As we walk with God, He does meaningful things in our lives and also through our lives. One thing I am always grateful to the Lord for, is that as I pray, or as people pray for me, I can see Him changing my mind and heart through both pleasant or challenging situations. I also have seen His work and changes in other people’s lives as His church prays and it is powerful to be and feel part of it.
Muslims around the world will be celebrating Ramadan from March 10th to April 8th. It is definitely an important month of the year when they celebrate their community and share their values such as prayer, fasting, reflection, worship and service. This event is in the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and it is one of the most sacred times for Muslims. It is also a month that many Muslim men and women expect to receive something new from Allah. Due to that many Muslims are open to have spiritual conversations or dialogues and it is a great opportunity for us as Christians to be able to share our faith in a natural, but also in an intentional way. It is an opportunity that we can learn from each other, but also to share the seeds regarding the love and salvation we can receive from Jesus. I myself have been having good conversations in these past years with Muslim friends and I am grateful for the respectful and reflective conversations we had together. I am glad for the opportunities I was able to pray with them during this season of the year and see that God was doing something in this regard.
As Ramadan is coming soon, I would like to invite you to pray for this! Hope Church has a few physical books of the ‘30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World’ and I am happy to give one of these to you or send you the pdf version. Through this book, you will be able to read specific prayer requests for different groups and realities, but also read encouraging or challenging stories in this regard.
From this prayer guide, I would like to share the ‘How should we Pray for the Muslim World?’ session that shares specific reasons for this, such as:
- “We believe that Jesus is the Saviour of the world, reconciling all people to God. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.
- Every human being is made in the image of God according to, and thus has inestimable worth and dignity. Genesis 1:26-28.
- God loves Muslims and does not want any to perish. 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16.
- As followers of Christ, we take Jesus’ strong exhortation to love God and love your neighbor very seriously. Muslims are our neighbors, and one way we love them is by praying blessings on them, their families, and communities. Matthew 22:37-29.
- Jesus commands us to love everyone – even those who hurt us – and to pray for them. Matthew 5:44.
- Our intercession for Muslims needs to be motivated by love. Our model is Jesus – who, while we were yet sinners, loved us and died for us. Romans 5:8.
- As we receive God’s love for us, He gives us His love for all others and enables us to fulfill the great commandment to love God and love our neighbor. We are not called to judge, fear, hate, or relate to Muslims in any way that is counter to the Kingdom of God. We are simply to love, live as Christ commanded us, pray, and trust God by His Holy Spirit to bring people to Himself in Christ. Galatians 5:22-23; John 6:44; 12:32; 16:8; 1 Corinthians 13.
I hope these thoughts are encouraging and I hope that God will bring us good experiences as we pray as a church during this time for our Muslims friends.
Filipe Almeida
References: 30 Days of prayer for the Muslim World – page 3
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