Prayer Request 2/1 -2 /7

Tuesday

Planes full of Taiwan businessmen flying from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou landed in Taiwan, after 56 years of cessation of direct flights between the mainland and the island. These are charter flights only and will operate only during the Chinese New Year. Taiwan churches are heavily involved in training among house churches throughout the Mainland. Let us pray for mission efforts by Taiwanese churches and her 80 plus missionaries in Asia and Africa.

Wednesday
All the major cities face severe shortage of nannies because people want to go home for the coming Chinese New Year. In Shanghai alone, 120,000 are needed. Women from Sichuan are well known for being good nannies. Many nannies and housekeepers working in the cities are believers from the villages. et us pray for their continuing faith, ability to find places of worship and their daily testimony in their homes of employment.

Thursday
Chinese loves gambling but it is illegal. Therefore, across-the-casino are everywhere catering specifically to Chinese. From Hong Kong and Macau, to the 80 casinos in Yunan-Thai border, Russian and even North Korea. Weekly high profile scandals involving officials squandering public funds are so common. Believers are also tempted with lottery, stock and real estate speculation. Let us pray for both stewardship and trust in God, not just for believers but also for the church workers.

Friday
120,000 or 1 in 3 foreigners is Chinese in Tokyo. Chinese seem to learn Japanese language with little problems and therefore send their children to regular schools. Yet, nearly 1/2 says they are being discriminated against. Christian population in Japan is so low and many deemed the field as hard and even resistant. Chinese churches here are not a whole lot better. Let us pray for more church workers to come and for revival of churches here.

Saturday
Since the government dropped the mandatory testing, couples getting pre-marital health checkups dropped from 95% to only 1.57% in Zhejiang. 300,000 registered for marriage in this coastal province yearly, and 3% has venereal diseases. hurches are thriving here with many young people. Let us pray for those in marriageable age, for purity, for the much-needed family counseling, both pre-marital and after.

Sunday
“One-night-stand” – casual sex is a new expression of sexual behavior in the past 20 years. “It is neither good nor bad, it is not the best and can have some disadvantages,” said the top sex expert. Such statement reflects the prevailing attitude of the society and even Christians. With erosion of traditional Confucian values, let us pray that Christians would have an impact on morality, to be the salt and light with Biblical value.

Monday
Beginning March 2005, 24 Hollywood super stars and directors will be invited to participate in the Centennial celebration of Chinese movie making. Hollywood exerts tremendous influence on Chinese society, its moral and ethical views. While copies of pirated movies are widely available, the same is true for foreign porn movies. Let us pray especially for this devastating temptation, even for many believers


星期二
歷 經56年分隔，滿載台商回鄉過年的春節包機首次完成兩岸直航多點對飛，寫下歷史性的一刻．春節包機限定僅有臺商及其眷屬才能搭乘，從春節包機要擴展到全面 直航，尚需一段時間．超過百萬的台商離開妻小在大陸工作，我們禱告神保守主內遠離包養“二奶”的試探．同時也為台灣教會在宣教工場的擺上感謝神，超過八十 位的宣教士不僅在神州大陸穿梭，他們傳福音的腳蹤更遍及東南亞甚至非洲大陸，求主看顧記念．

星期三
臨 近春節，民眾紛紛返鄉過年，保姆也不例外，中國各地出現了“保姆短缺”的現象，春節其間的上海，估計短缺12萬名保母。來自四川的保母是公認服務品質最佳 的，來自農村的保母中有許多是主內的姊妹，讓我們為他們來禱告，不但能在幫傭的家庭中有美好的見證，並能有機會定時參加聚會，持續在信仰中長進。

星期四
法 律明文禁止賭博，但為滿足國人愛賭的天性，許多專門招攬中國人的「境外」賭場應運而生．打從南方的香港、澳門，到雲南、泰國，北達俄羅斯、北韓邊境，經常 可見中國賭客穿梭的身影．社會上沈溺金錢遊戲以致高額負債，不肖官員挪用公款、捲款而逃的案件時常可聞．信徒們也時刻面對，彩券、炒股、炒房等類似試探． 讓我們為主內及同工能將需要定睛在神身上來禱告，因為我們的好處不在神以外，祂必豐富供應．

星期五
日 本東京都都廳2004/10/1的統計，東京都的外籍人士中有12萬人中國人，占所有外國人的1/3，調查顯示日語對中國人並不是很大的障礙，並且讓自己 的孩子在公立學校上學比率最高。雖然中國人在日本社會的“融入度”較高，但過半數的人仍感覺受到歧視。日本基督徒的比例非常的低，福音的普及很困難。華人 教會在日本的情況也是如此，讓我們求神廣開日本福音的大門。

星期六
自 從浙江省政府取消強制執行婚前醫學檢查後，大眾婚前醫檢率由95%驟降到僅有1.57%。在鄰省份內，每年約有300,000人登記結婚，其中3%帶有性 病，由於對婚前保健知識教育和宣導皆不足，新生兒出生缺陷率也明顯上升。浙江省的教會發展蓬勃 ，有許多年輕人熱心參與。讓我們為適婚年齡的肢體禱告，求主幫助他們不論在婚前或婚後都能追求聖潔、也充份供應目前亟需的婚姻家庭諮詢資源。

星期日
「一 夜情」成了過去廿年來社會上即興式性行為的時髦名詞。一位著名的性學專家表示「發生一夜情無所謂對與錯，它只不過不是最好的，且可能會帶來不好的後果。」 類似的言論反映了社會大眾甚至基督徒對性道德的觀點。在傳統禮教價值逐漸式微的今天，求神幫助我們能在道德和生活上堅守聖潔的原則，做社會上的光與鹽。

星期一
好 萊塢的電影一向對中國社會價值觀有著深遠的影響。廿四位好萊塢超級巨星和導演三月份將應邀出席中國電影製作十週年紀念盛會。一般中國民眾可以輕易地從街坊 小販購得低價的非法盜版國內外電影光碟，同理色情光碟也一樣容易購買。讓我們特別求神幫助他的兒女追求敬虔聖潔的生活，有力量抵擋所有殘害身心靈的試探。