Is it Enough to Pray for Muslims?
Isn’t it enough to offer a prayer for the Muslim world? Yes, we must pray!
And you might begin during Ramadan with this guide: 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World. As we pray, could we also befriend Muslim women? Could you spend time getting to know the Muslim woman who crosses your path each week? Could you visit her home and invite her family into your home?
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom. 10:14– 15).
My answer to those questions five years ago would have been something like this: “What?! I watch the daily news. I fear the ‘What ifs’ those reports can stir in a soul. I know so little about Islam or the realities of Muslim women. Sure I’ll pray, but become personally involved? I’m not sure I want to do that.”
I never asked the Lord to give me a heart for the Muslim world. But for the last few years He’s been inviting me to remember those women I met on the Temple Mount—to imagine the anguish and hopelessness of a Muslim woman who has never experienced the love of God through friendship with a follower of Jesus. He’s caused my path to cross with Christians who were befriending Muslims here in the United States. And then in a crazy, “only God” kind of way, He opened an opportunity for me to attend a training through Crescent Project, a ministry dedicated to equipping Christians to reach into the Muslim world.
Along this journey, God has wrecked my heart for the Muslim world. I find myself looking for our “covered friends” when I’m shopping or at the coffee shop. I try to make eye contact with Muslim women, to smile and ask about their children or their homeland. I ask the Lord to give me opportunities to engage with them as I silently pray for Jesus to give them dreams and visions of Himself and friends who can share Jesus’ love with them.
A Story of Friendship
The Lord recently connected me with a Muslim friend in my area. I’m still amazed how quickly Jesus wove together the lives of two women from different generations, different countries, and very different cultures!
We spent hours learning about one another’s lives. My friend’s family became a part of our family. Our grandson adored her little one and enjoyed soccer tips from her husband. I was invited into her circle of friends, and she was loved on and prayed for by mine. We laughed and cried together as we spent time in one another’s homes. We celebrated birthdays and shared our heartaches and trials.
On a particularly difficult day, my friend allowed me to pray for her in Jesus’ name. With tears streaming down her face, she whispered, “I’ve never experienced such peace.” In tears, I whispered a silent prayer of thanks. “I never imagined experiencing such love for a Muslim woman or the ways her life and friendship would change my heart.”
Has my friend become a follower of Christ? No, but she has experienced the love of Christ through His people. She has heard the stories of how Jesus’ love is changing me and my family. She has found a place of belonging in our family. I wonder, at times, if that’s why the Lord brought her to our little town.
“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26–27).
Consider: How is the Lord inviting you to share His heart for the Muslim world? What opportunities for connecting with Muslim women exist in your community? Who could you join with in praying for the Muslim world during Ramadan?
This article was originally published on the Revive Our Hearts True Woman blog.