Global Prayer Digest

Swarka Bedouins of Egypt

2012-05-17T08:00:51+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 8:5 "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."

Today we are reading about a people group where the mind of the flesh has swayed them to incredible evil. Before we judge them, let us remember that we too are also inclined towards the flesh and sin. But thanks be to God who gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us in a super-natural direction!

Pray that the Holy Spirit will convict members of the Swarka Bedouins of sin, so that some of them may turn to Him and to His ways.

Today's People Group

Imagine the feel of the heat of the desert wind blowing on your skin. When you look to the right you see mountains. When you look in all other directions you see sand. This is the Sinai Desert. This is the land of the Swarka Bedouin tribe, the largest known tribe in a region that borders Egypt and Israel.
Recently the tribe was exposed by CNN in a documentary for their treatment of African refugees. Swarka individuals are accused of extorting money from the refugees with the promise to assist them across the Sinai to Israel. Instead they set them up for slavery. Women were reported raped and brutally beaten. In some cases the result was death as they harvested their organs. According to CNN, the Swarkas partnered with doctors to remove organs from the refugees to be sold. Once the organs were removed, the refugees were then buried in the desert in unmarked graves.
The dark hearts of the Swarka Bedouins result in ruined lives and death, yet God desires them to turn to Him. The answer to remove the evil is found in I Timothy 2:2-4: This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Pray that God will touch the hearts of the Swarka Bedouins and draw them to Him. Ask God to send His followers to share the love of Jesus with them.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Arab Tunisian Refugees in Italy and France

2012-05-16T08:00:23+00:00

Today's Devotional

Matthew 16:18 "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

“You are the Christ, the son of the living God,” declared Peter. Jesus responded by telling him that this declaration was the rock on which the church would stand. There was a time in Tunisian history when the church did stand in their territory. Unfortunately, Christians were content to treat the people of North Africa as second-class citizens of the Roman Empire. When the emerging Arab Empire rolled through North Africa, the Tunisians became Muslims. Islam has been their religious affiliation ever since. Now most of them have never had a chance to hear about Jesus as a spiritual liberator.

Pray that today the Tunisian Muslims will see beyond their religious affiliation and give Jesus a chance to change their lives.

Today's People Group

Last year was a terrible year for Italy. Their president was constantly fending off allegations of sexual adventures that were an embarrassment to the country. Their economy soured exacerbating problems with the national debt and unemployment.
To make things even harder, Italy was flooded with Arabs who were fleeing from Tunisia. This was the first North African country to begin ousting a long-term dictator. In January of 2011 there was a feeling that it was now “springtime” for the Arab World. But by February it became clear that people needed jobs and a new, more responsive government. Many feared the violence that can come from an unstable government. Both job seekers and political refugees began to flood Italy, starting with the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. Italian efforts to send many of the new refugees to neighboring France were not well-received by the French government. In the end, Italy was left with a nearly broken economy and 27,000 more people needing jobs.
Ten years ago Tunisia was a relatively prosperous and progressive Arab country. The government was stable, but stability is now a thing of the past. One thing that is stable in Tunisia among the 10 million Arabs that live there is the Islamic religion. In Tunisia Arabs must remain Muslim. The newly democratically elected government is dominated by so-called moderate Islamists. Other religions are only tolerated among foreigners.

Pray that during this time of instability, the Tunisian Arabs in Europe will look to the rock who is Jesus.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Syrian Arab Refugees

2012-05-15T08:00:22+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will."

I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to not “conform to the pattern of this world” when reading about how the Syrian Arabs are being oppressed by a violent regime. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that violence is the answer. But our Heavenly Father calls us to rise above that and pray for those who are inviting their own judgment by violent oppression. This requires us to be transformed through the renewing of our minds.

Pray that the Lord will transform you and renew your mind as you pray for the unreached Arabs in Syria.

