

As a further exercise to help you begin this prayer time, read Daniel 9:18-23. Then listen as John Dawson draws out prayer principles about bringing to God the needs of a time and a people, asking for God’s mercy, and the power of a humble prayer (a seven-minute video):

O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolation, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” 

Daniel 9:18-23 (ESV)

Pray for YWAM:

We trust the Holy Spirit to lead and direct you sovereignly in your location/ministry/team/sphere. By God’s grace, we are spread throughout the nations, in every kind of context. Let us make ourselves available to see, hear and feel as God does at this time.

We expect that the themes of repent, remember, realign and release will emerge in a cyclical way as the Spirit leads.

Please don’t rush through these themes. Be prepared to set other times aside to continue as needed.

Repent

As members of the Body of Christ called to serve in a specific place (village, city, nation or sphere), listen to the heart/groans of the Spirit. Listen for an invitation to identify with the suffering and respond in lament (2 Chronicles 7:14-16, Nehemiah 1 and 9, Romans 8:15-30).

Listen for an invitation to identify with the sins of the people, repent and cry out for mercy.

We invite you to spend time throughout inviting God to reveal more of His character/heart (Exodus 34:6-7) and to teach us His ways.

Remember

Just as Paul exhorted Timothy “I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well” (1 Timothy 1:18), we invite you to remember (recall) the covenants, prophetic words and assignments God has given to your team corporately or to you personally in your journey of faith when He called you to be faithful to Him and serve Him in specific ways to fulfill His purposes on earth.

Realign

Likewise, there may be prophetic words, covenants and assignments for your people, city or nation which you remember and can realign with.

God has called YWAM as a stream within the Body of Christ and He has given us specific assignment to do our part in partnering with Jesus to fulfill His purposes. These have been recorded in our foundational vision, values (www.ywam.org/about-us/values) and legacy words (www.ywam.org/for-ywamers/documents-for-ywamers). Prayerfully read through these and as you do so:

–Listen for affirmation from the Spirit about ways you are in alignment with the foundational vision, values and legacy words. Celebrate and give thanks for the joy of loving God and serving Him in this way.

–Listen for conviction from the Spirit about ways you are falling short or drifting. Repent and realign as appropriate.

–In this broader context, be sure to remember specific prophetic words or assignments God has spoken to you. Celebrate and give thanks for what has been fulfilled. Pray into what has yet to be fulfilled. Perhaps repent if needed and consider any areas of pruning and realignment that may be needed.

Release

God is inviting us to present ourselves personally and together to receive a fresh impartation of faith, hope and anointing for this new season. Consider God’s invitation to you (team or personal). This is a time to agree with God with bold prayers and commitment to action in nations like never before.

–We invite you to ask God to affirm and expand/deepen ministries/assignments that are to continue and ask for a “double portion” of anointing along with a greater ability to do God’s work in ways that express His character.

–We invite you to ask God for a fresh assignment, something new, in light of the burden God carries for a people/nation/circumstance that has come to your attention.

–We invite you to request boldness in preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and testifying about the power of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 59:19, Acts 4:29-31).

–The Holy Spirit may want to set some ministries aside and have the people commissioned to new assignments (Acts 13:2-3).

Throughout this process, ensure there are no areas of unbelief, doubt, inferiority and fear in our lives that might hinder us from moving into a new level of faith and exploits.

Praying at YWAM Together
Photo credit: YWAM Facebook

Take Action

• Pray intentionally as noted by the Global Prayer Initiative.
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

Photo credit: foxnews.com

How We Prayed

August 2020 – Fear of God

• Sister A. prayed to have the fear of God and that God would reveal how to fear Him to her.
• Several individuals sent personal prayer requests, many dealing with emotional challenges during this challenging time.
• An individual from outside YWAM gave glory to God when he saw this topic. This same individual prayed that YWAM would be blessed through the Holy Spirit who is guiding us with every step.

Photo credit: compassionuk.org

Future Topics:

• October 8: YWAM’s 60th
• November 12: Haiti
• December 10: Loneliness

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we engage in the final part of our “Spiritual Principles from YWAM’s Early Days” 4-Part series on the topic “Fear of God” with Ramona Musch.

Fear of God
Photo credit: www.butlerpartyof4.com

In January we started the series Spiritual Principles from YWAM’s Early Days based on input from YWAM Leader Lynn Green and prayed about Seeking God (Loren Cunningham); Holy Living (Lynn Green), followed in February; and Lordship of Christ (Darlene Cunningham), in March. And then just days after praying about Lordship of Christ, YWAM leaders began sending students home due to the coronavirus pandemic and thus, we interrupted this series to pray for coronavirus related topics through July.

We are happy to invite you this month to pray into the final topic in our Spiritual Principles from YWAM’s Early Days series: Fear of God. Our video features Ramona Musch (YWAM Atlanta) discussing fear of the Lord with Miranda Heathcote (YWAM Spain). Ramona was associated with the first YWAM school in Switzerland over 50 years ago and says that she started to understand fear of the Lord by seeing how YWAM’s founders Loren and Darlene Cunningham were willing to follow God even if it meant being misunderstood by man. Ramona sums up fear of the Lord as being more concerned with what God thinks of you than what others think Please watch the 21:24 minute video here: https://youtu.be/2iP2AZ0hH8o. For a written summary of this video, please see below.

