The Eyes of a Woman

 

Their eyes...their eyes can speak volumes...of the hope that is in each female for someone to love her, protect her, tell her she is important. They plead for justice, equality and liberation. They show strength of character, determination and love for her family. They can also convey loss, fear, hopelessness and despair.

Jesus saw this in the eyes of the widow whose son had just died (Luke 11:1), the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and so many others throughout His time on earth. Their eyes spoke volumes about their suffering. And His heart was moved with tenderness and compassion for them. He reached out to not only heal and free them but to touch them and call them "daughter" (Matthew 9:22). 

He broke all societal norms in His inclusion and outreach toward women. He elevated the status of women more than any other human ever has. It is a testament to the power of the Gospel that where true, heartfelt Christianity spreads, women and girls benefit.
One such example can be seen in the life of William Carey, missionary to India. 

"William Carey," argues an (Indian) female social science scholar, "was the first man to stand against both the ruthless murders and widespread oppression of women, virtually synonymous with Hinduism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The male in India was crushing the female through polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, widow-burning, euthanasia and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. The British Government timidly accepted these social evils as being an irreversible and an intrinsic part of India's religious mores. 

Carey began to conduct systematic sociological and scriptural research. He published his reports in order to raise public opinion and protest both in Bengal and England. He influenced a whole generation of civil servants, his students at Fort William College, to resist these evils. 

Carey opened schools for girls. When widows converted to Christianity, he arranged marriages for them rather than allowing them to be burned alive. It was Carey's persistent 25 year battle against sati that finally led to Lord Bentinck's famous Edict in 1829, banning one of the most abominable of all religious practices in the world: "widow-burning." (Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi).

Today, the eyes that haunt me most are those of Muslim women and girls. Their fate is similar, in many ways, to the Indian women of Carey's time. Polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, honor killings and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. Yet the American government, in many ways, seems to mirror the British government by timidly accepting these social evils as being an irreversible and an intrinsic part of Muslim religious mores. 

Why? Political correctness, fear of being named racist or intolerant of Islam? 

Whatever the reason, as in the time of William Carey, it is not going to be the government of America, or any other nation, that speaks up for the Muslim women. It MUST be the Church. 

We must allow God to break our hearts for these women and girls. We must pray for them...especially that they would find Isa (Jesus), the One who loves them and can provide them with hope they have never known. We must reach out to Muslim women in our area...ask God to show you one or two and then pray for them and become their friends.

Their eyes...they can speak of pain that an American woman can not even fathom, but they can also speak of peace and joy that only Jesus, the lover of their souls, can give them. 

The Promised Land

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide:

"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.

I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.

Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west.

No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:1-9

God impressed a thought on me a few nights ago when I was reading, in Unashamed by Francine Rivers, about the Israelites' refusal to enter and claim the Promised Land. Their refusal resulted in them having to wander in the desert for forty years until a new generation rose up who would walk in obedience to God. Is it like that today with the same area of the world -- the Middle East?

God wants His people to go in and take the land, spiritually, for Christ. He has promised His miraculous power and presence to break down the walls of Islam, Judaism and other barriers. But how often, in the past, has God's people shrank back in fear of the people living in the land?

This time, the army God is raising up does not come in with swords of death but with the sword of the Spirit - the Word of God! He is raising up a generation of Christians from all over the world who are burdened for the Muslims, the Jews and the Middle East, who are not afraid, who will go in because they know God is on their side.

This time, the work will not be the external work of the Old Covenant (destruction/subjugation of the enemy) but the internal work of the New Covenant (construction of new hearts).

This new generation is made up mainly of Asians and Africans - a "generation who has been hardened by desert living, a generation who has been in the presence of Power from their birth," (Rivers).

Good advice for Christians entering the "Promised Land" of the Middle East: "You're young and on fire...but you must be coolheaded and wise as a serpent. Do not stroll into the (area) like a conqueror. Keep your head down. Seek out an establishment that will know the mind of the people." That is just what many Christians are doing as they enter the Middle East with the Gospel. God has set apart many who know Him...although often secretly (like Rahab of old). These "Rahab's" are waiting for Christians to come and tell them more about Jesus (Isa).

May we remember God's Promised Land and its people and pray for their salvation and that God will send even more workers into this harvest field!

The Eyes of a Woman

Their eyes...their eyes can speak volumes...of the hope that is in each female for someone to love her, protect her, tell her she is important. They plead for justice, equality and liberation. They show strength of character, determination and love for her family. They can also convey loss, fear, hopelessness and despair.

Jesus saw this in the eyes of the widow whose son had just died (Luke 11:1), the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and so many others throughout His time on earth. Their eyes spoke volumes about their suffering. And His heart was moved with tenderness and compassion for them. He reached out to not only heal and free them but to touch them and call them "daughter" (Matthew 9:22).

He broke all societal norms in His inclusion and outreach toward women. He elevated the status of women more than any other human ever has. It is a testament to the power of the Gospel that where true, heartfelt Christianity spreads, women and girls benefit.
One such example can be seen in the life of William Carey, missionary to India. 

"William Carey," argues an (Indian) female social science scholar, "was the first man to stand against both the ruthless murders and widespread oppression of women, virtually synonymous with Hinduism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The male in India was crushing the female through polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, widow-burning, euthanasia and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. The British Government timidly accepted these social evils as being an irreversible and an intrinsic part of India's religious mores. 

Carey began to conduct systematic sociological and scriptural research. He published his reports in order to raise public opinion and protest both in Bengal and England. He influenced a whole generation of civil servants, his students at Fort William College, to resist these evils. 

Carey opened schools for girls. When widows converted to Christianity, he arranged marriages for them rather than allowing them to be burned alive. It was Carey's persistent 25 year battle against sati that finally led to Lord Bentinck's famous Edict in 1829, banning one of the most abominable of all religious practices in the world: "widow-burning." (Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi).

