The Arabian Peninsula Partnership
The Gospel for every person and a church for every people in the Arabian Peninsula amongst indigenous peoples
November 23, 2009
Special Hajj Prayer Focus.
This week we have a special focus on the Hajj which takes place in Saudi Arabia from November 25 to 28, 2009. Please see the special feature below our PTAP update which replaces the regular testimony. Please join us for 5 days of prayer running during the Hajj.
Praise
Praise God for Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who died to take away the sin of the whole world - the one true sacrifice.
Prayer
Saudis and other Muslims go to Hajj and expect to receive cleansing from their sin. They return home only to sin again in the future. There is no permanent solution to the sin issue in Islam. Ask that this Hajj will be a turning point for people to find the real Sin Cleanser.
Many Saudi young people live life with a near reckless abandon. Their thought is, the salvation Hajj is meant to bring I can avail myself 'tomorrow' or later. Little do they understand that "Today is the day of Salvation" Pray that an urgency for salvation will begin to grip a large portion of Saudi young people.
The Holiday of Sacrifice at the end of Hajj will see millions of sheep sacrificed in Saudi Arabia and around the world. Blood is spilt and the meat given to 'the poor'. Ask that Saudis and Muslims around the world will seek out the Lamb without spot or blemish and receive His Salvation.
Dying while performing Hajj is one of a small number of ways a person can assured of going to paradise in Islam. Many elderly people will go with the hopes of passing from this earth to paradise. Pray against the deception and ask that these elderly will be driven to truly seek and find Christ.
Stoning Satan-sounds interesting as if human kind can torture the Evil One. Instead, the Satanic deception of this event leads people away from Truth. Many die every year as they are stoned by the people behind them whose rocks never reach their target. Ask for freedom from the Deceiver and for the deception to be replaced with dreams of the Truth.
Saudi authorities work hard to provide for the millions of pilgrims that descend on them during the pilgrimage. Many of the authorities work to exhaustion believing they are doing a good work for God. Ask that the Saudis who serve would be protected from disease(that comes from every corner of the world) and that they would be challenged to look beyond the status quo of Islam to the Real Truth.
Special Focus
A Call to Pray for Muslims to Encounter Jesus While on the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia) November 25-28, 2009
Each year Muslims from around Saudi and the world make a pilgrimage to Mecca. To do this is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. We want to pray that this year many on the Hajj will come to know the Lord Jesus.
Day 1 – November 25, 2009 From Mecca to Mina living in tents. Pray for the Saudis and other pilgrims to have revelations of Jesus. Pray for them to have an experience like Paul did in Acts 9:3-4 "as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me [Jesus]?"
Day 2 – November 26, 2009 Seeking mercy and forgiveness in Muzdalifah Today the pilgrims from Saudi and others lands are seeking God for mercy and forgiveness. Pray that Ephesians 2:4-5 would be true in their lives. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved." It is in Christ alone they will be saved.
Day 3 – November 27, 2009 Throwing rocks at Satan and the slaughter of sheep and goats. On the third day, the pilgrims move before sunrise, back to Mina. Here they throw stone pebbles at pillars that represent the temptations of Satan. Also today, in Saudi Arabia and around the Muslim world sheep and goats will be slaughtered. Muslims reject the slain Lamb of God. Pray that Muslims will understand that Jesus is the promised Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.
Day 4 – November 28, 2009 To the Grand Mosque circling the Ka'aba and the search for water. Lord we ask that they would get more and more thirsty, longing in their hearts to know the truth. As Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman in John 4, Jesus says to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." Jesus declares that "I who speak to you am he," the one who has living water. Today, we ask that the Saudis and other Muslims would thirst and find the living water of Jesus.
Day 5 – November 29, 2009 Stoning Satan again and heading home. As we have prayed - we want to continue to pray that what God has done over the last few days would continue. We have asked that God would continue to reveal his Son to Saudis and other Muslims - may they be on a pilgrimage into Jesus. From John 14:6 we know that Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Please continue to pray for Muslims around the world to come to the Father through Jesus.