Please join us this month during The Invitation prayer day on Thursday, August 13 as we pray. If you only have a few moments, please pray that the Holy Spirit will touch the hearts of YWAMers as we pray and that we will better understand the Holy One and His will.

Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.

Additionally, we will soon be celebrating YWAM’s 60^th anniversary. Drop us a note to let us know how you plan to celebrate that milestone or to tell us your favorite YWAM story.

Photo credit: dickinsonebc.com

Prepare to Pray:

Begin with a quick read of Daniel 1:1-20.

Read and discuss:

• Daniel 1:1-2
  • What emotions do you think the people of Israel had after these events took place?
• Daniel 1:3-5
  • What were the people of Israel to be taught?
  • How does this relate to the world today?
  • Why do you think they were to stand before the king at the end of three years?
• Daniel 1:6-8
  • Who was included in this group that were to be taught?
  • What did Daniel resolve? What ‘right’ did Daniel give up?
  • What might you resolve today? What ‘right’ might you give up?
• Daniel 1:9-14
  • How did God respond to Daniel taking this stand?
  • What do you think Daniel’s relationship with God was like?
  • What was the concern of the chief of the eunuchs?
  • Who did the chief of the eunuch’s fear?
  • What do you think the chief’s relationship with God was like?
  • What was Daniel’s response to that concern?
  • In whom and/or what do you think Daniel had confidence in making this statement?
  • How did the chief of the eunuchs respond?
• Daniel 1:15-16
  • What was the result?
  • Do you have any similar personal stories?
• Daniel 1:17
  • What did God provide for these youth?
  • What does God provide for us today?
• Daniel 1:18-20
  • They were now standing before the king as he had commanded 3 years ago:
  • What did the king see?
  • Do you think anyone was surprised by this? Who?
• Application:
  • What might you take from this story of Daniel and his friends?
  • How does this story relate to our topic Fear of God?
  • Can you think of any other stories in the Bible that reflect a healthy fear of God?
  • If so, what ones?

Daniel chapter three provides another story of Daniel’s friends that represents fear of God. Read it if you have time and discuss.

Resolve to be like Daniel and others who fear God, not man.

I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.

Daniel 6:26

Pray for YWAM:

• As you pray, be aware of His presence. Ask Him to keep you in the state of being aware of His presence even after you finish this time of prayer. (Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” ESV)
• Think of five characteristics of God. Write those down and thank Him. Ask Him to reveal other characteristics to you.
• Praise God for the ways He has used YWAM leaders because they feared the Lord. Praise Him for how He has directed you in this area.
• Ask the Lord to convict you of where you are more concerned with how others view you than how the Lord views you. Ask Him to take away the fear of man and replace it with proper fear of Him.
• Thank God for the grace He has given you and for the love He has for you, in spite of Him knowing everything you do and think.
• Ask God to teach you His ways. (Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11 ESV)
• Ask God to show you how to fear Him.
• Think about a particular aspect of His creation. Ask God to show you how big He is. (For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a]in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:20 ESV)
• Pray to be in alignment with God’s Word.
• Pray for mentors who have more of a fear of God than you do.
• Ask God to show you the value of fearing of God.
• Thank God for His Son with whom you have a personal relationship. Thank Jesus, that you can trust Him with your life.

Photo credit: kingjamesbibleonline.org

Take Action

• Train yourself to daily, even minute by minute, focus on His presence. Focus on what is going on in the spiritual world, blocking out noise from the physical world.
• Read The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.
• Think of one “right” in your life that you want to give up and take steps to make it happen.
• Put yourself in different settings: away from everyone in the woods, with very young children, large YWAM meeting, walking down the street, at a park, etc. Stop and look around you. Ask Him to show you how big He is. What characteristics do you see by observing His creation in different settings? Make a list and ponder it for several days.
• Find a mentor that displays fear of God. Be a mentor to someone else.
• Read None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That’s a Good Thing) and In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character, both by Jen Wilkin.

Photo credit: heartlight.org

• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed

July 2020 – Seeking God During Coronavirus

• YWAM Bangkok, Thailand – A YWAMer from Bangkok who was visiting relatives in Boston when the pandemic shut down borders shared that she is waiting to return and has heard much from the Lord. Psalm 12 and the word “crucible” was significant. She saw a vision while being still. It was the big Thai letter that means base or pedestal. She heard “Strengthen the bases you have.”
• A Korean YWAMer also heard several messages including “the blind spots of this society are visible to Christians so we can share the pain and suffering together.”
• Another woman asked for reconciliation and forgiveness during this time.
• A husband prayed that he, his wife and his family would stay focused in seeking the Lord during the pandemic.
• Another YWAMer prayed that the cross of Christ would be the center of YWAM.

Photo credit: thinkthebible.org

Future Topics:

• September 10: YWAM’s 60^th
• October 8: Creation Care
• November 12: Haiti

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

Summary of Ramona Musch’s Video:

Miranda Heathcote, who works with YWAM in Spain, began by introducing Ramona Musch, who is located in Atlanta, USA. Ramona was part of the first YWAM school in Switzerland more than 50 years ago and has been involved in YWAM ever since. Miranda asked Ramona to explain how she understands the fear of the Lord and how she has seen this principle guiding YWAM, and why that matters.

