The world breathed something of a collective sigh of relief towards the end of August when North Korea expressed its regret for soldiers killed on the South Korean side of the divide by landmines planted by the warlike kingdom. North Korea had declared itself to be on a war footing, and had dispatched 50 submarines from their bases. South Korea for its part refused to blink and took an equally robust stance. Whether or not this was just one more example of high wire posturing, the danger of escalation is always present.
Open Doors called for a special season of prayer at the start of the year, and we spent most of the morning at our New Year Prayer Retreat pouring out our hearts in prayer for North Korea. One friend who was with us had read a book about the unrelenting torture Christians regularly face in North Korean labour camps. The accounts had really rocked her faith, but when she went on a tour to North Korea and spent time praying there with others on the tour, facing towards the labour camps she declared that she had never known the presence of the Lord so strongly before! God has not forgotten North Korea – nothing is too hard for Him; not even this “hermit” kingdom that has so thoroughly brainwashed its citizens for decades.
Everyone really caught the vision and piled in prayer for the right kind of change to occur to enable the country to open up. The fact that there are still true and fervent believers in a country where the price for believing is so high is itself a stunning testimony to the keeping power of God.
Brother Andrew believes that God is going to open North Korea up within five years. For background information, please see Open Doors website and search for North Korea.
The temptation might be to hold back in prayer because the immediate crisis appears to have receded, but let’s rather use that as a starting point and incentive to pray for the Lord to continue to be at work amongst His people in the country, and to do whatever He needs to do to open this country up as safely as possible.
The Lord gave a friend this powerful heart cry recently for the North Korea so we took some time out and recorded it. It makes a powerful starting point for prayer – and who knows where the Lord will lead you on to after that?