BERDOA BAGI KELUARGA MUSLIM

40 HARI MENGASIHI BANGSA DALAM DOA -- MINGGU, 28 MEI 2017

BERDOA BAGI KELUARGA MUSLIM

Keluarga bersifat kompleks/rumit. Keluarga kita sangat menentukan siapa diri kita dan dipengaruhi oleh banyak faktor. Tak ada keluarga yang sama, dan ketika kita menyelidiki kehidupan keluarga di dunia Muslim, kita akan menemukan perbedaan-perbedaan maupun kesamaan-kesamaannya.

Dalam edisi ini, kita akan menyoroti keanekaragaman yang ada dalam keluarga-keluarga Muslim. Seperti halnya yang terjadi di keluarga-keluarga Kristen, demikian pula budaya, tradisi, pendidikan, pengalaman, dan kesempatan-kesempatan memengaruhi bagaimana keluarga Muslim itu menjalani kehidupannya di seluruh dunia. Dari generasi ke generasi, keluarga-keluarga menanggapi dan menyesuaikan diri dengan perubahan budaya, masyarakat, dan teknologi yang berlangsung cepat maupun lambat. Kita akan melihat bagaimana hal ini berpengaruh kuat dalam keluarga-keluarga Muslim di berbagai wilayah.

Saudara juga akan melihat berbagai hal yang bersifat umum: korban-korban persembahan dilakukan oleh orangtua agar anak yang dikasihinya memperoleh peluang yang lebih baik; kecemasan-kecemasan terhadap anak-anak yang sedang bertumbuh dalam keterlibatannya dalam masyarakat yang semakin tidak menentu; kesukacitaan dan pergumulan dibagikan oleh pasangan yang telah menikah; dan perhatian terhadap orangtua yang sudah Ianjut umur. Kita berdoa dengan memahami pokok-pokok permasalahan mereka.

Arab, Yemeni in Yemen

Arab, Yemeni in Yemen

Yemen is very poor. Most of the population is engaged in growing grains, vegetables, fruit, cotton, coffee, and khat (a stimulant-containing shrub), and raising sheep, goats, and camels. Foreign aid and remittances from Yemenis working abroad are important to the economy. Once part of the ancient Sabaean kingdom (750 BC-115 BC), Yemen was later ruled by the Himyarites, Romans, Ethiopians, and Persians. It was conquered by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century AD.
Ministry Obstacles
Yemen provides a hostile environment to Christian workers.
Outreach Ideas
Bridges of friendship and trust are needed with the Arabs of Yemen. Christians can help them in material and physical ways.
Pray for the followers of Christ
Pray the few followers of Christ among the Ta'izz-Adeni Arabs will cling strongly to their faith in a harsh environment. Pray the Lord will protect them and teach them to fully trust in himself for life.
Pray for the entire people group
Pray for the Arabs of Yemen to improve their standard of living, find employment and provide schooling for their children.
Scripture Focus
"He will have compassion on the poor and needy, And the lives of the needy He will save." Psalm 72:13

		People Name: Arab, Yemeni Country: Yemen 10/40 Window: Yes Population: 6,611,000 World Population: 7,413,000 Language: Arabic, Taizzi-Adeni Spoken Primary Religion: Islam Bible: None Audio NT (FCBH): No Jesus Film: Yes Audio Recordings: Yes Christ Followers: Few, less than 2% Status: Unreached Progress Level:

Give a Bible to a Believer Like Kumar

We Know Them by Name

Pastor Kumar waited with about 50 others who had gathered in the small church sanctuary. They sat on plastic chairs, waiting for their name to be called. When a smiling man at the front looked at his list and said “Kumar!” the pastor stood up and made his way to the front. After being handed a red leather-bound study Bible, the first copy of the Scriptures he’d ever owned, he broke into a broad smile. “Praise God!” he exclaimed. Help Send Bibles Now

Kumar’s Bible was one of more than 300,000 distributed by The Voice of the Martyrs’ contacts in India last year and one of more than 1.2 million distributed worldwide. New believers in hostile and restricted nations need Bibles to help them grow, and pastors need Bibles to help them teach their congregations. VOM has collected the names of tens of thousands of Christians who have asked for a Bible. When you sponsor Bibles through our “We Know Them by Name” campaign, VOM will send you the names of those who receive the Bibles so you can pray for them as they begin to read and share God’s Word. Join us today in providing Bibles to believers in hostile and restricted nations. Give a Bible to a Believer Like Kumar

Displaced Iraqis Escape Death in Mosul, Iraq

Displaced Iraqis Escape Death in Mosul, Iraq

April 6, 2017

Islamic State militants last year killed a Christian woman identified only as Samira in Baghdaida, outside Mosul.