Ramona said, when she thinks of the fear of the Lord she thinks of continual awareness of the presence of God, how majestic He is. All our thoughts, words and actions lay open before Him.

She said that it was really Loren and Darlene Cunningham who taught her about the fear of the Lord. She came from the same denomination as they did. In that denomination the fear of the Lord was sometimes legalistic. You were afraid you would be condemned for going to a movie or using makeup. In YWAM she heard Loren and Darlene tell how they went to their denominational heads and told them they would like YWAM to be part of their denomination, but they wanted to work with other missionaries and other denominations. They were not given this permission.

Ramona said this taught her what the fear of the Lord meant, because she saw Loren and Darlene willing to follow God even if it meant being misunderstood or giving up their standing with their denomination. Loren and his father were quite high up in the denomination. “They were giving up their rights to their reputation and they were saying, ‘This is more important: What does God say?’”

Later, Joy Dawson introduced YWAM to a lot of the teaching on the fear of the Lord.

Miranda clarified that what Ramona said makes a distinction between a feeling of having to live by rules and a heart response to God that says, “His opinion of us and His directing of us is more important than anything else.”

Ramona told the story of the first YWAM ship, the Maori, and the repentance that took place about the pride of not following God about the timing. She had been involved in recruiting and fund raising for the vessel. She participated in the long prayer meetings that happened after Loren decided to give up the ship.

Ramona emphasized the importance of earnest, lengthy prayer meetings like this. Part of the fear of God, Ramona said, is to allow God to convict us of sin. “That takes time,” she said. “If you’re not listening, you’re not going to really know what God is thinking.”

She said the balance in the fear of God is to understand that God is a loving God but we are to be in awe of Him because He does see everything we do and what we think. He takes note, but “he has a lot of grace and a lot of love.”

Miranda said this gives us a bigger view of God. In our culture today we are often very concerned about how we look. She asked Ramona how she would ask us to pray about a renewal of fear of God today.

Ramona gave several suggestions:

Psalm 88:11: Ask God to teach us His ways.

Romans 1:20: Ask God, show me how to fear you. Take time to look at creation. “God, show me how big you are.”

Pray to be in alignment with God’s Word. “Please get into the Word. Know what the Bible says. That’s the best way to get into the fear of the Lord.” Ramona recalled that Joy Dawson prayed with so many adjectives about God. She would pray, “God you are so…” and she would list all those characteristics of God. As an 18-year old, Ramona would hear this prayer and she thought she didn’t have these adjectives because she didn’t really know God like Joy did.

Read the laws of God. What does the Bible say? Meditate on these things.

Pray for mentors who have more of a fear of God than we do. For Ramona, being around Joy Dawson and Loren and Darlene motivates her. She wants to be like them.

Ask God to show us the value of the fear of God. YWAMers might see the fear of the Lord as something they have to give up, their pride or relationships. They don’t understand that the fear of the Lord is that personal relationship with Jesus. “We can trust Him with our lives.” That motivates us even more. It’s something that makes us want to get to know Jesus better.

“And he takes away the fear of man. That’s what’s so exciting about the fear of the Lord. We don’t have to be concerned about what other people think of us, what our peers think of us. We are just more concerned with what does God think of us. It puts everything else in a blur and makes us focus on the Lord.”

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we join with many around the world as we pray about Seeking God During Coronavirus.

Photo credits (top to bottom): https://juliepearsonblog.wordpress.com/ and https://www.exploregod.com/

We are in a season when the world is being shaken. A global pandemic, a renewed cry for racial justice, the yoke of poverty, awareness of the state of the environment and the threat of natural disasters. What is our response to all this?

We may become fearful and self-protecting. Perhaps we are confused. We may be looking for ways to add our voice to those petitioning government for change.

Yet first and foremost, will we seek God? Will we bring to Him our fear and confusion, our longing for things to be different, our desire to act wisely and lovingly toward a broken world. Could we make some space in our lives to sit with Him, to encounter and be encountered by Him?

But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)

Please join YWAM’s prayer day this month, called The Invitation, as we seek God in anticipation of changes that will come out of this unique time in the world’s history, and as we bring to God our pain and confusion. You can pray with us on our prayer day, July 9, or feel free to pray at a time that works best for you.

If you have only a few moments to pray, please take some time to seek God yourself and pray that YWAMers will seek God in new ways as a result of the new realities of our world. Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed. If you get involved in evangelistic digital media, please send us links. You can email us at  prayer@ywam.org.

Photo credit: dailyverses.net

Prepare to Pray (by Tonya Stanfield):

A friend has a mildly autistic son. He will try, but he can’t quite put himself into another’s shoes. He’s very good at telling you how you should feel, and not so good at accepting that you have a differing perspective or feelings. The psychological term for this is mindblindness. We’re all mind-blind until we’re about four, but it’s a forever battle for those on the autistic spectrum. This young boy has accepted the fact that another’s brain is filled with differing content, reactions, emotions, but for him to live into that reality is another thing.

