Prayer Fuel

Pray as the Lord leads you as you read today’s verse

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) ESV

Praying with insight

Excessive wailing and mourning at the death of a relative is prohibited in Islam. Each culture defines “excessive” differently. However, it’s not rare to hear Muslim relatives of the deceased being scolded for crying at a funeral. Today, as we pray through Matthew 5:4 for Muslims, think about the deep grief you’ve experienced in your life and how Jesus has comforted you. Consider how Muslims might face devastating loss and how these words of Jesus could bring hope.

For believers

“My brothers won’t let me go see her. If we go to her grave now and ask Jesus, will he raise her from the dead?” Leila’s heartbroken question about her late mom revealed the depth of her grief, the strength of her faith, and the mystery of sovereign sorrow. She knew the truth about Lazarus’s story. She believed that God has complete authority over life and death and that Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life. And she knew that Jesus promises to comfort the mourning and so acknowledges that we will have sorrow. He is “acquainted with grief and carries our sorrows” (Isaiah 53). Some of her unbelieving relatives did not know of her faith and criticized how she mourned, but she had a dream that Jesus himself came across the waves to her, holding out arms of comfort. Pray that believers here will not lose sight of Jesus in their grief but will cry out to him and receive comfort.

For the lost

“Say the Shehadda (the confession of being Muslim). It is your fault that he died.” Deep grief, fear, and a desire for control caused Khalid to blame his father’s death on his sister’s choice to leave Islam. Those who have not yet entered the kingdom of God mourn without hope. In their desperation and desire to blame someone—anyone—they often do things that they are later ashamed of. Pray for all those mourning who do not yet know Jesus to feel the weight of their hopelessness and turn to call on the name of the Lord. Ask that the Father, who sees and draws near, would come to comfort in truth.

For the church

Pray for the church to know how to comfort unbelievers with the comfort they themselves have received from God. It is very difficult when parents die who have not heard of Jesus or who have not chosen to follow him. One brother, when his mom died, did not want to think about eternity. He had followed Jesus for many years and had not specifically told her the gospel. This despair of wondering about her eternity caused him to pull away from other believers and from Jesus. Lord, we ask for wisdom and compassion that speaks the truth of the One Way to the Father and also acknowledges that grief sometimes warps our understanding. We thank you for knowing each heart and the faith that has been confessed, or that was still hidden. Please help your church to know how to comfort the mourning in truth.

For areas of influence

Pray for places of education in this country. Pause to pray for teachers working among these people. So many of their students have experienced violence, and many have lost close family members. Ask God to give teachers grace to provide structure and safety to students who are mourning or who have gone through trauma. May they look at the heart and see beyond the visible.Ask for it to be true of them for “the tongue of the learned, that they would know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary” (Isaiah 50:4).

Declaration of the scripture

We believe and declare that you, Jesus, comfort those who mourn. You are the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. As you “lifted up and carried” your afflicted children “all the days of old” (Isaiah 63), lift up and carry the people in this region who are mourning.