Displaying items by tag: Korea Peninsular

As we focus our prayers on the Korean peninsula, we share these prayers that have been collated by our friends at NGI:

Dear God, our Father in Heaven!

1. We Pray for North Korea and its People!

'I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.' Phil 1: 20-21

The North Korean leadership has been more strict on its sanctions like prohibiting the entrance of foreign books, but we fixate our faithful eyes on the ways of the Lord who works above all circumstances humans can merely perceive.

We pray that every family in North Korea gets to own a Bible.

• According to Release International, an international organization that monitors and reports persecution of Christians worldwide, 250,000 prisoners in 14 prison camps are suffering from disease, hunger, and physical abuse, and about 70,000 of them are estimated to be Christians.

We pray that Christian prisoners there never give up on their faithful walk-on following Jesus.

• It has already been 18 years since UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) endorsed the resolution to denounce the unjust circumstances of human rights in North Korea, but there has not been any promising news or improvements to the situation there. North Korea has continued to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, participate in ongoing extortion, oppression, and persecution all while allowing the decline of the North Korean people’s welfare and food provisions.

We, with deeply sorrowed hearts, pray that God pours just, righteousness, and knowledge of God in North Korea.

As COVID-19 lingers, Jangmadang (North Korea’s marketplace) has been temporarily shut down, and the common people’s economy has continued to decline, causing growing hunger and poverty. It is not clear how many are suffering from hunger due to North Korea’s exclusivity and extreme secretiveness.

And though it seems as though there is nothing we can do to help, we as believers in Christ CAN and MUST PRAY.

2. We Pray for South Korea and its People!

 'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.' 2 Chron 7:14

 God of Ebenezer, who has always protected South Korea by your big guiding hands, we earnestly seek your forgiveness of our complaints and resentment despite your grace.

• Please forgive our leaders who are corrupted and have fallen into sinful ways; we pray that you enlighten them with your wisdom and revelation so they become pathways of your blessings.
• We pray for your forgiveness of all your people who have left your ways and leaned on their own understanding in their lives.
• Please forgive all the churches who have committed a sin of ‘forgetting to pray for the nation and its people.’
• We pray that the crisis we are currently facing turns into an opportunity for peaceful reunification, which eventually becomes the pathway of world evangelization.

Please help NGI’s ‘Nehemiah One Million Prayer Petition Campaign. (www.pray4nk.org) Raise awareness of it among those who love North Korea and always remember its people in their hearts. Lead more people to commit to this campaign and lift up their prayers to God.

We pray that each and every one of 5,455 individuals that have signed up for Pray4NK Campaign would continue to remember the people in North Korea, as God always remembers them, and pray for God’s big, mighty hands to work in the lives of North Korean people.

Our beloved prayer warriors, please spread the word about NGI’s prayer petition campaign. (www.pray4nk.org) Invite your family members, friends, whoever is around you who can be one in heart and pray for the souls and the difficult lives of the people in North Korea.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c].. .Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts…He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields[d] with fire… He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (from Psalm 46)

Having witnessed with our facilitation teams the Lord bringing an end to eight wars and ethnic conflicts over the last 20 plus years when His people come together in united, focused prayer, I have full confidence that we could see Him do the same in the current, very scary stand-off with North Korea. We must, however, not lose our sense of intercessory concentration on this most urgent international security threat. God will use our united prayers even more than THAAD high altitude missile defense systems to raise up a shield of 24/7 protection, a virtual fortress so that we do not have to fear as the above psalm tells us. He can make this conflict subside and enable a peaceful solution to be reached if we will continue to cover it in ongoing intercession.

Here is the latest on this worsening crisis:

1) The problem with the military option

An article in the Washington Times today offers this perspective:

“The most detailed analysis of all possible scenarios ranging from a “crushing U.S. military strike to eliminate Pyongyang’s arsenals of mass destruction, take out its leadership, and destroy its military” to “removing chairman Kim Jong-Un and his inner circle, most likely by assassination,” is provided by Mark Bowden in The Atlantic. His conclusion: All these options not only will carry huge human and material costs, but their end results will turn both the regional and the global situation from bad to worse.  

Gregory Treverton, the former chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, agrees that “military options against the North’s nuclear arsenal suffer from two problems: they might not succeed, and Pyongyang has devastating retaliatory options.”  (Washington Times, Sept 29)

Let us pray that these violent military options will not have to be used. They could unleash a destructive retaliation that would cause the deaths of many hundreds of thousands if not millions of people.

2) The danger of provocative actions

“Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera warned Friday that North Korea may engage in dangerous provocations next month. The Japanese defense minister’s call for caution came after South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong made a similar warning the day before.

There are several dates North Korea might choose to mark with its own special brand of fireworks. Oct. 9 is the anniversary of North Korea’s first nuclear test, Oct. 10 is the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean communist party, and Oct. 18 marks the start of the twice-in-a-decade Communist Party Congress in China.” (DailyCaller.com, Sept 29)

Pray that the North Korean regime will be held back from launching provocative operations due to Kim Jong Un’s fear of losing face with his own people or as part of these upcoming anniversaries.

3) China’s key role and the important use of sanctions

Successive rounds of U.N. sanctions have cut off more than 90 percent of North Korea’s publicly reported exports — including coal, iron ore, seafood and, most recently, textiles — and have restricted the regime’s ability to earn foreign currency income by sending workers abroad.

China accounts for roughly 85 percent of North Korea’s external trade and is seen by many as the key to forcing Pyongyang to at least freeze its nuclear and missile programs.” (Washington Post, Sept 29th)

“China and the United States have developed a closer relationship due to North Korea’s antics, which former U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus describes as genuinely disgusting and frustrating to Chinese President Xi Jinping.” (Breitbart, Sept 29)

China is absolutely the key factor for the peaceful resolution of this crisis. Pray that China and the USA will work closely together to solve this great international security problem. Pray that China will continue to effectively shut down their trade and business connections with North Korea and that any smuggling or bypassing of this new embargo will be strictly prevented so that the North Korean regime’s economic ability to wage war is choked off.

4) The perilous connection with Iran

“Failure to stop North Korea will almost certainly lead to a failure to stop Iran. In the past, Pyongyang has transferred nuclear and missile technology to Iran, resulting in similar missiles appearing in military parades in both capitals. Iran is now much more developed in science and technology, and is likely to improve on North Korean systems.

Furthermore, Iran can keep within all the restrictions imposed on it by the nuclear deal and still develop and test its nuclear weapon and missile program in North Korea.” (Algemeiner.com, Sept 29th)

Let’s pray that the relationship of North Korea and Iran will be cut off and that as North Korea is dealt with, Iran’s capacity to build up nuclear weapons and missile program will also be curtailed through similar sanctions and united actions by the international community.

Thanks for continuing to cover this alarming situation in your prayers.

John Robb, IPC Chairman