7 Prayers From “Praying For Muslims”

January 8, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

Throughout 2017, I joined with other prayer warriors around the globe in praying for Muslims every Friday at noon. Our prayer guide was found in Sobhi Malek’s book Praying For Muslims. Here are a few prayer thoughts that may help you in your prayer time.

“As Abraham pleaded for the lost in Sodom and Gomorrah, we ask You to give Muslims a chance to accept Christ. You love them. Jesus died for them. Rescue them from the doom of sin.”

“Lord God, You have been patient with the peoples of Europe and America. They are rich in material goods but poor in spiritual matters. They are advanced in technology but backward in things pertaining to God. Save them from the slippery path they have chosen by turning their back on Christ. Have mercy on them. Help them to repent. By faith I claim many Muslims in the West for Christ. May they become tools in God’s hand to bring many nominal Christians in post-Christian Europe and America to the Cross of Calvary. O God, Supreme and Mighty Potentate, Master of heaven and earth, You can do such feats! In the name of Jesus, I pray for a great revival for your Church in the West. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

“Compassionate and merciful God, our Father in heaven, glory and majesty belong to You. You have shined Your light into my heart through Jesus Christ my Lord. You have forgiven my sin. Thank You. I am very grateful. That is why I bring Muslims before You.  For although they call You merciful and compassionate, they have never understood the depth of Your great compassion and mercy manifested at the Cross of Christ. Grant them the desire to know Jesus and experience His redemptive power. Fill them with your Holy Spirit. Encourage them to be active in bringing others to your Kingdom. Keep me true to my responsibility to pray for them without ceasing and trust You for miraculous acts among Muslims.”

“Help the church in Europe and America to see the influx of Muslims as a God-given opportunity to bring multitudes of Muslims to Christ the Savior.”

“I pray for the missionaries who have left families, security, and comforts of life to go serve among Muslims. Lord God, You are their reward. Fill their lives with Your presence, and show them Your glory. Empower them with the Holy Spirit. May they speak with boldness and wisdom to proclaim the relevant, eternal message of the Gospel. Grant them a productive and fruitful ministry. May they lead many Muslims to Christ and plant the Church triumphant in countless communities. Make them valiant as they proclaim the truth. O God, stop satan from inflicting disease, discord, and disunity among Your servants. In prayer, I come against satanic attacks on missionaries to Muslims in interpersonal relationships, morals, finances, family, health, and children. May they not become weary in the work they are doing for You (Galatians 6:9).” 

“Father, by Your divine power, tear down the walls that satan has erected to keep people from hearing the Gospel. We look to the Cross where Jesus died to redeem all, including Muslims. We draw our victory from Calvary. And we rest at Your feet in faith with expectation.”

“O God Almighty, be with those who are enduring a nightmare of mistreatment, beatings and abuse. I bring their plight to Your attention, merciful Father. Visit them. Soothe their pain. Comfort their souls. Encourage their hearts. May Your face shine upon them. In prayer I ask You to wake up the Church around the world to pray for persecuted believers and come to their assistance. Christians who occupy influential positions could act to alleviate the pain of our suffering brothers and sisters. Father, help them to not be silent. Move them to respond to the tragedy of the persecuted Church.”

Here are some other resources for you:

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5 Quotes From “Praying For Muslims”

January 3, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

Sobhi Malek put together an extremely helpful guide for praying for Muslims. Each week has a prayer, but there are also several helpful insights which Sobhi shares. Here are a few of those insights.

“This warfare is not against people of any religion or affiliation. Christ, who died for all human beings, instructed us to love our neighbors. Rather, this war is against the evil powers which control people and hinder them from seeing the light of the Gospel of Christ (Ephesians 6:12). In other words, we are warring against satan who ‘has blinded the minds of unbelievers.’ His goal is to keep people from seeing ‘the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). When we pray and ask others to pray, this does not mean that we feel superior. We do not think we are better than Muslims or any other people.  Rather, we believe we are fallen human beings like all others, but we have been saved by God’s grace.”