We’re not so different from this boy when we approach God in prayer. Theologically, we know God is “other” from us; we know He’s got his own personality, ideas and feelings, but living into that reality of God takes practice. Like you, perhaps, too often I pray to my idea of God, my image of God, or even experience God as an extension of myself… having my same thoughts, opinions, emotions. And, then I wonder why I walk out of a prayer time untouched, unchanged, with no more clarity or peace–or worse, with little desire to return.

Take a moment to reflect by asking yourself: when you pray, are you talking to yourself or to your idea of God? Is your God a living person with thoughts and feelings of God’s own, or just an extension of your own thinking and feeling?

As you prepare to pray, ask God to help you overcome your mind-blind prayer and engage with God’s holy, unpredictable love.

Photo credit: slideshare.net

How To Pray – Seeking God During Coronavirus

If you are praying in a group, set aside some unstructured time for seeking God, and ask each person to pick one of the ways noted below to seek God. Then when you come back together give opportunity for people to share if they want. If you are praying alone, ask God to guide you into one of the following ways of seeking Him.

1. Seeking God means to LISTEN

When we are listening well, by implication we are talking less. To seek God is to be willing to listen to the cries and complaints of others. It means I adopt a posture of leaning into God’s perspective, pressing into what His word has to say about the issues we face. And when it comes to the question of justice for the oppressed, there is no shortage of things God has to say.

To seek God is also to listen to those ways in which he may want to prune us – our individual lives, our ministries, or even more broadly. In what ways might God want to direct (or redirect) our energy into particular areas of growth, and what might that mean for our other activities?

First, as you pray, take time in silence to listen.

2. Seeking God means to LONG FOR

In order to seek God, we are to be in touch with the longing within us. To what extent am I aware of a deep desire for God’s redemption to be worked out in our world and our communities, and in my own heart? To seek God means to allow ourselves to deeply feel this longing, not to be afraid of it but to lean in. This is a longing that will lead us to God.

As you pray, take time to attend to your own longing for God. What shared longings are you aware of, among your family, teammates, community members and nation?

3. Seeking God means to LAMENT

At times, our longing is so deep we cannot find words to express it. The losses mount around us: people sickened, lives lost, jobs or careers never to return. Inequalities and injustices in societies only seem to increase. There is so much to cry out in prayer and intercession. As we seek God, we bring our groaning, our supplication, and our sorrowing. We add our words and our wordless groans to those of the world around us and yes, even to that of creation (as we read about in Romans chapter 8). We seek God through lament.

How long, O Lord? Where are you, Lord? We cry to you for help, O Lord!

Take time to pray with lament, leaning even more deeply into God’s loving-kindness. Pray for yourself, and for our world.

4. Seeking God means to WATCH

To what extent will we pay attention? Are we willing to look for what God might be about in the current situation, to ‘keep our eyes peeled’ and our spirits alert? To seek God is to remain wakeful and watchful. What do you see happening in the world around you? What have you noticed? What has surprised you? How might God bring His vision to us in a fresh way for this unique time in history?

Take time to ask God to help you to see things the way he does. Ask him to help you notice the ways he is at work in the world. What do you see?

5. Seeking God means to WAIT in ANTICIPATION

Finally, seeking God requires us to wait on God, who is the chief mover and shaker. In our waiting, we submit to His timing which causes us to relinquish our own need for control. We do not wait out of a lack of desire to act, but out of trust in His agency and His absolute commitment to redemptive change.

As we attune to that place within us that longs for God and His ways, we enter into a place of seeking. We find ourselves joining with the psalmist, who said: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

May God encounter us in our places of heartfelt seeking, and in such a way that we are prepared, becoming ready for whatever lies ahead of us.

Photo credit: https://drlej.wordpress.com

Take Action:

• In this season that contains so much desolation, what does seeking God look like for you individually? What about for your family, your team, or your community? Maybe you want to wail and weep, maybe you find yourself keeping silent vigil. Perhaps as you walk the streets of your neighbourhood, you find yourself seeking the ways God might be at work in the homes and businesses around you. It could be that your seeking finds expression in art, or song, or writing. Follow through as the Lord leads.
• While there is indeed a time for action, may we not rush into activity for the sake of making ourselves feel better. Rather, may we truly spend time in the unseen and often uncomfortable place of seeking God himself – for His perspective, His timing, His agenda and His infilling. In these ways, we will be readied by his Spirit for the season ahead.
• Lament was also part of the prayer lives of the Psalmists: David, Asaph, Ethan, Henan and others. In fact, Eugene Peterson, beloved pastor-teacher who passed away last year, wrote that perhaps up to 70% of the Psalms has some degree of lament included. To lament is to pray in ways that relate honestly to the pain and suffering around us: sometimes within, sometimes external to us in our world. It is to bring into the presence of God in worship our deepest cries, believing that we are heard. There are Psalms of lament for communities. Check out Psalm 12, 80 and 123. There are Psalms of lament for individuals. Check out 3, 53 and 142. Regularly add lament into your corporate or individual time with God.
• But we do not lament as without hope. Lament is a bridge that brings us to the reality of God’s character quality of Hesed, the Old Testament Hebrew word for loving-kindness. Some have said that loving-kindness, or loyal covenantal love, is the defining characteristic of God. When we lament, as Jeremiah did in the book of Lamentations, we are brought to a place of abandonment to the steadfast love (loving-kindness) of God, whose mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23). The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. (Lamentations 3:25 ESV)
  Read the five chapters in the book of Lamentations noting verses that stir the Spirit within you.
• Do a study on Matthew 6:33 focused on these components: first, kingdom of God, His righteousness and these things. Use this in a teaching or writing.