Today, the eyes that haunt me most are those of Muslim women and girls. Their fate is similar, in many ways, to the Indian women of Carey's time. Polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, honor killings and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. Yet the American government, in many ways, seems to mirror the British government by timidly accepting these social evils as being an irreversible and an intrinsic part of Muslim religious mores. 

Why? Political correctness, fear of being named racist or intolerant of Islam? 

Whatever the reason, as in the time of William Carey, it is not going to be the government of America, or any other nation, that speaks up for the Muslim women. It MUST be the Church. 

We must allow God to break our hearts for these women and girls. We must pray for them...especially that they would find Isa (Jesus), the One who loves them and can provide them with hope they have never known. We must reach out to Muslim women in our area...ask God to show you one or two and then pray for them and become their friends.

Their eyes...they can speak of pain that an American woman can not even fathom, but they can also speak of peace and joy that only Jesus, the lover of their souls, can give them. 

Dreams of the Muslims

For decades, a phenomenon has been recurring in the Muslim world. Men and women – without any knowledge of the Gospel and without any contact with Christians – have been forever transformed after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Reports of these supernatural occurrences often come from “closed countries” where preaching the Gospel is forbidden and where converting to Christianity can invoke the death sentence. A common denominator appears to be that the dreams come to those who are seeking to know and please God.

Ramadan is the time of year when Muslims are earnestly seeking to know Allah. Unfortunately, Allah is not a god to be known. Unlike the Lord God who makes His way known through His Word and most lovingly through the personhood of Jesus Christ ("He is the image of the invisible God" Colossians 1:15), Allah is a distant god.

"The first of the Ten Commandments is that we are to love the God of the Bible with our whole heart; but never does the Koran say a Muslim is to love Allah.  You cannot love Allah, because he is unknowable.  The God of the Bible can be known and repeatedly calls upon men to know Him; but the Koran says no one can know Allah because he is too great.  

In spite of being infinite, without beginning and end, and the Creator of the universe, the biblical God reveals himself so that men can know Him.  Jesus himself said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).  No one knows Allah," (taken from www.menorah.org).

This same idea, that God is love while Allah is not known for his love, was expressed in an email from a friend who is a Christian pastor in Iraq: "however the attributes of our God is totally different than Allah in Islam. Allah in Islam has 99 names and it is missing the one we have which is "God is Love".

The Bible says, in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will 

prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."

Amazingly, this is what is happening in the Arab world! All you need to do is type in "God appearing to Muslims in visions and dreams" to find a number of internet resources concerning this. One site, Isa al Masih, talks about this at great length. I'd like to close this entry by sharing some of the various dreams with you. 

Please pray that when Muslims are earnestly seeking a God they can know, that they will not continue their faith in Allah but will find faith in the One, True God who can be known through Jesus Christ (Isa)! 

God is Great! Just as He did in the past, God is showing His mercy and guidance to Muslims throughout the world today! Read the following story portions from Muslims worldwide who have reported such dreams and now follow Isa al Masih as their Savior:

"...two angels dressed in white robes stood on top of the mountain. Jesus was standing between the angels. He left the angels and came to where I stood watching. As he approached me, I knelt down and he laid his hands on my head..." 

"...['D.'] dreamt he was sitting with his arms tied to a chair. Then he saw a man he recognized as Jesus coming. Jesus touched the ropes and they fell from his arms..."

"...In the dream, Jesus told me to come to Him and read the Bible and He would show me the way, truth and the life..." 

"...I was standing in a cross shape with a low wall around it. In my right hand, I had a big stack of white unwritten papers. I was standing at the cross beam, and I was looking to a small group of people who were standing at the top. They all wore long white clothing, but one of them was different. He was standing at the right side, and with his left hand he was leading the people through a door in the wall. Beyond the door was light, and I could not see what was in there. One moment I was standing in the dream, and the next moment I was seeing the cross from above..."

"...I saw some Christians standing in line to get into Heaven. I tried to get into this line also, but a very tall being blocked my path and I started to cry because the side I was on was really horrible but the side they were on was a beautiful place, so beautiful, so blue..." 

"...I went back to bed after a short prayer and saw a second dream. This time it was Jesus as I saw him in the Jesus film years ago and I had trashed his video. He was hanging on the cross, the nails were in his hands and feet, yet he was smiling at me and talking to me. Though he was dying he seemed so beautiful. The cross was huge and I seemed like a little boy. My neck was falling back trying to see the whole face of Jesus and suddenly a huge big circle of light came from above the cross and down upon me..." 

"...I was swimming. It was very dark, without any stars in the sky. After swimming for a while, I stopped and looked up at the sky. Suddenly, I saw a star shining. I closed my eyes and made a wish. I said, 'Morning Star, teach me the secret of life'...I kept having this dream for years almost every other month and this pattern continued until a few months after my conversion, when I read Rev. 22:16, which says, 'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star'..." 

"Do Not Pray for Easy Lives; Pray to be Stronger"

I wanted to share a writing that impacted me. This is by Samuel Marinus Zwemer (April 12, 1867-April 2, 1952), nicknamed "The Apostle to Islam." He was an American missionary, traveler, scholar, and a missionary to Busrah, Bahrein, and other locations in Arabia from 1891 to 1905. Famously turned down by the American Missionary Society, which resulted in him going overseas alone, he founded and edited the publication The Moslem World.  His greatest contribution to missions was that of stirring Christians to the need for evangelism among Muslims.

I believe that need should be stirred again today! The Muslim people are the most unreached people of the world. They comprise a vast majority of the 10/40 Window and in some places have as many as 3 missionaries per million Muslims. Their's is the second fastest growing religion in the world, after Christianity. 