Some Iraqi civilians able to escape the Iraqi military's battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) for control of Mosul have not only avoided death but are finding life in Christ.
A displaced 10-year-old boy in northern Iraq was one of 600 kids who enjoyed an indigenous ministry's program at which children received Bibles and heard the gospel. Mahmood decided to put his faith in Christ for salvation, the ministry director said.
"That night, we asked the kids to go tell their parents about what they had heard and share the story of Jesus with everyone," the director said. "Mahmood's father came the next day complaining to us about our influence in his kid's decision to accept Christ."
The boy's father was upset and fearful of community backlash after hearing his son say, "I became a follower of Christ."
"His father had never heard a word about Jesus, so he gave us the opportunity to tell him about Christ and His salvation," the director said. "Not long after that, he accepted Christ and took Bibles for his wife and two daughters."

Ministries based in Iraq are in ideal position to provide aid, as they can purchase local items inexpensively and are familiar enough with local cultures to introduce the gospel along with relief items.

Other parents also approached the ministry leader with complaints about their children; they too ended up accepting Christ, he said. He gave them Bibles, and they told others of the peace and joy they had found in Jesus.
"Mahmood's father now has a Bible study in his house every Friday at 10 a.m. – the Muslim prayer day!" the director said.
Those stuck in Mosul face a reality that stands in sharp contrast with those who have fled. U.S-led coalition airstrikes in embattled western Mosul reportedly buried scores of civilians in rubble last month. Other civilians have succumbed to months of brutality by ISIS. Since the campaign to retake Iraq's second largest city from ISIS began on Oct. 17, desperate ISIS militants have tortured and killed civilians suspected of being sympathetic to the liberators. Prohibiting civilians from fleeing, the militants have sent the wounded into streets to lure into the open Iraqi forces seeking to help them, and they have kept women and children close by as human shields.
Iraqi forces, including the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, are caught in a harsh dilemma. After the coalition forces retook eastern Mosul, an estimated 400,000 civilians are trapped in the city. ISIS militants are also trapped; surrounded by coalition forces, with no escape route or hope of victory, they have ensured that as many remaining civilians as possible meet a cruel end. Horrifying accounts by relatives of killed civilians are trickling out daily.

Ruins of a building outside Mosul after destruction by Islamic State.

At least 355,000 civilians have been able to escape Mosul and its suburbs, Reuters reported, citing government figures. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week said the international community must step up aid to help them.
Ministries based in Iraq are in ideal position to provide aid, as they can purchase local items inexpensively, know secure ways to distribute them and are familiar enough with local cultures to introduce the Bible and gospel along with relief items. They need only funding. All three camps in Khazar and Hassan Shami are full with displaced people from east Mosul, the director said.
"Despite the region still being in a state of war, large groups of displaced inhabitants are risking their lives trying to return home," he said. "Although this is dangerous, due to living conditions in the camps, the lack of resources and the cold weather, many are still trying. We provided some humanitarian support to the displaced that were in the camps, in the roads and in small villages located between the cities of Erbil, Dohuk and Mosul, but the need was much greater than our resources."
The ministry team recently came upon a village of Yarsanis (in Iraq called Kaka'in), followers of a syncretic religion founded in the late 14th century in western Iran by Sultan Sahak. The director said the team learned that they had militant tendencies, so the members spent much time in prayer before approaching them.
They went to the house of the village elder, religious leader Kaka Shehab, and told him about Christ. His daughter was ill with asthma, so they prayed for her before leaving him with a Kurdish-language Bible, the director said.
"The next day," he said, "he phoned us and said, 'My daughter has recovered, thanks to your prayers. Please, come back to the village and pray in every house and for everyone the same prayer that you prayed for her, and give Bibles to every house in the village."
The team returned and distributed 500 Kurdish-language Bibles, and they prayed for and explained Christ to all who received them, he said.
We pray and hope that all the followers of this religion will turn to Christ soon," he said. "Please Pray."
To help indigenous missionaries to meet needs, you may contribute online using the form below, or call (434) 977-5650. If you prefer to mail your gift, please mail to Christian Aid Mission, P.O. Box 9037, Charlottesville, VA 22906. Please use Gift Code: 444SHM. Thank you!

