Prayers For ISIS Fighters Being Answered

Nearly a year ago, I called the readers of this blog to prayer not only for the persecuted Christians, especially in the Middle East, but also for their oppressors, the ISIS fighters.

The reason why they are staging now more terrorist attacks around the world is because they are losing ground in the Middle East, not only militarily, but most of all spiritually.

Many Islamic fighters were deeply moved by the love showed to them by many Christians even as they were being murdered, they cannot shake off the peace that they saw in their eyes, and they cannot forget their courage.

But most of all, many of them are seeing visions of Jesus Himself, who comes to them in their dreams showing them His scars( Islam teaches that Jesus was never really crucified) and calling them to live for Him instead of killing others.

Last week, one of my Arabic speaking friends shared with me some testimonies of ISIS fighters becoming followers of Jesus and asking Christians to forgive them and to pray for them. I cannot share too many details of those very supernatural conversions here as to not identify them, but I am sharing this with you to encourage you to continue to pray for them. God is answering our prayers.

In this context, I understand more and more why the Lord told us to "bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us." We must remember that our battle as apostle Paul taught us, is not against flesh and blood. Do not look at people who mistreat you as your enemies, the real enemy is that evil spiritual  force that keeps them in bondage and uses them to hurt us and hurting them as well in the process.

Satan is real and he hates humanity, but Jesus came, died, and rose again to save those who are lost, even those who you might consider an enemy. No matter who is it that causes you pain, a nasty coworker, your in-laws, whoever it is. Bless them, show them kindness, pray for them instead of returning evil for evil, and see how God will change the situation you are in for the better of both you and them. This is the gospel in action and the power of God. This is what those ISIS fighters do not have and when they experience it, they will be changed forever. The Gospel of Jesus Christ won over many hateful ideologies before and will win over this one as well. The victory is on our side already.

Keep Praying!

The Hour of Darkness : Paris Attacks Open New Chapter In War With ISIS

We were all rocked to our core by the recent terror attacks that killed more than 100 people in Paris last week. The question on most people's minds is, "Where will they hit next?"

Others are wondering why God is allowing this madness and how can people do such things in the name of God. Those were the very questions on the minds of Jesus' disciples when they witnessed Him being arrested like some criminal in the garden of Gethsemane over 2000 years ago.

He explained this by saying to those who were arresting Him, "When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched not forth your hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness."(Luke 22:53)

It looked like the evil was having an upper hand when Jesus was arrested, brought to false trials, tortured, and executed. And so it does today when we see people, most of them innocent civilians including women and children being tortured, raped, and killed in the name of Islam by ISIS fighters.

Even though it is easier for us to identify with the victims of Paris attacks, we still realize that much greater carnage is going on everyday in Middle East with no end in sight.

The conflict is intensifying with more world powers being drawn into it and more fanatics, as many as 30, 000 fighters recently, are being recruited by ISIS militants from around the world. It is the hour  and  power of darkness.

But we know the end from the beginning already. We know from the Bible that this hour will not last. There will be those who will resist and who are already resisting and overcoming this evil by the blood of the lamb ( Jesus), by the word of their testimony, and by laying down their lives  for their faith if they have to.

It is midnight on the prophetic clock. It is dark, but there is a call going out for all the virgins ( Christians) to wake up because the bridegroom is coming. So, it is time for us to trim our lamps, fill them with oil and shine in the midst of this darkness.

It is not right to hate or worse to attack the Muslims now because majority of them are not fanatics at all. We have the opportunity now to reach them with the Gospel, which now contrasts more than ever with the hate of the fanatics.

We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. While we condemn the violence of ISIS and expose Islam for what it really is, we must still share the love of God with Muslims, we must reach them with the Gospel before the fanatics reach them with their message of violence and hate. And we must pray against more of those attacks and pray for our political leaders to be wise, vigilant, and not to underestimate the enemy.

After Paris attacks, we know that the new chapter in war with ISIS had just opened. It is no more  a far away Middle East problem. It could happen anywhere, but we cannot give in to fear. It is time to shine  our light forth brighter than ever before.

Renewed Call To Prayer For ISIS Fighters

It is very easy to begin to resent or even hate ISIS fighters as well as their religion when we are being now daily bombarded with increasingly more revolting images of the atrocities that they commit.

Many well intentioned Christians post those pictures on their blogs and social media pages to bring awareness to how wrong it is what they are doing afraid that if Islam gains foothold in the West, then this kind of violence will reach them too, but we have way more powerful weapons at our disposal in this holy war and it is the authority that God had given us, the power of His Holy Spirit, the Blood of Jesus, the word of our testimony, the Love of God and the power of prayer.

Have you ever thought why Jesus told us to love our enemies? Why He commanded us to pray for those who hate, persecute, insult, spitefully use, rob or even kill us? Well, today it dawned on me even clearer than ever before. He did so because He wants to save them! Yes, you read right. He wants to save them because He died for them too.

We have to remember that these people as vicious as they might be are only tools in the hands of the real enemy, the demonic hordes of hell who drive them to do what they are doing and we were promised the authority over them.

Jesus said, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you...and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." ( Luke 10:19 ; Mat. 16:18)

We have the power, so let us use it! Since I issued the last call to prayer for ISIS fighters on this blog earlier this year, I have heard amazing stories of salvation of those who not only used to kill Christians and other innocent people, but even enjoyed doing it, how some of the had visitations from Jesus asking them why were they killing His people and revealing the truth about Himself to them.

This happened because of our prayers. These people are all deceived poor souls desperate for salvation. They cannot conquer their own sinful nature, so they go to Syria and Iraq to fight in the "holy war" because they are brainwashed into thinking that this will assure them eternal life. let us continue to storm the gates of hell by raising our prayer for their salvation daily to heaven. Every minute of prayer counts!