International Day of Prayer to Proclaim ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ to the Arab World and the United States
A way to change ‘the spiritual map of the world’
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LA MIRADA, CA (ANS) -- The Lebanon Prayer Group (www.LebanonPrayerGroup.org), a California-based Christian ministry, has told ANS that its 22nd International Day of Prayer for the Arab World and the United States will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. at the Calvary Chapel at Biola University, La Mirada, California.
“This is an opportunity for the community of born again Christian believers to unite in worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for prayer on behalf of the Arab world and the United States,” said Dr. Ray Sleiman, pastor of Grace and Truth Gospel Church in Long Beach and founder of The Lebanon Prayer Group.
“Our prayer is to reach the almost 400 million Moslems in the Middle East with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray for the evangelical churches in the region and for God’s opening of the door in order to reach so many Moslems with the gospel. For the last 21 years we have seen the Lord answer our prayers in a dramatically meticulous way.
“We believe strongly that the hundreds of thousands of new Christian converts in the Arab world this past decade are a direct answer to these prayers,” Dr. Sleiman, a urologist from Lebanon, who is married with two children, continued.
“This is an opportunity for the community of born again Christian believers to unite in worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for prayer on behalf of the Arab world and the United States,” said Dr. Ray Sleiman, pastor of Grace and Truth Gospel Church in Long Beach, California, and founder of The Lebanon Prayer Group.
He says that there has been an unprecedented growth of Christianity among Moslems in the last few years, but evangelicals constitute only one percent of the population of Lebanon.
Flag of Lebanon
“Much more evangelism is needed in that country and in the other 19 Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said. “Much also needs to be done in the way of discipling and consolidating the new believers, and encouraging the evangelical churches to effectively reach out to the rest of Middle East.”
Pastor George Saieg with Ministry to Muslims Network (www.ministrytomuslims.com ), writes in support of this day of prayer, stating, “With the command of Christ, the leading of the Holy Spirit and the obedience of the church, every Muslim in America will be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Pastor Allan Esses, founder of www.YesJesusIsLord.org, also supports this day of prayer. He told ANS, “What a joy to gather as the body of Jesus Christ to pray that Moslems throughout the Arab World and the United States would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
Pastor George Saieg pictured with Dan Wooding at KWVE radio station after an interview for Dan's Front Page Radio program
“Our desire is to give Moslems the opportunity to hear the gospel, so that by believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God who came in the flesh, died and shed His blood on a cross for all our sins, was buried and was bodily raised from the dead, and by faith in Jesus Christ alone they can have eternal life.”
“We are calling for a larger participation by churches all over the world to rise to the great challenge, and opportunity to pray on the International Day of Prayer for the Arab World and the United States,” Dr. Sleiman said.
“The eternal destiny of hundreds of millions in the Middle East is at stake. Only God, who began this great opportunity, knows how brief and fleeting it may be,” Sleiman added.
“Today we are faced with many great challenges: there are more than one billion un-reached Muslims, terrorism has become a global concern, potentially explosive conditions in the Middle-East are numerous, and persecution of the church is growing. In view of these massive challenging needs, we must have a sense of urgency to pray,” he said.
Sleiman provided the following scriptural references in support of the prayer and evangelism initiative:
* In Matthew 28:18-19 – Acts 1:8 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
* Jesus taught that prevailing prayer is the key to effective evangelism and the sending of “Workers into the harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38).
* “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24).
Sleiman went on to say, “If we truly believe these promises, how can we neglect to pray? Like no other time before, your participation in this year’s Day of Prayer for the Arab World and the United States is crucial. Please, begin praying.”
He concluded by saying, “If you live elsewhere in the US or overseas, please begin preparing your local church to have a similar prayer day on Saturday the 7th, or Sunday the 8th of May. Prayer requests are posted on our website (www.LebanonPrayerGroup.org). The names of all participating congregations will be listed in the program. And may our Lord continue to be glorified in changing the spiritual map of our world.”
Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.
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