Pray4Pashtuns Ramadan2024

Day 23-Strongholds: Reading the Injeel

• For Pashtuns to read or hear Scripture, and for God to confirm the truth of his Word through dreams, visions, facts, and believers who can come alongside to teach.
• For the Holy Spirit to move Pashtuns to seek him and direct them to read the Scripture.
• For Pashtuns to grasp, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the things which challenge their worldview, such as the truthfulness of the Bible.

JEREMIAH 29:13 “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. “

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 “Seekers will be finders” – Afghan proverb

Ahmed is a Pashtun in a rural area who found a Pashto New Testament through the internet on his phone. As he reads what is known to Muslims as the Injeel, he is intrigued that this holy book is in his own language. However, Ahmed is wary as he reads the Injeel, knowing what his Islamic teacher taught— that it was changed by men and should not be trusted. Ahmed knows that the Qur’an is considered the final word given by Allah.

As he reads, Ahmed finds a pattern in Matthew’s genealogies that is familiar to him: individuals being identified within the larger tribe to which they belong. Then he reads a familiar story of an arranged marriage between Mary and Joseph. It does not trouble Ahmed when he reads that Mary became pregnant by a miracle from God. He already knows the story about the birth of Jesus from his own religious tradition, and he expects miracles in a holy book.

However, Ahmed is surprised that a holy man, a prophet, would honor people who are not worthy of honor. Jesus treats the poor kindly, and he forgives a woman who committed adultery. He is also intrigued by Jesus’ teaching about forgiving enemies and not taking revenge. How can a real man not take revenge? Finally, he is intrigued that the disciples worship Jesus as God. This makes him curious because he has been taught that Jesus was no more than a prophet. Yet, there it is—written in the Holy Injeel.

However, out of everything he’s read, there is one teaching that has impacted him the most: Jesus’ teaching that a man who looks at a woman with lust is guilty of adultery! He knows he is guilty. Though he reads God’s Word on his phone, he also uses it to view pornography.

He quits both for a couple of days before resuming the New Testament. He is intrigued, challenged, and amazed all at the same time. He has questions and wonders who can answer them. Has the Injeel been changed? How can he know this is true? Can God forgive him of his sin of lust?

Declare this promise over Pashtuns like Ahmed: So Jesus said… “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32