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 03/20/14
Cameroon, Central African Republic
• Please keep in prayer children and families affected by fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR). Pray for the more than 19,000 refugees who have fled CAR and crossed into neighboring Cameroon to escape the violence. The total number of people seeking refuge in Cameroon is now over 35,000.
• Pray for refugee children who’ve been traumatized by violent acts they’ve experienced. Please pray for God’s comforting presence in the lives of these little ones.
• Pray for new refugee arrivals who are living in dreadful conditions in Cameroon. Pray God will provide them with the material resources they need to obtain safe shelter and other basic necessities. The influx of refugees has caused food, fuel, and rent prices to rise, affecting local residents and refugees alike.
• Give God thanks for the generosity of host communities in Cameroon that have shared their resources.
• Please pray for peace in CAR so that its displaced children, young people, and adults may return to their homes.
Kenya
• Give thanks to God for an innovative initiative that uses recycled one liter soda bottles filled with water to make solar lamps for use in low income neighborhoods in Kenya. The plastic bottles are filled with water and a small amount of bleach to keep the water clean, then inserted through a small hole in the roof of the house. When sunlight hits the bottle, the water reflects it down into the home.
• Thanks be to God for this energy-saving initiative that allows poor families to redirect the resources they would have used to buy kerosene, candles, or electricity for other necessities. And give thanks to God that the use of these solar bottle lights reduces accidents caused by kerosene or candles.
• Praise God children in community schools are benefiting from these solar bottle lights in their classrooms. Many schools couldn’t afford electricity to keep lights on all the time, especially during the rainy season.
• Give God thanks for the students from Britain’s Durham University who have sponsored this initiative in Kibera’s slums. And thanks be to God for those in the nonprofit organization COVIT (Connecting Voices of Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow) who are spearheading this initiative throughout Kenya.
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan
• Please continue to lift in prayer children targeted by both government and rebel forces in Syria’s civil war. More than 11,000 children have died since the conflict began three years ago.
• Pray for children who are forcibly recruited to fight on the frontlines. Pray for those who are arbitrarily detained, sexually assaulted, raped, physically abused, intimidated, and/or humiliated in order to force a confession from them or pressure relatives to surrender.
• Please keep in prayer children who have witnessed torture, death, abuse…who have witnessed unspeakable violence and suffer invisible scars from the trauma. Pray children who’ve been traumatized by this violence will be able to access the resources needed to help them cope and overcome the trauma.
• Pray for traumatized children who speak about death constantly…who experience great fear of death during their waking and sleeping hours. Pray for children who have been so traumatized by the violence that they have lost the ability to speak, or are unable to eat or to sleep.
• Pray for the 3 million children who have been displaced within Syria and the 1.2 million who have fled to Lebanon and Jordan. Please pray for the safety of the 1 million children who live in battlegrounds between Syrian government forces and rebel groups. Pray for an end to violence against Syrian children. Pray for peace, reconciliation, and healing in this war-torn country.
United States
• Please keep in prayer the female students who were sexually assaulted at their high school allegedly by an 18-year-old male at the school. Give thanks to God the girls came forward about the assaults and that school administrators took their claims seriously. Pray for healing for the 18-year-old male who has been charged with criminal sexual conduct, false imprisonment, and soliciting a child.
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.
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
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