Four Ways to Pray for the Crisis in Afghanistan

The headlines may be overwhelming, but there is something powerful you can do about the crisis in Afghanistan: pray! In this episode, learn four ways you can push back the darkness. Together, let’s mobilize in prayer and seek the Lord fervently. Jesus is our hope.

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Introduction: Fight for Afghanistan with Prayer

Portia Collins: “Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.” (Heb. 13:3) 

Dannah Gresh: I'm afraid we're bringing you a somber edition of Grounded this morning. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Erin Davis: And I'm Erin Davis. Opening the Word for us this morning was, of course, Portia Collins. We're here every Monday morning, whether we're somber or celebratory, with one singular mission; that is to bring you hope and perspective.

Dannah: Now, here's the truth: We had a really great episode ready for you today. But instead, we want to take this morning and issue an urgent call to prayer for Afghanistan, for everyone in Afghanistan, but particularly for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're supposed to be praying for them as if we were actually there. 

Now, you're probably noticing that we're a little low tech this morning. Our audio quality isn't going to be quite the same. That's because our audio team had other responsibilities over the weekend, so our studio wasn't set up. But we just decided this is so important that we're going to come to you low tech, because we want to direct your heart and your prayers toward Afghanistan. 

Now, if your heart resonates with that, do me a favor, and just push the share button on YouTube on Facebook. Copy the link and send it an email. We're going to provide some useful information to motivate your prayers. We're also going to give you four specific ways that Christians can pray for Afghanistan right now.

Portia: We know that you've probably seen the headlines, you are reading the news stories. The nation of Afghanistan has been forcibly taken over by the Taliban, which is a radical, fundamentalist Islamic group. And the information that we get is changing daily—mostly word of mouth. It's hard to confirm exactly what is happening in that country. But we do know that this moment in history is devastating on so many levels.

Dannah: That's right, Portia. One reason it's devastating is because our brothers and sisters in Christ are in grave danger. Here's a fact that hasn't changed: Christianity is not legal in Afghanistan. It's been that way for quite a while before the Taliban took over. I've spent the weekend on my laptop researching Christianity in Afghanistan. It's been motivating my prayers. Somehow the stories of the believers just makes me want to pray for them. I read one article by the New York Times just a few years ago. A Times reporter was in Afghanistan studying the oppression of all religions other than Islam, because there's really no religion other than Islam is that's allowed in Afghanistan. 

He met a man named Joseph, a Christian that was living in Afghanistan with a believing wife and a very young son. They were running for their lives. And listen, they knew that the reason they were running for their lives was because they were Christians, but they had one treasured possession. Do you know what that treasured possession was? A blue Bible. That book could cost Joseph his life. But he carried it anyway because it was such a treasure to him. 

And I read this weekend that the Christian post is reporting that recently, the Taliban has been walking up to people demanding that they turn over their phones to them. They're examining them looking for Bible apps. Can you imagine having the Bible app on your phone being something that could cost you your life? That's the kind of oppression our brothers and sisters are facing right now. In fact, it's possible that what they're facing is the most fearsome persecution that we have seen against Christians in our lifetime. So, I want to take us back to that Hebrews 13 verse, how are we supposed to be praying for them? As if we ourselves are being mistreated in the same way.

Erin: That's right, Dannah. I love that you keep calling them our brothers and sisters, for that is what they are. These are not just some people in another culture that we are removed from in Christ. This is our family. These are our siblings. And certainly, if my brother or my sisters whom I adore were facing what my brothers and sisters in Christ are facing, I would be motivated to pray. In fact, I can't imagine I would do much else. So, we're going to keep calling them our brothers and sisters. That's who they are. 