The Glory of the Impossible

by Samuel M. Zwemer

The challenge of the unoccupied fields of the world is one to great faith and, therefore to great sacrifice. Our willingness to sacrifice for an enterprise is always in proportion to our faith in that enterprise. Faith has the genius of transforming the barely possible into actuality. Once men are dominated by the conviction that a thing must be done, they will stop at nothing until it is accomplished. 

Frequent set-backs and apparent failure never dishearten the real pioneer. Occasional martyrdoms are only a fresh incentive. Opposition is a stimulus to greater activity. Great victory has never been possible without great sacrifice. If the winning of Port Arthur required human bullets, we cannot expect to carry the Port Arthurs and Gibraltars of the non-Christian world without loss of life. Does it really matter how many die or how much money we spend in opening closed doors, and in occupying the different fields, if we really believe that missions are warfare and that the King’s Glory is at stake? War always means blood and treasure. Our only concern should be to keep the fight aggressive and to win victory regardless of cost or sacrifice. The unoccupied fields of the world must have their Calvary before they can have their Pentecost.  

The unoccupied fields of the world await those who are willing to be lonely for the sake of Christ. To the pioneer missionary, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to the apostles when He showed them His hands and His feet, come with special force: “As my Father hath sent Me, even so send I you”. He came and His welcome was derision, His life suffering, and His throne the Cross. As He came, He expects us to go. We must follow in His footprints. The pioneer missionary, in overcoming obstacles and difficulties, has the privilege not only of knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, but also something of the fellowship of His suffering. 

(And what is that suffering but the) glory of the impossible! Who would naturally prefer to leave the warmth and comfort of hearth and home and the love of the family circle to go after a lost sheep, whose cry we have faintly heard in the howling of the tempest? Yet such is the glory of the task that neither home-ties nor home needs can hold back those who have caught the vision and the spirit of the Great Shepherd. Because the lost ones are His sheep, and He has made us His shepherds and not His hirelings, we must bring them back.  

(We go out) not with hatchet and brand, but with the Sword of the Spirit and with the Belt of Truth. They went and blazed the way for those that followed after. Their scars were the seal of their apostleship, and they gloried also in tribulation. Like the pioneer Apostle Paul, “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and approving themselves as ministers of God in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in watching, in fasting.”

If the uttermost confines of the Roman Empire were part of (Paul's missionary)  program who had already preached Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum in the first century, we surely, at the beginning of the twentieth century, should have no less ambition to enter every unoccupied field that “they may see to whom no tidings came and that those who have not heard may understand.”

In the first days of Christianity, there is an absence of the calculating spirit. Most of the Apostles died outside of Palestine, though human logic would have forbidden them to leave the country until it had been Christianized. The calculating instinct is death to faith, and had the Apostles allowed it to control their motives and actions, they would have said: ‘The need in Jerusalem is so profound, our responsibilities to people of our own blood so obvious, that we must live up to the principle that charity begins at home. After we have won the people of Jerusalem, of Judea and of the Holy Land in general, then it will be time enough to go abroad; but our problems, political, moral and religious, are so unsolved here in this one spot that it is manifestly absurd to bend our shoulders to a new load.’”

It was the bigness of the task and its difficulty that thrilled the early Church. Its apparent impossibility was its glory, its world-wide character its grandeur. The same is true today.

He that ploweth the virgin soil should plow in hope. God never disappoints His husbandmen. The harvest always follows the seed time. “When we first came to our field,” writes missionary Hogberg from Central Asia, “it was impossible to gather even a few people to hear the glad tidings of the Gospel. We could not gather any children for school. We could not spread gospels or tracts. When building the new station, we also had a little chapel built. Then we wondered, will this room ever be filled up with Moslems listening to the Gospel? Our little chapel has been filled with hearers and still a larger room! Day after day we may preach as much as we have strength to, and the Moslems no longer object to listen to the Gospel truth. ‘Before your coming hither no one spoke or thought of Jesus Christ, now everywhere one hears His name,’ a Mohammedan said to me. At the beginning of our work they threw away the Gospels or burnt them, or brought them back again - now they buy them, kiss the books, and touching it to the forehead and pressing it to the heart, they show the highest honor that a Moslem can show a book.”

But the pioneer husbandman must have long patience. When Adoniram Judson was lying loaded with chains in a Burmese dungeon, a fellow prisoner asked with a sneer about the prospect for the conversion of the heathen. Judson calmly answered, “The prospects are as bright as are the promises of God.” There is scarcely a country today which is not as accessible, or where the difficulties are greater, than was the case in Burma when Judson faced them and overcame.

The prospects for the evangelization of all the unoccupied fields are “as bright as the promises of God.” Why should we longer wait to evangelize them?

Is there a more heroic test for the powers of manhood than pioneer work in the mission field? Here is opportunity for those who at home may never find elbow-room for their latent capacities, who may never find adequate scope elsewhere for all the powers of their minds and their souls. There are hundreds of Christian college men who expect to spend life in practicing law or in some trade for a livelihood, yet who have strength and talent enough to enter these unoccupied fields. There are young doctors who might gather around them in some new mission station thousands of those who “suffer the horrors of heathenism and Islam,” and lift their burden of pain, but who now confine their efforts to some “pent-up Utica” where the healing art is subject to the law of competition and is measured too often merely in terms of a cash-book and ledger. They are making a living; they might be making a life.

Bishop Phillips Brooks once threw down the challenge of a big task in these words: “Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.” He could not have chosen words more applicable if he had spoken of the evangelization of the unoccupied fields of the world with all their baffling difficulties and their glorious impossibilities. God can give us power for the task. He was sufficient for those who went out in the past, and is sufficient for those who go out today.

When David Livingstone visited Cambridge University, on December 4, 1857, he made an earnest appeal for (Africa), which was then almost wholly an unoccupied field. His words, which were in a sense his last will and testament for college men, as regards Africa, may well close this book:“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink, but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”

Do Not Fear the Muslims

"Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them." (Deuteronomy 1:29)

The Bible tells us more than 365 times not to be afraid, do not fear. But do we hear Him? Do we believe God when He says He will be with us and that we should not be afraid? 

