As the school year begins in many parts of the world, a YWAM prayer initiative called The Invitation is focusing on universities. Please pray with us for God’s purposes for higher education. More students than ever are enrolling in universities. A newly updated study by the ICEF Monitor, the leading market intelligence resource for the education industry, shows that the number of students attending university has doubled in the past 20 years and is projected to double again in the next 20 years. The future will be shaped by these students and their ideas and practices as well as the events that occur on their campuses. Please pray for these students right now and on our prayer day, September 9.
Topic suggested by and written by John Henry, in USA. Photo of YWAM university ministry in Cartagena, Colombia
Pray for universities and students near your community, and for any institution of higher education where students you know are enrolled. Pray for those suffering from anxieties and other mental health issues. Pray for those experiencing Covid-related stress. Pray for good relationships between students and their parents.
Pray for former YWAMers and other believers currently studying in university. Pray for their continued spiritual formation and active engagement in Christ’s mission. Pray for believing students to study abroad as a means to become ambassadors for Christ in other nations. Pray that stories of faith and courage on campus would be retold and published to encourage a new generation of students to join Jesus’ mission.
Pray for international students from unreached people groups and creative-access nations, for the planting of campus fellowships for them. Pray that these students would be empowered to reach their own people throughout the world.
Pray for YWAM’s Campus Ministries. Pray for YWAM’s University of the Nations Student Mobilization Centre (http://stucentre.com), which aims to mobilize university students of all nations on every campus worldwide to God’s purposes for their lives. Pray for a new wave of student interns led and hosted by YWAMers and friends of YWAM (www.ywamconverge.org). YWAM interns have established therapy routines in orphanages, set up working pharmacies, developed healthy nutritional plans for hospices, taught forgiveness education to refugees, and created curricula for schools. Pray for the equipping of new YWAM missionaries to universities through training programs such as the School of University Ministries & Missions (https://uofn.edu/course/a0c1600000FFWFkAAP).
Suggestions for Group or Individual Prayer
Take two minutes to jot down a list of former YWAMers and other people you know who are currently in university.
Visit a local university and pray there.
Take Action
Show hospitality to international students who are far from home by providing transport, sharing a meal, or through language practice.
Help students to serve and learn about issues of poverty, disease, illiteracy, impure water, human trafficking, domestic violence, drug abuse, homelessness, at risk youth, etc.
Partner with student organizations to distribute Bibles and conduct Bible engagement activities.
Set aside time to pray on campus and then post a video or blog about the prayer time. #PraytheCampus
Join The Invitation
Learn more about this YWAM prayer day, called The Invitation, at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please let us know how you prayed at prayer@ywam.org. Please also tell us if you would like to recommend a prayer topic for The Invitation.
Please pray this month for Bible translation. The End Bible Poverty Now initiative exists to see a Bible in every heart language made available to every individual on earth. More than 1,000 languages still do not have a single portion of the Bible in their mother tongue. YWAM is committed to help change that statistic. We recognize that the great majority of those who speak a Bible-less language are oral learners, and the Bible will be at its most impactful in audio format. YWAM is working on Oral Bible Translation (OBT) for these remaining languages. The goal is to have 30 carefully selected passages translated orally into 1,000 languages by the end of 2025. Please pray with us right now for these Bible translations and pray on the prayer day called The Invitation on August 12.
Topic suggested by: Loren Cunningham, in USA. Content written by: Seth Aumock, in USA.
Pray for 72 YWAM locations to start Oral Bible Translation training. Through this training facilitators are taught to oversee the start of new languages for Oral Bible Translation. Pray for many students to come to these programs. Pray for the training of the trainers, which will begin with a big program in September in eight locations.
Pray for 33 OBT hubs. An OBT Hub is a YWAM location strategically located near a Bible-less people group. Hubs will be intentional in their efforts to reach the Bible-less people groups near their location.
Pray that the goal would be accomplished of 30 carefully selected passages translated orally into 1,000 languages by the end of 2025.
Pray for the new OBT school plant in Madang, Papua New Guinea this fall. YWAM Kona, Hawaii and YWAM Ships are jointly sending a team to plant an OBT school in Madang. Papua New Guinea has over 175 languages without the Bible, and is a strategic location to begin Oral Bible Translation training.
Suggestions for Group or Individual Prayer
Experience what it might be like to communicate the Bible orally. Read Luke 7:11-17 two times, or have two members of your group read the passage. Then pair up and each person tell the story to the other, without looking at the Bible text. If you don’t have a group, try to say the story out loud. The goal isn’t to memorize the words or to comment on the meaning but simply to convey all the elements of the story. You can take this exercise a step further by having a facilitator ask questions, first about the elements of the story (“What does Luke tell us about the boy and his mother?”), then analysis questions (“How do you think the crowd’s view of Jesus changed?”) and then application questions (“How do you respond to Jesus?”). During the next week, look for an opportunity to tell this story to someone else.
