September 4 | Iraq – Continue to pray for the struggling church in Baghdad. It’s been another challenging year. The great thing is that the church is still reaching out in an amazing way. Pray also that the media will reach many people with hope, as there is very little of it in the city.

Wikipedia contains an extensive entry on Iraq – click here – and, in summary, the current turmoil is described here.

Overwhelmingly a Muslim country (95%), Religion in Iraq is described here. However, Christianity has a long history in Iraq – predating Islam by 500 years – click here.

OPEN DOORS describes the current plight of Iraqi’s 300,000 believers here -

Sectarian violence caused tens of thousands of Christians to leave the country in 2011. Christians feel that the government fails to protect them, with individuals being threatened, robbed, raped or kidnapped and churches being bombed. Iraq’s constitution says each individual has freedom of thought, conscience and belief, but there is no article on changing one’s religion and Islamic law forbids conversion of Muslims to other religions. In August, at least four churches were targeted by bomb attacks in Kirkuk. The situation in Kurdistan, for a long time considered a safe haven for Christians, has deteriorated due to Islamic extremism.

Please pray for Iraqi belivers – for the refugees, for protection, and for strength.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Ps. 25:5)