Continuing to Pray for Muslims beyond Ramadan

Today continues the ‘Eid el Fitr celebrations throughout the Muslim world to mark the end of Ramadan 2015.  Ramadan has ended, but hopefully our prayers for Muslim peoples and nations will continue.

Yesterday OM published some suggestions on how to continue praying for Muslims:

As we close up the month of prayer for Ramadan, we want to continue to seek God to do great things in the Arab world. We pray that Christians in the Arab world would be able to love their neighbours and that that love would flow from Believers in Jesus to the Muslims around them. Pray that God would work in a supernatural way in the hearts of local Christians and put His love in their hearts. Also pray that God would give them peace each day, rather than a spirit of fear.

And finally, there are Christian workers all over the Middle East and North Africa, sharing the love of Jesus with their Muslim friends. Pray for them. Pray that the Lord would keep them safe, that He would bless their ministries and that many hearts would be transformed by the Gospel. Pray also that God would raise up more workers to minister in this part of the world.

The Mahabba Network also had a helpful graphic with dates of other upcoming Islamic holidays which can be times to offer focused prayer for Muslims:

Further dates for 2015 when you can be praying for Muslims #lovefast #30daysofprayer pic.twitter.com/dQCYL6Km2k

— Mahabba Network (@MahabbaNetwork) July 17, 2015

 

September 21 – 26 comprising the Pilgrimage to Mecca and the ‘Eid al Adha (the feast of the sacrifice) is an especially significant time.

May the Father continue to reveal Jesus to many Muslims and draw them to Himself.  May they seek Jesus and find Him!

Jerusalem

A few weeks ago, handbills were passed out on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount (and left in other parts of “East Jerusalem”) warning Christians that they will be targets of destruction if they do not leave before the close of Ramadan, which is today.

Psalm 146:5,9b,10 New Living Translation
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
The Lord frustrates the plans of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.
Praise the Lord!

Our Father in heaven,

We pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
May all who love this city prosper.
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.
For the sake of our family and friends, we will say,
“Peace be with you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
we will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.

O Father, You will be to Jerusalem a wall of fire all around and the glory in her midst. You, Lord God Almighty, frustrate the plans of the wicked. We bless Your holy name. Amen.

Psalm 122:6-9, Zechariah 2:5

Excellent article on Prayer & Fasting (Justin Taylor / John Piper)

I tweeted about this earlier today, but think this is a really important article, deserving of a blog post.   In the wake of the brutally horrifying video exposé of Planned Parenthood’s butchery of babies to sell their body parts, Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition has posted a great call to prayer & fasting, reminding us of the role of spiritual warfare in the face of such evil.  There are battles in our culture that we cannot win by logical argument or legislative effort.  The battle against the evil of abortion may well be one of them.

His article largely draws upon writings from John Piper’s great (must read!) book A Hunger for God.

 

“Fasting,” Piper writes, “comes in alongside prayer with all its hunger for God and says,

We are not able in ourselves to win this battle.

We are not able to change hearts or minds.

We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture and save 1.6 million children.

We are not able to reform the judiciary or embolden the legislature or mobilize the slumbering population.

We are not able to heal the endless wounds of godless ideologies and their bloody deeds.

But, O God, you are able!

And we turn from reliance on ourselves to you.

And we cry out to you and plead that for the sake of your name, and for the sake of your glory, and for the advancement of your saving purpose in the world, and for the demonstration of your wisdom and your power and your authority over all things, and for the sway of your Truth and the relief of the poor and the helpless, act, O God.  […]

I appeal to you to seek the Lord with me concerning the place of fasting and prayer in breaking through the darkened mind that engulfs the modern world, in regard to abortion and a hundred other ills.

This is not a call for a collective tantrum that screams at the bad people, “Give me back my country.”

It is a call to aliens and exiles in the earth, whose citizenship is in heaven and who await the appearance of their King, to “do business” until he comes (Luke 19:13).

And the great business of the Christian is to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), and to pray that God’s name be hallowed and his kingdom come and his will be done in the earth (Matthew 6:9-10). And to yearn and work and pray and fast not only for the final revelation of the Son of Man, but in the meantime, for the demonstration of his Spirit and power in the reaching of every people, and the rescuing of the perishing, and the purifying of the church, and the putting right of as many wrongs as God will grant.

I join Piper in commending this practice to you. What looks foolish to the world (forgoing food to pray for the protection of the unborn) may look utterly foolish to the world, but it will be pleasing to the God who sees and rewards in secret.

Please read it all, and please pray in the face of the present darkness in our culture and world.

Prayercast: Pray for the USA

Anyone who follows the L&B (@AnglicanPrayer) Twitter feed knows we follow the Prayercast ministry (@Prayercast)  which publishes short video prayers for almost every country of the world.  We’ve been daily re-tweeting their #RamadanPrayerChallenge posts for Muslim countries each day recently.

Lest anyone think Prayercast only focuses on unreached countries in the 10/40 window, they also have produced a prayer page and video for the U.S.A.  It seemed great to post it for this July 4th weekend.