“When Muslims say, ‘In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate,’ all Muslims and many Christians do not know that this is taken from the Bible. This phrase demonstrates the early influence of Judaism and Christianity on Muhammad. Here are some occurrences of this combination in the Bible: compassionate and gracious (Exodus 34:6, NIV); compassionate and merciful (Psalm 86:15, GW; 103:8, NLT; James 5:11, GW); merciful and tender (Luke 1:78, TEV).”

“There are many teachings in Islam that we, believers in Christ, can use as bridges to help Muslims draw near to and enter the Kingdom of God. The Qur’an states that God created Adam and Eve, that He sent the flood but rescued Noah, that He spoke to Abraham, that He gave the Torah (Pentateuch) to Moses, that He sent Jesus who was born of a virgin. All these narratives, common to both Muslims and Christians, can be used as bridges to bring Muslims closer to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not mean that all the details of these stories in Islam are in full agreement with the biblical accounts, but they can work as starting points. It is also rewarding to establish friendships with Muslims as you seek to share with them the Gospel of Christ. Friends trust each other, depend on each other and desire each other’s wellbeing. Building bridges of common narratives and friendship pays dividends.”

“The Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, is a collection of jumbled statements and stories in a random arrangement. Most of its stories are fractured and lack consistency. Subjects and themes are not connected. So fractured are narratives in the Qur’an that only one story has a clear beginning, middle, and end: the story of Joseph. All the other stories pick up in the middle, or else they are never carried to their conclusion. The Qur’an admits that satan sometimes intervened and gave Muhammad ‘inspiration.’ It also states that Muhammad forgot some parts of it. Several chapters start with meaningless three-letter words such as alr, alm, etc. Even great quranic interpreters cannot find a meaning for such words. In one place the Qur’an states that no changes occurred in its text, and in another it says changes to it indeed took place.”

“In the past few decades, millions of Muslims have migrated to the West. Some seek jobs, others pursue freedom and a better living, and still others hope to conquer the West by converting Westerners to Islam or by sheer reproduction and numerical growth! I personally take this migration to mean the Lord wants to help the Church win large numbers of Muslims to Christ by bringing them to her doorstep.”

Next week I will share a few of the prayers Sobhi leads us in each week. I would also recommend that you check out my review of Praying For Muslims.

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A Prayer For The New Year

January 1, 2018 — Craig T. Owens

“Especially would we make mention of the goodness of the Lord during another year. Each believer here has trodden a different pathway to some it has been a very smooth road, to others a very rough climb: to some a deep descent into the valley of sorrow and humiliation. But Thou hast led Thy people by a right way. With all the twisting of the wilderness march, we are persuaded that when Thou leadest us about, still we go the nearest way. Thou knowest best, and oftentimes to retreat is to advance, and to be beaten back is to make surest headway. We would again in the recollection of the whole year, whatever it may have been, lift up the song of grateful praise, raise another stone of help to record the loving-kindness of our God.

“And now do we hoist sail and draw up anchor to sail into another year. O Thou blessed Pilot of the future as of the past, we are so happy to leave all to Thee; but in leaving all to Thee we have one wish, and it is that Thou wouldst in the next year glorify the Father’s name in us more than in any other year of our lives. Perhaps this may involve deeper trial, but let it be if we can glorify God. Perhaps this may involve the being cast aside from the service that we love; but we would prefer to be laid aside if we could glorify Thee the better. Perhaps this may involve the ending of all life’s pleasant work and the being taken home—well, Thy children make no sort of stipulations with their God, but this one prayer ascends from all true hearts this morning, ‘Father, glorify Thy name.’” —Charles Spurgeon

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9 More Quotes From “Live Dead Life”

December 13, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

Joy Hawthorne is a 16-year-old living with her parents in a radically Islamic Middle East country. Live Dead Life started out as her personal journal, but then became a book that I found highly compelling. Here are some additional quotes from this book.

“How do we do all for the glory of God? Well, ‘for the glory of God’ means that the purpose ends with God, not with me. What I do is not about me, but about God.”

