Prayer Ruquest 2/3-2/9

Tuesday
The premier of China spent Chinese New Year's Day in the earthquake-stricken zone cooking with the women in their makeshift kitchens, encouraging villagers, and eating the "reunion meal" with minority families there. Let us begin the year by praying especially for all the ministries among the ethnic minorities who are often overlooked and difficult for outsiders to reach. We pray, too, that believers will imitate Jesus Christ in His humility and have "servant hearts".

Wednesday
Cracking down on corruption at every level is difficult for the government in China. For mid-level government employees, "diverting official funds for private use" and "excessive entertaining" are the most common practices. It is easy for Christians to fall into these same customs. Let us pray that all of us will be good and faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us, especially with church funds.

Thursday
Chinese from Fuzhou can be found all over the world. In New York City alone, there are 500,000 of them. They are known for illegally entering countries but are also known for their hardworking nature. Fuzhou people are famous for being successful in the restaurant business. The government discourages leaving China illegally, but many ignore them and take on great debt to finance their trip abroad. Many Fuzhou people come to know Jesus overseas. We pray for all the ministries and churches reaching to all the Chinese illegal immigrants in many parts of world.

Friday
After New Year's holiday, millions of villagers must make the painful decision of whether or not to return to their work in the city. Many factories employing non-skilled workers have shut down in this global financial crisis. All rural residents face the same dilemma: "working in the city is merely trading youth for wages, but staying home at the farm has no future." All of them will need to find work to earn income somehow. Let us pray for rural believers who are facing the decision of returning to work. Having a couple weeks with family and children once a year presents great challenges in parenting and having spiritual influence on children. May the Lord remind them to continue to build parent-child relationships and protect them from temptations.

Saturday
Many Chinese who live in Korea complain that the people are anti-Chinese and there is no decent Chinatown there. Koreans are a very ethnically united people and are historically very anti-foreign so the recent huge Korean missionary effort is truly a miracle of God. Korean missionaries are very courageous and are frequently expelled from China because of their zeal to share Jesus. We take this time to remember all the church workers, foreign or national who are no longer able to freely able to share Jesus or conduct their church ministries.

Sunday
China has the most people accessing the Internet, with a whopping 253 millions uses, yet this is still less than one in five of the population. Many Christians use the Internet to access sermons and Bible studies material not available or restricted inside China. Many routinely listen or watch sermons posted abroad. We thank the Lord for this and pray for more ministries and churches providing quality and orthodox resources online.

Monday
On Chinese New Year's Day, 600,000 people participated in worship in various temples in the city of Beijing alone. People young and old burned incense and prayed for good fortune in the new year. It is true that Christianity is growing very fast in the capital city but the traditional religions, Buddhism and Taoism have grown also, largely because they are seen as more "Chinese". We pray that those many churches that are hosting special evangelistic meetings during the spring festival will see believers renewed by the Holy Spirit as well as a harvest of souls coming into the Kingdom.


星期二
總理溫家寶春節在地震災區親自下廚，並與少數民族的家庭共享團年飯，在廚房與婦女一起炒菜，為鄉親打打氣。讓我們在一年之首，為少數民族的事工獻上禱告，他們往往倍受忽略，外界也不容易接觸到他們。讓我們祷告信徒能效法主耶穌，有一顆謙卑捨己，願意服侍人的心。

星期三
在中國各階層官員以公務接待為名，大量浪費公款吃喝等腐敗現象已是習以為常、屢禁不止。相對之下，謹遵官箴德行反而成了反常行為，即使是基督徒也不免落入「随波逐流」的俗規中。讓我們禱告基督徒能在職場上有見証，在神的家裡也更願意成爲忠誠的管家，妥善管理教會財務。

星期四
世界各地都有福州人，單單在大紐約地區百萬華人中，就有50萬是福州人。海外的福州人，常讓人聯想到偷渡客，卻也以勤奮出名，尤其擅長經營餐館業。中國政府阻止民眾偷渡，但許多人仍願背負巨債，到國外闖天下。很多福州人在海外認識了基督，讓我們為全世界的中國非法移民及當地的移民福音事工向神禱告。

星期五
春節過後，幾千萬農民工就要做一個艱難的決定：應否回到城市再找工作？去年許多工廠關閉，絕大多數的農民工都沒有一技之長，只能做普通的工作，正是最受影響的一群。「打工無前途，回鄉無意思」正是當前農民工的處境。求主引導農村信徒對未來前途作出合宜的選擇。此外，這些在外打工的信徒每年只有過年過節才能和孩子相聚，實在難以對孩子的靈命有所影響，也是教養子女上的一大挑戰。願主時常提醒身為父母的，不要放棄建立良好的親子關係，並且保護子女不受引誘。

星期六
韓國人的民族性強，歷來皆十分排外。旅韓華人常抱怨韓國人排華，韓國也沒有像樣的唐人街。近年韓國大量派出宣教士真是神奇妙的作為。韓國宣教士由於為主傳揚褔音大膽熱心，經常被中國政府驅逐出境。讓我們特別記念所有在國內、外因受限制，不能自由宣揚褔音或作主聖工的教會同工，求主保守引領，開創新局。

星期日
網際網路信息中心公布，中國網民數量達2.53億，躍居世界第一，而這人數還不到全國人民的五分之一。許多中國基督徒上網閱讀在國內難求的聖經和研經資料，更有許多按時收聽或觀看講道。我們為此感謝讚美神，求主引導網路的發展，使更多的中國網民能夠透過基督教網站，認識並接受耶穌基督的救贖宏恩，得著永生的盼望；並使這些網站能繼續提供高素質且具純正神學觀的靈糧。

星期一
大年初一，北京全市各類廟會火爆開幕，據統計約六十餘萬人在廟會過節，燒香祈求來年平安。儘管基督教近年在首都發展迅速，但傳統宗教如佛教和道教的增長卻有過之而無不及，因這些宗教看來更有「中國味」。我們為教會在春節期間舉辨的福音聚會禱告，求主施行拯救，使教會結果、增長。又願信徒在主裏享用神的愛和恩典，靈裏更新，新年之首，立定心志，共同拓展神的國度。