Pray for Baghdad

Shaab is an almost entirely Shia neighborhood– especially after the Shia militia takeover of the town in 2006. This operation was led by Mahdi Army who committed mass murders against Sunni families in order to create a Shia zone region in Baghdad. 

Ur is a neighborhood that shares the same name as a town south of Baghdad where Abraham came from and was born. Both these neighborhoods are located in the northeast part of the city, close to Sadr City. 

Ahmed* is a young taxi driver. He recently got a job as an airport taxi driver after he passed security clearances. The airport has high security with several check points on the way, thus not everyone could be qualified as an airport taxi driver. It is an ideal job compared with a normal taxi driver with higher and more stable income. Today Ahmed got ready to go to work as usual, and he got a reservation for a client to airport. But today his mind was a little occupied with something else. Today is the day of the court session of his brother’s murder case.  His brother worked in an honest trade but was kidnapped a couple years ago. The criminals demanded ransom for the release of his brother, but they ended up killing his brother. After a while, the police caught the criminals, and they were convicted. Perhaps today would be the day that justice would be served, he thought and hoped. To his surprise, today he got some non-Iraqi clients, and they were very friendly to him. After chatting a while, he started to share with them about his late brother and the court session today. His clients told him they were followers of Jesus and shared some words from their book to comfort him. He was touched and interested. Before they got down from the car, they gave him a small gift. They said it was a booklet of the stories of Jesus. He took it with gratitude, even though he never read anything about Jesus.

Pray for:  In Baghdad, there are millions of people who never read the Bible but are open to learning about Jesus. Please pray for those who have received a Bible, like Ahmed, that they will read it, and the word of God will change their lives. Please pray young Iraqi men like Ahmed, who experienced violence and injustice in his country will find Truth and Justice in our Lord Jesus.

Song: Abide: https://youtu.be/kLfUNDv-s34

Characteristic of God: Lord of the Sabbath

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28