Faces of Children: Prayer Requests

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Prayer Concerns for the week of 11/8/12

BRAZIL- Give thanks to God for the work of the staff and volunteers of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Belo Horizonte with street children, physically challenged children, slum children, and children with HIV/AIDS. Pray for the approximately 90 staff members who work in the eight children's homes this ministry supports in Belo Horizonte. Please pray for the children who are served in these homes ... pray for their healing and wholeness.
• Thanks be to God the number of children living on the streets of Brazil's major cities has gone down drastically since the 1980.
• Pray for children who are trapped in a cycle of poverty, addiction, and sexual exploitation. Please pray for the 32 million Brazilians who go hungry on a daily basis and for the 65 million on the verge of poverty. Pray for the six million who are addicted to either crack or cocaine. Pray for children and women who are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Pray for children who are at risk of being prostituted at major athletic events that will be held in Brazil soon (Soccer World Cup in 2014 and Olympics in 2016).
 •  more from YWAM Belo Horizonte
 •  a blog by Johann and Jeanette Lukasse


BURMA - Continue to pray for the ethnic hill tribe children and people of Burma who are facing new threats because of increased economic activity in their country. As Burma's leaders make positive changes, governments around the world are beginning to lift economic sanctions on this country.
• While giving God thanks for the positive changes in Burma, please ask God to protect farmers and their families who are affected by the unscrupulous business practices of state and private interests. Pray for those who have been forced off their land...who have had it stolen by Burmese or foreign investors who rarely compensate these families for their land.
• Please pray for the children in these families. Many have left school because their parents cannot afford to send them any longer or they are needed to make an income for the family. Pray for girl children who are forced into prostitution to help provide for their families.
• Pray for the protection of farming families in rural Burma as the acquisition of land becomes an even higher priority for investors. Pray for legal protection for these vulnerable families from domestic and foreign companies intent upon developing large-scale plantation-farming, pipelines, dams, and mines.
• Keep farmer Maung's 14-year-old daughter close in prayer as she makes a living for her family through prostitution. Maung's land was nconfiscated by two Chinese mining companies and he was given no compensation. Pray for all families and children facing this same bleak future.
 •  a report from Partners Relief & Development
 •  more from partnersworld.org

MALI - Please pray for the people of northern Mali where extremists have imposed Islamic sharia law and women and children seem to be targeted for abuse. A military coup in March left a power vacuum enabling Tuareg rebels to take over nearly two-thirds of Mali.
• Pray for children who are sold into slavery because of the widespread poverty and instability in this area. Pray for children whose families have accepted money so they would become child soldiers. Pray for children who are forced to carry weapons and make improvised explosive devices for rebel groups.
• ray for women who are sold into marriage and for those who are sold again and again as prostitutes. Pray for pregnant women or unmarried women with children who are being targeted by extremists intent on enforcing a strict version of sharia law.
 •  a report from trust.org/alertnet

YEMEN - Please keep the children of Yemen in prayer as this country owns the dubious honor of having the world's third-highest rate of child malnutrition. The political revolt last year and skyrocketing global prices for food and fuel have combined to wreak havoc on Yemen's economy and cause its youngest citizens to suffer greatly. Pray for the 13 percent of Yemeni children who are now acutely malnourished because of the country's instability.
• Pray for the 10 million people in Yemen who go to bed hungry every night because they can't afford the high food prices or grow their own crops. Yemen has little arable land on which to grow crops so it must import most of its food.
• Pray for political stability and security in this struggling country where conflict, terrorist activity, population displacement, and food insecurity are causing such great distress.
 •  a report from trust.org/alertnet

FACES OF CHILDREN - Please continue to pray that more churches and individuals will join with the ministry of Faces of Children in spreading awareness about children in crisis and inviting more people to pray for children at risk.

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If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to Chris Laufer, FOC Coordinator, at claufer@facesofchildren.net