The Muslim world terrifies many Christians. Images of hooded terrorists chopping heads off, of towers burning, of mobs chanting and lifting high their weapons seems to have immobilized the progress of the Christian Church into the Muslim world. Statistics speak this truth plainly. The greatest concentration of Muslims is in a place labeled the 10/40 Window which includes North Africa, the Middle East and Southern Asia. Many of these countries are predominantly Muslim. The Western Church sends only 1 out of every 40 missionaries to this region according to Jason Mandryk in State of the Gospel  This means that in many Muslim countries there are less than three missionaries per one million people. 

Why the imbalance...part of it is that many in the Western Christian Church fear the Muslims. 

Yet “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7. The Church needs to believe in the power of God to overcome the obstacles Satan has placed in the 10/40 Window. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the Lord. We need to believe this and move out in trust, wisdom and power. 

We also, as Christians, need to learn about the Muslims. What do they believe? What is their family life like? What makes them happy, sad, concerned? As we learn about them, God can begin to break our hearts for them. They need to hear of the love of Jesus. They need someone who is willing to cast aside fear, which so easily entangles, and follow the call of Christ into the Muslim world. Jesus is waiting, but He needs obedient servants.

There are many stories of how God uses the willing servant to reach the Muslim people who He loves. One is set in a nomadic Muslim group in Sub-Saharan Africa, where a single woman is effectively training Imams (Islamic teachers) in the gospel. They perceive her to be non-threatening, 'just a woman.' Building upon a foundation of interpersonal relationship and Biblical knowledge, she does not give them answers herself, but directs them to the Word. The Lord has confirmed her teaching giving dreams and visions to these leaders. As they have been converted, they are now training many others. She is accepted as a loving, caring elder sister, who gives high priority to their welfare," (from Women in Mission by Marguerite Kraft and Meg Crossman)

We can begin today by praying for them specifically, learning about them and then asking God how He would have us reach out to the Muslim world, be it our neighbor, a university student in our city or to an unreached people group half way around the world. 

I Against My Brother

I just watched a really good video on what it is like to be a Christian in Somalia. You can watch it below

 The website  I Against My Brother also has a 4-page Bible study for use after watching the film. This would be great for Sunday School, small groups and even homeschooling. The below news report is by CBN:


Muslims turning to Christ in Somalia is the subject of the new short film "I Against My Brother."

At only 15 minutes long, producers hope the film will become an evangelism tool -- something that Somalis could even watch on a cell phone.

"I Against My Brother" dramatizes the true story of a Somali woman who came to believe in Christ.

For her the cost was extremely high. In Somalia, she says, being a Muslim is seen as a part of being Somali.

"Somali people are very close. We share everything," the woman said in the film. "In our house there was only one room and there were seven of us."

In a surprise move to the city, the Somali woman encounters a Christian family. They show her God's love as they befriend her.

She then started reading the Bible in secret.

"I thought, 'Even if this (the Bible) is true, there's no way I can accept it. I'm a Somali. There's no other world I can go live in. If I accept this I will be killed,'" the woman recalled.

Eventually, the woman converted. The movie shows the real dangers she faced after coming to Christ.

The filmmaker told CBN News those dangers make it tough for Somali Christians to worship. They've even had to remain anonymous for this story due to security concerns.

"Somali Christians are very underground. They don't know each other. As far as I know there's no church of Somali believers pastored by a Somali pastor," one of the filmmakers said.

The filmmakers hope the Western church will watch the movie and pray for Somalis.

"The Somali people make international news almost every week for stuff that's really terrible," the other producer added.

"There's piracy, there's terrorism, there's the war in Somalia, there's the refugee camps," he continued. "And we want the church as they read these headlines to have a different response than the world has."

The filmmakers also hope that small groups will take advantage of online bible study materials -- and commit to praying weekly for the persecuted church in Somalia.

The way of victory

"because of the tender mercy of our God, 

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness 

and in the shadow of death, 

to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Luke 1:78-79

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened

 in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, 

the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

That power is like the working of his mighty strength,

which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead

and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms"

Ephesians 1:18-20

During this past week, there has been much talk within my own family, on Facebook amongst friends and in the news, about two Christians who are facing the death penalty from Muslim governments for believing in Jesus - Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani of Iran and Asia Bibi of Pakistan. In addition, the news is full of reports about the killing of Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. 

How should we respond as Christians and Americans? What response would glorify God?

I believe we can find the right response if we look to our Lord Jesus as an example. He modeled for us both tenderness and strength. These two qualities, living within us and working in agreement, are what we need to respond to the Muslim question.

"Christ Jesus is the artist. He created the world with colors and textures human artists have tried for thousands of years to imitate. Christ Jesus is the musician. He gave the angels their voices. Christ Jesus is the tenderhearted, ministering to our every need.

Christ Jesus is also the warrior, forever leading us in triumphant procession, if only we will follow

(2 Corinthians 2:14). In our great weakness, He is strong. Christ Jesus is the blessed embodiment of both characteristics. He has set an example before us of true manhood and true womanhood," (from A Heart Like His by Beth Moore).

We must model the tenderness of Christ toward the Muslims. Each Muslim was created in God's image, tenderly and lovingly by His own hand. He desires their salvation. He loves them and asks each of us to love them, to desire good for them, to befriend them and share with them the good news of salvation.

Ultimately, the battle is not for freedom in America or anywhere else on this earth. It is ultimately for the freedom of each soul. Hatred and anger will only close doors to the Muslim world that need to be left open if they will ever have the hope of finding Christ as their Savior.

We must also model the strength of Christ toward the threat of an Islamic take-over of our nation and the world. When I survey the evil that is done in the name of this religion it chills me. 

