God alone fully knows the rights and wrongs of every situation, and what is happening, and what will happen, but we can be praying. For example:

1. Pray for the Christian minority in numerous Middle East contexts, who are often exposed to misunderstanding, discrimination, persecution, and bloodshed — pray that they may live with faith, courage, and grace, that the Lord may uphold them, and that they may shine with the light of Christ

2. Pray for all who suffer and mourn, in every place. Pray for those who have lost their home or livelihood, or are injured, or displaced, or lack sufficient food or water, or who feel great fear and hopelessness — pray that they may find help, and comfort and peace in God

3. Pray for those who are still cruelly held as captives — pray that they may have a revelation of God, survive, and be released

4. Pray that from the scriptures of the Old Testament, all leaders in the Middle East may remember what the LORD requires of them, as in Micah 6:8: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”.

5. Pray that the people of Israel may, in great numbers, find the true and living God through faith in Jesus (as in Romans 11:26)

6. Pray that, by a miracle of God’s grace, there may come a shift in the spiritual climate of the Middle East, and that leaders of various faiths may pull back from bitter enmity and the undying quest for vengeance and total victory — and instead seek reconciliation, and begin to learn to live peacefully alongside others with kindness, respect, and impartiality

7. Pray that God’s will and purposes may be done on earth, as it is in heaven

Author: Dr Stuart Lange

Dr Stuart Lange is the National Director of the NZCN and is a Senior Research Fellow at Laidlaw College, where he was formerly Vice Principal. Stuart wrote and presented the historical DVD documentary Te Rongopai: 200 years of the Gospel in New Zealand, 1814-2014.