How Long Should I Keep Praying?

For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Romans 10:13

Ever wondered how long you should keep praying for your Muslim friend?  The prayer list of the names of my Muslim friends continues to grow longer and I wonder if I should quit praying for certain ones.  A  group of them are remembered daily in prayer over a two week span and then repeated again. Some of them date back from thirty years ago while others are new.  Every morning Ed and I go through the list and lift that day’s group up to the Lord asking Him to remember those individuals, pursue them in His goodness, do a new work in them, awaken them to Truth, send confirming signs, convict them of sin and a need for a Savior, let the seed planted bear fruit, incline them to call on the Lord, give them spiritual hunger and thirst, send another Christian to them, remind them of past spiritual conversations, and so forth. They are like a flock of precious lambs to me and I deeply desire for them to find the Good Shepherd and to enter His fold. Since I never know who will call on the Lord prayer continues until I am released by the Spirit.

Some of these precious individuals have chosen to part ways with me; possibly because they were discouraged from or warned not to love Christians too much or associate with them. Yesterday I experienced two encounters back to back which confirmed to me to keep praying for these people. A Somali lady must have been handling her phone without realizing what she was doing and hit my number.  She seemed as surprised to hear my voice on the other end as I was to hear her voice! We landed up chatting for a lengthy time. I mentioned I pray for her. When you tell someone you pray for them and you have not had contact for a long time it impacts them. From that unexpected phone chat I went to the mall and walked past a fast food restaurant where I caught sight of a hijab clad Muslim woman paying for her food. I couldn’t tell who she was until she turned around. The Spirit whispered to me, “Linger a minute.”  So, I did. What a surprise to see another Muslim woman I pray for regularly but who sadly withdrew completely from having contact with me. Smiling and greeting her I followed her to her seat in the back corner of the restaurant. After a few minutes of conversation I told her I pray for her to which she replied dejectedly, “Don’t bother. Don’t bother.”  It was a short awkward visit but I was convinced it was orchestrated by God.  He is still trying to break through and waiting for her to call on Him.

When Muslims know we pray for them they will call us for prayer. Jamila called yesterday for prayer. Halima emailed asking me to pray.  When I send them birthday cards I write that I pray regularly for them. And, of course, when visiting with them they will often request prayer. So…..I continue to pray.

Dear heavenly Father, please save each of the precious Muslims on my prayer list.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.