I believe that Satan knows his time is short. Christ will return in triumph and strength, but in the mean time, the devil is throwing every kind of evil and stronghold he can at the human race, and much of it is embodied in Islam. We must, as a nation, recognize this evil and do all we can to stop the spread of this religion to our own land and the other nations.

Yet, how do we show the strength to stop this evil? Is it ultimately through our military might? I don't think so. Take Afghanistan and Iraq for an example. Has our military presence in these two nations truly stopped the spread of Islamic fundamentalism? Are the people any more free to choose Christ as their Savior or do they still live under the fear of honor killings and other such violence if they leave Islam?

Do we kill them all? Does that really stop Islam? No...more and more young men, angered by loss and brainwashed by Imams, will step forward to fill the shoes of those who died in jihad. And ultimately, is that victory in Christ...killing human enemies? That was the mistake made by the Crusades.

The only way to truly stop the spread of Islam is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, showing strength toward Satan and gentleness toward the Muslims. We must win them with the love of Christ.

That is how the Romans, Vikings, Goths, African and Asian tribes, Irish Druids and so many others were turned from their murderous ways. It was with strength toward Satan and tenderness toward the individuals. They were stopped with the love of Christ.

We must model gentleness and strength toward any enemy in this world. It is not the way of weakness but the way of victory.

Riding the Camel

The Middle East, Muslims, persecution, Sharia Law -- fear, violence, opposition. Where is the hope for the Muslims? Is God working amongst them? Well, consider two other regions many looked on as "hopeless" at one time.

Africa, the year 1900, 3% Christian -- "closed to the Gospel and hopeless," many people thought. But God didn't! Today, Africa is more than 50% Christian!

China, the year 1950, all foreign Christians had been kicked out and the country would soon undergo Mao's reign of terror, only 1 million believers. "Christianity will die in China" many people thought. But God had other plans! Today in China - more than 80 million Christians with an average of 10,000 - 23,000 new Christians daily!

Africa and China are just two examples of areas in the world where God worked behind the scenes, drawing people to Himself. Today He is doing the same in the Muslim World.

In his book, The Camel  How Muslims Are Coming to Faith in Christ!, Kevin Greeson shares just part of the amazing and encouraging story of how God is drawing Muslims to Himself.

The Muslim World of the past 1,000 years has seemed a very difficult mission field. There are countless stories of Muslims being persecuted when they accept Christ, even by their own families. The 10/40 Window, which lies across Africa and Asia from 10 degrees latitude north of the equator to 40 degrees latitude north of the equator, has 865 million unreached Muslims alone. Many may wonder about God's plan for the Muslim people when it seems so few are following Him.

Yet, things are changing. In Afghanistan, before Sept. 11, 2001, there were only 17 known Muslim-background followers of Christ. Today there are more than 10,000. Iran, the country in the Middle East with the fastest Christian growth, estimates the number of Christians could be as high as 1 million.

One big change is what Greeson talks about in his book. It's not a change in Muslims but a change in Christians. "After centuries of witness to Muslims using methods that seemed right to Christians, we are now taking a different approach. We are learning how Muslim-background believers (MBBs) witness to and win their own people. We see them answering questions that Muslims have and addressing concerns that are important to them."

That's where CAMEL comes in. CAMEL is an acronym which stands for: Chosen, Announced by angels, Miracles, Eternal Life. All of these truths about Jesus can be found in the Koran - the Muslim holy book. MBBs, also known as Isahi (Jesus) Muslims, are using the Koran as a bridge to share the message of Jesus...and it's working!

"God has filled the world with redemptive bridges, analogies and metaphors that point both to our need for salvation and to the hope of salvation. If we use the bridges well, they can also point us to the Bible as God's revealed truth about our fallen condition and His plan of salvation." These redemptive bridges, which I spoke about in A Witness in Every Culture, help translate the Gospel into each culture.

Christianity is often seen as a "Western religion" by many Muslims. "In their eyes Western Christianity is associated with the same American culture they view on television, leading many of them to reject the Gospel as an extension of American culture." But through the CAMEL method, Muslims are being shown that Jesus came for them as well. They are understanding that to become a Christian, they must undergo a spiritual conversion, but not a cultural conversion. They are being shown that the Koran talks about Jesus as being the only one who has ever come from Heaven and returned to Heaven, thus being the only one who really knows the way to get to Heaven. Using the Koran as the initial way to speak to Muslims about Jesus places the MBBs and other Christian missionaries "on common ground with the Muslims to whom they are witnessing."

As Muslims, whom God is already preparing to hear His Gospel message, hear this approach, they are showing great interest. "Consider the evidence: 'More Muslims have come to Christ in the past two decades that at any other time in history.' In North Africa, 50-60,000 Berber Muslims are now followers of Jesus Christ. A Turkic republic saw 4,000 Muslims come to know Jesus as Savior in one year. A mission group in India reported that they have seen an increase from three Muslim-background believers to 1,200 in only eight months. Another mission effort working in north India is reporting 9,500 baptisms among Muslims in only four years. Over the past decade and a half, 13,000 Muslim Kazakhs have come to faith in Christ."

Greeson's book gives step-by-step guidance in how to share Jesus Christ with a Muslim by pointing that person to the Koran as a bridge to the Bible. He also talks about an important Muslim holy day, know as Korbani-Eid, which centers around a Muslim sacrificial ceremony. This ceremony, in a few very powerful ways, points to the sacrifice that Jesus made for each of us and helps Muslims see His love for them.

Greeson points out another encouraging truth: new believers, who have come to know Christ through the CAMEL method, are experiencing much less severe persecution from other Muslims than anticipated. "The relatively low number of martyrs and relatively mild persecution was probably due to the way these Isahi Muslims used the Qur'an as a bridge, conducted family-based evangelism and rejected association with Western culture."

