God Hears Prayer Letters

One night recently, right before heading for bed, I made the mistake of reading some articles detailing how our social order is descending into chaos. Not so long after falling asleep, I woke up with tinnitus screaming in my ear and dark thoughts swirling in my head. I put up with it for awhile, thinking it would go away, but soon realized I was responsible for taking these thoughts captive to Christ.

Thirty plus years ago, I began praying weekly with a community group to keep our local school open*. I was a new believer and had no clue how to pray, but my neighbors laid hands on me and prayed I would learn. 

Compelled by Christ’s love, in last week’s GHPL we prayed to prepare a Highway of Love on which Muslim men, women and children will run to Jesus, compelled by His love. Seeing as God sees and understanding His heart on the matter is the first part of preparing the highway; praying is the second part. What comes next?

An intercessor reported last week that as she began to pray for Muslim people, she heard the Lord say, “Stop seeing people by what they do or what they wear or their ethnic group. See people as I see them; they are My people. As you pray, I will show you their heart.” 

It’s a given that Canadian Christians have Muslim neighbors. Muslims comprise about 4.6% of our population, are distributed throughout Canada, have built mosques and Islamic centres, patronize hallal grocery stores and take part in most aspects of national life from Parliament to sports teams to comedy clubs.

We’ve been praying that in the “in-between time” from Jesus’ resurrection to His ascension (40 days) sandwiched between Passover and Pentecost (50 days) that Jesus would do again what He did with His disciples then, this time with seeking Muslims during Ramadan (30 days) – that He would show Himself to them as the resurrected Son of God “by many  proofs… and speaking about the Kingdom of God” (Ac 1:3). 

Some time ago I read about a Christian man who lived in a city in the Middle East below a minaret from which the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer (aka azzan) was broadcast five times daily by loudspeaker. The adhan woke him up at the first light of dawn, making him very angry every day. He prayed to God for relief or revenge, but the loudspeaker was turned directly toward his window, amplifying his torment.

Jesus was crucified according to God’s timetable on the day of the Jewish celebration of Pesach (Passover). Three days later, He rose from the dead. Fifty days after Pesach was Shavuot (Feast of Weeks, Lev 23:15-17) when the Jews celebrated the giving of Torah (Instruction) at Sinai. On that day, which we celebrate as Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out and the church was born (Ac 2).

Last May, I had a vision during a worship gathering that I wrote about in the May 22/19 GHPL. I was reminded about it today, and I’m feeling I should share it again. The focus of worship was on returning to our “first love” (Rev 2:4) and lingering in the Garden with the Lord. Suddenly, I saw in my spirit a series of pictures. First, I saw a man wearing a long, hooded beige cloak. I thought it was Jesus so I ran up to look at his face, but when I peered under the hood, all I saw was blackness. Then demonic eyes appeared. Immediately, I saw myself clinging to His waist like a little child, not wanting to let go of him. Then I saw myself climbing up on him to peer again inside the hood, but I could only see glimpses of a garden, and I didn’t know how to get there.