What Will War Bring to Iran? Praying for a Country in Crisis

What will war bring to Iran, praying for a country in crisis, written and read by David

Mathis?

As the world watches Iran, Christians look on with another set of eyes.

Here we reside, we watch, and we pray with a spiritual vision that transcends natural

concerns and our own nation-state.

We are Americans, Brazilians, Canadians, Dominicans, Emirates.

Yet in Christ, we are now most fundamentally citizens of heaven.

Our supreme allegiance is to Jesus, risen, ascended, and reigning over all nations for

the special good of his church, even in the great sorrows of these days.

Some estimate that in recent weeks, the Muslim regime in Iran has killed more than 30,000

protesters.

As of today, the United States and Israel have executed six days of coordinated attacks

on strategic targets in Iran.

Over 1,000 Iranians are reported dead, a number that includes soldiers, civilians, and

the nation's 86-year-old supreme leader, who had ruled since 1989.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes across the region, so far 12 Israelis

and six Americans have died in the conflict.

How might Christians look on and pray in these tragic and potentially momentous days in

Iran and in the Middle East?

Iran is the fairly recent name for the ancient civilization known as Persia, which plays

an important role in the Christian scriptures.

The name Persia appears almost 30 times across five books in the Old Testament.

For the first covenant people of God, Persia emerged as a liberator from their exile in

Babylon.

The Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the proclamation that freed the Jews to return

home and rebuild the temple.

In his wake, followed King Darius, Xerxes, and Artus Xerxes, who ruled over the post-exilic

lives of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

In a manner reminiscent of how God once stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, he has stirred the

hearts of many Persians against the Muslim regime, especially in the last decade plus.

An annual gathering in late October at Cyrus' tomb has grown to tens of thousands who

rally to remember Persia's pre-Islamic past.

The Shiite Muslim regime came to power in 1979, following the nation's frustration

with its Shah, Persian for King, and his oil money personal excesses and friendships

in the West and modernizing efforts.

The history of 20th century Persia slash Iran could go on at great length.

But relevant to our immediate Christian interest is the widespread disillusionment with Islam,

especially so in Iran.

The present conflict comes in the wake of a movement that's been gaining steam for many

years and is part of a larger restlessness.

Operation World reports that in Iran alone, 50,000 mosques have closed in recent years

as Iranians are disillusioned with both the regime and with Islam, and that the younger

generation is fed up with the legacy of oppression, bloodshed, cruel justice, corruption, economic

hardship, and cultural isolation for most of the world.

According to Mindy Bells, the trend was undeniable even a decade ago.

She writes, an estimated two to seven million Muslims have converted to Christianity since

the start of the 21st century.

They occur in all parts of the Muslim world, including areas most hostile to Christianity,

like Afghanistan and Iran, more than 80% of such movements began after 9-11.

In the last decade, the trend has continued and accelerated, particularly in Iran.

Christian pastor Afshim Ziyafat, a contributor to desiring God, who lived in Iran until

age 6, wrote for us back in 2019 that as of 1979, there were about 500 known Christians

from a Muslim background in Iran.

In 2005, it was estimated that there were 40,000 ethnic Iranian Christians, not including

ethnic minority Christians who live in Iran.

That number grew to about 175,000 Christians in 2010.

Today, the average estimates of Christians within Iran range from 300,000 to upwards of

one million, according to some mission experts.

More Iranians have become Christians in the last 20 years than in the previous 1300 years

since Islam came to Iran.

That is a stunning turn, especially since it has happened while evangelism, conversion,

and owning or distributing the Bible in Farsi has been illegal.

According to Operation World, massive numbers of Iranians have come to Jesus in recent years.

From only 500 Muslim background believers in 1979, some estimates suggest the number is

even greater than one million just in Iran alone.

Large numbers of Persian people have also encountered the risen Christ outside Iran.

Zifat updated his congregation briefly this past Sunday that present developments feel

very momentous.

For 47 years, he says, the people of Iran have been under the oppressive Islamic regime.

Some of the most hospitable, sweet, kind people, I mean this, that you will ever meet in

life or Persians.

And so I really want to make sure you separate the government of Iran from the people of

Iran in your mind.

He continues, and the people of Iran have been tired of this Islamic regime.

This could be a very momentous occasion if it leads to a regime change, not just for

freedom's sake, but also for the sake of the church.

Rather than passing along prayer points, our team at Desiring God would like to offer

this public prayer and invite you to join us as we intercede for Persia and the surrounding

region.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, as this crisis unfolds with its devastating sorrows and tremendous hopes,

we who trust in your son watch with the eyes of faith.

Help us to see beyond what our fellow earthly citizens perceive with their natural eyes,

economics, world leaders, militaries, weapons.

We want to see by your spirit an ache for the unfolding of your good purposes to exalt

your son as the hero of all history and in every nation.

We pray for the many nations and world leaders now involved.

May truth hold sway and true justice be done, guard them from the fog and excesses of war

and bring a deeper and more lasting peace on the other side of this conflict.

And may it be brief and not escalate unnecessarily.

We ask for the protection of civilians and for minimal loss of life inside and outside

Iran.

Father, for the Persian church, oh guard her in these days, give peace to endure persecution

and to out rejoice opponents.

May these terrifying times usher in a new era in which your church might come above ground

and your people lead peaceful and quiet lives that are wildly fruitful in evangelism

and in the establishing of new churches.

May Persians who claim the name of Jesus emerge in surprising ways to shine as lights

in the darkness.

Father, how remarkable it would be if the doors to one of the world's most significant

closed countries could swing open for Christian missionaries and teachers.

Already, before now, the harvest has been great and the laborers' few.

May these critical days in Iran change this, that doors for your word would open and that

train Christian leaders could more freely train more leaders.

And Father, we know that the building and beautifying of Jesus' church will happen with

and through the spread of the gospel.

So we ask for even more conversions to Jesus.

May these countless disillusioned Muslims from going to other broken cisterns like atheism

and Zoroastrianism open their eyes and their heart to treasure Jesus and find true peace

in him.

May the good news that Jesus saves sinners spread like never before in Persia.

For youth disenchanted with Islam, for women who have struggled under its demeaning structures,

for the age it who have been deceived, or have cried out for rescue for decades.

We pray that Persian Christians and all Christians might declare the gospel of your son clearly

and boldly as we ought to speak it, that the word of Jesus may speed ahead and be honored,

and that Persian believers, new and old, may be delivered from wicked and evil men.

Father, is Paul anticipated that the prayers of fellow Christians with the help of your

spirit, would turn out for his deliverance.

So we pray, expecting that you might use this prayer offered by those who gladly bow before

and treasure your son to work Christ honoring wonders in Iran and beyond, both for the

ending of these temporal sufferings and for bringing decisive rescue from eternal suffering.

Take the great sorrows of Iran for these last 50 years and in the present time to give

way to millions, discovering the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

We testify that the very heart of eternal life is to know you and know your son.

May the spread of true life in Iran far outstrip the shedding of blood to the glory of your

son in the new found joy of countless souls in him, in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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