10/40 Window

A couple of interesting things have happened to me recently that have caused me to praise the Most High that He is The Ancient of Days, who knows the beginning from the end and everything before and after. I love that phrase in Daniel that helps us to know that no matter what may seem wrong or unjust to us, God is there as the Ancient of Days and He has all of the facts and is the perfect One to judge the living and the dead. I try to keep that in perspective when I lack understanding about what I would call delays, but are really right on time in His time piece.

Today is July the 4th and we have so many reasons to be thankful for our freedoms in this amazing country. Yes there are flaws and disappointments in the decisions being made in DC these days, but the LORD has been bringing it all into perspective for me in recent months.

Now to bring this all to my two interesting things: Several years ago, probably 25 or so, at a missions conference at my church where I was challenged in my spirit to pray for the unreached people groups of the world to get the Bible translated into their own language. The name on the card given to me was the Karen-Paku of Burma. So, for over two decades, probably closer to three, I prayed for this people group as the LORD brought them to my mind, even though I knew very little about them. Neither did anyone else I asked.

When I went through the facility of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Orlando a few years ago, I learned that that region had a name change, which often happens when new regimes move in and take control. The new name of the same people who needed the Word of God in their own tongue was Myanmar. And through the catastrophic cyclone, the whole world’s eyes were suddenly on my very own “Karen-Paku”…………..with believers everywhere praying for them in their devastation…….joining me in praying that God would reveal Himself to them and meet their needs. WOW! That was huge to me.

The second realization that has come more recently has been through the reading of Joel Rosenberg’s wonderful book, Inside the Revolution.http://www.joelrosenberg.com/ Do you remember, those of you old enough to have been praying in the 80’s, the awareness of the needs for hearing the gospel in the 10/40 window? I can remember hearing that phrase for the first time and having no clue as to what it meant. (For the sake of you readers who might not have been born then or at least not old enough to understand the challenge to pray fervently for the masses of people in the 10/40 window ……………the area of the world between 10 and 40 latitudes of the world). This is predominantly Islamic countries.

I want to quote one small part of Rosenberg’s book that brought me to my knees in worship and thanks for God’s faithfulness to hear and answer prayers. “In the last 20 years, more Iranians have come to Christ [than in] the last 14 centuries,……………..At the time of the Islamic revolution in 1979, there were only about five hundred known Muslim converts to Jesus inside the country. By 2000, a survey of Christian demographic trends reported that there were 220,000 Christians inside Iran, of which between 4,000 and 20,000 were Muslim converts. And according to Iranian Christian leaders I interviewed for this book, the number of Christ-followers inside their country show dramatically higher between 2000 and 2008.” pg.384-385

Prayer is not a new thing to me, nor is the total belief that God not only hears my prayers, but delights in having me come to Him. And such answers to prayer is why I write………..to encourage you to trust Him, even when you are praying for a people group you have never heard of before to get the Bible in their own language, as strange as that may seem……………or for a section of the world that seems completely disinterested in the claims of Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, the Life.

Don’t underestimate the Ancient of Days with your impossible prayers!!!