One of the primary ways God is drawing Muslims to Himself is through simple Bible studies that highlight passages of scripture from Creation through the Resurrection. The Waha app contains many story sets that have been translated into dozens of languages. Throughout the 30 days we will pray through these story sets that reveal Jesus, the Word made flesh.
As you read these familiar passages, prayerfully imagine what it would be like to read them for the first time – to see the wisdom, power, beauty, and authority of God and to be drawn to trust in Christ and yield your allegiance to Him.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
God is actively involved with the people He created. He is not far off. He observes and comes down to interact and intervene for humanity’s good.
We are prone to the desire to make a name for ourselves, and to go against God’s command of filling the earth. We prefer comfort, security, and staying put.
This is illustrated in the story of Imen, a teacher who lived several hours away from her family. She saw many things in Christianity that appealed to her as she discussed Jesus with a Christian. Often she would say, “Wow, I really like that. That’s really beautiful.”
But when it came time for her to decide if she wanted to follow Jesus or just be a fan of Him, she felt fear of what the implications would be from her family and community. Ultimately, the comfort and security of staying where she was, like the builders on the ‘plain in the land of Shinar’, won out.
Muslims would also condemn arrogance and defiance of God, like we see in the story of the Tower of Babel. However, most Muslims do not believe God would ‘come down to see the city and the tower’.
Pray for Christians in this place — whether Muslim background believers or foreigners who live among this people — that they would reject the temptation to settle and just be comfortable. Pray that they would have courage to keep going: going into Muslim neighborhoods and homes, and making Muslim friends, all with the goal of sharing the love of God with Muslims and engaging them with His Word.
Pray for churches in this place to resist the temptation to build in such a way as to make a name for themselves, but that everything would be done for the glory of God.
In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost God reverses the division caused in the story of the Tower of Babel. Instead of one language being divided into many languages, we see many languages being understood through one message, bringing unity.
This happened because the main actor in Acts 2 is the Spirit of God. Pray for the Spirit of God to be poured out on this land, resulting in multitudes believing in Jesus and churches being formed and multiplied. Pray that territorialism and division would end. Pray that any existing churches in this place would work together in unity for God’s glory.