Day 23: Southeast Asia

30 Days of Prayer for Global Awakening

Verses for contemplation: Matthew 22:25-28

Southeast Asia is home to nearly 700 unreached people groups. In addition, six of these countries (the most violent of which is Myanmar) are on Open Doors’ World Watchlist of nations persecuting Christians. Christians and seekers of Christ face extreme pressure to conform to their ethnic religion. If their people group is Muslim, Buddhist or animist, then converting to Christianity is considered a crime. Many face excommunication from their families and violent attacks from the community or from authorities.

By contrast, the Philippines is nearly 91% Christian, and has experienced ongoing revival for many years now. In fact, mass baptisms of hundreds (sometimes thousands) at once occur several times a year on the ocean shores. Passionate young people have risen up to share the Gospel with their generation, and Filipino nannies have spread Christ’s love to families in the Middle East, Asia and beyond.

Prayer points to consider:

• Violence, hatred, prejudice (racial/cultural and religious)
• Muslim and Buddhist extremists
• Effects of Communism (Vietnam)
• Ethnic/cultural pressure against Christians to conform
• War in Myanmar, churches torched, Christians murdered
• Unreached peoples
• Animism, Buddhism, spirit worship
• Human trafficking (especially Vietnam)
• Poverty
• Prostitution

Prayer starter:

Lord, please protect Your people from persecution and harm. Be a Shield around their families and send angels to their aid. When others come against them, make those angels visible. Bring terror down upon those who seek to terrorize Your children. Give evildoers such a fear of the Lord they fall to their knees in repentance and choose salvation. Please also shield young people from abduction and forced labor. Rescue those who are in trouble. Reveal their whereabouts to those who care, and provide the way for their escape. Connect them with Christians who will counsel them for healing from trauma and addictions and provide training and skills to help them find work. Give every person in Southeast Asia a hunger for You so intense they will seek You with all their hearts and find You. Grow Your church, O God, and use Christians to reach out to the lost, sharing Your love and giving abundantly of their resources to help those in need as You bless them in return. Awaken every heart to Truth. Break them free from chains of spirit worship. Give them courage to lay down their idols and worship You alone as God. And make a way for Your Word to be translated into every language. Spread revival all the more from the Philippines to all of Southeast Asia and beyond.. 

Parallel Prayer: Our 30 Days of Prayer for Global Awakening coincides with Ramadan. March 23-April 21, Muslims throughout the world are fasting and seeking God right now. Let’s pray they find Him! 

As the deer pants for streams of water, give every Muslim heart in Southeast Asia a thirst to meet with You, O Living God. Psalm 42:1-2. May they seek You in earnest and find You. Jeremiah 29:13. Sweep over them now, O Living Water, drawing them into Your love. Remove every wall that has blocked them from Truth, and show them Jesus. Give them courage to lay down the things they have held onto so they can grab hold of Your love and grace, and surrender to You. As they pray to the God of Life, save them. Place a new song of praise on their lips, as they sing, “All my fountains are in You.” Psalm 87:7 NIV. As each soul turns to You, flood Your love through them in such powerful measures, it will spread to all those around them, and hundreds more will be pulled into Your River of Life. Awaken the Muslims of Southeast Asia to You, O God, and bring about a great revival in every heart in every country and beyond. In Your name. Amen.

Dinner and a Prayer: Each day during these 30 days, we will share with you ideas for special family prayer times, including a suggested menu to go with that day’s prayer theme. Today’s suggestions:

Search the internet to choose recipes from Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Singapore, and/or Timor-Leste. Ask your children to research some of these countries to find the barriers to the Gospel, and then share those together with the family for prayer. Menu suggestions: Thai red curry chicken, Vietnamese stir-fried mixed vegetables, nasi lemak (Malaysian coconut milk rice), Filipino taisan cake

As you research today’s region of the world for prayer, type in a country name or other word here in our search engine and see where God leads you.

Search

You can also go to Joshua Project to discover unreached peoples, and Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs to see where and how Christians are persecuted.

If you would like to plan ahead for international meals, see the “Dinner and a Prayer” section at the bottom of our 30 Days page or in the back of your 30 Days of Prayer for Global Awakening, Vol 2 book.

For suggestions on how to have an even fuller experience this coming month, check out our 30 Days and So You Think You Can’t Fast pages here at the Prayer Wall.

For deep devotional Bible studies on overcoming the enemy and fighting for what matters most, see Dare to Be a Mighty Warrior and A Strong and Courageous Life, (which is in Chineses and English) at MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com.

More books for all ages from MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com:

Mikaela Vincent and her husband are missionaries who live by faith, trusting in God to provide for their needs as they pray for and share Christ with the nations. If you would like to help their ministry through giving a donation, shopping at Mikaela’s online bookstore, praying for them or inviting them to speak at your church, retreat or other event, click the buttons below:

To easily access the daily Prayer Wall posts from your mobile phone screen, go to https://prayerwallforthenationandtheworld.wordpress.com in your browser, then click your browser’s drop-down menu, and press “Add to Homescreen.” (These instructions may differ according to your browser.) You can then place the icon wherever you like on your screen. Press it daily to pray through each new post in your quiet times. 

Any proceeds this author receives from the sale of the deep devotional Bible studies and other MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com books mentioned in this post go to shining Christ’s light in the darkness and seeing the nations come to Him. 

Thank you for your support! If you have any questions or want to help with this ministry, please contact Mikaela.