Today's People Group

“Mahmoud Arabi fled his hometown in southern Syria into neighboring Lebanon wearing only his pajamas. Nearly a month later, he is still wearing the same clothes and has no idea when he and his family will be able to return home.” (http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-08).
This has been the condition of thousands of Syrian refugees since the upheaval began at home. As of early June, 2011, an estimated 4,000 Syrian refugees have sought protection and safety in Lebanon. In addition, there have also been over 7600 who have crossed into the Yayladagi refugee camp in Turkey, according to news sources. According to the New York Times, during a six-month period last year, the Turkish government spent approximately $15 million providing for Syrians, whom the Turkish government prefers to call “guests” rather than “refugees.” One displaced Syrian was quoted as saying “We love our country, and we are very scared for it.”
Since the so-called “Arab Spring” began, there have been thousands of displaced Syrian Arabs who lost everything in the fighting. This, on top of the reality of unemployment at home, has led to severe frustration and anger. Syria’s president Bashar Assad’s unhelpful response in January was to “strike with an iron fist” those who oppose him. With such as attitude, more bloodshed is the likely result.

Pray that political issues would be resolved wisely and justly in Syria. Pray for the Muslim Syrian refugees to find refuge and spiritual peace in Christ.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Saharawi Refugees

2012-05-14T08:00:28+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 4:11 "So then [Abraham] is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them."

Chapter four is an extensive explanation that Abraham’s righteousness came from faith rather than from works, including the work of circumcision. He was counted as righteous before he became circumcised, and so he is able to be called the father of all who truly believe, whether they are circumcised or not. This was a radical statement for Paul to make, but he was explaining to the Gentiles and the Jews in the church at Rome that they both fit into God’s Kingdom on the basis of the obedience of faith from the heart.

Thank the Lord that He has made all the Gentiles potential members of His Kingdom by faith, not by works.

Today's People Group

If a fire were to destroy your home, you would be forced to spend time living in a shelter, hotel room, or with a relative or friend until your home was restored. The circumstances would be devastating, and the living arrangement, although you’d be grateful for it, would not be your preference.
The Saharawi refugees are a people who know what it means to be forced out of their homes. Since 1976 after the Madrid Accords were signed, they have been driven out of their homeland (previously called the Spanish Sahara) by the terrible violence that followed the agreement. Thousands of these refugees have fled to Algeria and Morocco.
The land which is now called Western Sahara has been the subject of severe disputes. Neighboring Mauritania and Morocco now both claim it as their own. The UN, however, does not recognize either country’s sovereignty over Western Sahara and considers it a “non self governing territory.” There has been a ceasefire in place since 1991, but no true resolution to the issues. The Muslim refugees from the country and those who have remained there have continued their pursuit of independence and better living conditions. However, with circumstances what they are, there is no sign of improvement.

Pray that the daily needs of the Saharawis will be met during these difficult times, and that they will hear about the living and true God who loves them while they are in exile.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Yezedi Kurdish Refugees

2012-05-13T08:00:42+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 5:11 "Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

The wonderful news is that He has made provision to reconcile us to Himself through the blood of Christ. He knew that we were weak sinners, even enemies. How great is our reconciliation! But this reconciliation comes only through Jesus Christ, and there is no other intermediary between man and God. However, many peoples look for God by worshipping angels and spirits like the Yezedi people we are praying for today. Without Christ, they are certainly looking for answers in the wrong place.

Pray that the Yezedis will hear about Christ and then look to Him for salvation, putting away their obsession with angels and spirits.

Today's People Group

The Yezedis (also known as the Yazidis) are a secretive sect of the Kurdish people group who practice an ancient, syncretistic religion. Yazidism is a unique mixture of traditional beliefs, Christianity, and Sufi Islam. Some Kurdish Muslims and others in the Middle East consider them to be devil worshippers.
According to their religion, the Yezedis think God created the world and then put seven angels in charge. The supreme angel, they say, is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. Rather than being thrown out of heaven like Satan, they say this angel came to earth, saw mankind’s suffering, and cried. His tears, they believe, extinguished the fires of hell. They also have a “Book of Illumination,” which contains the words of this “angel.” Each year those still living in Iraq make a pilgrimage to a sacred tomb located just north of Mosul in northern Iraq. The Yezedis believe they are descended from Adam and Eve. They baptize their children at birth.
Like the rest of the Kurdish populations, the Yezedis have had a very difficult time in recent years. The 20th century found them fleeing violence in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Their mass exodus from their native lands led to sizable Yezedi communities in Western Europe and the United States.

Pray for the true God of heaven to send workers to the Yezedis to tell them about the Son of God who came to earth to provide them with a way to avoid the fires of hell.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Kurdish Refugees and IDPs

2012-05-12T08:00:20+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 10:15 "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

For many years, the Kurds have not been willing to listen to the good news. But in the last 20 years some Kurds in northern Iraq have been willing to listen to those who bring good news to their suffering land. These missionaries are from the West, and Iraqi Kurds view them as allies against the Arabs. In Turkey, on the other hand, Kurds view Westerners as allies with their Turkish enemies, and the response is very different. It is difficult for people to accept the good news from those they view as enemies.

