Sahara Challenge is an important training opportunity for anyone wanting to go deeper in their understanding of how to better minister to Muslims.  It is Crescent Project's top tier training event and because of Covid-19 will this year be offered online for the first time ever, making it more accessible than ever before.  

Laylat al-Qadr - the night of power - is the night during the month of Ramada that Muslims celebrate the receiving of the first of the Quranic revelations by Mohamed.  For Muslims it is a sacred night, perhaps the most sacred night in the Islamic calendar and is a night spent on tasks such as prayer, reciting the Quran and spending as much time as possible at their local mosque. 

It is believed that worship and prayer on this night is more valuable than one thousand other nights of worship and prayer.  It is a night when the hearts and minds of Muslims all across the world are focused on one thing:  trying to please God.  And it is a night that we as followers of Christ can gather around our Lord's throne of grace, asking God to make Jesus known to Muslims all across the world.  

This year, Laylat al-Qadr falls on Tuesday, May 19th.  

Will you set aside time this year to take action?  Will you do one thing to join God in His global purpose to see Muslims worshiping Him?

WILL YOU LEARN MORE?  
Stop by the Prayercast page, watch the prayercast video and read more about the Night of Power.

WILL YOU PRAY?
Will you set aside time on Tuesday, May 19th to pray for your Muslim friends and Muslims in general. 

Pray that on this night:

• the true character of Jesus would be revealed in visions and dreams.
• Muslims would be delivered from the crushing burden of trying to earn God's favor.
• God would demonstrate His love and power through signs, wonders, and miracles.

WILL YOU FAST?
Consider fasting on Tuesday May 19th as you pray.  Skip meals from sun up until sun down.  Fast for 24 hours or more.  Maybe fast from media or your smartphone.  Give something up as a way to focus your prayers during this day.  

Will you do something this year to join God as he calls Muslims to himself?  

For most of my life I’ve wanted to improve my prayer life.  Having read the biographies of many great men and women of God and observing the Biblical examples from Jesus to Moses to the apostles, I’ve always known that prayer was an important part of the life of the disciple of Jesus.  And for most of my life, I’ve not lived up to my own desires to pray more.

The reality is that my knowledge of the importance of prayer has not yet led to a default toward prayer.  But I want it to.

Curtis Sergeant introduced me to a helpful tool to improve my prayer life, helping me to pray for one hour at a time.  I don’t use it often enough but because it is a helpful tool, I’ll be adding it to the Everywhere to Everywhere resource page.  The resource is called The Prayer Wheel and it is a part of the Zume Free Online Training.

The prayer wheel allows you to pray in five minute increments for one hour.  You will need some sort of timing device (Zume Timer) that you can set to let you know when five minutes is up so you can move on to the next section for prayer.
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THE BASIC PRAYER WHEEL OUTLINE

• PRAISE: Spend time praising God for who He is.
• WAITING: Spend time silently waiting on God.  Just quiet your heart and wait.
• CONFESSION: Spend time confessing sin and all that hinders your relationship with God.
• READ THE WORD: Spend time reading the word of God.  
• PETITION: Spend time praying general prayers of blessing and protection for yourself, family & others.
• INTERCEDE: Spend time praying specifically for one or two people or issues.
• PRAY THE WORD: Go back to the scripture you read.  Read a verse and then pray the essence of that verse back to God.
• THANKSGIVING: Spend time thanking God for all of His blessings and actions in your life.
• SINGING: Spend time singing a favorite hymn or play a worship song on youtube.
• MEDITATE: Spend time meditating on one aspect of God, a phrase of scripture or a word or phrase  from a worship song.
• LISTEN: Spend time listening to what the Holy Spirit might be wanting to say to you through this time.  Have a notebook and pen handy to write down anything you hear from God.
• PRAISE: End your time praising God.

I have created a simple bookmark so that you can carry the prayer wheel with you where ever you go.  Set aside an hour and spend it in prayer with the Prayer Wheel as your guide.

Download the Prayer Wheel Bookmark

I hope that you will find the prayer wheel a helpful tool for increasing your prayer life and your ability to hear from the Holy Spirit.  It has been in many ways a helpful training tool for me but it will only help you if you try it out and apply it.  

Learn more about the Prayer Wheel from others:

• More Disciples
• Zume Tool Kit
• Zume Timer