There are two groups that Scripture tells us to be mindful to be in prayer for and one group is the least of these. The second is the lost. So, this morning this Monday morning I know we have many responsibilities and things to think about that are far removed from Afghanistan. But as followers of Jesus, we do need to wrestle with a couple of questions. Who are the least of these in the nation of Afghanistan? Certainly, we need to put women and children on that list. The Middle East, specifically Afghanistan, is a part of the world that is known to be at best, suppressive of women, and at worst, much worse than suppressive of women. And there are lots and lots of stories, you're probably hearing them and reading them just like we are. 

In fact, I've noticed myself already becoming desensitized to these stories, because there's so many of them. It's difficult for us to fact check it all. The horrific treatment of women is happening. And let me just tug on your heartstrings for a minute. We've all seen the images of those babies being passed forward through the crowd and handed over razor wire to soldiers.

And this Monday morning, let me urge you to consider the mama who made that choice. Whose situation was so utterly hopeless that she thought her only choice was to push her baby forward in a crowd of people that she did not know, knowing she would never see that child again. And just the sliver of hope that that baby would be handed over a fence into the arms of not nannies, but soldiers, that's desperation. That's the least of these. And anytime a nation loses stability, women and children suffer. And so, we need to be mindful of the least of these in Afghanistan.

And there's another group that we must be praying for, and that is the lost—those who do not know Jesus truly are lost. They're lost, adrift without hope. And this is a nation that is over 99% Muslim. We believe here on Grounded that Jesus is the one true God and that Jesus is the only way to experience salvation, then our hearts must be stirred because millions of people in Afghanistan are lost. They're deceived by the false hope of Islam. And they're facing all of this upheaval and death without the hope of Jesus Christ. So, we're pressing on your hearts to remember the least of these and the lost this morning.

Portia: If I'm honest, watching the news and social media has been super challenging for me. Nowadays, I honestly feel very just overwhelmed and grieved. I really can't even explain just all of these emotions. And, honestly, I'm so worn out from so much of the commentary, not just the facts, but just all of the commentary. It makes me feel almost helpless, like, I don't know, is praying enough? Is there something else that I should be doing?

Dannah: Well, I feel like I've heard friends here in State College tell me they feel helpless, or they feel paralyzed. Some of them are saying, “I read the news, and I just feel numb.” One friend looked at me the other day and said, “What could I possibly do? What can one woman possibly do?”

Well, I want to challenge you. We don't have to feel those things. We don't have to ask those that question, “What could I possibly do?” Because there is something we can do. And Portia, prayer is enough. It's very significant. We can pray, and that's what we want to do today.

Erin: That is what we want to do my husband. You girls know my husband. I mean, he is a warrior at his core, and he wants to go fight. He wants to do something about it. And you know what? We can fight.

Dannah: Yeah. 

Grounded in God’s Word: Prayer

Erin: We are declaring war on the Taliban, on the darkness, when we choose to pray. Prayer is an act of war, and it does push back the darkness. So that's why we're here this morning. We're here to rally the troops and troops. Here's our mission, to fight back, and to do it in prayer.

So, I want you to grab your Bible. We're going to start right getting grounded in God's Word, and then we're gonna get down to the business of prayer this morning. Dannah already said it, but I'm gonna say it again. We're gonna lean hard on you to share right now. There's just three of us in a Zoom Room talking to each other. And that's good. We're gonna pray together. We've been praying together all weekend long, but we depend on you to let other people know that Grounded is on, and we are rallying prayer support for our brothers and sisters in in the nation of Afghanistan. 

So, grab your Bibles. Turn to Acts chapter 12. As we are looking for hope in these days, and every person on the planet is looking for hope this morning, we need to look right here. Hope is going to be found here. So when we open our Bibles, what we see is that the face of evil that we're seeing on our screens right now. Humanity has seen this face before—the forces of darkness. This isn't the first time that they've come after God's people. They've come after God's people before. But we will also see when we open our Bibles is that God's unique. He's the only one to protect, to preserve, to provide for His children. What we'll see when we open our Bibles is that God, God alone, is victorious over evil. And what we'll also see is that He tells us, we're not helpless. We're not numb. We shouldn't throw up our hands and say there's nothing we can do. Scripture tells us that we're more than conquerors in Him. 

