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.
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby— if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.”
God desires a relationship with His people that will reflect Him to the rest of the world. As Creator, He institutes laws to help them live flourishing lives as citizens in His Kingdom.
This passage teaches us that humans are incredibly prone to worship things that are not the one true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Amira is a Muslim from a neighboring country. She faces exploitation and being taken advantage of often when she leaves her home. “A taxi driver tried to charge me four times the correct price and when I pushed back, he said, ‘You’re a rich Muslim from another country, you have oil, you can afford it.’ I hate the people of this land and their underhanded ways.” Amira’s experience reflects the brokenness and dishonesty that pervades when people ignore God’s commands.
Pray for the dishonest financial deals, fraud, theft and lying that plague humanity to reveal the true state of human nature and to drive Muslims in this land to seek a real solution — the new heart of flesh that God promised in Ezekiel 36:26 to give to His people through Christ.
The command not to take the name of the Lord in vain includes more than just avoiding swearing; it also means not bearing God’s name in an unworthy way. Pray that Christians here would be known for living holy and respectful lives—lives that reflect a genuine fear of God, love for all people, and bring honor to the name of Jesus.
Paul explains in Romans 7:7, “Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.'” He continues in verses 24 and 25, “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Then in Romans 8:1-2, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Pray that Muslims would understand that God’s moral standards and righteous requirements reveal our inability to fully obey on our own, but that Jesus came to set us free from the law of sin and death. Pray that they would experience the same revelation Paul described in Romans 7 and 8.