Do Something

Week two: Pray

Suggested time and date: 6.30am-7am, Monday 22nd September

Good morning! Hope you’re feeling awake and ready to go this morning – thanks for joining us and countless others as we pray for the persecuted church in North Korea. This morning it’s time to… Pray!

While you’re waking yourself up and getting ready to pray, why not let the world know? Tweet using #itstime2014 and get your followers praying along with you.

Stop yawning!

Grab your Wake Up and Pray Guide and spend the next half hour reading through the material, thinking about the Bible passages and praying for change.

If you haven’t managed to get hold of the ‘Wake Up and Pray’ guide, you can download the full pdf session below to help you spend 30 minutes reflecting on the Bible, praying for change and learning more about life as a secret North Korean Christian.
Download full PDF session…

Extra thoughts

Use the following stuff to help expand on the things that are in the Wake Up guide session.

1. Learn

I don’t know what comes to mind when you hear the word ‘warrior’, but it often brings to mind ideas of going into battle, armed and dangerous, fighting to the death. But what do you think of when you tag a ‘prayer’ onto the beginning of that? A ‘prayer warrior’ seems like a strange idea… doesn’t it?! And yet, this is what many Christian in North Korea are – they are waging battle through prayer, every single minute of every single day. And this morning, we will join them.

In North Korea, it’s often too dangerous to pray at home, and so Christians will trek into the mountains, into solitude and silence, to pray through the night. A land of oppression and persecution, North Korea is also a land saturated with prayer. Not only do they pray for themselves, as so many of us are used to doing, but they obey Jesus’ command to ‘pray for those who persecute you’ (Matthew 5:44), interceding for their leaders and oppressors to come to repent and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In 1 Thessalonians, we are called to ‘pray without ceasing’. Sometimes, that command can feel overwhelming, especially if we feel that we just don’t know what to pray for, or how to pray it. But in Romans 8, we are also told that the ‘Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans’. The Bible makes it clear that we don’t need words in order to speak to our Father, we need only the Spirit within us, and an openness to intercessory prayer.

When you have to go into the mountains to pray all night long, and you cannot utter a word for fear of being overheard, verses such as Romans 8:26 are a great comfort. It is also a great comfort to know that Christians around the world are praying with and for you as you wage battle through prayer for your country and your fellow citizens. This morning we are going to join thousands of Christians across the world in praying for North Korea, for its citizens, for its government, and for its leaders.

2. Pray

• Like last week, pray for a deeper understanding of what Christians have to go through in North Korea, and for a spirit of intercession to rise up in these next six weeks and beyond. Ask God to break your heart for North Korea and the Christians living there.
• One of the hardest things that the Bible asks us to do is ‘pray for those who persecute you’. Although we personally are not persecuted by North Korean leaders, members of the Body of Christ are, and therefore we must pray for them. Pray for the leaders of North Korea, that they would repent and believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ, and that good would triumph over evil in North Korea.
• North Korea is a place full of fences and barriers. Picture in your mind the most impenetrable fence you can imagine – barbed wire, razor wire, electrified – and pray that God would break them down, and incredible hope and redemption would come to North Korea.

3. Act

North Koreans will often fast as well as pray. Fasting does not necessarily have to be from food, but can be abstaining from something upon which you find yourself relying. What could you fast from this week? Social media? Your phone? TV? Food? Whenever you miss the thing from which you are fasting, use that as a reminder to spend time praying and reading your Bible.

4. Keep going

Keep praying throughout the day and rest of the week for Christians in North Korea, and for its leaders and government – why not stick a note on your fridge, or your mirror, to remind yourself to pray? And, every time you pray, tweet #itstime2014 and remind others to pray as well.

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