Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies, to love them and bless them. The way that Muslims in general are coming across in the Western Press leads many to consider them as "enemies". This is incorrect, since the actual violence being done in Iraq, Egypt, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan (wow, the list goes on and on) ... is being carried out by a very dedicated minority.
So, "Not quite! ... Muslims in general are not our enemies. Most are hard-working families who follow an interpretation of Abraham and the Covenant that is radically different from that of Christians. Most suffer terrible injustice and receive low wages.
My purpose in this blog is not to list the differences.
I want us to concentrate on praying for Muslims. There are many points at which Muslim people who have come to Canada, or the USA, or England, or Germany, or Australia (wow, the list goes on and on) .... can benefit from concentrated, concerned and passionate prayers.
Muslims people often feel rejection in the West. They generally have no Christian friends. We can talk with them, first of all asking their names, realizing that many of their first names have a spiritual significance. They are usually more ready to talk about spiritual matters than secularized Westerners.
Love them and ask them to pray with them when they open up (this is a short list!) about
feelings of rejection by westerners;
raising children in a secular society and the conflicts coming up in schools;
misunderstandings about gender and how they are treated as women;
enmities and hostilities in their home countries that cause shame and dissatisfaction;
feelings of emptiness living in our countries;
broken relationships;
surgeries and ill health;
crowded homes and lack of sufficient funds to pay the bills;
their relatives back home.
You may not have been called to be a missionary overseas, but right on our front doors are oodles of opportunities to show we love and care for the strangers in our midst.
So, "Not quite! ... Muslims in general are not our enemies. Most are hard-working families who follow an interpretation of Abraham and the Covenant that is radically different from that of Christians. Most suffer terrible injustice and receive low wages.
My purpose in this blog is not to list the differences.
I want us to concentrate on praying for Muslims. There are many points at which Muslim people who have come to Canada, or the USA, or England, or Germany, or Australia (wow, the list goes on and on) .... can benefit from concentrated, concerned and passionate prayers.
Muslims people often feel rejection in the West. They generally have no Christian friends. We can talk with them, first of all asking their names, realizing that many of their first names have a spiritual significance. They are usually more ready to talk about spiritual matters than secularized Westerners.
Love them and ask them to pray with them when they open up (this is a short list!) about
feelings of rejection by westerners;
raising children in a secular society and the conflicts coming up in schools;
misunderstandings about gender and how they are treated as women;
enmities and hostilities in their home countries that cause shame and dissatisfaction;
feelings of emptiness living in our countries;
broken relationships;
surgeries and ill health;
crowded homes and lack of sufficient funds to pay the bills;
their relatives back home.
You may not have been called to be a missionary overseas, but right on our front doors are oodles of opportunities to show we love and care for the strangers in our midst.
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