There is an air of anticipation in the Muslim world. Ramadan is coming. Women are swapping special recipes and planning meals. Everyone is out shopping, so store fronts are covered in Ramadan lights and religious symbols. Families are discussing travel plans to visit with each other. Television stations are advertising Ramadan specials. Everyone is feeling the excitement of this very important holiday on the Muslim calendar.

However, this season may bring an entirely different experience for some Christians living in the Muslim world. In many Muslim countries, Christians and Muslims coexist in relative peace. For them, Ramadan is a holiday from work and a ban on eating in public during daylight hours. In other areas, our brothers and sisters brace for the most difficult time of the year.

Jesus followers in highly-restrictive Muslim countries like Yemen or Saudi Arabia face simple, yet difficult scenarios year round. My husband and I were told by a former Muslim couple that they had decided not to teach their children about Jesus until the children were old enough to understand the dangers they face as Christians.   One of the children in the family had corrected his school teacher’s version of the story of Abraham and Ishmael. “No,” he had said, “my father told me the story is about Isaac.” Immediately the principal called his father in and interrogated him for hours. “I never denied my faith in Christ,” he recalled, “but, I have no idea how I managed to survive the questioning. I was petrified the entire time, but His spirit gave me courage and wisdom.” That experience taught them that for their family to survive and grow in Christ, they must be wise in teaching their children when and how to share their faith with others.

When everyday life holds such challenges for Christians in the Muslim world, how much more difficult is Ramadan, a time when Muslims are that much more focused on their faith and its legal requirements. A few years ago, a Muslim-background Christian friend living in a highly restrictive country asked my husband to pray for him to have wisdom. He explained, “simple every-day questions can be very difficult for our family. The neighborhood women ask my wife, ‘what will you prepare for the first big Ramadan meal?’ What should she say? How can she answer them? The Bible teaches us that she should not lie and yet, she cannot tell the truth that we don’t celebrate Ramadan, or they’ll kill us.” Admittedly, conditions are not always so difficult, but they were in this case. We prayed with and for that family to have wisdom that year and we have prayed in that same way each Ramadan since then.

Join us this month in asking our Heavenly Father to shower our brothers and sisters with wisdom, knowing that He will give it to them generously and without reproach.