Prayer Fuel

Day 6: Tower of Babel

One of the primary ways God is drawing Muslims to Himself is through simple Bible studies that highlight passages of scripture from Creation through the Resurrection. The Waha app (https://waha.app/) contains many story sets that have been translated into dozens of languages. Throughout the 30 days we will pray through these story sets that reveal Jesus, the Word made flesh.

As you read these familiar passages, prayerfully imagine what it would be like to read them for the first time – to see the wisdom, power, beauty, and authority of God and to be drawn to trust in Christ and yield your allegiance to Him.

Pray for your people and place according to what God shows you for today’s scripture:

Genesis 11:1-9

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

What this passage teaches us about God

God is actively involved with the people He created. He is not far off. He observes and comes down to interact and intervene for humanity’s good.

• Today as you pray for this place, thank God for His nearness.
• Pray for increasing numbers of people in this place to be aware of His presence.
• Ask God, according to His steadfast love, to intervene when people in this place reject Him and pursue their own desires.

What this passage teaches us about humanity

We are prone to the desire to make a name for ourselves, and to go against God’s command of filling the earth. We prefer comfort, security, and staying put.

This is illustrated in the story of Imen, a teacher who lived several hours away from her family. She saw many things in Christianity that appealed to her as she discussed Jesus with a Christian. Often she would say, “Wow, I really like that. That’s really beautiful.”

But when it came time for her to decide if she wanted to follow Jesus or just be a fan of Him, she felt fear of what the implications would be from her family and community. Ultimately, the comfort and security of staying where she was, like the builders on the ‘plain in the land of Shinar’, won out.

• Pray for Muslims to be willing to follow and obey the truth despite the discomfort and unease accompanied by setting their hearts on a heavenly home.

Insight into how this passage connects to Muslims

Muslims would also condemn arrogance and defiance of God, like we see in the story of the Tower of Babel. However, most Muslims do not believe God would ‘come down to see the city and the tower’.

• Pray for Muslims in this place to have their vision of God increased. Pray for their understanding of His all-powerful qualities to grow in their hearts and minds and to comprehend that God would enter into His creation to save them.

Insight into how to pray this passage for Christians reaching Muslims in this location

Pray for Christians in this place — whether Muslim background believers or foreigners who live among this people — that they would reject the temptation to settle and just be comfortable. Pray that they would have courage to keep going: going into Muslim neighborhoods and homes, and making Muslim friends, all with the goal of sharing the love of God with Muslims and engaging them with His Word.

Pray for churches in this place to resist the temptation to build in such a way as to make a name for themselves, but that everything would be done for the glory of God.

Related scriptures to pray for this people

In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost God reverses the division caused in the story of the Tower of Babel. Instead of one language being divided into many languages, we see many languages being understood through one message, bringing unity.

This happened because the main actor in Acts 2 is the Spirit of God. Pray for the Spirit of God to be poured out on this land, resulting in multitudes believing in Jesus and churches being formed and multiplied. Pray that territorialism and division would end. Pray that any existing churches in this place would work together in unity for God’s glory.