In many Muslim countries there are less than three missionaries per one million people. The need for missionaries to the Muslims, both MMBs and Christians from other nations, is great! And “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7.

Kevin Greeson's book introduces a very powerful way to share the Gospel with Muslims, to bridge into their culture with the good news of Jesus Christ, using their holy book and their holy day as that bridge.  They need to hear of the love of Jesus. They need someone who is willing to cast aside fear, which so easily entangles, and follow the call of Christ into the Muslim world. Jesus is waiting, but He needs obedient servants.

God and Allah - are they the same?

Muslims praying to Allah in Indonesia

Let me begin by saying...I do not claim to be an expert on Islam in any way. I write this article because this question has burdened my heart. I have asked God for His wisdom and also talked to some friends, who work with Muslims, for their thoughts.

The question I want to address - Is Allah God?

The answer I have come up with is no and yes.

I'll begin with comparing Jehovah God to Allah in the Koran.

The god of Islam, Allah, as defined by the Koran, is seen as creator of the universe, all powerful and the One who determines the fate of all men...just as the Biblical God. But there are many ways in which they are not the same.

"Allah is presented in the Koran as an autocratic ruler who is aloof and arbitrary (Sura 5:40). Allah is unknowable whereas the God of the Bible is knowable (2 Timothy 1:12). Allah is impersonal, unlike the personal God the Scriptures reveal (1 Peter 5:6-7). Allah is unitarian (Sura 4:48) whereas the God of the Bible is trinitarian (2 Corinthians 13:14). Here is what the Koran says about the God of the Bible (Sura 4:171): “Believe in Allah and say not ‘Trinity.’ Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One God. Far is it removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son.”

Allah is capricious (Sura 2:284), whereas the true God is trustworthy. And Allah is never anywhere presented as a god of love — which is the essence of the nature of the true God (1 John 4:7-16).

Jesus — The Koran denies point blank that Jesus was the Son of God (Sura 112:2-3). It also denies His atoning sacrifice by claiming that he never died (Sura 4:157). A substitute died for Him on the Cross. The Koran teaches that Jesus was translated to Heaven, like Enoch, where He will remain until He returns to kill all pigs, destroy all crosses, and convert the world to Islam. Jesus will marry, reign for 40 years and then die and be buried next to Muhammad in Medina. Jesus is characterized in the Koran as nothing more than “an apostle of Allah” (Sura 4:171). "

Source: The Truth About Islam Dr. David R. Reagan...to read more see God and Allah

There is much more you can read about this topic, so I will sum it up by saying that overall, the character and nature of Allah, as declared by the Koran and his followers, has some similarities but many differences to the character and nature of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I do not believe that they are the same God at all. I do not believe that when Muslims pray to Allah and we pray to God our Father, that we are praying to the same God.

However, I do not want to stop here, which is where I believe so many Christians stop...which is where I stopped until recently.

As I spoke about in earlier blogs - A witness in every culture and in earlier ones,  The incredible power of God and Eternity in their hearts, for Christians to reach out to an entirely foreign people group, it is so important for them to find a culture key...something in that people group's culture that will help them relate to Jesus, that will open the door to the Gospel, that will show them that God has left a witness for Himself within their culture (Rom. 1:20, Acts 14:16-17, Romans 2:14-15 and Psalms 19:1-4).

I believe, as do many other Christians, that one of the main culture keys for the Muslims is the word Allah. Before I say anymore, I want to share with you the words from a friend of mine, Malath, who is a pastor in Iraq. He has worked with Muslims his whole life and knows much about sharing Christ with them.

"Allah is the name of God in Arabic. In our Arabic Bible, it is written Allah, so we are using the same term to express our faith in God. That is good because we consider that as a common ground between us.

However, the attributes of our God are totally different than Allah in Islam. Allah in Islam has 99 names and it is missing the one we have, which is "God is Love." So we use this name, "God is Love," to reach them (Muslims) and tell them that our God loves us and them as well. At our church in Iraq, we supply some food and children gifts to show them the love of our God.

Also Allah in Islam is very hard to reach or talk to, so we tell them it is not hard or impossible at all in Christianity. We as His people can be in fellowship with God...known to them as Allah. Also, as you know, there is no insurance of salvation in Islam, not like us, so you can use this also. All these things show to Muslims, in indirect ways, that our God is different than Allah in Islam."

So, while Allah and God are not the same God, the term "Allah" as referring to a creator and all-powerful God, can be used as a common bond, a culture key, a redemptive analogy, in order to introduce the God of the Bible to Muslims. This has been done by numerous Christians throughout the centuries...in fact, as Malath stated, the Arabic translation of the Bible uses Allah as the word for God.

This was reiterated by my missions teacher, Dr. Goodwin, himself a missionary for many years, who said, "My understanding, from talking with Egyptian Christians, is that the word Allah is simply the Arabic word for God.  The word was around a long time before Islam started."

The use of this culture key, by Christians, has not been lost on Muslim leadership. "Millions of Christians in Indonesia (which has the highest number of Muslims of any country but also has a sizable number of Christians) use Allah for God and Tuhan Allah for Lord God. Perhaps because of this, Indonesian Christians have been much more effective in winning Muslims to Christ than any other Christians. Let is also be known that Muslims in some Muslim nations, knowing the access the name Allah gives to the Muslim heart, are passing laws to forbid Christians from using it in reference to the Gospel of Christ," Don Richardson in Redemptive Analogy.  Malaysian Christians still banned from using "Allah" , Malaysian Muslims attack churches over Christian references to Allah

In conclusion, I do not believe that God and Allah are the same, however, when reaching out to Muslims, Christians can find common ground in the name "Allah" to reference a creator, all powerful God. They can use the Muslims' understanding of God as a beginning to an understanding of who Christ is. We as Christians must defend the tenants of our faith, but we must also diligently seek for ways to share Christ with those who have a hard time understanding that Jesus came to die for them.

