March 3, 2018 – Please pray for Fiji
Fiji is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean located northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. Its closest neighbors are Vanuatu to the west, New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand’s Kermadec Islands to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoans and France’s Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and Tuvalu to the north.
Fiji is the hub of the South West Pacific, midway between Vanuatu and Tonga. It is an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited and more than 500 islets.
Fiji has a significant amount of tourism with the popular regions being Nadi, the Coral Coast, Denarau Island, and Mamanuca Islands. The international visitors to Fiji by country are mostly Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Fiji has a significant number of soft coral reefs, and scuba diving is a common tourist activity.
The population of Fiji is approximately 880,000.
According to the 2007 census (an old one), 64.4% of the population at the time was Christian, while 27.9% was Hindu, 6.3% Muslim and a small number of other religions. Among Christians, 54% were counted as Methodist, followed by 14.2% Catholic, 8.9% Assemblies of God, 6.0% Seventh-day Adventist, 1.2% Anglican with the remaining 16.1% belonging to other denominations.
The largest Christian denomination is the Methodist Church. With 34.6% of the population, the proportion of the population adhering to Methodism is higher in Fiji than in any other nation. In 2012, permission was granted by the government for Methodists to hold their annual conference, for the first time in four years, with the conditions that the conference not coincide with the national Hibiscus Festival and should only last for three days, and that no political matters were to be discussed, only church matters.
The above are from en.wikipedia.org. These statements have not been fact-checked and are only used here to help us gain a better understanding of this nation.
Many nations do not have the religious freedom we have. We know published numbers are often incorrect and misleading. Moreover, we should not attempt to place people into a particular religious denomination.
The love of God crosses national, ethnic, cultural and religious boundaries. We are commanded to love humanity as Jesus loved. We should place a high value on each soul and pray for them. We do not know how far reaching a simple prayer will have for the lives of others. God is faithful and honors the prayers of the pure in heart. Let us pray our heart may be found to be pure, filled with love and grace.
What are we to pray for in Fiji? The answer is simple: we are to pray for the souls within the nation to know Jesus and follow Him. The more I learn about the nations of the world, I have discovered my knowledge about the needs of humanity is very limited. I often feel inadequate to pray for myself as it seems I frequently have pressing issues that need prayer. By God’s grace, we must push forward and pray for our own needs and the needs of humanity around the world. Be encouraged, become a prayer warrior for God.
1. Pray for faith in God to be strengthened and for God to meet the needs and answer the prayers of the people of Fiji.
2. Pray for the spiritual and national leaders of Fiji. Every person needs prayer – especially leaders. Please pray God will place His honor upon at least one leader and grace them with the ability to champion change within the nation.
3. Pray for favor and open doors for those who carry the message of the Gospel within this nation of many islands. Please pray they become one nation under God.