“Not everyone will be a pioneer missionary, but everyone needs a vision to see beyond the borders of her country and have the courage to send others, and the pioneers are the ones who scout the land and report back home to those future missionaries and intercessors.”

“If I know the cure, if I know the truth, if I know the life, if I know the love—and I do—then I am compelled to share it with everyone everywhere—wherever Jesus is not yet worshiped.”

“This is not a race to see how far I can go alone, but to see how far we can relay together, working as a giant team.”

“If the unreached are going to hear about Jesus, we’ll have to step out of comfort zones and go to hard places.”

“Rather than wish for a home with less risk and more comforts, I accept and follow God’s plan for my life and find myself happy where He has placed my family. I willingly follow Him rather than draw lines in the sand of where I won’t go and what I won’t do. We go because, despite the risks, we know our God has a plan. We go because Jesus is worthy. He is worthy of my praise and the praise of the unreached I live among. No matter the cost, Jesus deserves all glory.”

“I feel safe today, but in case something should happen to me tomorrow, I want to take every opportunity today. God knows what I need, and until my work here is done, I am untouchably covered by Jesus’ blood. … I don’t think satan wants me to go to the dangerous, difficult, unreached places. He would rather I stay home. Believing this, will I be afraid or will I be bold?”

“My teen years are the perfect opportunity. I have more time and energy now than I might have in a few years. I want to take responsibility for the message of Jesus and for the people around me. The time is now. There is no good reason to wait. My door is open, and Jesus calls me to follow Him through it.”

“God, help us to abandon everything to You because You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of our lives. You are worthy of the praise and love of every tribe and nation on earth. Give us Your heart. Make our hearts overflow for every people. Give us Your eyes to see the world.”

Please be sure to read my review of Live Dead Life by clicking here, and check out the first set of quotes I shared from this amazing book by clicking here.

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Thursdays With Oswald—The Destination Is Not The Goal

November 30, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

The Destination Is Not The Goal

     In natural life we have ambitions and aims which alter as we develop; in the Christian life the goal is given at the beginning, viz., Our Lord Himself. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” [Ephesians 4:13]. We do not start with the idea of what the Christian life should be, we start with Christ, and we end with Christ. Our aims in natural life continually alter as we develop, but development in the Christian life is an increasing manifestation of Jesus Christ. …  

     “And He went on His way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on unto Jerusalem” (Luke 13:22). Our Lord was not fanatical. Had He been a fanatic, He would have said—“Because I am going up to Jerusalem there is no need to stay in this village or that; I have only one duty, and that is to go up to Jerusalem.” Our Lord took plenty of time to do His duty in the cities and villages that He went through on His way to Jerusalem. Nothing made Him hurry through the villages where He was persecuted, or linger in those where He was blessed. …  

     The aim of the missionary is not to win the heathen, not to be useful, but to do God’s will. He does win the heathen, and he is useful, but that is not the aim; his aim is to do the will of his Lord.

From So Send I You 

The Christian’s goal is not Heaven. The Christian’s goal is not winning a bunch of people to Christ. The Christian’s goal is not even being an effective Christian.

The Christian’s goal is to be like Jesus, making Him increasingly visible in my daily life.

God will do amazing things through us as we journey through this life, and Heaven is a wonderful reward for a Christian. But those things should never be our focal point. May our focal point always be this: I want to know Jesus more, and I want His life to be seen in me. I want His will to be done, and His glory to be seen.

