Prayer Fuel

Day 9: God’s Call to Moses

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 Tunisia according to what God shows you for today’s scripture:

Exodus 2:23-25

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Exodus 3:1-14

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 7:1-5

And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

What this passage teaches us about God

God hears, He sees suffering, and He comes to end it at just the right time.

• Pray for those who are oppressed in this land to know that their sufferings are seen by God. Pray that they would have hope that He would intervene and for those circumstances to be used to ultimately bring them into a saving relationship with Him.
• Pray for oppressors in this land to repent. Pray they would not be like Pharaoh whose heart was hard, but that they would have Saul-to-Paul like conversion experiences.

What this passage teaches us about humanity

Moses’ obedience to God’s calling impacted an entire nation.

• Pray that God would raise up men and women in this land who would faithfully listen to the voice of God, and that it would bring about freedom from sin for multitudes in their nation.

• Pray that those who humble themselves in this land today, would be exalted and that God would humble those who exalt themselves over others.

Insight into how this passage connects to Muslims

This story shows us that the proof that God spoke through Moses was when the things that Moses spoke actually came to happen. Pray for Muslims to ponder the meaning of the word ‘prophet’. They claim to believe all of the prophets (including Abraham, Moses, Jesus) though most have never read their actual teachings in the Old Testament and New Testament. Pray for God to use believers to challenge this reality and for a curiosity to grow among Muslims all over this land to want to read what all of the prophets taught.

This hunger to know what the prophets truly taught can lead to life-changing encounters. Souad was a divorced woman who feared God and tried to practice Islam correctly. She raised her children to follow Islam. After they were grown and out of the house she bought several expensive Islamic books to do deep research. The further she went, the more doubt began to grow in her heart. She became curious about Jesus. Late one night, she fell on her knees and prayed. The room was filled with light and a voice spoke clearly, “I am He.” These were the same words in Arabic that she would later read in the New Testament- Jesus’ declaration of His divine identity. After she understood what the prophets taught about Him, she would choose to make Him her Lord and Savior.

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

Christians living among Muslim peoples, especially those who have chosen to follow Christ out of a Muslim background, often live in fear of persecution because of their faith.

• Pray that God’s promise of rescue, freedom, and hope in this story would thrill their hearts and stir them to act with boldness and agreement with all of His commands.
• Pray for Christians trying to serve Muslims by sharing the Good News of Jesus, despite the inadequacies they feel, to have a heart posture that says, “Here I am.”

Tunisian prayer request

L is a respected leader in his Amazigh (Berber) village in southern Tunisia. Visiting Christians gave him a Bible and shared how many Amazigh people were once Christians before the Islamic invasion. L has been deeply moved by the kindness, humility, and love of these believers. Pray that L, his family, and his entire community will choose to follow Jesus.

Related scriptures to pray for Tunisia

Two thousand years later, John 8:56-59 records Jesus saying to a group of religious leaders, “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.'”

One religious leader said to Him, “You’re not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

This statement so outraged the religious leaders that they picked up stones to stone Him. He used the same title God used in this passage from Exodus 3 to declare who He is. Pray for Tunisian Muslims to have their eyes opened to the reality that Jesus is greater than Abraham, Moses, and all the prophets and that He came to set His people free – not just from Pharaoh, but from sin.