So this morning as we prepare to pray, we want to read a passage from Acts chapter 12. It's one such story of hope. I'm going to read us Acts chapter 12, verses 5–10. And then Portia is going to pick it up at verse 11. 

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him. [Underline “praying fervently” please.] When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. “Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.” So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision. After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

Portia:

When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.” As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying. He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.

She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate. “You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.” Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.”

Erin: I want us to be Rhodas in these days—watching, praying, able to see what God has done. I mean, Peter was he wasn't getting out on his own. We have brothers and sisters who are not going to get out on their own. But God's people prayed Peter out of an impossible situation. And of course, it was only God who could get them past the guards. Imagine if little girl Rhoda had tried to storm the gates and get him out. But God responded when the church prayed fervently.

So, here's another question, and it's not rhetorical. I actually want you to wrestle with it in your actual heart and life. Are we praying this morning fervently for our brothers and sisters who right this moment are kept under guard? 

Dannah: Oh, that's a good question to ask Erin, are we praying fervently? Fervently. I love that story that you just read from Scripture. It is one of my favorites. And one reason I love it is because the one who actually had the faith was a little girl. And let us all be little girls of the faith as we pray for Afghanistan. 

Good News in Afghanistan

Let me encourage you today with some good news—because the light shines in the darkness. There are good things happening on the backdrop of this story. I believe God moves when we pray, and I have some specific news about that.

I want you to meet a woman named Allyson Reneau; she lives in the United States of America. She's the mother of 11 children ages 6–29 and a follower of Jesus. She directs a private Christian school. In 2019, she met some teenage girls from Afghanistan. Those girls had previously made international headlines for winning a worldwide robotics competition in 2017. And in 2019, our friend met them at another academic conference.

After that, Allyson could never forget them. When Kabul fell to the Taliban, God was moving in her heart. She wondered, What's going to happen to those girls? She also wondered, What can one woman do? 

As she was praying about it, she remembered that she has a friend that had a contact in the U.S. Embassy in Qatar, so Allyson reached out. She found out she wasn't the only one thinking of those girls. There was another organization that had already started at the beginning of August to help those girls get out of the country. And together, everyone, the whole team of people wanted to get these brilliant, well-educated girls out of Afghanistan before things shut down for them, and they weren't able to be educated.

Now, I have to tell you that the efforts weren't going so well. It looked impossible. They were denied visas. There were all sorts of other problems that these girls ran into. So, on August 16, Allyson posted a photograph on her Instagram account of her standing by some of those Afghani girls, those teen girls that she'd met. She didn't give a lot of details. She just said, “Pray for a miracle.”

That's all she wrote . . . and people did. They prayed. On August 19, just three days later, Allyson posted “10 of the Afghani girls were evacuated yesterday. Everything turned around when you all prayed; everything turned around when people started to pray.”

The girls are now in Qatar. All of them, every single one of them, have been offered scholarships to universities in the United States of America. We can only hope that these girls meet believers when they come to the United States and hear how much Jesus loves them.

What can one woman do? She can obey the nudge of God's Spirit, and play whatever small part He asks of her. But every single one of us can pray. And that's what we're gonna do today.

4 Ways to Pray for Afghanistan

Erin: That's what we're gonna do. Many of you are telling us you're praying with us. Many of you are asking the Lord to give you a burden to pray. Maybe you were in that camp this morning that felt numb, that felt like there was nothing you could do. So, I know that God's going to honor that we believe that the best use of our time this morning here on Grounded is to do what that church in Acts 12 did. That's us. That's the capital “C” Church throughout time. And that is to pray fervently and to call others to pray. What can you do where you are? Who can you rally to pray for what is going on in Afghanistan? 