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Thursdays With Oswald—God’s Purpose For Israel And Me

November 16, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

Oswald ChambersThis is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

God’s Purpose For Israel And Me

     God created the people known as Israel for one purpose, to be the servant of Jehovah until through them every nation came to know Who Jehovah was. … The election of the nation by God was not for the salvation of individuals; the elect nation was to be the instrument of salvation to the whole world. The story of their distress is due entirely to their deliberate determination to use themselves for a purpose other than God’s. … Israel is still in the shadow of God’s hand, in spite of all her wickedness. God’s purposes are always fulfilled, no matter how wide a compass He may permit to be taken first. … 

     When we are born from above the realization dawns that we are built for God, not for ourselves. … 

     The creative purpose of God for the missionary is to make him His servant, one in whom He is glorified. When once we realize this, all our self-conscious limitations will be extinguished in the extraordinary blaze of what the Redemption means. We have to see that we keep the windows of our soul open to God’s creative purpose for us, and not confuse that purpose with our own intentions. … 

     A saint is made by God…. Then do not tell God He is a bungling workman. We do that whenever we say “I can’t.” To say “I can’t” literally means we are too strong in ourselves to depend on God. “I can’t pray in public; I can’t talk in the open air.” Substitute “I won’t,” and it will be nearer the truth. The thing that makes us say “I can’t” is that we forget that we must rely entirely on the creative purpose of God….

From So Send I You

Oswald Chambers draws the analogy between why God called Israel, and why He called you. God desired to use Israel to show all nations His love, and He still desires to do the same thing with every single one of His saints today.

In order for God to use you, first be aware that He does indeed want to use you. He created you for His plan and purpose. Next, be open to how your life can glorify God. Take your eyes off you and put them on Him. Finally, stop saying “I can’t.” If God has created you to do something for Him, you most certainly can do it in His power and anointing.

Will you let God use you for His glory today?

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Praying Against Spiritual Strongholds

November 3, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

“This week we pray that God will demolish the Antichrist’s strongholds

“We are surrounded by systems and strongholds that oppose Christ the Lord and King. There are social, political, economic, and legal structures and schemes that try to disparage God.

“We are not for or against a particular political system. We are Bible-believers, Christ-worshippers; and we come from all walks of life and backgrounds. We seek the glory of God and His alone. We align ourselves with His Word.

“We should not harbor enmity or hatred toward anyone. Even if they oppose us, deride our faith, doubt our God, and insult our Savior and King, they are not our enemies. The real enemy is satan who manipulates them. Our war is against satan and his strongholds.

“Such people are poor humans who need love and compassion from us, and mercy and forgiveness from God. We do not depend on human methods or material weapons, because this is spiritual warfare against satanic powers. Rather, our method is prayer, and that is all.

“Our prayer—O Lord our God, may You be praised for ever and ever! Why do the nations rage? Why do the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against You and against Your Anointed One (Psalm 2:1-2).

“Help us arm ourselves with the weapons You gave us in Your Word: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the readiness of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:14-17).

“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord derides them … at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Psalm 2:4; Philippians 2:10-11). I pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.” —a prayer from Praying For Muslims

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Saturday In The Psalms—The Glory Due God’s Name

September 16, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

Give unto the Lord the glory due His name…. (Psalm 29)

 

How in the world can I do that?! How can a mere mortal possibly give the All-Glorious, All-Powerful God glory that is equal to His majesty?

Verses 3-9 try to capture God’s power—

  • His voice thunders in the powerful crash of ocean waves
  • His voice cracks like the lightning that snaps the mighty cedar trees as though they are mere twigs
  • His voice splits the earth like a volcano rips through rock
  • His voice rumbles and shakes the tectonic plates of the earth like an earthquake

How do I give this God the glory due His name? How can my voice of praise even be heard above the voice of His majestic voice?

How? By simply worshiping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

That means I come into His presence in the holiness of Christ—I remain clothed in His righteousness—then I can stand in God’s presence and join my voice with the voices of the mighty ones (v.1), with all His people (v. 11).

I can stand unafraid and unashamed in the presence of the King of the Universe and declare, “How beautiful and powerful and majestic and magnificent and loving You are!”

And He hears me.

And the glory due His name that comes from my lips causes all the creatures in His temple to exclaim, “Glory!” (v. 9)

I can give God all the glory due His majestic name by simply realizing that I am only in His presence because He wants me there, and has made the way possible for me to be there through His Son Jesus.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Where Are Your Feet?

July 20, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Where Are Your Feet?