Take Action
Join End Bible Poverty Now Kona’s team in their monthly Zoom call this month as they pray for the Oral Bible Translation efforts. This will be on August 25 at 10 a.m. Hawaii time: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83015492807.
Continue to pray for the Bible-less by signing up for the End Bible Poverty Now monthly prayer newsletter at endbiblepovertynow.com/pray.
Join The Invitation
Learn more about this YWAM prayer day, called The Invitation, at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please let us know how you prayed at prayer@ywam.org. Please also tell us if you would like to recommend a prayer topic for The Invitation.
As athletes from around the world begin arriving in Japan for the Tokyo Olympic Games, please join with YWAM in prayer for the nation of Japan. For the Olympic outreach, YWAM in Japan has joined with the Japan International Sports Partnership. Prior to the pandemic, they did outreaches and provided evangelism training in churches. Now that Japan is facing many Covid-related restrictions the focus has turned primarily to prayer. The partnership hopes to mobilize one million hours of prayer for Japan. The Olympic Games begin July 23. Please take a moment right now to pray for Japan and please pray with us on the YWAM prayer day called The Invitation on July 8.
Topic suggested by Jose Diaz, in Japan.
Prayer content by Marty Woods, in Japan.
Photo credit: YWAM Olympic outreach in Oita, Japan; by Jose Diaz.
Pray for unity of the Spirit amongst Japanese believers. According to YWAM Tokyo there appears to be a new level of openness in the hearts of the people, churches are uniting and supporting each other and ministry pioneers are rising up all over Japan.
Ask God for a spiritual awakening among the Japanese people. It is estimated that fewer than one percent of the people are evangelical Christians. The national religions of Buddhism and Shintoism are closely tied to the Japanese identity, so choosing to follow a different religion can be perceived as rejecting your family.
Pray for more discipleship and church planting initiatives in Japan. There is believed to be only one missionary for every 64,000 people in Japan.
Ask God to guide the Japan-wide sports outreach through the work of the Japan International Sports Partnership. Within the national Covid-related restrictions some outreaches are still taking place.
Take Action
Participate in 50 minutes of bilingual prayer and worship in English and Japanese each day leading up to and including the Tokyo Olympics July 23-August 8 and Paralympic Games August 24-September 5. Go to: www.youtube.com/user/onfirejapan.
How We Prayed
June 2021 – Covid in South Asia
An intercession group in Perth, Australia reported that they prayed 2 Chron 7:14 for the poor and needy, they prayed against death, they asked for miracles in the hospitals, and sensed God leading them to Isaiah 40:31, that YWAMers and others would not grow weary but would reap a harvest.
Join The Invitation
Learn more about this YWAM prayer day, called The Invitation, at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please let us know how you prayed at prayer@ywam.org. Please also tell us if you would like to recommend a prayer topic for The Invitation.
Please pray with YWAM as we focus on the suffering of countries in South Asia that have been hit hard by the pandemic. Recently India reached a peak of cases (400,000 per day) and deaths (4,000 per day). Other countries in South Asia such as Nepal and Sri Lanka are now facing Covid outbreaks. YWAM South Asia has lost more than ten staff and family members to this disease and over 100 YWAM staff and family members have been infected at any given time. Several are still hospitalized. Please join the prayer day called The Invitation as we pray for healing. Please take a moment to pray right now or join us on our prayer day, June 10.
Topic suggested by: J.T. in India.
Prayer content by: Elisabeth Cochrane in USA. Photo credit: Firos-NV on Unsplash
Pray for our YWAM family to be ministered to by the Lord as there has been so much loss and pain. A couple of locations have lost two leaders and staff and many have lost at least one relative. Pray for the kids and spouses of those who have passed away. Pray against a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).
Pray for God to give wisdom and strength to the healthcare workers treating people with Covid. Pray for the doctors treating YWAMers who are in the hospital.
Pray for protection for all the YWAMers out ministering to the poor during this crisis. Many of the poor are daily wage earners and have lost their funds for food. Some people have had to use food money for medicine. We have so many YWAMers involved daily helping others. One or two locations have started Covid relief homes. They’ve also been getting oxygen cylinders out to people. Pray for basic needs of medicine and food for all.
Pray for this surge to end.
Suggestions for Groups or Individuals
Read 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 and seek wisdom from the Lord regarding sins that need to be confessed. Allow God to show multiple layers of sin. When all sins have been confessed, pray as above or as God leads.
Take Action
Donate for YWAM’s basic provisions of food, medicine and medical equipment. If you would like to help you can go to ACEDevelopmentfund.org.
How We Prayed
May 2021 – Human Trafficking
A survivor of human trafficking who is in an emergency shelter reported that she prayed for the people involved to do unto others as they would have done unto them.
