Murego/Gubden People
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DAY 21 MUREGO/GUBDEN PEOPLE Zech 12:10, NKJV n the book of Acts Paul said that And I will pour on the Ibefore his conversion, house of David and on the “he was a Pharisee inhabitants of Jerusalem of the Pharisees.” If the Spirit of grace and Paul had grown up in supplication; then they Dagestan, he probably will look on Me whom would have come from they pierced. Yes, they the town of Gubden in will mourn for Him as one Dagestan. This town mourns for his only son, has the reputation and grieve for Him as one of being one of the fiercest fundamentalist Muslim grieves for a firstborn. epicenters in Dagestan. People in Gubden are influenced by a zealous strain Pray for these twin people of Islam emanating out of Saudi Arabia. Women groups to find mercy and dress more conservatively than in the other Muslim grace in the eyes of the regions of Dagestan. They devoutly pride themselves One whom all mankind on their adherence to Muslim laws and rituals. pierced. Pray that they will lean on the arms of the One Paul writes in Philippians, “... as to the Law, a who was pierced for our Pharisee; as to zeal ... after the Law, above transgressions. reproach.” Then he found “the power of the resurrection ... the righteousness which was not based on human strength, but through faith in Christ.” And “... what I previously highly valued, I now consider as rubbish, in contrast to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Pray for new “Apostle Pauls” among the religiously zealous Gubden people. Pray for the Lord to meet them on new Damascus roads in the mountains of central Dagestan. Pray that by the resurrection power of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit will begin to flower on these hillsides just like the fruit orchards one can see now. Two years ago, a Gubden woman accepted Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to influence this region through her testimony. 108 DAY ANDALAL/QARAKH AVAR 22 isten to the Eph 4:11-13, NIV personal words ofL a woman who grew So Christ himself gave the up in a large Andalal apostles, the prophets, the village—“As a girl, evangelists, the pastors knowing no other and teachers, to equip his way, I was proud and people for works of service, happy that I had been so that the body of Christ born into a Muslim may be built up until we family. I believed that all reach unity in the faith Islam was indeed and in the knowledge the religion of peace of the Son of God and and goodness, and with all my heart I searched for become mature, attaining a close relationship with the God of Islam just like to the whole measure of millions of honorable people in Muslim cultures do today. My story is of a lack of peace in my heart... the fullness of Christ. As I grew up, I was full of pain from many horrible Pray for apostles and things that had happened to me since childhood. … evangelists to be raised up In the midst of all this, I believed in Allah, although I for the Dagestani peoples was experiencing more and more disappointment with who now live without the the religion in which I was born.... As I grew I carried grace or love of our Lord. with me a mass of internal confusion, emotional pain, and a catastrophic amount of self-doubt.” The Andalal and Qarakh-speaking groups have been intensely Islamic for hundreds of years. They have amazing cultural strengths, but also a tragic deficit of grace, forgiveness, and agape love. Due to these deficits, in recent years even many of the historic strengths grow progressively dimmer in the face of the devastating effects of sin. Pray that many, like the author of this writing, will find the love of Jesus for healing and regeneration. Pray for revelation through dreams and visions, which also were key in this Andalal woman’s salvation story. 109 DAY 23 BEZHTA PEOPLE Isa 55:11, NKJV he first book ever published in our language!” So shall My word be that “TThe Bezhta man was celebrating the historic goes forth from My mouth; breakthrough, which took place for his people in 1999. For thousands of years the Bezhta language It shall not return to Me had been only an oral language, so having access to void, but it shall accomplish the printed page is a novelty to them. what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for What is doubly remarkable is that “this first book” which I sent it. was the Gospel of Luke! How did this amazing Pray persistently for this gift of grace happen among this staunchly Muslim clear promise of Isaiah 55 people of over 10,000? Magomed (not his real name), the trailblazer of the Bezhta Gospel of Luke, to be fulfilled among the must be a “man of peace” as described by Jesus in Bezhta people, based on Luke 10. Sometime in the early 1990s Magomed the Gospel of Luke already was exposed to Jesus and made it his project to among them. Pray that get the Gospel of Luke into a published form in Holy Spirit-empowered his Bezhta language. The Book of Proverbs in the disciples of Jesus will be Bezhta language was added in 2005. In 2014 there sent, just as Jesus instructed was huge news when two Bezhta people embraced His disciples in Luke 10. Jesus as Lord! Who will go? Pray for these two believers to be steadfast in Him. Pray Pray for workers to be thrust for representatives of Jesus’ love who are linguistically out to the Bezhta people! gifted to come and be ready to serve the Bezhta people as translators of the Bible into their language. Pray for the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to break through to open hearts among the Bezhta, and spread the Word of God from clan to clan, and village to village. 110 DAY DIDOI (TSEZ) PEOPLE 24 he Didoi region, at least 38 total villages, has Isa 40:31, NKJV been “on edge” for the past four years. Their locationT in the southwest corner of Dagestan became But those who wait on “the edge” of Russia when the Soviet Union broke the Lord shall renew their up in 1991. This left them on “edge” in the province strength; they shall mount of Dagestan, both politically and emotionally— up with wings like eagles, leading to mysterious fires in 2012-13. One burned they shall run and not be out village, Khutrakh, by translation literally means weary, they shall walk and “The Edge.” Most Didoi villages are literally built on not faint. the edge of ridges, with houses stacked vertically on top of each other. Living such precarious lives, it’s no The Didoi are known as “the wonder they are known as the “eagle people.” eagle people.” In what way are they like eagles? They Will this crisis among the Didoi lead to new live on the edge of cliffs, and openness to the love of Christ? Caring disciples they know how to persevere of Christ have reached out to the suffering 20,000 when all kinds of trouble Didoi people, but have been blocked by Dagestani comes their way. They lack powers. In late 2013 in far northern Dagestan the grace of Jesus and the in a lowland settlement, a Didoi man (name left power of the Holy Spirit that anonymous) has come to Jesus! can help them “rise up with wings as eagles, to run and Pray for the Spirit of God working through this first not be weary.” Didoi believer in his family. In light of the hostility from Muslim powers in Dagestan, pray for more “men and Pray for the empowering of women of peace” among the Didoi to welcome the love of the Holy Spirit to take these Christ. Pray for the Father to send the right people at the “eagle people” to new spiritual right time into the right relationships, bringing the grace heights with their Lord! and power of Jesus into the Didoi world. 111 DAY 25 AKHVAKH PEOPLE 2 Thess.1:11-12 n Akhvakh family had been bothered We pray for you always Aby a troubling spiritual that our God may count presence in their home you worthy of your calling, and a string of bad and fulfill every desire for circumstances. They goodness and the work of called upon the local faith with power—in order exorcist to come and that the name of Jesus may An Akhvakh village engage in ritualistic be glorified in you, and you work to appease the in Him. troubling spirits and then to seek to overpower and expel them from the family dwelling. Make this your prayer for the Among all the peoples of Dagestan, such folk Islamic Akhvakh people. practices are widespread and exist alongside official Islam and its Five Pillars. One Dagestani scholar suggests that such practices are especially strong among the 6,500 Akhvakh, although not much less so among the other 33 language groups of Dagestan. In the eighth chapter of Acts similar folk magic was superseded by the redeeming grace of Jesus, as Holy Spirit power overflowed in healing and deliverance through Philip’s ministry. There is good news among the Akhvakh people. An Akhvakh mother and her teenage daughter have recently come to Jesus. These are the first two known Akhvakh believers. Pray for the Lord to guide these Akhvakh believers in their relationships with their Muslim families and clans.