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We cannot look anywhere without seeing how Islam has advanced in our nation. Our cities in Houston and Dallas, TX; Dearborn, MI; and New York, just to name a few, look drastically different from how they did five years ago. The Islamic \u201cAdhan,\u201d call to prayer, can be heard in the streets of many American cities. They are filling seats of authority in our government and, in doing so, are only solidifying their ideologies. They are brazen, and the message is clear. We are here not to assimilate, but to take over. Every day, it seems as if they are tightening their grasp on our nation. But intercessors are praying continually and seeking the Lord for America. IFA will be holding a national 911 prayer call from 7:00-8:00 p.m.\u00a0 ET to pray about the Islamic infiltration.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n While thinking about Islam in Texas, I asked the Lord how we can be praying, and I heard the words \u201c<\/span>a solemn assembly<\/span>\u201d in my spirit. I grabbed my Bible and looked up the times this phrase was used. The one that stood out and felt relevant to what our nation is seeing today is in the book of Joel. In the first chapter, the prophet cries out in Joel 1:6,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>For a nation has invaded My land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion and the fangs of a lioness.\u201d <\/span>He issues a lamentation, a solemn assembly to the Lord.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the <\/span>Lord<\/span> your God and cry out to the <\/span>Lord<\/span> (Joel 1:13-14 NIV).\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n A solemn assembly, in other versions called sacred or holy assembly, was not something passive. It was a time for the community to come together for reflection, worship, confession, and reading Scripture. In Joel\u2019s case, it was a call to reverence, repentance, and humbling through fasting and prayer. A time to \u201crend your heart and not your garments.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Blow the trumpet in Zion; <\/span>consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people.\n<\/p>\n Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber<\/span> (Joel 2:15-17ESV).<\/span>\n<\/p>\n The Lord is calling his intercessors together in prayer. Perhaps Islam is advancing in your city. If you are concerned or have felt discouraged, join us in prayer. If you feel led to fast, please do so. Consecrate this time to the Lord. Set apart time to seek his face, read Scripture, and offer repentance where you are led. In Joel 2, a specific prayer is listed that I believe we can use to pray about Islam.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Let the priests, who minister to the <\/span>Lord<\/span>, weep between the porch and the altar; L<\/span>et them say, \u201cSpare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, \u2018Where is their God?\u2018 <\/span>(Joel 2:17 NKJV).\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Islam is proud and boasts of how they are advancing; they mock the church and Christians. However, Scripture tells us that <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).<\/span> And James 4:6 says,<\/span> B<\/span>ut He gives us more grace. This is why it says: \u201cGod opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Last week on our weekly IFA TX prayer call, I prayed for the church and for Islam and the many enemies of Texas. I was led to pray through 2 Chronicles 20, the story of King Jehosophat. They were surrounded by enemies on every side. In verse 3, the King sets his face to seek God about the coming invasion. He proclaimed a fast throughout the whole land. And the people gathered together (a sacred assembly) to seek the Lord and ask for his help.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n He ends his prayer by saying,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.\u201d <\/span>After this, the Spirit of the Lord rests on Jahaziel, and he declares the Word of the Lord to the King. Jehoshaphat bows in worship to the Lord and devises a battle plan.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, \u201cHear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the <\/span>Lord<\/span> your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.\u201d And when he had consulted with the people, <\/span>he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: \u201cPraise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.\u201c<\/span> (2 Chronicles 20:20-21).\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n King Jehoshaphat places the worshippers on the front lines to praise the Lord, and as they sing the song, \u201cPraise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever,\u201d the enemies turn and fight against each other.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n This is no coincidence; in Judges, we read tha<\/span>t Judah goes first. Judah\u2019s \u201cpraise\u201d always led the battle, and this is for us. We must never lose our praise. We must never forget who our God is and what he has done. I looked up those lyrics in the Bible and found something interesting.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n It was also no coincidence that Jehoshaphat chose these words to sing to the Lord. In Psalm 136, believed to have been composed by King David, this phrase is repeated after every line.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n The Psalm begins with <\/span>\u201cOh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. <\/span>There are twenty-six verses, and at the end of each verse, the psalmist declares,<\/span> \u201cHis mercy endures forever<\/span>.