This morning, we're going to give you four ways to pray, maybe you're thinking, I don't know how to pray. Our team got together this morning. I said, I want to pray. I just don't always know how to pray. So, we're going to give you four handles to hold on to four things to pray about. And for each one, we're going to give you some information to motivate you and some scripture to guide you. So, now might be a great time to grab a piece of paper and a pen and jot down some of these things. This could become your marching orders for the hours for the days for the weeks that this crisis continues to unfold. 

#1 Pray Our Christian Brothers and Sisters Escape

So, the first one I think is top of mind for all of us here on Grounded and that is our Christian siblings in Afghanistan. We don't know how many there are. Most experts think there aren't many. But if there's one follower of Jesus, that is our brethren. But we don't know exactly how many there are because the church there is underground. It has needed to be underground before this hostile takeover. And so, there is no record. They're not taking attendance on Sunday morning. It's hard to say, but it's somewhere in the thousands—somewhere probably between 3,000 and 12,000. Get this . . . stop what you're doing and listen to me. I hate to mother you, but this is important, that it's grown exponentially in the weeks since the Taliban took control. The church is not actually being suppressed, but it's actually growing—Christian community is growing. 

I read one report that they think the underground church has grown seven-fold in the past two weeks. And because that information is hard to grab, it's probably more than that. So not only are they growing, they're emboldened. In 2019, before this happened, dozens of Afghan Christians decided to include their religious affiliation on their national identity cards. That might feel like no big deal for us. But I assure you, it was a brave, bold witness to the world that those Christians took. Why did they do that? So that future generations would not have to hide their faith. Only about 30 to 40 Christians made this change before the Taliban's take over, and those are 30 to 40 Christians, whose names the Taliban now knows, are highly at risk right now. 

So we must pray for them as the church prayed for Peter who was chained and between two guards and between multiple gates. That's where they are spiritually speaking. So the verse that I would encourage us to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters this morning is Psalm 124:7. It says, “We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!” 

So, I'm going to pray that as fervently as I can this morning.

Jesus, this is our family. These are our brothers and sisters in you. They have been adopted into the kingdom of God right alongside of us, and they are in grave danger. They have taken You at Your Word, and they have stood boldly for You knowing the risk. But Lord, they need protection.

And so, Lord, I pray that they would escape like that bird from the cage described in the Psalms. That just like with Peter, You'd walk them out. Walk them past the guards in broad daylight. Welcome to safety, Lord, not because safety is the ultimate good. It's not. Peter died another death. But Lord, so that Your glory might be displayed, and like their heart cries so that future generations in Afghanistan would boldly put their faith in You. We trust you with our siblings, and we ask you to deliver them. It's in Your name I pray, amen. 

#2 Pray for Afghan Women and Children

Portia: Amen. Amen. Well, the second way that we want to encourage you to pray is to pray for women and girls in Afghanistan. When last in power between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban banned women from the workplace. They stopped them from leaving the home unaccompanied, and forced to basically cover their entire bodies—even their eyes are covered by the Taliban's preferred blue burqa. And last Tuesday, a Taliban spokesperson stated that all women should not go to work, supposedly for their safety. But this has led many news agencies to conclude that they will continue their abusive treatment of women and girls, perhaps even forbidding girls to be educated. 

The verse we want to encourage you with to us to pray for them this morning is Matthew 25:40, “And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” 

And so, we want to pray for those who are quickly becoming the least in this country. Father, I am reminded of the creation story when You created man and woman. Though different and distinct in their roles, You created them both in Your image, bearing Your image with the same equality and value and worth in your eyes.

So, Lord, right now, I pray for these fellow image bearers—these sisters in Christ who are being mistreated and treated as less than. I pray that You will comfort them with the truth of who You call them to be, to reflect Your glory. I pray that you will comfort them and show them that even in the midst of this, You see them. Lord, you are the God who sees, El Roi. You see them and You are with them. Lord, I pray against the harsh treatment that is happening. Those who are doing this to them, Lord, I pray that by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You could miraculously protect these women and girls. I pray that they will not lose hope and that they will not lose heart and that they will continue to look to You in all things, through all things. It is in Jesus Christ's name I pray, amen.

