Pray for Muslims
Over half of the Frontier Peoples are Muslims, living in Muslim majority countries or in South Asia.
What do Muslims believe? Muslims believe there is only one God, the God of Abraham, whom they call Allah, just like millions of Arabic-speaking Christians have for 2000 years. Allah is the Arabic name for God used in most Arabic bibles, ancient and current. Many devout Muslims, even misguided terrorists, want above all to obey and please God. The Qur’an affirms the books of Moses (Taurat), David (Zabur), the prophets (writings), and Jesus (Injil), and praises those who obey them (contrary to Muslim narratives today). Pray that the Muslims will have access to and read the Holy Scripturesin their own languages, and they will hear God speaking to them through His Word.
What do Muslims know about Jesus?
The Holy Book of Islam, the Qur’an, is in classical Arabic and speaks highly of Jesus as born of a virgin and calls him the Messiah, a Word from God and having God’s Spirit. Jesus (named Isa) is affirmed as a prophet and His disciples as true Muslims (meaning those submitted to God). Some Muslims have come to faith in Jesus through reading the Qur’an which warns that we will all rise to be judged on the Last Day, and that the true followers of Jesus will be blessed. Muslims have met Jesus in dreams and visions, or through reading the Holy Scriptures. But they are all highly offended by the idea that Jesus is called “Son of God” which to them means that God had sex with a woman like a Greek god. Pray for God to answer the desire of their hearts to be righteous before Him and for the God’s Spirit to reveal to them that Jesus is The Way to have peace with God.
What else can we pray for Muslims?
The Muslim greeting, “A Salaam Walekum,” means “Peace to you.”
Pray for peace: Islam started in Arabia in the 600’s during a time of great controversies between Christian groups. There are many different sects in Islam too. The two largest historical divisions, the Sunni Muslims and the Shi’a Muslims, are often enemies. The Sunnis followed political leaders after the death of the Prophet Mohammed and the Shi’a Muslims followed His relatives. Shi’a Muslims are mostly in Iran and India, while Sunni sects are the majority worldwide. Some reform movements in Islam are trying to move Muslims away from wars or terrorism and to faith in and obedience to God, like the Tablighi Jamaat, an itinerant preachers movement which spread to 150 countries and some 80 million people in the last 100 years.
Pray for Muslim reformers to encounter the love of Jesus, and that He would bring peace between Muslim sects and between Christians and Muslims and Jews. Pray that many witnesses would love them and share God’s peace with those who welcome them into their families (Luke 10).