Friday, May 26, 2023

Before Jesus ascended to the Father, he promised to send the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter and Guide and empower us to witness for him. That promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. This weekend we will celebrate Pentecost Sunday to commemorate the gift of God’s Spirit to the Church. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can draw people to Christ and enable believers to achieve great things in everyday life, in evangelism, and in missions.

Over the centuries, the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ to many Muslims in different parts of the world through miracles, visions, and dreams. The great influx of Muslims coming to Christ in Indonesia in the 1960s and 1970s, and presently in some parts of Africa, can be attributed mainly to the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer

O God the Holy Spirit, come upon Muslim converts to Christ, and fill them with your power and presence. Fulfill to them Jesus’ promise of Pentecost. Holy Spirit, sanctify them, guide them to the truth, and help them lead a victorious Christian life. The environment around them is very hostile to the Gospel, and they need the fullness of the Spirit to persevere in their commitment to you.

Help them pray for others and intercede for the lost world. Inspire them with zeal and power to witness for Christ, spread the Gospel throughout the whole earth, and demonstrate God’s majesty through signs and wonders.

I pray that the time will come when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord’s glory as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Promise

I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions (Joel 2:28, NLT).

Friday, May 19, 2023

According to Islam, women are crooked, prone to temptation and are themselves a means of temptation to men! Therefore, they should be watched carefully, cover their bodies when in public and not speak to strangers.

Consequently, Muslims believe that a woman should never leave her home or community by herself. She should have an escort or a chaperone to keep an eye on her. That chaperone in Islam is called mahram. In a sense, a mahram protects a woman from herself!

Normally a mahram is a parent, sibling, son or any other male who is not eligible to marry the woman he protects.

This concept, like some other beliefs in Islam, speaks of a broken religious system that does not recognize that the real problem is the root of sin in a person’s heart. The guardians of the system think they can control sin through outward restrictions. In the case of mahram, the male who accompanies a woman is the means of protecting her from herself!

Prayer

Lord God our Maker, you created us man and woman in your own image. You endowed us with great gifts. Yet, we all have fallen in sin. None of us, away from Christ, can claim righteousness. None of us is superior to others! We do not believe that women are more sinful than men.

I pray that many Muslims, both men and women, will come to you this week through Jesus our Savior and Redeemer. Help them realize that they are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), and it is only by your grace that people can have access to you.

I offer this prayer to you in the precious name of Jesus Christ, your Son, my Lord. Amen.

Promise

Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber…. May she be blessed above all women who live in tents (Judges 5:24, NLT).

“Greetings [Mary], you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you…” Mary said, “From now on all generations will call me blessed…” (Luke 1:28, 46, 48, NIV).

Friday, May 12, 2023

Samuel M. Zwemer (1867–1952) was an American missionary to Muslims. He ministered in Egypt, Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, and various parts of Arabia. He was called an “Apostle to Islam” and the “blazing herald of the Gospel” among Muslims.^[1] As a missionary to Muslims, he accomplished incredible feats in his work, research, and writings. After years of experience, he declared: “The strength of Islam is to sit still, to forbid thought, to gag reformers, to abominate progress.” His motto was, “He who loves not, lives not; he who lives by the Life [of Christ] cannot die.”^[2]

Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for people like Samuel Zwemer. You called him and equipped him. Thank you for his courage, sacrifice and perseverance. I pray that you will call many young people and prepare them for the great task of spreading your Word among Muslims. Give them the courage to encounter opposition and hostility with perseverance and humility. As you fired Zwemer with zeal, equip these new messengers with an unshakable commitment and unswerving love for the lost.

Help them realize that the road of obedience is not always smooth. There is often a high price to pay. Samuel Zwemer and his wife buried their 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old daughter within a week of each other in Bahrain. On the graves they wrote, “Worthy is the Lamb to receive riches.” Help new missionaries be ready to pay the price of obedience.

Lord God Almighty, it is daybreak for the Gospel in the Muslim world. Manifest your glory among Muslims. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Promise

Those who trust in the Lord are like the mountain of Jerusalem, steady and can never be shaken. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so God surrounds his people both now and forevermore (Psalm 125:1-2, SAB).

Footnotes

^[1] J. Christy Wilson, Apostle to Islam, p. 4.
^[2] Samuel Zwemer, Raymund Lull, p. 45.

The King’s Great-Grandmother

Friday, May 5, 2023

Ruth became a widow at a young age. She was from the nation of Moab. When Naomi, her Israelite mother-in-law, decided to leave Moab and return to Israel, Ruth insisted on joining her. She courageously made that choice although she knew there was animosity between the two nations.

When the two women arrived in Bethlehem, all the town was aflutter with curiosity. Not too long afterward, Ruth found herself at dinner with Boaz, an influential landowner. Events rolled fast and Boaz married Ruth. She gave birth to a son who later became King David’s grandfather. Ruth, the girl from Moab, became the great-grandmother of King David and, of course, an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Read the entire Book of Ruth in the Bible.)

Prayer

Majestic God in heaven, you are the King of the ages. You guide history. You direct the affairs of eternity. You control events. You are also the God who redeems. Thank you, our Lord and Redeemer, for the story of Ruth, a foreigner and a childless widow. You turned her misery and loneliness into great and profound blessings. You honored her. No one can turn the dark night into bright morning like you.

I pray that many Muslim women will be like Ruth, full of courage to follow the only true God into an unknown future at the expense of being ostracized and ridiculed.

May the ladies who come to Jesus from Islam be filled with the assurance of your love and care. Help them realize that no sacrifice they make will go unnoticed by the Father in heaven. May their determination to follow our Lord break down the resistance in their culture. May these followers of Christ, considered “underdogs,” become leaders who bring others to you. Amen.

Promise

The women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the LORD…. your daughter-in-law… has been better to you than seven sons!” (Ruth 4:14-15, NLT).