#3 Pray for the Taliban

Dannah: Amen. Amen. The third way we want to encourage you to pray is to pray for the Taliban. Now that might sound like that's hard to do. In fact, I'm watching the comments scroll through on YouTube right now. I want to encourage you to send up a prayer right now in the chat for the Taliban. And you might say, “Huh?”

Let me read to you Matthew 5:44, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” 

That's pretty clear, isn't it? The Lord wants us to pray for the Taliban. On that merit alone we ought to pray. Pray that these men, and probably women, will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. But let me tell you a little bit about them. I've told you that reading and researching has really fueled my prayers. I learned that the word Taliban means “students,” plural, as in many students. So, these are the students of Islam. The soldiers you see in videos and footage are not the leaders of this radical Islamic Revolution. They're the students. And some of them are very young. 

In 2015, it was reported that the leaders of the Taliban were recruiting and deploying boys between the ages of 13 and 17. You think about that. 

Erin: I’ve got 13-year-old, Dannah, so that hits me.

Dannah: That should hit you. Think about a 13-year-old that you know, and imagine them being taught to become weapons of destruction. The Taliban is violating international prohibition on the use of child soldiers. So what they're doing is worldwide considered not ethical, moral, or legal. These are children that are being abused. They need our prayers, and they need Jesus. Now, of course, it would be an understatement to say they're all children, that's not true. Or that there are not leaders with evil intent, there are. 

But it certainly softened my heart to pray for these enemies of the Christian faith when I read that, when I heard about the child soldiers, and I hope it does yours, too. Let's pray for them right now. Again, if you're listening, as we're recording this live, write your prayer, type your prayer, right in the chat. God can handle my prayer and your prayer at the same time. 

Father, God, we just pray for the Taliban right now. Lord, we pray that the deception of the enemy would be foiled and confused. And we pray that You would give these boys, these young boys, eyes to see the one true God—the loving, saving God of the universe, Jesus Christ. We pray that You would come to them in their dreams in their sleep. We pray that You would come to them during the day, that You would be in their thoughts. We pray that if there are bold believers who are willing to testify, that they would believe when they hear the truth of Your name. We ask, Lord Jesus, not just that they would be stopped, but that they would be changed. Would You change the hearts of the Taliban, for Your glory? In the mighty name of Jesus Christ we ask this, amen.

#4 Pray about the Deception of Islam

Erin: Amen. The fourth group we'd ask you to pray for is to pray for all of those who are under the deception of Islam. Certainly not every Muslim is a member of the Taliban. But every Muslim is made in the image of God, every Taliban soldier is made in the image of God, and everyone who puts their hope in anything other than Jesus needs our prayer. 

It's hard to imagine revival in Afghanistan right now, that seems impossible. But as we were thinking through this episode, my mind went to Nineveh, Nineveh, that place where God sent Jonah, and asked him to share about the one true God, and He did it. And if you don't know your Old Testament history, that's an assignment for you today. Do some research. I know, Dannah, you're passionate about research on what Nineveh was like. It was a place of war. It was a place of darkness. It was a place of evil. And what did God do there? The word we would use for what God did there is “revival.” 

So, the question for us this morning is do we believe? I keep giving us hard questions, and I'm going to keep doing it. I got the big guns this morning. But do we believe that God is big enough? Do we believe He's gracious enough to save those deceived by Islam? And if we believe, and I do.

Dannah: Me too.

