Friday, October 13, 2023

On their way to Jerusalem, pilgrims passed through the Valley of Baca as they went on to enter the Holy City through the western gate to the Lord’s Temple. Baca was a waterless, dry valley. God promised them to turn it into an oasis covered with pools of rainwater and bless it with springs and an abundance of greenery and trees.

For the Church, the world of Islam looks like a waterless, fruitless, sun-scorched valley of sand and rocks. But this week we pray for a change: may God’s Holy Spirit send down heavenly rain on the dusty plains of Islam and turn this desolate valley into a land of great harvest, replete with precious souls in the crown of Christ.

Prayer

Lord God, our Heavenly Father, you saw the misery of the children of Israel in Egypt. You heard their cry and came down to deliver them and set them free (Exodus 3:7-8). Today we plead with you for the children of Islam. They are in misery, far away from Christ.

Yet, you love them and care for them. You are interested in their well-being. Set them free, Almighty God, from the trap that the enemy has set for them. May Christ be their Lord and Savior, their rock, their fortress and refuge.

As you guided the children of Israel in the desert by a pillar of cloud in the daytime, and at night by a pillar of fire to light the road they traveled, I pray that you will guide the children of Ishmael by the light of the cross of Calvary and lead them safely to the throne of God to sing hallelujah and praise to the name of Jesus.

O Holy Spirit of the living God, bring many Muslims this week into the Kingdom of Christ. Turn their sorrow and wailing into joy and dancing (Psalm 30:11), turn their darkness into light, and their gloom into noonday (Isaiah 58:10).

In the precious name of our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Promise

As they pass through the waterless valley the LORD fills it with springs, and the early rain covers it with pools (Psalm 84:6, REB).