Drawing Life

Drawing Life  

With help from a student aide for an indigenous ministry in Jordan, a young refugee girl from Iraq expresses repressed feelings about atrocities by Islamic State terrorists. The director of the church school offering education to refugee children noted that a 7-year-old Iraqi girl had difficulty concentrating, a common symptom of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Also speech-delayed, she needed a student aide to help her adjust after the ordeal of escaping Iraq with her mother and brother. The family had spent a year sleeping on the streets and in parking garages. “Since starting at the church school, she is a lot happier,” the director said. “In the classroom she is happy to participate with the other students. Having a student aide/teaching assistant enables her to participate without distracting the rest of the class.” The ministry needs eight aides for eight traumatized children at a cost of $1,500 per month for all eight assistants – also refugees who benefit from the employment.

The earthquake that was my life until I found Christ

The earthquake that was my life until I found Christ

By Cathy Evangelista, Special to ASSIST News Service

ROCHESTER, NY (ANS – March 17, 2017) -- My story begins in “Surf City,” Huntington Beach, Southern California, where I was living at the time.

On that fateful morning of June 28, 1992, my daughter and I were soundly sleeping, that was until at 4:57 AM, when apartment building where I was living, started to shake.

It grew stronger and stronger and for that minute, my daughter, Tiffany, and myself, had by now jumped out of our beds, and stood shaking between the bedroom door jam on the second floor, and we stood there until it had eventually stopped.

All of that short time, I was praying to myself: “Lord, please stop it. Please stop it.” I was so scared that my daughter and I were going to die!

As I said before, it was only a minute, but those sixty seconds seemed like a lifetime! After the earthquake had stopped, my daughter, who was only about 7-years-old at the time, ran out the door, down the steps to the ground floor, and began knocking urgently on a neighbors door. I followed her out.

Tiffany seemed much calmer than I, and I was still shaking, but I managed to recover enough to ask my friend if we could stay at her home for a few hours, and thankfully she said “yes,” and ushered us through the door. We stayed for a short time, but it took me about a week to get over the initial shock that I was in.

I had never started reading the Bible until that year. I knew of God, but I did not have a personal relationship with Him. So, for some reason, one Sunday evening of late summer that year late summer, I drove to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa with my daughter. There were no cars in the parking lot and then I saw a little sign that said the church was holding its evening service at the Pacific Amphitheater, a huge rock venue just a few miles away, so we went there.

There were plenty of cars there and I found a parking space and I told my daughter, “Let’s go into the theater, and we can check it out.” It was a wonderful event, with a praise band leading the worship, and followed by a powerful message from Pastor Chuck Smith.

To make a long story short, I decided to start attending CCCM, and the first time I went there, I experienced so much LOVE! It was so powerful to me that I immediately I felt this was where the Lord want me to go on a regular basis.

You see, I knew about God, but I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him until the day I began attending the church. I was raised Catholic back in Ohio, and then I moved by myself to Southern California, where I lived in East LA with my biological mother, who never actually raised me. (I was raised by a stepmom and my biological father back in Ohio). I stayed for a time in East LA and worked as a certified nursing aid in a mentally locked up geriatric nursing home facility.

It was while working there that I met and made new “friends”. When I was growing up into my teenage years, and after high school, I was what you would call a “goody two shoes”. I never got into trouble and, in my free time, I would just read books like the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, and others I had in my own room.

But, back to East LA. As I mentioned, these new so-called friends” introduce me to marijuana and other street drugs. They also acquainted me with shots of whiskey and other hard liquor. I was never like that in Ohio, so this was a whole new world to me.