Apologies that I can’t seem to find a way to embed the video.  You can watch it here:  http://www.prayercast.com/usa.html

You can download it here (Hi-res, Lo-res)

Here are the prayer bullet points for the U.S.:

• Pray for Godly leaders to arise in churches, government, and society.
• Pray for national repentance of sin, immorality, and selfishness.
• Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church, bringing another Great Awakening.

A Prayer Litany for the US this 4th of July Weekend – Kyrie Eleison

Via Twitter, I discovered the blog 364 Days of Thanksgiving, by Lutheran Pastor Andy Schroer.  Earlier in the week he posted an entry Kyrie Eleison with a prayer litany for the US as we head into our July 4th celebrations:

In light of recent events in our countryand as we prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July, I invite you to pray the Kyrie with me:

Almighty God, we pray today for our nation – a nation blessed by you, but also a nation divided, a nation marked by violence and racism, a nation stained by sin.

Lord, have mercy.

We pray for our government. Bless our president, congress and courts. Help them to act wisely and according to your will. When they don’t, in your mercy forgive them. Use us and others to speak out against injustice and sin, but also help us to respect the governing officials as your representatives.

Lord, have mercy.

We pray for the families of the victims of the massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. Give them the peace that only you can give. We thank you for the faith of those who died and the heaven they are now enjoying because of Jesus. We also pray for the shooter, Dylan Roof, and all those whose hearts are hardened by racism and hate. Help them to find in you forgiveness and love.

Lord, have mercy.

As our nation struggles with issues of sexuality and marriage, we ask you to bless the families of our land. Help husbands and wives to love each other as you have loved them. In your mercy, forgive our many sins against your gift of sexuality.

Lord, have mercy.

Be with the Christians of our land. Give us the courage to stand firm in your Word. Forgive us our pride and anger. Help us to speak your truth boldly and in love.

Lord, have mercy.

We ask all of these things knowing that we and our nation are unworthy of your love. Yet, trusting in your mercy and the forgiveness Jesus won for us, we pray:

Kyrie eleison.

The full entry is here.

A note about Ramadan Prayer posts…

Hi all,  I apologize that I’ve not posted any recent Ramadan Prayer Roundup posts.  A bunch of other things, including the Supreme Court marriage decision and the Episcopal Church General Convention (and their vote in favor of same-sex marriage liturgies and changing the official definition of marriage according to the church canons) have taken up my time online.

However, anyone who looks at our Twitter feed, either by following @AnglicanPrayer or just scrolling our tweets displayed in the sidebar on the right side of the blog will see that almost every day we’ve still been tweeting Ramdan-related prayer resources.

So please continue to pray for Muslims during Ramadan, that they will hunger for Jesus, seek Him and find Him.

In case it’s helpful, I’ve put together a Twitter Feed list “Ramdan Prayer” which focuses on the tweets of 13 Twitter accounts that are daily posting good Ramadan-prayer resources.  I’ve also come across a few excellent new resources to share re: Ramadan prayer which I will post more about next week…. stay tuned!

A Call to Prayer – Fearless Faith in Turbulent Times

A great article by Scott Ward of  the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.  Here’s an excerpt (bold added):

Several qualities that Daniel displayed seem very relevant and quite helpful to our present legal and cultural moment. First, Daniel lived with utter integrity at all times. His worst enemies knew that the only “weakness” they could use to attack him was actually a great strength – his faithfulness to God. “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” (Dan. 6:5) (italics added). Second, Daniel perceptively discerned the ultimate objectives of the ruling legal authorities more accurately than the authorities themselves did, and he came up with creative ways to more effectively accomplish those objectives by remaining obedient to, rather than transgressing, the law of God, as Daniel chapter 1 recounts.  Third, Daniel and his friends had unwavering clarity about their priorities, even in the face of the idols of their age and no matter the cost. As Daniel’s three friends eloquently explained, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Dan. 3:17-18).

Most of all, Daniel had great faith in a great God – and he prayed like it. Daniel was wholeheartedly devoted to prayer. He prayed and gave thanks regularly throughout every day and he did so without regard to what others might think or do. Indeed, his primary response to hostile legal changes – changes specifically designed to use his faithfulness to God as a weapon against him – was simply to pray to God, just as he had always done. “Now when Daniel knew that the document [requiring that all people, on penalty of death, worship an idol of the present ruler] was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”  (Daniel 6:10) (italics added). But Daniel not only prayed regularly, he engaged in deep, prolonged, fervent, humble intercessory prayer, repenting of his people’s sins and imploring God’s grace and mercy upon them. Daniel 9 recounts one example of Daniel’s prayers and of God’s powerful response.

Daniel saw that God is always at work at a much deeper level than we can understand or even see. Daniel also found that God alway works powerfully for the glory of His Name and for the ultimate good not only of those who trust in Him now, but also of those who will come to trust in Him in the future, often as a direct result of the faithfulness of His people.

May we all follow Daniel’s example in engaging in regular and deep prayer for our nation, humbling confessing and repenting of our sins and fervently imploring God to pour out His mercy, forgiveness, and grace through His Holy Spirit on our culture. […]  And may we all, like Daniel, have a great faith in a great God Who does great things for the good of all who will trust in Him. 

Read it all

It was written PRIOR to the Supreme Court decision on marriage, but it still remains extremely relevant.  Prayer is needed now more than ever.