A woman from Canada was led to pray for very young children who are trafficked. She met some of these in Cambodia during her YWAM Discipleship Training School outreach. She sensed God prompting her to pray daily for the children’s freedom and she felt led to Luke 17:1-3.
Leaders from a new anti-trafficking organization called Recover Hope were encouraged to know that others were praying for this topic. They prayed for every single person to fulfill his or her role in God’s kingdom, that no one would look away from another person’s suffering.
Multiple people thanked us for inviting them to pray and committed to pray regularly during The Invitation.
Join The Invitation
Learn more about this YWAM prayer day, called The Invitation, at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please let us know how you prayed at prayer@ywam.org. Please also tell us if you would like to recommend a prayer topic for The Invitation.
By any measure, the trafficking in men and women for forced labour or sexual exploitation is an enormous and increasing tragedy. The extent of the problem can feel overwhelming. According to Polaris Project, there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally. A United Nations study showed that sex trafficking is the fastest-growing business of organized crime and the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world. Many individuals are passionately opposed to human trafficking and would love to help in some way but have no idea how. This month, you can take action against human trafficking by joining a YWAM prayer day called The Invitation. On May 13 we will pray along with Isaiah 61:1: “To proclaim freedom for the captives….”
Photo credit: Hermes Rivera
Topic suggested by: Matt Peterson in USA.
Prayer content by: G.K. Pierce in Poland (ankyrapublications.com).
Pray for survivors of trafficking. Pray that those caught up in trafficking would be freed from the chains that bind them and that they would encounter God’s love. Pray that they would heal, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Pray for fair and honest employers to offer them jobs and training. Pray that they would find hope for their futures and strength and grace to forgive.
Pray for traffickers. Pray that traffickers and pimps would have a profound, life-changing Damascus-road type of encounter with God (Acts 22:6-10). Pray they would repent and leave the sex trade and would use their knowledge of the industry to fight for freedom of people caught in slavery (John 8:32).
Pray for those battling against trafficking. Pray Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Pray for supernatural protection from evil. Pray for courage, wisdom from God, and a passionate heart for God and people. Pray that they would see the fruit of their labour.
Pray for the Church and society. Pray against the use of pornography. According to the organization Rescue:Freedom, in nine countries 49 percent of sexually exploited women said that pornography was made of them while they were being sold for sex. If Christians at large would stop using porn, it would have a significant impact on both the pornography and trafficking industries. Consider the following statistics: 57 percent of pastors say porn addiction is the most damaging issue in their congregation (a Barna survey, 2016); 76 percent of 18 to 24-year-old Christians actively seek out porn (Barna, 2016); 68 percent of church-going men and over 50 percent of pastors view porn on a regular basis (Pure Desire Ministries); and only seven percent of pastors say their church has a program to help people struggling with pornography (Barna, 2016). Pray for anti-porn programs to be set up. Pray for a re-dedication to biblical marriages. Pray Leviticus 20:26: “You are to be holy to me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” Also pray for a commitment to “remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners” (Hebrews 13:3).
Suggestions for Group Prayer:
Divide the group into four subgroups, one for each of the categories mentioned in the prayer points: survivors, traffickers, those battling against trafficking, and the church and society. For a moment, put yourselves into the shoes of the people you represent. Note what might motivate them and the challenges they face. Note what God is saying to you about who you represent. Pray as you are led, using the prayer points from above and what you hear from God.
Take Action
Spread awareness. Invite a specialist to speak at your church, school, or organization. Share information about human trafficking on social media, a blog, or YouTube.
Volunteer, support, or fundraise for an anti-trafficking organization you have researched. Shop for products made by exploited people (one example is kairostraders.com). Help exactly where you are. Businesses can provide internships, training, and jobs to trafficking survivors. Attorneys can offer free services. Medical professionals can get educated on how to spot and help trafficked victims.
Consider prevention. Traffickers typically target vulnerable populations (for example, homeless youth, foster kids, persons in abusive situations or poverty, etc.). Mentor and support these sorts of at-risk individuals.
Recommend the use of anti-porn programs in your church. Covenant Eyes is one such program.
A former YWAMer of the Shan people group was deeply moved to hear that YWAM was praying for Myanmar.
YWAM Bangkok, Thailand prayed for those isolated by Covid and God led them to make phone calls to those in isolated/remote areas.
YWAM Yverdon, Switzerland gathered via zoom to stand in the gap for the nation of Myanmar. They sensed God leading them as they prayed.
A Korean message was received regarding prayer for stability in Myanmar.
Join The Invitation
Learn more about this YWAM prayer day, called The Invitation, at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please let us know how you prayed at prayer@ywam.org. Please also tell us if you would like to recommend a prayer topic for The Invitation.
