Day Fifteen: Glimmer of Hope

This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting (NKJV Mark 9: 29).

Today is Day Fifteen of our 21 Day Fast for Pastor Saeed.  We’ve seen a surprising new development which has given Saeed’s family a glimmer of hope.  President Obama has chosen Boise State University, Naghmeh’s hometown, as one of his stops on his national tour.  He will speak there at 11am tomorrow (MST). No one knows just why the President chose Boise.  Could this be the breakthrough that Naghmeh and the thousands fasting and praying with her have been looking for? I agree with Naghmeh that this looks to be a God thing.

We must continue to pray fervently that Naghmeh will actually have an opportunity to talk with the President.  That his heart will be moved to bring Saeed home.  Naghmeh has made repeated attempts to have a face to face meeting with the President during her many trips to Washington on Saeed’s behalf. She has come up against repeated roadblocks.

Click here to read the letter Naghmeh just wrote to the President.  As you read her letter, allow yourself to carry her burden and feel her grief.  Fasting enables us to grieve and mourn over things that are broken.  Suffering, loss, and injustice.  We grieve for what’s not right and we intercede in prayer for God to intervene.

I’ve noticed that prayer and fasting seem to bring hidden things into the light.  This compels me to seek God more fervently.  Perhaps that’s part of the secret.  Fasting weakens our flesh so that we kick into the spirit mode. We replace our hunger for food (or whatever we are fasting from) with God’s Word and find His Word fills us in ways food does not. And that Word makes us strong.

Jesus fasted during His showdown in the desert with the devil.  He may have been weak in body when He went up against the enemy, but He was mighty in spirit.  When Satan repeatedly tempted him, Jesus fought back with only one weapon–the Word of God.  It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4 NIV).

In less than thirty hours, our nation’s President will address the citizens of Boise, Idaho.   Ask God to bring the hidden things to light and give you His eyes to see Saeed’s situation. He will show you how to pray as you go to His Word.

May the body of Christ rise up to pray with one voice as we go to the Father on Pastor Saeed’s behalf:

We pray for Naghmeh and her children to have an audience with President Obama.

We ask You, Lord,  to touch the President’s heart to intercede on Pastor Saeed’s behalf.

Give our President no rest until he brings this husband, father, Christian pastor, and United States citizen home to his family and his country.  -Amen!