I just finished watching this short video clip by Dalton Thomas and Joel Richardson on behalf of Frontier Alliance International.
Report from Taksim Square in Turkey
This little clip powerfully impacted my understanding of how to pray for the persecuted Christian minority in the Islamic nations of the Middle East. According to Joel Richardson, from his recent visits with Christian leaders in Egypt, God has opened a door for the gospel since the upheavals of the past two years, and Muslims are now coming to Christ in unprecedented numbers. The same is happening in Iran – despite intense persecution, Christianity is growing rapidly as the true face of Islam is exposed. He predicts it will begin to happen in Turkey as well (and Syria?). As Tertullian wrote in 197 AD, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. So instead of praying that the persecution of Christians would stop, let’s pray for our brothers and sisters in these nations to be emboldened and filled with fiery, loving faith in the midst of the persecution. And let’s pray also for the Muslim majority in these nations – people just like us, despite the cultural differences and the lies to which they have been subjected for so long – people with hungry hearts who need the hope that Jesus alone offers.
Thank you, Peter, for your call to prayer for the persecuted Christians and the majority of Muslems in the mostly Islamic Middle East Nations. Our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul, were foremost in teaching and demonstrating perserverance, courage and continuous praise in the midst of persercution.
I pray that the powerof God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit give and impact courage and boldness to the persercuted Christians in the Middle East. That “the glory and the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous judge has reserved and shall give at that day to those who have fought a good fight and have finished their course and kept the faith,” (Paraphrased from 2 Timothy 4:7 – 8) shall be their portion. Father God, I pray also that the victory and power of the ressurection, of Christ, shall penetrate the domain of Islam and open the eyes and ears of the understanding of Muslems to the message of Christianity. In Jesus’ Name Amen