Day 1 - Lmunz’/Prayer  

As the call to prayer sounded the women lifted their shawls and covered their heads – indicating their submission to Islam.  Fatima had not missed her lmunz or ritual prayer times in months.  Though she did not understand the Arabic words she was saying, the consistent attention to ritual was comforting – yet deeply distressing when life’s circumstances got the upper hand and she was unable to keep up.  For now she was happy and confident.  God must be smiling at her.  She was more faithful than all of her friends in performing this essential religious duty.  Then exam time came and her mother became ill.  Between studies, housework, and providing refreshment for her father’s many guests, she missed several prayer times.  Her serenity and confidence vanished. 

Prayer that connects us with God as a Father, who understands our circumstances, is a deep, personal treasure.  It is a dialogue in a dynamic relationship that cannot be comprehensively defined by any prescribed set of words, or confined by set times and places.  God allows us to think and enter into His counsel and participate in what He has planned for the earth and its peoples.  Therefore let us enter into His counsel concerning the Pashtuns, speak our minds and listen and be transformed by His.  Let us also present ourselves in response to those prayers.

Pray that: 

• Countless Pashtuns like Fatima, who try so hard and yet remain disconsolate, will understand prayer as so much more than a good deed that puts them in good standing before God.

• Many more prayer partners for the Pashtuns will be raised up, from the outside, but also from among the Pashtuns.

• Many will present themselves for service in answer to these prayers. 

James 5:16b,17+18 The prayer of an innocent person is powerful and it can help a lot.  Elijah was just as human as we are and for three and a half years his prayers kept the rain from falling.  Then when he did pray for rain, it fell from the skies and made the crops grow. CEV