“Where did Jesus placed His feet? He placed them by the sick and the sorrowful, by the dead, by the bad, by the twisted and by the good. He placed His feet exactly where we have to place ours…, in the ordinary rough and tumble of human life as it is. ‘I will make the place of My feet glorious [Isaiah 60:13].’” 

From Run Today’s Race

Run Today’s Race contains short statements from Oswald Chambers intended to stimulate Christians to ponder things like:

  • All of Isaiah 60 is about God’s glory being revealed on earth through Jesus Christ. Am I letting Christ’s glory shine through my life?
  • Do I only look for “super-spiritual” moments, or am I aware that God can make wherever I place my feet a glorious place?
  • Am I willing to go wherever God needs me to go?
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11 Quotes From “Man—The Dwelling Place Of God” by A.W. Tozer

July 19, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

A.W. Tozer’s 50-year-old publication Man—The Dwelling Place Of God still rings with timely truth for today. You can check out my full book review by clicking here.

“I long ago decided that I would rather know the truth than be happy in ignorance. If I cannot have both truth and happiness, give me truth. We’ll have a long time to be happy in heaven.”

“Shakespeare may be enjoyed without penitence; we may understand Plato without believing a word he says; but penitence and humility along with faith and obedience are necessary to a right understanding of the Scriptures.”

“Faith and morals are two sides of the same coin. Indeed the very essence of faith is moral. Any professed faith in Christ as personal Savior that does not bring the life under plenary obedience to Christ as Lord is inadequate and must betray its victim at the last. The man that believes will obey; failure to obey is convincing proof that there is not true faith present.”

“There are two kinds of love: the love of feeling and the love of willing. The one lies in the emotions, the other in the will. Over the one we may have little control. It comes and goes, rises and falls, flares up and disappears as it chooses, and changes from hot to warm to cool and back to warm again very much as does the weather. Such love was not in the mind of Christ when He told His people to love God and each other. … The love the Bible enjoins is not the love of feeling; it is the love of willing, the willed tendency of the heart.”

“Let no one interpret the Scriptures for you in such a way as to rule out the Father’s gift of the Spirit. Every man is as full of the Spirit as he wants to be. Make your heart a vacuum and the Spirit will rush in to fill it.”

“I am among those who believe that our Western civilization is on its way to perishing. It has many commendable qualities, most of which it has borrowed from the Christian ethic, but it lacks the element of moral wisdom that would give it permanence. Future historians will record that we of the twentieth century had intelligence enough to create a great civilization but not the moral wisdom to preserve it.”

“The church today is suffering from the secularization of the sacred. By accepting the world’s values, thinking its thoughts and adopting its ways we have dimmed the glory that shines overhead. We have not been able to bring earth to the judgment of heaven so we have brought heaven to the judgment of the earth. Pity us, Lord, for we know not what we do!”

“David Brainerd once compared a man without the power of the Spirit trying to do spiritual work to a workman without fingers attempting to do manual labor. The figure is striking but it does not overstate the facts. The Holy Spirit is not a luxury meant to make deluxe Christians, as an illuminated frontispiece and a leather binding make a deluxe book. The Spirit is an imperative necessity.”

“I do not believe that it is the will of God that we should seek to be happy, but rather that we should seek to be holy and useful. The holy man will be the useful man and he’s likely to be a happy man too; but if he seeks happiness and forgets holiness and usefulness, he’s a carnal man.”

“That religion may be very precious to some persons is admitted, but never important enough to cause division or risk hurting anyone’s feelings. In all our discussions there must never be any trace of intolerance; but we obviously forget that the most fervent devotees of tolerance are invariably intolerant of everyone who speaks about God with certainty. And there must be no bigotry, which is the name given to spiritual assurance by those who do not enjoy it.”

“The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity. He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another. He seeks to persuade people to give all to his Lord and asks no portion or share for himself. He delights not to be honored but to see his Savior glorified in the eyes of men. His joy is to see his Lord promoted and himself neglected.”

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