Jesus in the Qur'an

The Qur'an

Jesus in the Qur’an

What do the Muslim people know about Jesus? Does their holy book, the Qur'an/Koran, teach them anything about Jesus? The answer is yes...it does. 


Jesus is usually referred to in the Qur’an by the name Isa. Various titles, roles and activities are attributed to Jesus. Here are a few examples:

• Jesus is the word of God: Sura: 3:45 - The angels said, "O Mary, GOD gives you good news: a Word from Him whose name is 'The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary.' He will be prominent in this life and in the Hereafter, and one of those closest to Me.
• Sura 5:46 - Subsequent to them, we sent Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming the previous scripture, the Torah. We gave him the Gospel, containing guidance and light, and confirming the previous scriptures, the Torah, and augmenting its guidance and light, and to enlighten the righteous. 
• Sura 57:27 - ‘In their footsteps we caused our messengers to follow, and we caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow, and we gave him the Gospel.’

• Jesus is Messiah: Sura: 3:45 - ‘God giveth thee tidings of a word from himself whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary.

• Prophet or a Messenger from God: Sura: 3:49 - As a messenger to the Children of Israel: "I come to you with a sign from your Lord—I create for you from clay the shape of a bird, then I blow into it, and it becomes a live bird by GOD's leave. I restore vision to the blind, heal the leprous, and I revive the dead by GOD's leave. I can tell you what you eat, and what you store in your homes. This should be a proof for you, if you are believers.
• Sura - 57:27 - Subsequent to them, we sent our messengers. We sent Jesus the son of Mary, and we gave him the Injeel (Gospel), and we placed in the hearts of his followers kindness and mercy. 

• Raised the dead and healed the sick: Sura: 3:49 - I restore vision to the blind, heal the leprous, and I revive the dead by GOD's leave. I can tell you what you eat, and what you store in your homes. This should be a proof for you, if you are believers.
• Sura 5:110 - GOD will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My blessings upon you and your mother. I supported you with the Holy Spirit, to enable you to speak to the people from the crib, as well as an adult. I taught you the scripture, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel. Recall that you created from clay the shape of a bird by My leave, then blew into it, and it became a live bird by My leave. You healed the blind and the leprous by My leave, and revived the dead by My leave

• Pure, sinless: Sura: 19:19 - He said, "I am the messenger of your Lord, to grant you a pure son."

One of the reasons you will find Jesus mentioned in the Qur'an is because the religion has its roots in Judaism and Christianity. However, even if the Qur’anic ideas listed above are the same or similar to Biblical ideas, Muslims never think of Jesus as being divine or as saving us through his death and resurrection. They do not believe He is the Son of God. They think of him only as a prophet who brought a book called the “Gospel.”

According to Islam, Jesus was actually a good Muslim and he taught an earlier form of Islam to the Jewish people. One can find a Muslim account of the life of Jesus in the so called “Gospel of Barnabas.” This document teaches that Jesus will come again one day, he will marry, he will have children. He will correct the errors which Christians have said about him. He will die, he will be buried in Medina and be judged like all men at the Last Judgement.

Why should a Christian know these things? What does it matter what the Qur'an says about Jesus?

Because the best way to touch a Muslim's heart and to share with them the truth about Jesus is to begin with what they know and believe. They believe the Qur'an. Thus, they believe some truths about Jesus. Those truths can be a starting point from which to share the full truth, the Gospel, of Jesus Christ.


The above information came from the following websites:
30-days Prayer Network
Jesus in the Qur'an

Dreams and Visions of the Muslims

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all 

people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young 

men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." 

Acts 2:17

For decades, a phenomenon has been recurring in the Muslim world. Men and women – without any knowledge of the Gospel and without any contact with Christians – have been forever transformed after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Reports of these supernatural occurrences often come from “closed countries” where preaching the Gospel is forbidden and where converting to Christianity can invoke the death sentence. A common denominator appears to be that the dreams come to those who are seeking to know and please God.

Ramadan is the time of year when Muslims are earnestly seeking to know Allah. Unfortunately, Allah is not a god to be known. Unlike the Lord God who makes His way known through His Word and most lovingly through the personhood of Jesus Christ ("He is the image of the invisible God" Colossians 1:15), Allah is a distant god.

"The first of the Ten Commandments is that we are to love the God of the Bible with our whole heart; but never does the Koran say a Muslim is to love Allah.  You cannot love Allah, because he is unknowable.  The God of the Bible can be known and repeatedly calls upon men to know Him; but the Koran says no one can know Allah because he is too great.

In spite of being infinite, without beginning and end, and the Creator of the universe, the biblical God reveals himself so that men can know Him.  Jesus himself said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).  No one knows Allah," (taken from www.menorah.org).

This same idea, that God is love while Allah is not known for his love, was expressed to me in an email from a friend who is a Christian pastor in Iraq: "however the attributes of our God are totally different than Allah in Islam. Allah in Islam has 99 names and it is missing the one we have which is "God is Love".

The Bible says, in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will 

prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."

Amazingly, this is what is happening in the Arab world! All you need to do is type in "God appearing to Muslims in visions and dreams" to find a number of internet resources concerning this. One site, Isa al Masih, talks about this at great length. I'd like to close this entry by sharing some of the various dreams with you.

God is Great! Just as He did in the past, God is showing His mercy and guidance to Muslims throughout the world today! Read the following story portions from Muslims worldwide who have reported such dreams and now follow Isa al Masih (Jesus) as their Savior:

"...two angels dressed in white robes stood on top of the mountain. Jesus was standing between the angels. He left the angels and came to where I stood watching. As he approached me, I knelt down and he laid his hands on my head..."

"...['D.'] dreamt he was sitting with his arms tied to a chair. Then he saw a man he recognized as Jesus coming. Jesus touched the ropes and they fell from his arms..."

