Jesus endorsed prayer when he said, âAsk, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.â He modeled action when he touched a leper, dined with baddies, and exorcised a demon from a foreignerâs kid.
Both praying and doing are part of our normal life with Jesus.
Sometimes itâs easier to pray. At a distance. On a comfortable couch. In his fascinating and often overlooked book on prayer, Letters to Malcom, C.S. Lewis asserts, “It is much easier to pray for a bore than to go visit him.â Isnât that the truth?
I just finished the challenging book, âSame Kind of Different As Me.â I canât vouch for the movie yet, but the book pushed me to complement prayer with actually doing something for homeless people in my town.
Maybe you want to add action to your prayers for Muslims, particularly so during Ramadan, particularly for upwards of a hundred thousand Afghans spending their first Ramadan in the U.S. I know I do.
Hereâs a simple, beautiful idea that landed in my email box this morning from Fouad Masri at Crescent Project: Ramadan Blessing Kits. You put a simple list of Ramadan related items, including a Gospel of John you can get for free from Crescent Project, in a bag or box and deliver it to your Muslim friend.
They also provide a winsome, printable note you can sign and include. I love this!
If youâre pretty sure you donât have anyone to give something like that to, you can join me in sending some money to Crescent Project to help them send the Gospel of John free of charge.
Either way, may God bless and multiply this effort in such a way that leads to more abundant life for many Afghans, other Muslims and you and me.