(The words of Isaiah:)
I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted,
and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were seraphs…and they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook
and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Every morning on my way to work, I pass two large mosques. Today, as I passed and saw people entering for their ritual prayers (salat), I was struck by the thought of Isaiah, the Old Testament priest and prophet. Isaiah was a devout, religious man, entering the temple in his day (entering the “Holy of Holies” as a high priest no less). Isaiah was probably not expecting an encounter with the Lord that day…perhaps he was just doing his religious duty…going through the motions…. But God had other plans. God showed up unexpectedly with a powerful vision that changed Isaiah’s life, launched his prophetic ministry and impacted the course of human history. So, as I passed by the mosques today I cried out to God for an unexpected outpouring of His presence upon the Imams (spiritual leaders) and worshipers that they too might see the Lord “high and lifted up” and come to a realization that they (like all of us) are “people with unclean lips” in need of a Savior….That all their “righteousness” (religious rituals and routines) are as rags….and they be struck with a sense of spiritual discontent that will drive them to seek the Lord and call on the name of the One prophesied about in the Book of Isaiah. Let’s pray together for this kind of powerful visitation of God’s Spirit on neighbors all around the world .
1. Intercede for neighbors who are praying today at the Al Raudhah and Darussalam mosques in my city. Then find out the names of the mosques in your own community and pray for the people gathering there. Also ask God to open up doors for you to visit your nearest mosque and get to know your neighbors there.
2. Praise God for answered prayers! Our colleagues who have relocated to a key gateway city to work with neighbors, just sent us an exciting update: “We arrived in the city early this week. A few days ago we met with the head of the school where we were applying for teaching positions. Within a few minutes we realized that the administration was offering us both part-time contracts. The school will provide our visas and work permits! We are rejoicing that this schedule will allow us time and energy for developing meaningful and long-lasting friendships.” Please continue to lift up this precious couple and their new friends, colleagues and students. May the Lord grant them many disciples in this city of three million.
3. Praise God for these recent reports from Jesus Film teams in a creative access area, and pray for the growth of these new believers:
- TEAM A – Praise the Lord, this month a young mother accepted Christ after watching the JF. Pray for her. Her husband is not a believer and she is frightened to tell him. Her husband works in a neighboring country and comes home infrequently.
- TEAM B – We have a new team showing the JF in the new area. There has been a lot of interest and we have showed the film to a lot of people. At this point the people have just shown interest–so far no one has accepted Christ. Pray for us as we continue to show the film in this area.
- TEAM C – This month a young man accepted Christ as we have been discipling him. He has expressed his desire to be baptized which in our context is a very significant public statement of faith. He is coming from a village that is most made up of followers of the majority religion here.
4. Rejoice with a young couple serving amongst neighbors in another creative are. This week they started meetings at their home. Several of their pre-believing friends have expressed interest in the Gospel and they are eager to come. They expect to have 5-7 friends at their first meeting, with several more saying they want to come in the future. This couple is so excited to finally feel like we can begin to reach out and expand on the friendships they have made. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
5. Pray for Rooz and his son Rady. They were recently given a Christian book, a Manga Messiah comic book, a Bible and a Jesus Film DVD, and have shown great interest in knowing more about Isa al Masih. They met with a believing friend this week and told him, “we still have so many questions,” and requested for future meetings. Intercede for Rooz’s spiritual hunger to increase, and also ask the Lord to provide a new job for Rooz, and for complete recovery for his wife who has been suffering from cancer.
6. From this week’s Intercede Magazine, please pray…
- …for NBBs (Neighbor Background Believers) across the Islmc world. Pray they would find fellowship and opportunity
for discipleship, despite what are often the most extreme and dangerous circumstances - …for increasing numbers of Neighbors to hunger for spiritual truth and the possibility of knowing God personally, being
assured of salvation, and having sins forgiven. - …for NBBs in Libya. Several news reports recently described four NBBs tortured by Libyan police as apostates. May these four and their fellow believers respond as the apostles, “rejoicing because they have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” And may they too, “Day after day, in the market place and from house to house, never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”