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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 for Pyongyang, North Korea.
Left to right, top to bottom: North Korea airport, Pyongyang Buildings, North Korea and South Korea Political Map with Capitals
Photo credits: IPE Zone, Earth Nutshell, Stock Vector
On the second Thursday of every month YWAM locations, staff, students, and supporters join together in prayer for the mission and for what God is doing in the nations. Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!
As hard as it is to imagine today, Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, used to be a center for Christian mission work throughout the Eastern world. According to the Voice of the Martyrs Canada website in 1907, a revival spread from Pyongyang across the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang was called The Jerusalem of the East. As late as the 1920s, 90 percent of the Christians in Korea (North and South) lived in Pyongyang.
Today, the environment of Pyongyang’s 2.7 million citizens (Operation World) is very different. They live in the nation that has been described by Open Doors as being the worst in the world for Christian persecution. It is also estimated that hundreds of thousands of people, including up to 100,000 Christians (Operation World), are being imprisoned in North Korea’s labor and concentration camps where conditions are so poor that as many as 75 percent of the prisoners do not survive (Fox News).
Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of December to pray for Pyongyang. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, December 14.
If you have only a few minutes to pray, please note the eight minute video below and pray that the people of Pyongyang would experience the love and grace of Christ in the near term. If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.
Dancing in Pyongyang
Photo credits: Chattanooga Times Free Press
Prepare to Pray:
As you prepare to pray, take a few minutes to watch this short video. It is the moving testimony of Gyeong Ju Son, a young Christian whose father is one of thousands of believers imprisoned or killed for their faith. In listening to Gyeong Ju Son, consider her grief and loss. Take a few moments of silence as the video closes, and reflect on what could compel a young Christian orphan to dream of someday returning to North Korea, where persecution is all but certain. Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to enter into this deep longing for her fellow North Koreans to know the love of Christ, which is stronger than fear, deeper than sorrow, and more precious than life itself.
As God draws your heart to feel something of His deep compassion for this nation, go ahead and pray using the points below to guide you.
Pyongyang’s Traffic Ladies
Photo credits: Free Malaysia Today
Pray for Pyongyang:
- Pray that the gospel will spread throughout North Korea and that they will experience revival again as they did in 1907.
- Pray for those in leadership within the government. Pray that God will open their eyes to the truth of the gospel. Pray for leaders to obey the will of God for their nation.
- Pray for guidance for Christians in North Korea. Pray that they would not lose their faith despite oppression and the threat of death in concentration camps. Possessing a Bible, saying God or Jesus, and meeting as believers are all punishable by death. Pray that they would be bold in the midst of persecution.
- Pray for spiritual, mental, and physical restoration of North Korean refugees. Many North Korean refugees go through torture, intense stress and anxiety during their escapes.
- Pray for the people who are suffering in prison camps and for those who struggle to have daily needs met due to the isolation of North Korea.
- Pray for the gospel radio programs of TWR and FEBC as they beam deep into North Korea.
- Pray for Korean Christian businessmen from China who have easier access into North Korea.
- Pray for those who labor among North Koreans around the world to preach the truth of the gospel boldly and clearly. Pray that the Holy Spirit would use their lives to demonstrate the gospel in a powerful way.
- Praise God that in spite of the dire conditions in Pyongyang and across the region that the church is growing and people are coming to Christ.
“Despite efforts to eradicate Christians, we have found the church in North Korea is actually growing . . . They know only God is powerful enough to break through the darkness of the most oppressive regime on earth.”
Vernon Brewer; Founder and President, World Help
Take Action:
- Read about the growth of the church in North Korea: http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/08/18/christianity-grows-in-north-korea-despite-torture-persecution
- Read books:
- Pray regularly about Pyongyang and North Korea. Consult various Christian agencies for more prayer requests:
- Operation World Website: www.operationworld.org/country/korn/owtext.html and Operation World book: www.ivpress.com/operation-world
- Read about how Open Doors recommends praying for North Korea: www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/pray-north-koreas-demise/
- Voice of the Martyrs Canada: www.vomcanada.com/northkorea.htm
- Review Open Door World WatchList 2017 to see the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith. See what they have to say about North Korea: www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/north-korea/ Download info booklet and read it to find out more about North Korean prison camps.
- Learn more about the People of Pyongyang according to a Swedish travel company: www.koreakonsult.com/Attraction_Pyongyang_people_eng.html
- Read about a day in the life of Pyongyang: www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/north-korea-a-day-in-the-life-pyongyang
Off Duty Soldiers in Pyongyang
Photo Credits: Daily Mail
- 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.
Future Topics:
- January 11, 2018 YWAM Foundational Values 1 – 3 (Know God, Make God known, Hear God’s voice)
- February 8, 2018 Community Development
- March 8, 2018 Entertainment Industry/Celebration Sphere
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.