Photo credit: heartofdeborah.com

• How is God directing you to get ready for ministry? What action do you need to take? Make plans to move forward according to His timing.
• Reach out to others. Chances are that they will be in a different state of moving forward than you are. They may face new issues for ministry such as childcare, finances and others. Engage in conversations about this. How can you support one another?
• Share on facebook.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed:

June 2020 – Using Technology for Online Evangelism

• YWAM Richmond USA and YWAM Media Village Nigeria prayed and shared the post on Facebook.

Future Topics:

• August 13: Series: Spiritual Principles from YWAM’s Early Days
  Fear of God (Ramona Musch) – 4 of 4 in the series
• September 10: YWAM’s 60^th Anniversary
• October 8: Care For Creation

Photo credit: https://tilghmanrdcogop.org/

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to https://ywam.org/theinvitation/. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Indonesian, French, Thai, Hindi or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we join with many around the world as we pray about using online digital media for evangelism.

Partners of Create International are Seeing Dramatic Viewership with Online Evangelism
This is the site of Ravinder, one of Create International’s lead actors and a Banjara church planter.
Photo credit: Create International

The Covid-19 crisis has dramatically changed the digital landscape, as billions of people head online to cope with life and to work under the lockdown. Billions seek meaning, purpose, and identity each day. Please join with the YWAM family this month as we pray for online evangelism. Please pray that the message of God’s love will come through, even to those isolated from any other form of Christian witness.

The growth of the internet and digital technologies have made it possible to reach a vast number of unreached peoples. Whether over the Internet, using YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter or through wi-fi, Bluetooth, apps, and SD card distribution, the work of spreading the Good News to those who have never heard is becoming easier and cheaper. Nearly five billion people use the internet with over 3.8 billion people active social media users.

The numbers are enormous and full of possibilities for evangelism. But how do Christ followers use these technologies for maximum reach and effectiveness? Carol Conkey of YWAM’s Create International notes that digital media works best when produced in the local language and packaged in a “way that a particular people group can hear with understanding, and then pass on with accuracy.”

Create International has been producing evangelistic websites for many years. One time, a conservative Iranian Muslim housewife alone in her home searching for halal recipes came to an evangelistic website. She discovered new revelations and truth from the Prophet Isa al Masih (Jesus). She secretly contacted the website hungry to find out more. The people working on the website sent her a Bible and more insights online. Later someone contacted her to arrange for a coffee-shop meeting.

Many YWAMers have been enhancing their ministry with digital media even before the coronavirus pandemic, and they are doing so even more now. One YWAM team in Cambodia has received national media coverage as a result of their social media posts, and some have come to faith as a result.

Other YWAM ministries have pioneered evangelistic initiatives using a strategy called Media to Movements (https://kingdom.training/). As seekers interact with various levels of engagement the eventual goal is to have direct contact with believers. In one case study in North Africa:

• 70,000 Facebook responses
• 686 Facebook inquiries
• 556 agreed to meet face to face
• 350 met face to face
• 118 became believers
• 48 were baptized
• 7 groups and small churches were started

If you have only a few moments to pray, please pray for continued online evangelism so that all peoples will hear and understand the gospel message in their heart language. Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed. If you get involved in evangelistic digital media, please send us links. You can email us at  prayer@ywam.org.

Digital Usage During Critical Month Of Coronavirus
Photo credit: Hootsuite

Prepare to Pray:

Consider some of the people you are connected to through social media. Are there many among them who don’t know Jesus? Bring their faces to mind, think about their lives – their needs, longings and relationships. How do you feel toward them? Compassionate? Yearning? Wishful? What is the nature of God’s longing for them? Sit for a moment in silence, paying attention to the feelings you have become aware of. Hold these feelings before God as a sort of wordless prayer.

“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

You are conscious of your desire for your friends to know Jesus, on the one hand, and God’s love for them, on the other. See if you can expand these “wordless groans” to include those in other nations who may never have the opportunity to hear the message of Jesus, except via their access to what Christ-followers post online.

Before you pray, take a moment to read the story of YWAMer Uriah Lyford about how God has used social media to impact the nation of Cambodia.

YWAMer Uriah Lyford (left) and his team from UofN Poipet reaching out to their local community.
Photo credit: Uriah Lyford (Facebook)

“In Poipet, Cambodia we have been passionate about using social media to share the gospel for quite some time. I personally began using my Facebook intentionally to reach young Cambodians a couple of years ago and have had several of my posts and videos go viral with millions of views.

“The impact of these videos and posts has been vast and varied. One young man who had seen me on Facebook reached out on Messenger and through relationship became a Christian. Another time after making a video about our base being robbed and how we forgave the thief more than $10,000 in donations came in to replace the things stolen. Posts about our YWAM volunteer work (including crisis food distribution we’ve done during this pandemic) have received national media coverage and we’ve been featured multiple times in the news.