\u201d And the last verse ends with, <\/span>\u201cOh give thanks to the God of heaven! For his mercy endures forever.\u201d <\/span>This Psalm is a song of thanksgiving for God\u2019s mercy, thanking God for how he defeated their enemies. Similarly, in Psalm 107:1, another psalm of thanksgiving. It begins with the same words, <\/span>\u201cOh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever.<\/span>\u201d The psalmist recounts God\u2019s mighty deliverance in Egypt.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n This song of thanksgiving was no ordinary song; it was a call to remember that God is a deliverer. These words appear throughout Scripture, reminding us of God\u2019s love for His people and His faithfulness. Praise and thanksgiving are more than feel-good actions; they are weapons of warfare.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand (Psalm 149:6). <\/span>In 1 Timothy 2:1, when Paul asks the church to pray for those in authority by prayers, petitions, and intercessions, he made sure to include thanksgiving as well. When King Jehosophat chose this song, he made those words the battle cry. They were outnumbered and surrounded on every side, yet rather than succumb to fear, with one voice the worshippers sang, <\/span>\u201cOh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.\u201d<\/span> The Lord responded to their song of praise.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n I feel this is important to remember in prayer, in declaration, and in singing to the Lord. Muslims pray five times a day. The \u201cadhan\u201d is how they praise Allah. They begin with the words, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! <\/span>This translates to, \u201cGod (Allah) is great, God is great. God is great! The second line is, \u201c<\/span>Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah. Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah.<\/span>\u201d <\/span>This translates to, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.<\/span>\u201c<\/span>\n<\/p>\n I won\u2019t go through the entire thing, but I want you to notice they do this five times a day. They give praises to their god, who is not our God. This is a ritual, not prayer. I believe this is what Jesus called \u201cvain repetitions.\u201d But they lift the name of their god, declaring there is no god except theirs and the name of their prophet, Muhammad.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n How much more should we declare the goodness and mercy of God over our lives and over America? He is the only true God; to Him be the glory.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n And they shall know that You\u2014 Your name is YHWH\u2014 You alone are Most High over all the earth! (Psalm 83:18 BSB).\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Father, we exalt You above every god in this nation. It is written, You are high above all the nations, and Your glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, seated on high? You who look far down on the heavens and the earth, look upon us, Lord, in our time of need. Listen to their arrogant, proud words of radical Muslims declaring victory in this nation, as if You were powerless to save. We remember the words of deliverance and declare that \u201cthe Lord is good, and Your mercy endures forever.\u201d If You parted the Red Sea and delivered Your people from Egypt and Pharaoh\u2019s army, if You delivered Your people from a Rephaim giant, Og King of Bashan, from the hands of the Amorites, surely You can do it again. Your hand is not shortened that You cannot save. Lord God of our Fathers, power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You. We call on Your name, Lord, because You are the only God who has power to save. For God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God. To God alone be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. It\u2019s his mighty and matchless name, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that we pray, amen.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n IFA will be leading a 911 prayer call about Islam tonight at 7 PM ET. If you are interested in joining, you can find more information in the image below.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n IFA contributing writer Gloria Robles is a passionate intercessor with a prophetic voice for today. For more from Gloria, go to<\/span> Spotify<\/span> or <\/span>Anchor<\/span> and listen to her podcast, <\/span>Something To Share<\/span>.<\/span> Photo Credit: Dying Regime from Maldives \u2013 Protest calling for Sharia in Maldives, CC BY 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=38161912.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We cannot look anywhere without seeing how Islam has advanced in our nation. Our cities in Houston and Dallas, TX; Dearborn, MI; and New York, just to name a few, look drastically different from how they did five years ago. The Islamic \u201cAdhan,\u201d call to prayer, can be heard in the streets of many American<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[427,837,782,56,7081],"class_list":["post-30989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-prayer","tag-assembly","tag-call","tag-islam","tag-prayer","tag-solemn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Help support IFA monthly by becoming an MMP.<\/h4>\n
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Will you join us in interceding for America and exalting the name of the Lord? Share your prayer in the comments.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n