Pray for Baghdad

This is the largest neighborhood in Baghdad and was largely uninhabited until the 1950’s when Assyrians settled from other areas of Iraq. Churches and houses started being built more in the 1970’s and this neighborhood once was the home of 150,000 Christian background inhabitants, mostly Assyrian and Chaldean descent. It became a mixed district of Sunni, Shia and Christians all living together in harmony before the Iraq war. 

Dora was the first place to be invaded in 2003 which led to subsequent instability. By 2007, Christians were being attacked and told to either leave or pay large amounts of money. This led to several fleeing to the north or immigrating to western countries. By 2010, Dora was mostly Sunni due to much of the Christian and Mandaean (an ethnoreligious group following John the Baptist) population having left the area. Several Muslims who stayed in the neighborhood however, talk about how they miss Christian neighbors. 

Saeed* recalled the day his family was threatened with a bomb appearing next to their house in Dora. As he drove down a now very busy and famous street, he shared about the day his family left to go up to the Kurdish area of Iraq to flee for their lives. Saed is an on-fire believer whose heart is for his country to know the Savior. He started his own NGO and is organizing trainings and conferences throughout the country talking about forgiveness and reconciliation. 

Pray for:  Will you pray for more believers to stay and reach their own countrymen and for Saed’s dreams of his city to come to Him to be realized? Pray for more of the diaspora to return home to help their fellow Iraqis know the Good Shepherd.

Song: Psalm 23: https://youtu.be/8RzGnpvUFFw

Characteristic of God: Good Shepherd 

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1-3

“For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:17