Diaspora

An area of the United States that I’ll call “Arab Town” is home to at least 8,000 people. A hundred years ago, many were brought to Arab Town to work in factories. Many people in developing countries have idealized America in their heads; all 8,000 of these people know better. Some work hard hours and are treated well, but many are not fortunate enough to work for a good company. Man work in convenience stores in dangerous neighborhoods where they sit behind bulletproof glass their entire shift. Even if they have a decent income, a good portion of it must go back to support their family overseas.

People who live in Arab Town and throughout America need to hear about Christ just as much as the ones back home. It would be expected that they have a far greater chance to hear Truth in the States, but often Arabs stay segregated. Most women have never even had a real conversation with an American, much less a Follower of Christ. Please pray for these special people to come in contact with the Truth and believe.

1 John 4: 18-19
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us”.

Before we knew you Holy God, we feared you. We feared you because of the punishment we were destined to receive; the punishment we deserved. Since you are God, Omniscient and Omnipresent, You KNEW we were not good, oh no, far from it. You saw our thoughts. You saw what we did. You saw the self protection, the self indulgence, the self consumption, the self worship. You saw it all. And it was not good. Our ways were malicious evil.

You were there and witnessed even those secret, deplorable things; those things that were hidden and of which we were most ashamed; the things that nobody knew about; those actions or the inaction that we deeply, wholeheartedly regretted. The fear of discovery tormented us. What would people think if they knew? The guilt clung like the stench of a sewer and we could not get it off. We would remember and lament, while fear and guilt had its way with us. Cold chills of sick dread enveloped us like an evil, Velcro blanket that wouldn’t warm, wouldn’t comfort, we couldn’t get it off no matter how hard we pulled, ripped, tore at it with stiff, icy fingers while it slithered to our neck and slowly, methodically, diabolically strangled out the life blood of any essence of goodness or hope… You saw it all!

How could we ever face you in life, but especially in death; on the Day of Judgment? We couldn’t make it right. How could anyone make it right? There were no words; no actions; no compensation that we could give that was powerful enough to redeem; to make the evil in us, holy again. Before we knew you, we were the most loathsome of creatures. Oh, what would become of us?

But God…
But while we were yet despicable, loathsome slugs cocooned in evil, you loved us. You pitied us. And in Your pity, you asked Christ to die. You asked Christ to die for us. His blood, the perfect, holy sacrifice saved us from your anger; your punishment. Christ took our punishment, our just deserves, for the evil we did and the stink of guilt we wore and put it on Himself. He wore that fowl, filthy, bloody blanket, that blanket of doom while He died for us ALL. And in doing so, we could be forgiven.

Thank you Holy Messiah, for becoming Redeeming Truth. Christ, you came to throw away; to cast off; to hurl that blanket of fear and guilt as far as the east is from the west. (Romans 5: 8-10; Psalms 103: 12-13). We can be unencumbered. We can be set free. We can be forgiven and restored to you, Holy God.

Lord Christ, we pray that others will choose to accept your sacrifice. Many are seeking, searching, and looking diligently. Muslims are devout. They get up at 3:30 am everyday for prayer. They pray 5 times a day and their lives revolve around devotion. Because of this fervor and seeking, please make your presence known to them (Jeremiah 29: 13; Matthew 7:7; Luke 19:10). Please make this year of Ramadan, monumental for your Kingdom. Lord Christ, please reveal yourself, for you are Truth; you are Redeeming Truth.

We also humbly ask for you to wake your Followers, Christ Followers. Inspire us toward kingdom business. More often than not, we are not devout, despite being given the knowledge of Christ, the Truth. We do not have fervor. We do not seek you. We do not get up from sleep or comfort or pleasure to pray. Please convict, forgive and restore us to sacrificial, effective service. Convict us to good works so that those who have not heard of Christ will see your goodness, not ours; will see Christ, who is Redemptive Truth; who is Savior; who is the sacrificial Lamb. We pray this in the name of Christ, our Messiah, our Savior. Amen.

(permission to use this story was obtained from it’s originating author. Names have been changed to protect identities)