International Day of Prayer Proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord to All Nations, Including Middle East

Dan Wooding : May 8, 2012
Assist News Service

"For the last 21 years we have seen the Lord answer our prayers in a dramatically meticulous way." -Dr. Ray Sleiman

(La Mirada, CA)—The Lebanon Prayer Group, a California-based Christian ministry, [held its 22nd International Day of Prayer for the Arab World and the United States, on Saturday, May 7th], at Biola University.

"This is an opportunity for the community of born again Christian Believers to unite in worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for prayer on behalf of the Arab world and the United States," said Dr. Ray Sleiman, pastor of Grace and Truth Gospel Church in Long Beach and founder of The Lebanon Prayer Group.

"Our prayer is to reach the almost 400 million Moslems in the Middle East with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray for the evangelical churches in the region and for God's opening of the door in order to reach so many Moslems with the Gospel. For the last 21 years we have seen the Lord answer our prayers in a dramatically meticulous way.

"We believe strongly that the hundreds of thousands of new Christian converts in the Arab world this past decade are a direct answer to these prayers," Dr. Sleiman, a urologist originally from Lebanon, who is married with two children, continued.

He says that there has been an unprecedented growth of Christianity among Moslems in the last few years, but evangelicals constitute only one percent of the population of Lebanon.

"Much more evangelism is needed in that country and in the other 19 Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa," he said. "Much also needs to be done in the way of discipling and consolidating the new Believers, and encouraging the evangelical churches to effectively reach out to the rest of Middle East."

Pastor George Saieg with Ministry to Muslims Network writes in support of this day of prayer, stating, "With the command of Christ, the leading of the Holy Spirit and the obedience of the Church, every Muslim in America will be reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Pastor Allan Esses, founder of YesJesusisLord.org also supports this day of prayer. "What a joy," he said, "to gather as the Body of Jesus Christ to pray that Muslims throughout the Arab World and the United States would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

"Our desire is to give Muslims the opportunity to hear the Gospel, so that by believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God who came in the flesh, died and shed His blood on a cross for all our sins, was buried and was bodily raised from the dead, and by faith in Jesus Christ alone they can have eternal life."

"We are calling for a larger participation by churches all over the world to rise to the great challenge, and opportunity to pray on the International Day of Prayer for the Arab World and the United States," Dr. Sleiman said.

"The eternal destiny of hundreds of millions in the Middle East is at stake. Only God, who began this great opportunity, knows how brief and fleeting it may be," Sleiman added.

"Today we are faced with many great challenges: there are more than one billion un-reached Muslims, terrorism has become a global concern, potentially explosive conditions in the Middle-East are numerous, and persecution of the Church is growing. In view of these massive challenging needs, we must have a sense of urgency to pray," he said.

For those who want to be involved in next year's outreach, click on the link provided for contact information.