Pray that those who bring the good news to the unreached Kurds will be able to win their trust, despite international issues.

Today's People Group

The term “displaced” could refer to moving a cup on a table, as in, “The cup is displaced from its usual spot.” But when people are displaced, it means much more. It means they have been forced to flee because of war, disaster, or persecution. Displaced people become homeless. Some never settle in a permanent home again.
The Kurds have been a homeless, displaced people for most of the 20th century. Thus far the 21st century is looking like more of the same.
During World War I Kurds were forced to flee for their lives from Turkey. In the 1930s, a Kurdish rebellion led to a massacre and hundreds of thousands of Kurds were displaced. In the last 40 years, an estimated three million have become refugees and internally displaced people.
Some believe the Kurds should have their own nation in the place where they have resided for hundreds of years, a land that straddles parts of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. Kurds who try to form their own nation wind up fighting the governments of these countries.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds have migrated as refugees to places like the United Kingdom and the United States. While losing their homes is not an easy thing, the members of this Muslim people group who are in Diaspora can have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel in their adopted countries.

Pray for displaced Kurds—no matter their location—to be reached with the good news. Pray for mission groups to focus their attention on this waiting harvest field.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Displaced Kashmiri People

2012-05-11T08:00:43+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 9:14, 17 "What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My Name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”"

It seems unfair that we in the Western world should have such spiritual resources at our disposal while almost half of the world is hidden from the outreach of the Church. Is God unjust? Even as God used Pharaoh to help proclaim His Name, so He has used present-day rulers and unjust situations to bring glory to Himself. For example, there are indications that the church in Iran has grown tremendously among certain people groups—especially after the Islamic Revolution!

Pray that God’s sovereignty and justice will cause major changes in war-torn Kashmir.

Today's People Group

“Raza, don’t go into town today,” pleaded Fida to her son. He left the house, ignoring her plea. “We can’t go on living here with all the unrest. He is our only son,” said Fida to her husband. “We should go to Kolkata.” She was interrupted by gunshots.
She followed her husband onto to the street only to see her son running toward them screaming, his shirt bloodied, “Ayub is dead! They killed him!” Fida and her husband brought their son to the relative safety of their home. Rocking back and forth as his mother cleaned and dressed the minor cuts and bruises on his hands and feet, the boy wailed, “How can we be part of a country that wants to kill us? All we have are shootings and street protests.”
The father looked at his wife, intent written clearly in his eyes. The following day they were on a bus to Kolkata. They didn’t know what poverty and squalor awaited them there, but they knew at least they would be alive.
Folk in the disputed Kashmir find themselves caught in the crossfire between the Indian military and insurgents who either want autonomy or alignment with Pakistan. Many have been driven out of their homes by a conflict that has lasted nearly 60 years.

Pray that these Kashmiris displaced by violence and strife would find peace and provision through Christ.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Bugti Baloch Refugees in Afghanistan

2012-05-10T08:00:49+00:00

Today's Devotional

Isaiah 60:18 "No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls salvation and your gates praise."

What a great day this will be for the peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan! These are two nations that have suffered from cruelty and violence for hundreds of years. Could it be that the Bugti Baloch are finally ready to seek the One who can end the cycle of violence that has plagued their land?

Pray that many from both the Baloch and the Urdu-speaking peoples in Pakistan will put their hope in the One who will someday replace today’s cruelty with salvation and peace.

Today's People Group

“What do you want me to do with them?” The Pakistani secret policeman in Afghanistan radioed his supervisor. “Kill and dump,” was the terse reply. The two dead Baloch youths were soon rolled into a ditch beside the dusty road. Headlines read like novels of political intrigue as assassination after assassination of Bugti Baloch refugees are chalked up for those who have fled Pakistan into Afghanistan. Tribal leaders plead with international agencies for protection, but they get no response. The Bugti Baloch people claim that the Pakistani government is so hostile to them that they send thugs to cross international borders to kill them.
Of the 84,000 Baloch displaced persons, approximately 50,000 are from the Bugti subgroup. Balochistan is the largest province in Pakistan comprising 44 percent of Pakistan’s landmass, but it contains only five percent of the population. The region is militarily and economically vital due to its massive coastline and rich natural resources. Therefore, the national government wants more control of the region, and the Baloch peoples are resisting.