“We rejoice as another person came to the Lord yesterday, this one through our staff responding to messages that come through our YWAM Facebook page. It’s important for people to know that responding to messages is also key, even if it might seem a little strange to chat with a stranger.  We need to consider this our new form of street evangelism.

“I want to encourage you that using social media is one of the greatest and easiest ways to share the gospel in this modern age. Pray and ask the Lord for creative ideas of pictures, videos, or other means you could use. Try to think beyond posting a scripture verse or simply saying “God loves you.” How can you present a visual message or story that will connect with people’s current situation? Consider using various platforms. God can use anything: Instagram, TikTok—anything! Please be praying for us here as we continue to do the same.” (See more abut Uriah’s ministry on his blog: http://uriahlyford.weebly.com/?fbclid=IwAR0mB36xzeAlO19MYoAAsWx2L-grDz9NeYXGtQaVmKWbpd4U9hW4MAC9W2Q.)

Even before Coronavirus global digital growth grew from January 2019 to January 2020.
Photo credits left to right: Hootsuite

How To Pray – Online Evangelism

• Pray for all of us to have a passion to reach the lost and to use “all possible means” to see many come into the Kingdom. Pray for each of us to find our place using digital media for evangelism.
• Pray for more indigenous and locally produced evangelistic media using locally popular sites and venues.
• Pray for unreached people to respond to the online messages of the Good News. Pray for more workers to be able to follow up and meet those who indicate they want to know more about following Jesus.
• Pray for open doors to be able to meet seekers face to face or to make personal contact to pray and dialogue with those who show genuine interest.
• Pray for Uriah and his team’s social media outreach to Cambodians. Pray for effectiveness of all YWAM evangelistic digital platforms.
• Ask the Lord for direction regarding digital outreach activities for your location.

Photo credit: Create International

Take Action:

• Create International has been a pioneer in Internet evangelism. Explore what they are doing and seek God for direction regarding your digital activities:
  • Since 1997, Create International has promoted internet evangelism through some of the first web evangelism seminars, evangelistic websites, and sites for free film downloads. See
  • https://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/
  • Over 700 evangelistic (as well as mobilization/prayer films) are available on the Create International app: http://createapp.mobi/
  • Evangelistic websites attract the Hindu looking for the sacred light and coming to our Ashram of Light website where he can download his style of music in bhajans, Hindi poetry, and finds out about following Jesus (known as Sadguru Yesus). Or the Buddhist fearful of evil spirits and longing for true peace finds answers through indigenous music videos and animation in their Thai styles on our Facebook sites and evangelistic Lotus of Life website. Workers proficient in Thai are following up inquires on these sites. If you would like to know more about our websites and the URL, contact us at: creategcrc@gmail.com
  • YouTube Downloads: Over the years, millions have received a culturally relevant gospel witness. Over 40,000 visits per month and tens of thousands of downloads. Over six hundred gospel films and 1300 Audio Bibles are free to download on http://www.indigitube.tv/
    • Our films share a tailor-made gospel presentation in over 300 languages with over 40,000 views per month.
    • http://www.indigitube.tv/
• Share the films, animations, music videos from http://www.indigitube.tv/ on your Facebook or local social media sites in the language of the people in your area.
• Provide ways for seekers to ask questions or discover more about the message presented through online and offline communication (email, messenger, what’s App, signal, etc.).
• Develop relevant and inspirational Facebook posts, Google Ads, or short videos to reach out to seekers.
• Research the languages spoken in your area and find out multi-language resources to reach out to people with their heart language (both oral and written resources).
• Learn more about Media to Movements through free training at https://kingdom.training/
• Download films to your mobile phone to easily share with people you meet through the free Create International app: http://createapp.mobi/
• Find out more about disciple making movements and reaching out to unreached peoples through resources and on-line training at ywamfm.org.
• Check out Create International’s blogs and resources and upcoming online training: createinternational.com.
• Please contact Create International for more information on resources mentioned here. Email Carol creategcrc@gmail.com
• For further reference:
  • https://kingdom.training/media-to-disciple-making-movement-teams-respond-to-covid-19/
  • https://generousmind.blogspot.com/2020/05/innovating-in-wake-of-pandemic.html
  • https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/april/coronavirus-searches-online-converts-pray-cru-bgea-wmo.html
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you. Please include links to digital media sites that you use.

Thanks to online tools, the body of Christ has the ability to plant churches in every unreached people group with less expenditure of resources than ever. This is one of the greatest moments in the history of the church for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Mark Gauthier, Cru Vice-President

How We Prayed:

May 2020 Coronavirus – Part Two: Global Outreach at a Time of Coronavirus

• YWAM Quilotoa, Ecuador heard clearly from God in Luke 9:13 that it is their responsibility to feed people on the streets. They now provide breakfast every day and there has been no lack and many miracles of provision.

Wow! Over 2 million views!
Photo credit: Uriah Lyford (Facebook)

Future Topics:

• July 9: Seeking God
• August 13: Series: Spiritual Principles from YWAM’s Early Days
  Fear of God (Ramona Musch) – 4 of 4 in the series
• September 10: YWAM’s 60^th Anniversary

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to https://ywam.org/theinvitation/. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Indonesian, French, Thai, Hindi or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God. This month we join with many around the world as we pray again for the Coronavirus.