So in my new-found area of Los Angeles, I did smoke the marijuana and was then introduced to PCP (Phencyclidine), also known as Angel Dust and Sernyl. I tried it, and nothing happened the first time around. However, the second time, I took two “hits”, and I have confess that I have never felt so ill in all my life. It felt like my brain had exploded and I finally somehow fell asleep after taking the “hits”.

But, if that wasn’t bad enough, I discovered when I awoke from the daze I was in, that they had tricked me and told me that I had taken PCP, and then one of these so-called male friends, had apparently tried to rape me, but even in that state, I was able to beat him off! I learned later that I was yelling “help,” nobody came to assist me.

Life was, by now, spinning out of control and, not longer afterwards, I also was date-raped and by that incident I became pregnant. When an aunt of mine found out, she immediately took me to a nearby women’s hospital, and there I had a saline partial birth abortion. When the nurse said that I finished with delivering the baby, she asked me if I wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. I said “no.”

I began to realize that was not getting anywhere where I was living, and seeing how depressed I had become, my sister took me to Orange County, California, a much nicer area to live in. She is the oldest from my father side and I was not raised with her. She happened to stay with my Mom in California after my parents divorced back when I was three. She knew that I was in trouble, so she moved me right out of that place and I never looked back!

As I think back, I knew I that God was looking after me, even when I didn’t realize it. There is so much more to share, but I will leave it as it is right now. My life verse now is Joshua 1:9 that says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (NIV). That is a promise and I hold on to it.

Photo captions: 1) The Huntington Beach pier during one of the storms and earthquakes that hit the area. 2) Cathy Evangelista with her daughter Tiffany in 1986. 3) Pastor Chuck Smith speaking. 3) Cathy pictured a couple of Christmas ago with her daughter Tiffany, and son Dominic. 4) An older picture of Cathy.

About the writer: Cathy Evangelista now resides in upstate New York with her husband Michael and son Dominic. She is retired from customer service after 30 years. She attended Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (CCCM) back in the 90’s and was married there in 1995. She moved with her husband to upstate New York in 2006. She is an avid reader of the Word and loves to share the Gospel. She goes to a Calvary Chapel-affiliated church near where she lives and has recently joined the ASSIST News Service as an Editorial Assistant. Cathy can be contacted at: mevangelista@rochester.rr.com.

** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net). Also, please tell your friends that they can have a complimentary subscription to ANS by going to the above website and signing up there.

Hausa, North in Nigeria

Hausa, North in Nigeria

The Hausa are almost exclusively Muslim and practice agriculture. Their widespread trading activities have contributed to making their language a lingua franca in much of West Africa. In earlier times the Hausa were organized in the Hausa States. Long the vassals of Bornu, the states were conquered by the Songhay in 1513 and by the Fulani in the early 19th century. In colonial Nigeria the traditional Hausa-Fulani social and political structure was largely maintained under the British policy of indirect rule. The Hausa remain a major force in Nigerian politics.

Ministry Obstacles
The Hausa may have only a partial understanding of who Jesus truly is. Pray they will increasingly understand that He is more than a prophet.
Outreach Ideas
Much sustained prayer is needed to prepare the way for the Gospel among the Hausa. Prayer efforts are needed both to prepare the way, and to sustain the workers.

Pray for the followers of Christ
Pray for the few followers of Christ among the Northern Hausa people, that they will grow deeply into the Lord's love and be firmly established in his finished work on the cross. Pray they will be joyful always, praying continually, and giving thanks in all circumstances. Pray they will be zealous to learn, and to be obedient.

Pray for the entire people group
Pray for peace in northern Nigeria. Pray for the Hausa tribes to increasingly be drawn to Isa (Jesus) as he is referred to in the Koran. Pray the Lord will reveal himself to the Hausa as he knows best.

Scripture Focus
"All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You." Psalm 22:27

		People Name: Hausa, North Country: Nigeria 10/40 Window: Yes Population: 406,000 World Population: 406,000 Language: Hausa Primary Religion: Islam Bible: Complete Audio NT (FCBH): Yes Jesus Film: Yes Audio Recordings: Yes Christ Followers: Few, less than 2% Status: Unreached Progress Level: