We continue 8 days prayer for Brazil since last Tuesday - the largest Latin country, 5th by size and population in the world, it has the largest Adventist church of 1.3 million believers. Notorious for largest and most disadvantaged slums, favelas, the country needs social justice. The native Amerinian population today is less than 0.3%, 48% are white, 44% are brown, 7% black and about 0.7% Asian. Its Black/Moreno population is the poorest in ratio. Racial difference is a big problem. We already prayed for enlightenment through the Gospel into villages under African spiritism of Macumba and Umbanda. This week we will pray for Asian immigrants, especially Chinese and Japanese Buddhists of Sao Paolo. A special emphasis in prayer is requested for indigenous people and ecology of Amazon basin. There are still tribes that live in a primitive way, and the destructive industrial invasion is not benefiting the local people. Pray for church missionaries in that field. And pray for the urban population as our church redirects evangelism to reach people in big cities.
On Wednesday we lift in prayer Brunei, a relatively small country on the island of Borneo where population is about that of our London. There is no Adventist presence in this country, even though there are many Adventists in Malaysia and Indonesia which share the territory of this island. Extreme Islamization presents a problem for the freedom of Christian faith. It is one of 51 countries where Christianity is illegal.
On Thursday we will pray for Bulgaria. A family in our congregation -Polihronovs - are natives of that country. This week they had received their Canadian citizenship. As you congratulate them also remember their country of origin in your prayers. Large emigration from that country into Western Europe and Americas reduced the number of Adventists remaining in that country. The church is yet to emerge for impacting community, for transforming the faith and people in that part of the world. As the country is recovering from totalitarian communistic era, corruption, nepotism in politics, pray for the church to conduct its work free from political contamination, pray for revival and spiritual passion among believers.
On Friday we will move our prayers to Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta), it was renamed in 1984 with a native meaning “the land of upright people,” seeking to restore the integrity of fatherland. It is a relatively small West African country, landlocked north of Ghana. Pray for peace between two major tribes –Mossi whose empire lasted over 800 years, and Mande. The country is half Muslim half Christian, yet animism is practiced in tandem.
All these are God’s harvest field, for which the labourers are needed. Pray the Lord of the Harvest to make you a labourer!
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