Global Outreach 2020 and delivering food in Thailand.
Photo credits: www.go2020.world and YWAM CM in Thailand

Global outreach is still happening during the coronavirus crisis. It’s happening in families, in neighborhoods and online. Some of YWAM’s leaders have urged everyone in the mission to participate in Global Outreach day (www.go2020.world) by sharing their faith with at least five people during the month of May. According to these leaders, God may be using these unprecedented global changes to bring in a greater harvest than we would have seen under normal circumstances. Please pray for global witness during this pandemic by participating in YWAM’s prayer day, called The Invitation, on May 14 or at a time that is more convenient for you.

Many YWAM students have been commissioned to go home following the outreach phases of their training programs or for their outreach phase. They have been sent home with a sense of purpose. As Andy Byrd, one of the leaders of YWAM’s campus in Kona, Hawaii, spoke to a group of students in Hawaii before they headed home, he called this “a season of transformation different than anyone thought.” Andy said he believes numerous testimonies will come in of neighbors, moms and dads, siblings and others close to us accepting Jesus for the first time.

YWAMers are also now connected  and communicating more within their sphere of influence and with each other. Sean Lambert of YWAM San Diego/Baja stated there is an “unbelievable flurry of communication initiatives . . . It’s stunning. . . I think God’s heart is that all YWAMers communicate to those in their relational sphere of influence.”

With our lives turned topsy turvy, we have different opportunities than we likely would have had without this crisis. Many people are lonely and hurting as a result of the pandemic. YWAMers have met the needs of these people in new and unexpected ways. Here are just a few examples:

• One YWAM family is preparing takeaway meals for the women coming to a refuge for those who have been trafficked or are victims of abuse.
• Some YWAMers in Brazil are distributing food baskets to street prostitutes.
• A YWAM couple in England sensed God leading them last year to work with their church to start a food bank. This ministry now has “exploded.” Many have donated food or have offered to make deliveries. One recipient texted “You are a God send. Without you I would have no food.” Another recipient asked “Sorry to bother you, but could you tell me how to find Jesus? I feel in my heart that he is calling me.” Several of the volunteers signed up to join the church’s Alpha course.
• YWAM Harpenden, England is using their 3D printer to make protective masks for front-line workers.
• YWAM Townsville, Australia is coordinating the Care Army in their city, which is an initiative to assist seniors and the most vulnerable in their community during the virus crisis.

If you only have a few moments to pray, ask God to show you who to reach out to who might be lonely or desperate and pray for them. Ask God to give you an opportunity to share Jesus with them. Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed and what opportunities God gave you to share Jesus. You can email us at  prayer@ywam.org.

YWAMers delivering food and basic supplies to their neighbors.
Photo credits left to right: Ema Bogdan, YWAM CM in Thailand

Prepare to Pray:

Read this story from a YWAMer in a Middle Eastern country on lock-down:

“Three weeks ago we were feeling sorry for ourselves that we were stuck in our houses. A group of us were praying and as we were praying, God directed our prayers toward our neighbours. We live in an extremely poor part of town and most of our neighbours have ‘blue collar’ jobs where they live on what they make in that day. As the lock-down in our nation started, most of our neighbours lost their jobs and their source of income. As we prayed, the Lord laid a burden on our hearts to somehow reach out to the very needy in our area and try to help.

“Our apartment building has a guard. His name is Joseph. He is the neighbourhood connection. We asked him if he knew about ten families that we could help (that was the money we had gathered). He said Yes! Some of the neighbourhood men had already come to him with tears in their eyes and asked for work or a handout because they had nothing. He quickly wrote down ten families that needed help. Then he said, ‘There are more.’ We prayed again and asked our community for an offering and we gathered enough to buy twenty big food boxes. Each box costs $35 and has the basics: rice, oil, powdered milk, canned meat, spaghetti, tuna, sardines, canned beans, tea, sugar.

“We put a message on each box sharing with them that God loves them, and we do too. We also asked in the message if they had prayer requests. So they wrote prayer requests and handed them back to Joseph for us to pray. We took the requests and went to prayer getting words of encouragement and Scriptures to give back to them. We had the chance to share the Gospel as well in some of the messages.

“Now we have heard that the lock-down here will last until the end of April and possibly through Ramadan which ends May 23. The needs in our neighbourhood are growing. But, even in the midst of the lock-down, God is on the move.”

Contemplate and pray:

• Similar to this group feeling sorry for themselves, what are you grieving? What burdens are you carrying? Ask God to speak to you about these thoughts.
• Consider the guard Joseph in this example. Consider him a person of peace. Ask the Lord to reveal to you a person of peace in your neighbourhood that might lead you to others.
• Ask the Lord to put people on your heart who you could reach out to from your various spheres of influence. Make a list of these people and pray for them and for God to make a way for you to share Jesus with them.
• Ask the Lord to show you creative ways to share Jesus with people you might not have had the opportunity to witness to without the coronavirus crisis.
• Think about the opportunities for long-term relationships with the people you reach out to. Like asking for prayer requests in this example, what are some things you can do to create quality relationships?
• Praise God for any good you have seen as a result of coronavirus.

