BRINGING LIGHT INTO DARKNESS:  a prayer journey into the Middle East

“History belongs to the intercessors.” – Walter Wink

We live in a season of unprecedented trauma, suspicion and violence.  Hatred is justified, faith is weaponised and people are marginalised.  As events unfold across the Middle East — in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, and beyond — it is easy to become overwhelmed by the weight of destruction, and a sense of helplessness.

But God has never left His church without the presence and the power to speak into the lives of the hopeless and the powerless.  He has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).  We have been entrusted with a weapon so powerful that no iron-dome can stop it, no leader can prevent it, and no border can block it:  PRAYER

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible.” – Corrie ten Boom

But prayer has two conditions: we have to believe it, and we have to practice it.  We have to believe that prayer is not passive. It is participation. It is presence. It is light.  We have to practice it.  Attentionally – with awareness – and intentionally – with purpose.

Through this prayer initiative we invite you into a simple, symbolic rhythm of intercession — one that anyone, anywhere, at any time can join.

All you need is a map, a candle, and a moment of stillness.

As simple as that.  We will provide the information, the inspiration and the interpretation on a weekly basis.  All you need to provide are clutched hands, and a heart filled with compassion, tenderness and confidence.

“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” – Karl Barth

HOW IT WORKS

Starting on Monday 6 April, we will rotate countries on a weekly basis so that the whole region becomes covered in prayer — slowly, faithfully, tenderly.  Print out the information provided, and at any time of day, place your map before you, light your candle, and hold that nation before God.  It can be seconds, it can be minutes or it can be hours.  JUST PRAY!  Get others to join.  Pray for its people, its leaders, its wounds, its future. Let the flame remind you that Christ’s light still shines in places shadowed by fear and fire.

“Our prayers can go where we cannot.” – Brother Andrew

WHY A CANDLE?

Because a candle is:

• Fragile, yet it pushes back the darkness.
• Small, yet it can spark an all-consuming and unstoppable fire.
• Steady, yet it invites us to be still.
• Symbolic, yet it reminds us that Christ is present even where we cannot go.

WHY A MAP?

Because prayer is not vague. It is embodied. It has coordinates. It has names and borders and people and stories. As we gather around a map and a flame, we trust that the Light of the world still walks the roads of Tehran, Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, Riyadh, Gaza, Cairo, Baghdad, and Doha. Each candle becomes a small defiance of despair, each prayer a thread of hope stretched across borders.

PRAYERS

Jesus had much to say about prayer.  But He didn’t give a theory of prayer — He gave a way of praying. His words are simple, burning, and practical.  It involves:

• Hidden prayers and simple prayers: Matthew 6:6-8 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 
• Persistent prayer: Luke 18:1 hen Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 
• Prayer for enemies (we need to remember this one when we intercede for a nation that could be regarded as an enemy): Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
• Prayer for God’s kingdom to come: Matthew 6:9-10 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
• Prayer rooted in Fatherly trust: Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 

In every prayer for every nation, we will implore heaven to interrupt the human destruction through divine moments of revelation.  We will pray for:

• The indigenous church
• Peace
• Reconciliation
• Protection of civilians
• Wisdom for leaders
• Comfort for the grieving
• Strength for the church
• Hope for the future

Pray alone or pray with others.

Blow out the candle slowly, as a sign of entrusting the nation to God.

COUNTRIES WE WILL PRAY FOR

• Week 1: 6 April – Iran
• Week 2: 13 April – Israel
• Week 3: 20 April – Lebanon
• Week 4: 27 April – Syria
• Week 5: 4 May – Saudi Arabia
• Week 6: 11 May – Gaza/ West Bank
• Week 7: 18 May – Egypt
• Week 8: 25 May – Iraq
• Week 9: 1 June – Qatar/ UAE

Remember:

“Prayer does not equip us for greater works — prayer is the greater work.” – Oswald Chambers