Erin: If we believe that God is big enough, gracious enough to save those deceived by Islam, are we asking Him to do it? One of the things I've heard and again, a lot of this we're seeing here this morning, we want to keep saying this. It's word of mouth. We've done our best to fact check. It's hard to fact check what's going on. But one of the things that I've heard is that while many believers are running to the mountains to hide, they're ditching their cell phones. Because if there's evidence of involving Jesus on those phones, that's grounds for execution.

Many believers are ditching their cell phones and running to the mountains. But there are others who are choosing to stand their ground. And the reason they are doing that is specifically to win, to witness to the lost, those who are not just Taliban, but those neighbors, those friends who are also afraid for what's going on, but don't have hope in Jesus. And listen, they're staying at the risk of losing their own lives SO that they might win souls to Jesus. 

So, let's hold up their arms as Aaron did Moses in prayer. Here's a Bible verse that I would encourage you to pray for all of those who are right this moment deceived by at Islam around the world, not just in Afghanistan. It comes from 2 Corinthians 4:4, “In their case, the god of this world . . .” lower god, the god of this world, not the God of the universe, not Jesus. “In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 

We need to pray for the blinders to come off. So, let's petition God's Spirit to open the minds of those who have put their hopes in Allah, not in Jesus.

Jesus, we are grateful for Your work in our own lives. We are grateful You've taken the blinders off of us. We're grateful that our hope is in You . . . and that's a living hope. But we are mindful that there are millions of people around the world hoping in something right now that cannot save them. Hoping in someone right now who cannot save them.

So, I pray for those deceived by Islam. I pray that they would, like Dannah, I repeat that prayer Lord, come to them in their dreams. Come to them like Peter. He didn't know if it was really happening or not. Lord come to them. Let them hear the beauty of the gospel and give them soft hearts to turn to You so that they might have living lasting hope. It's in Your name I pray, amen. 

Pray That the Church Would Pray

Dannah: Amen. One more way to pray, not for Afghanistan, but for the Church around the world. Pray that we would mobilize in prayer. Go back to Acts 12:5. Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. Read that passage from Acts 12. Read it with a friend this week and say, “Let's pray like this. Let's be Rhodas, that little girl that had the faith to believe.” Ah, yes, God has answered the prayer that we prayed. He's answered it. Let's pray like that. And to that end, let's pray that the Spirit would wake us up. Let's pray that the Spirit would help us want to pray fervently. Because I think we need that. 

Erin: Yeah, I want a Rhoda revolution. 

Dannah: There you go. 

Portia: I love that—a Rhoda Revolution. Yes. 

Erin: I wanted to start here with Grounded. Many of you have been with us since the beginning. You already know that Grounded was born out of a need when the COVID 19 pandemic first hit. That need was that we would find a way together as God's children to hold on to the hope and perspective that we have in Jesus. And here we are, we still need hope and perspective. It may not be the pandemic that is alarming our hearts this morning. This morning, it is Afghanistan. But we need hope and perspective for a different kind of crisis. And we need to point each other to the fact that that hope and perspective is only found in Jesus.

Dannah: Hmm, that's so true. If you're in the south right now, I want you to know I've been praying for you all through the night watching the weather. Portia lives in the south. So, she's been praying right along with you in the eye of that storm. 

Portia: That’s probably why the Internet is so splotchy, you guys, it's me. Ida is like shaking it up around here. 

Dannah: Listen, friends, if you're a follower of Christ, whether you're in Louisiana, or whether you're in State College, Pennsylvania, or whether you're in St. James, Missouri, that's where these three girls right here are, no matter where you are, you are a bearer of hope in these days. We can't just look away. We can't just give into the political cynicism and blame. There is a world on fire or under flood. Real people are really suffering, and our only hope is Jesus Christ.

Portia: Our only hope is Jesus Christ. You know, saying that brings back and I hope I could do this without crying, but I feel led to share an old hymn that we've seen often in church growing up. So do you mind if I just sing a little bit to encourage our hearts?

Dannah: No, I would love it. 

Portia:

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetness frame but wholly Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand. 

Dannah: Amen.

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