Prayer is especially important for those that educate others. The third Tuesday of November every year is Pray Day, when schools across Europe and around the world are the focus of prayer. This year it will be held on Tuesday 18 November, with UK schools taking part. Intercessors and students alike are looking at Colossians 4. While we can't watch our children at every point of the day, we can ask God to protect, care for, and watch over them. Teachers have the often stressful task of moulding children for the future, and many Christian teachers find that prayer helps them do their jobs with more patience and joy. The day is for all types of school from nursery to sixth form, pupils, school staff, governors, parents, church leaders, youth workers and anyone else concerned about young people, anyone who believes that God hears our prayers.

A pastor and Vietnam veteran is on a cross-country march for spiritual awakening in America. Sixty-eight-year-old Chick McGill of Tennessee said God moved him to make the trek from sea to shining sea. Starting in North Carolina, McGill is walking 3,200 miles with an American flag calling attention to the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, and his nation's founding principles. While walking, he said he salutes every passing driver along the way. Many people stop to talk with him. He said prayer is the only thing that can change the nation. ‘He (God) approached me three times,’ McGill said. ‘The first two times I thought I was hallucinating. The third time I said, 'This is God talking to me'. 'I can't argue with God,' he added.

North Korea has released American missionary Kenneth Bae, who his family said had been imprisoned for his Christian faith, along with fellow US citizen Matthew Todd Miller. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) confirmed that Bae and Miller are on their way back to the United States. Kenneth Bae, 45, had been held since 2012. He was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour on charges of trying ‘to overthrow’ the state. However family members linked the detention of the Korean-American to his Christian work in a nation where devoted Christians are forced to meet underground. Many thousands of Christians are believed to be among those held in prison camps, according to several advocacy groups and other sources. Fellow prisoner Todd, 24, was detained in April after he tore his tourist visa to pieces and shouted that he had come ‘to the DPRK after choosing it as a shelter,’ North Korea said at the time.

One Chadian man’s violent fits were healed by the ceaseless prayers of the Guinebor II Hospital staff. Bousanna Barnabus probably did not expect to be healed with prayer when he came to the BMS World Mission hospital, located outside N'Djamena, Chad. After four days of continuous epileptic fits, Bousanna’s family brought him semi-conscious to the hospital for treatment. The attacks left him mentally and physically exhausted and very afraid. Bousanna had one moment of clarity and he used it to ask for prayer. When he did this it felt as if something amazing was happening. And it was. As Christians, we know that prayer is a powerful thing. We ask for safety, healing, wisdom and more, knowing that God will provide what we need at precisely the right time. In Bousanna’s case this is exactly what happened, and we give thanks.