Photo credits left to right: Matias Casotto, YWAM Maui

How To Pray – Global Outreach and Coronavirus:

• The goal for Global Outreach 2020 is for one billion people to make decisions for Christ during the month of May. Pray for this goal to be reached.
• Pray for YWAM staff and students who have returned home due to coronavirus. Pray for God to open the hearts of their families, friends and neighbours. Pray for the YWAMers to see this situation through redemptive eyes. (“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NKJV).)
• Pray for effective evangelising using online technology in creative ways. Pray for wise choices of technology. Pray for those with limited technological resources to be able to connect.
• Ramadan continues through May 23. Pray for Muslims to have healthcare, food, health, and for them to find Jesus as their saviour. (Prayer guide available at: www.pray30days.org.)
• Pray for a global spiritual awakening and revival.
• Pray for boldness and conviction of each YWAMer to share Jesus with five people during the month of May.
• Pray for YWAMers to go deeper and rest in Him. Pray for each of us to use our opportunities in this pandemic to further understand and embrace our identify in Christ.
• According to worldometers.info, as of this writing 210 countries have had coronavirus cases. Pray for all 210 countries and that their leaders will receive wisdom from God. Praise God for all front-line workers. Pray that God will be glorified in each nation and that His name will go forth in power in each nation.
• Pray for those who are grieving and hurting. Pray for comfort, help and restoration.
• In the Easter address of YWAM co-founder Darlene Cunningham to YWAM she talked about pruning. Pray this would be a time for pruning so that more fruit will result. Pray for YWAMers to hear from God during this time. Pray also for wisdom for YWAM leaders in knowing what programs and ministries to keep, what to discontinue and what new ones to add.
• In co-founder Loren Cunningham’s Easter address to YWAM he talked about 2020 as a breakthrough year. Pray for YWAMers to have breakthroughs and pray also for those to whom we witness to have breakthroughs.
• Pray for wisdom for YWAM corporately and individually that we would rightly honour the policies of our governments.
• Pray for YWAMers to stand firm against the enemy during these times of change and isolation. Pray instead that YWAMers would receive blessings from the Lord during this time.

YWAMers find new ways to love their neighbors.
A YWAMer in Harpenden with one of the shields they’ve made for frontline workers and YWAM Townsville coordinating the Care Army there.
Photo credits left to right: YWAM Harpenden, Coralee O’Rourke MP

Take Action:

• Find out more about Global Outreach 2020: https://www.globaloutreachday.com/. Celebrate and communicate results on Global Outreach Day, May 30.
• If you would like to financially partner with the Middle Eastern outreach noted above, go to: is www.ywamorganic.org/donate/jor and under the projects drop down box chose “Neighbours Relief.” The information for mailing checks is on the web page. Please make sure you include a note so they know how to designate the funds.
• If you would like to donate to help YWAM CM in Thailand deliver emergency food packs to their neighbours, go to: https://www.ywamcm.com/fooddrive
• If you are able, prayer walk in your neighbourhood regularly during the month of May. Ask God to put people in your path. Who seems open? Who are you seeing repeatedly? Start a conversation that can lead to Jesus.
• Make a list of lost people that you know. Ask God to reveal one person each day. Follow up with that person through a phone call or using other technology.
• Go deeper with God. Rest in Him. Cultivate new quiet time/worship time habits.
• Identify tools you can use to increase your online communication. Reach out to others to find new tools and learn new ideas. See recent YWAM News at ywam.org to learn more about these creative ideas:
  • 24-hour prayer chains in Brazil
  • YWAM TV Connect talk show with host Maarit Eronen
  • Weekly video calls from YWAM leaders
  • Online devotionals
  • Online worship gatherings
• Reach out to others who may need help connecting.
• Follow the YWAM Coronavirus Prayer Group on Facebook.
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you

Lock-down in Kolkata – Food and Medicine In Very Short Supply For Families
Photo credit: Tammay Majumder

How We Prayed:

April 2020 – Coronavirus Part One

• YWAM Republic of Guinea prayed using the French version of The Invitation.
• YWAM India prayed and received Psalm 119, specifically verses 68: You are good and do only good; teach me your principles. And 71: The suffering you sent was good for me, for it taught me to pay more attention to your principles.
• YWAM Perth provided notes from their time of prayer. Key concepts included: rest in God and go deeper with Him and advancement of the gospel will happen in this time. They were also given song lyrics “Did you feel the mountains tremble? Open up the doors and let the music play!” They were given John 14:15-27, Psalm 95:1-7, Psalm 96 and Jeremiah 29:11.
• YWAM Cameroon was given 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (NIV): In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. (Emphasis added.)
• We heard similar themes from others associated with YWAM.
• We received the picture above from a YWAMer working in Kolkata. They are raising funds for families like this who have no income due to the lock-down.

Future Topics:

• June 11: Series: Spiritual Principles from YWAM’s Early Days
  Fear of God (Ramona Musch) – 4 of 4 in the series 
• July 9: Ending Bible Poverty (Loren Cunningham)

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.