RAMADAN

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.  To a natioan that did not call on my name, I said ‘Here am I, here am I” – Isaiah 65:1

Ramadan is the most important month for Muslims, it is the month in the Islamic calendar that the Quran, the Muslim holy book, was revealed.  This year from September 13-October 11, Muslims fast from sun up to sun down as a way to get closer to Allah.  All of our AIM staff in Swaziland are fasting from something for the next 30 days in order to pray for Muslims, not only in Swaziland, but around the world.  To start us off, we watched a DVD from Beth Moore on Islam where she traced it back to descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, makes a lot more sense of the hatred between Muslims and Christians.

Almost every other African country I have visited, I have been woken up by the Muslim’s call to prayer and I am so thankful that is not the case here in Swaziland.  There are 2 mosques here and you will see women and men in Muslim attire but they are the minority.  However, Islam has a lot of influence in Africa as a whole and that is what I’m praying about as well as a few Muslims I know personally here in Swaziland.

Julie, one of my co-workers, came up with ways to pray for the Muslims during this time.  1)  Ramadan means ‘scorched or burned’  
Pray that Muslims would be drenched in the true Living Water  2)  Muslims hope that Allah will speak to them through dreams and visions during Ramadan –
Pray that God would reveal Himself to Muslims through dreams and visions!  3)  Muslims hope that through denying themselves worldly pleasures they will desire Allah more –
Pray that they would see that their hearts truly desire a relationship with Christ.

I got all of my info on Ramadan from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan and www.30-days.net helps Christians to pray during the 30 days.