Faces of Children: Prayer Concerns for This Week

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 02/05/15

Iraq

• Give thanks to God 14-year-old Adeba and her 13-year-old sister Chenar were recently reunited after both were able to escape from Islamic State (IS) militants. The sisters were abducted from their village in the Yazidi heartland in northwestern Iraq along with 16 other relatives who are still being held.
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• Pray for these sisters as they try to find their mother and sisters. Pray God will provide for their most immediate needs while they are living in the Shariya refugee camp in Iraq with two brothers and other relatives.
• Please keep in prayer the more than 700,000 refugees living in 21 camps in Iraq’s Dohuk area. Pray God will provide for their needs, especially as they face harsh, wintry conditions in the camps. And pray God will calm the fears of those who continue to be frightened by the threat of further violence.
• Pray for the safe release of all Yazidi girls and women who’ve been captured by IS militants. Pray for those who have been raped and tortured, and for those who’ve been forced to convert to Islam and marry IS fighters.

Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria

• Please continue in prayer for the more than 620,000 Syrian refugees living in Jordan. Pray for children and families struggling to survive in Jordan. Two-thirds of these refugees live below the national poverty line and one in six Syrian refugee households lives in abject poverty.
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• Pray God will provide for the most immediate and deepest needs of Syrian children living in Jordan and other host countries. Pray for those whose homes have no heating, functioning toilet, or reliable electricity during this brutal winter. Please pray children will be able to stay in school and not have to drop out to help support their struggling families. Pray for children who are at risk of exploitation because of their vulnerable situation.
• Pray for the 1.16 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the 1.6 million in Turkey. Pray God will provide for refugee children struggling to survive in these host countries.
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• Pray the international community will increase its support for these very vulnerable children.
• Please pray for peace in Syria and throughout this region.

Thailand, Burma/Myanmar

• Please pray for the Rohingya children and adults who were trafficked from Burma to southern Thailand last month. Forty-two children under the age of 14 were among the 98 Rohingya trafficking victims. Pray God will provide for these vulnerable people who were very thin and tired when they were rescued. Pray they will be treated fairly by the Thai government.
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• Pray for all Rohingya children and families who have been exploited by trafficking gangs in Thailand.

Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea

• Give thanks to God the Ebola outbreak in West Africa seems to be slowing down. The deadly hemorrhagic fever has killed more than 8,400 people and infected about 21,200 in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea since it was detected last March.
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• hanks be to God for the change in patterns of behavior that have helped curb the transmission of the Ebola virus. Give thanks there are facilities available everywhere to treat people; scores of burial teams all over that provide safe, dignified burial services; and multitudes of rapid mobile response teams that can set up temporary treatment facilities where needed.

United States

• Pray God will bring comfort to 3-year-old Penny whose life is in turmoil right now. Penny’s father committed suicide last year and her mother, who has a history of mental illness, is fighting Penny’s paternal grandparents for custody. Pray God will provide Penny with the best possible placement for her at this time in her life. Pray for Penny, her grandparents, and extended family as they mourn the death of Penny’s father.

Faces of Children

• Please keep close in prayer Faces of Children prayer partner Marilyn Stone as she grieves the loss of her husband Mike who died December 26, 2014. Pray God will comfort her with the peace that surpasses all understanding in this season of loss and sadness.
• Please keep the members of the Faces of Children visioning team in prayer as they seek God’s guidance for this ministry. Pray God will bless them with a clear vision for the ministry and its future.
• 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