Pray for physical and spiritual protection for the Bugti Baloch people. Pray for Christ’s followers to reach out to them with love and self-sacrifice. Pray that the Holy Spirit will come to them in power and love, changing hearts so that many Bugti Baloch may gather around the Throne of the Lamb with great praise for their Savior.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Refugees

2012-05-09T08:00:26+00:00

Today's Devotional

Psalm 72:4 "He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; He will crush the oppressor."

This verse can be a great source of comfort for members of the Ahmadiyya sect who are being oppressed all over the world. God will defend them. Yet they can’t rest in this verse alone. Without Christ, they are facing eternity without the One who can defend and save them. As it stands, these oppressed people are being used of Satan to spread doubt about the Savior.

Pray that the Ahmadiyya members will see the errors of their ways and open their eyes to see Jesus, the true messiah.

Today's People Group

Nuuan swaddled her newborn in part of her veil. Lowering her eyes she moved quickly toward the bus in the courtyard of the Bangkok prison where she and her family had been imprisoned for seven months. Nuuan’s husband bowed low to the well-armed Thai guards, mumbling thanks to them for their “hospitality.” Ninety-six men were released from prison that day. These Pakistani Ahmadiyya Muslim men quickly made their way to join their wives and children.
Nuuan’s husband shivered as he fought off thoughts of his wife giving birth in this desolate place, and the memories of unspeakable terror in Pakistan where they endured severe persecution. As members of Islam’s Ahmadiyya sect, they were not given any civil or political rights. So they fled the nightmare in Pakistan to Thailand where all refugees from Pakistan are categorized as illegal immigrants and imprisoned.
The Ahmadiyyas are a strange sect of Islam that believes that there is a divine reformer and messiah named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ahmadiyyas are noted for their ability to refute biblical Christianity. Because of their peculiar beliefs, Muslims persecute them, especially in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

Pray that wherever Ahmadiyyas go to find safety, Christ’s followers will reach out to them in love and be a living example of true godliness. Pray that many will find peace and salvation in Jesus. Pray for Ahmadiyyas to open their hearts to the claims of the true Messiah.

Learn more at Joshua Project.

Tajik refugees in Turkmenistan

2012-05-08T08:00:30+00:00

Today's Devotional

Romans 10:14 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

As one of the world’s larger unreached people groups, the Tajiks have the chance to read God’s word in their own language and to see Jesus in action in the JESUS Film. We pray that these materials are making their way into Tajik homes, and that these Muslims have open hearts. Yet it will probably take many followers of Christ to demonstrate through word and deed the ways of Jesus to the Tajik people. Who will go to them?

Pray for many followers of Christ to go to the Tajiks to preach and live out the life of a disciple in such a way that they will have a new understanding of the God of creation.

Today's People Group

The Tajik woman hugs each of her children before they scurry out the door to school. Life is good in Turkmenistan, especially since the government gave citizenship status to the more than 10,000 Tajik refugees in 2005. Now her children have a future.
But the woman still grieves about the past. Tajikistan’s pro-Russian militia killed her husband in the mid-1990s, because their tribe did not support the rigged presidential election. The ethnic cleansing killed nearly 100,000 Tajiks. Her family fled their burning village to Turkmenistan. She now lives in Turkmenistan’s urban government housing, and her life is very different from what it was when they worked as farmers in Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains. Some Tajiks returned to their homeland to continue their former work after the UN-brokered settlement, but a large number of them stayed in Turkmenistan.
Both Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are about 95 percent Sunni Muslim. Although Turkmenistan’s constitution allows for religious freedom, the Tajik church remains small and persecuted. The Russian Orthodox Church remains the “accepted other” religion. Unregistered religious gatherings are forbidden, but the government recently allowed two Protestant churches to register and meet openly. The Bible has been translated into the refugees’ common language, Tajik. The JESUS Film is also available in Tajik.

Pray that the refugees will not view the gospel as a Russian religion, but as a faith for all peoples. Pray that God will send workers with the JESUS Film to Turkmenistan and use them as missionaries and reveal Himself to Tajik hearts.

Learn more at Joshua Project.