Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
(James 5: 13-16)

As Christians, we have the luxury of petitioning God in prayer, knowing that he hears and answers us. Daily Scripture will be published on this blog site for the next two weeks to pray over our ministry partners in Asia.

Please Pray:

• The provided Scripture for the next two weeks
• 1 John 5:14-15
  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

When you share your prayers as comments on the daily blog posts, we will forward them on to Alpha Relief’s underground ministry partners. (For a daily electronic reminder, please follow Alpha Relief on Facebook or Twitter.)

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches…for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Galatians 6:6-7

Holly, a second year Bible school student with a Chinese underground church, lives and studies in a mountain cave. For a year, Holly and her classmates prayed that each student would have a Bible of their own. After Alpha Relief operatives gave a Bible to every student who needed one. Holly wrote:

“When I went home during the Chinese New Year, I bring my new Bible and was able to share the Word with many family members and village friends. Four of them become Christians, I hope and I continue to pray that one day they will have their own Bible as well.”

Holly asks:

• “We will study hard to equip ourselves so that we can be a better instrument for our Lord. Please pray for us.”
• Pray for the spiritual growth of the four people in Holly’s home village who accepted Christ.
• Ask God to provide Bibles to all the believers in China who don’t have one.

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him
Lamentations 3:25 (NIV)

Established by Alpha Relief operatives, the House of Hope, in China, is a safe haven for North Korean refugee children and orphans. It currently shelters over 20 children and the house parents who care for them. But the facility is filled beyond its capacity.

In order to accommodate all the children God has brought them, the house parents gave up their living space and moved into their office. They are asking for your prayers.

Please pray:

• For the children to place their hope in the Lord and allow His love to comfort and restore them
• That the children seek Jesus and grow in the Lord
• For God to reveal His plans for the facility, and to provide the resources to accommodate those plans
• For strength, hope, and encouragement for the house parents as they raise these dear children of God

Read more about the House of Hope here.

“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”
Exodus 15: 13 (NIV)

In the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites left everything they’d ever known. Through their distress and uncertainty, they sang of God’s unfailing love.

With that in mind, Alpha Relief operatives recently returned from two Burmese refugee camps. They write,

“It was a bittersweet time hiking in to those camps because we had found out that all those people are being kicked off their land in a couple of weeks. It’s another example of the constant upheaval in their lives, although they’ve found other places they can move to.”

Please pray:

• For the displaced families. “They are being forced to start over, all over again.”
• That the Christians of the group are an example to the others, reassuring everyone that this move is just a leg of the journey to God’s holy dwelling.
• For God’s guidance, strength, reassurance, and protection as they travel.

“The Spirit of the Lord… has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners…
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then (Jesus said)…to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:18-21 (NIV)

This week marks the centenary celebration of the Great Leader Kim il-Sung’s birth and the year North Korea is to be a “strong and prosperous nation.” But in the most southwestern region of North Korea, cases of death due to starvation are increasing.

A trade officer told the publication North Korea Today,

“The food situation in South Hwanghae Province is the worst in the history of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Even compared to the Arduous March period, the situation was better then.

(It was estimated that over 3 million North Korean people died of starvation or hunger-related illnesses during the arduous march of the 1990’s)