"...In the dream, Jesus told me to come to Him and read the Bible and He would show me the way, truth and the life..."

"...I was standing in a cross shape with a low wall around it. In my right hand, I had a big stack of white unwritten papers. I was standing at the cross beam, and I was looking to a small group of people who were standing at the top. They all wore long white clothing, but one of them was different. He was standing at the right side, and with his left hand he was leading the people through a door in the wall. Beyond the door was light, and I could not see what was in there. One moment I was standing in the dream, and the next moment I was seeing the cross from above..."

"...I saw some Christians standing in line to get into Heaven. I tried to get into this line also, but a very tall being blocked my path and I started to cry because the side I was on was really horrible but the side they were on was a beautiful place, so beautiful, so blue..."

"...I went back to bed after a short prayer and saw a second dream. This time it was Jesus as I saw him in the Jesus film years ago and I had trashed his video. He was hanging on the cross, the nails were in his hands and feet, yet he was smiling at me and talking to me. Though he was dying he seemed so beautiful. The cross was huge and I seemed like a little boy. My neck was falling back trying to see the whole face of Jesus and suddenly a huge big circle of light came from above the cross and down upon me..."

"...I was swimming. It was very dark, without any stars in the sky. After swimming for a while, I stopped and looked up at the sky. Suddenly, I saw a star shining. I closed my eyes and made a wish. I said, 'Morning Star, teach me the secret of life'...I kept having this dream for years almost every other month and this pattern continued until a few months after my conversion, when I read Rev. 22:16, which says, 'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star'..."

Please pray that during this time of Ramadan, when Muslims are earnestly seeking a God they can know, that they will not continue their faith in Allah but will find faith in the One, True God who can be known through Jesus Christ (Isa)!

Perfect love casts our fear

"Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them." (Deuteronomy 1:29)

The Bible tells us more than 365 times not to be afraid, do not fear. But do we hear Him? Do we believe God when He says He will be with us and that we should not be afraid?

The Muslim world terrifies many Christians. Images of hooded terrorists chopping heads off, of towers burning, of mobs chanting and lifting high their weapons seems to have immobilized the progress of the Christian Church into the Muslim world. Statistics speak this truth plainly. The greatest concentration of Muslims is in a place labeled the 10/40 Window which includes North Africa, the Middle East and Southern Asia. Many of these countries are predominantly Muslim. The Western Church sends only 1 out of every 40 missionaries to this region according to Jason Mandryk in State of the Gospel  This means that in many Muslim countries there are less than three missionaries per one million people.

Why the imbalance...part of it is that many in the Western Christian Church fear the Muslims.

Yet “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7. The Church needs to believe in the power of God to overcome the obstacles Satan has placed in the 10/40 Window. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the Lord. We need to believe this and move out in trust, wisdom and power.

We also, as Christians, need to learn about the Muslims. What do they believe? What is their family life like? What makes them happy, sad, concerned? As we learn about them, God can begin to break our hearts for them. They need to hear of the love of Jesus. They need someone who is willing to cast aside fear, which so easily entangles, and follow the call of Christ into the Muslim world. Jesus is waiting, but He needs obedient servants.

There are many stories of how God uses the willing servant to reach the Muslim people whom He loves. One is set in a nomadic Muslim group in Sub-Saharan Africa, where a single woman is effectively training Imams (Islamic teachers) in the gospel. They perceive her to be non-threatening, 'just a woman.' Building upon a foundation of interpersonal relationship and Biblical knowledge, she does not give them answers herself, but directs them to the Word. The Lord has confirmed her teaching giving dreams and visions to these leaders. As they have been converted, they are now training many others. She is accepted as a loving, caring elder sister, who gives high priority to their welfare," (from Women in Mission by Marguerite Kraft and Meg Crossman)

We can begin today by praying for them specifically during Ramadan, learning about them and then asking God how He would have us reach out to the Muslim world, be it our neighbor, a university student in our city or to an unreached people group half way around the world. Ask God to burden your heart for the Muslim people and to pray for them daily. 

Ramandan Prayer

The Muslim month of fasting known as Ramadan began on August 1 and will last for 30 days.  During this time, Muslims fast during daylight hours in order to purify themselves, focus on God, and gain enlightenment.

From August 1 until August 30, most Muslims will be celebrating Ramadan - the month of fasting. It is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith and coincides with the month in which they believe Mohammad received the Qur'an.

During Ramadan, Muslims carry out a "complete fast" during daylight hours. This means no food or water. The fast is broken each night with the Iftar (Arabic for "breakfast") dinner. These are usually community events involving extended families and neighbors. Many mosques also host nightly Iftar dinners.

The purpose of fasting during Ramadan is to purify yourself of bad habits and thoughts. It is also a time to focus on God. Expectations rise and many Muslims hope to see supernatural visions or have divine dreams.

PRAY FOR:

- the Lord to reveal Himself to Muslims all over the world during Ramadan. (The Bible, Deuteronomy 4:29)

- their minds to be opened to the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (The Bible, II Corinthians 4:4)

- their hearts to become good soil for the seed of the Word. (The Bible, Matthew 13:23)

- the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin and show them they cannot do enough "good works" to earn their way to heaven. Pray for them to accept the truth that salvation is found only in Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of the Living God. (The Bible, II Corinthians 7:10; Matthew 16:16)

- the Lord to give Muslims dreams and visions - especially on the night of power. (The Bible, Acts 2:19)

- the salvation of members of Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pray they will have a supernatural encounter with Christ. (The Bible, I Timothy 2:4)

- more Muslims to come to Christ during this Ramadan than in all of history combined. (The Bible, Romans 10:9,10)

- a tremendous harvest of souls as Muslims realize who Jesus Christ is and put their faith in Him as Savior and Lord. (The Bible, John 4:35)

(Taken from Window International Network