[2025 Ramadan] Day 24 Egypt, the restoration of the Arabs and the fulfillment of the final kingdom of God! Sudan, a people strong to tread down the enemy!

<Egypt >

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

In the Old Testament, Egypt is the land that helped Abraham and Joseph survive a famine; in the time of Moses, it is the land that provided the land to form the people of God; and in the Exodus, it is the land that reveals God's identity to the world.

In the New Testament, Egypt is the place of refuge where the baby Jesus escaped Herod's infanticide.

On the other hand, in the larger context of the Bible, Egypt symbolizes sin, it symbolizes the world, and so in that sin and world, God's people, even though they exited, kept saying, “Let's go back to Egypt, let's go back to Egypt,” and when the Assyrian army came before Northern Israel, Northern Israel failed to trust in God and trusted in Egypt and was destroyed, and Southern Judah also failed to trust in God and trusted in Egypt and was destroyed before Babylon and was taken into captivity.

In Isaiah 19, God curses, rebukes, and strikes Egypt for taking God's place, but He promises to heal it in the end, and He will bring about the consummation of His kingdom through the restoration of the Arabs, beginning with Egypt, then Assyria, and finally Israel.

Egypt experienced a great revival after the gospel was witnessed by Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark, and has remained steadfast in its faith through many hardships since the advent of Islam.

The church in Egypt has a history of about 2000 years, and although it became passive in its ministry of spreading God's word for more than 1400 years after Islam came, it never denied Jesus even in the face of death, even in the midst of countless suffering and martyrdom. Now, the Egyptian church is taking steps toward a martyr's spirituality to reach the 90 million people in Egypt and 400 million Muslims in the Arab world. It's still tenuous, but it's rising up stronger than ever with God's dream and vision.

In Egypt, Ramadan has its own special culture, with lights called fenus hanging in homes and streets to illuminate the day, decorations called zina to create the landscape of Ramadan, and Maidat Rahman (tables of grace), where free meals are set up on the streets so that anyone can come and eat for free after fasting all day, including those who cannot afford to eat iftar (the first meal after fasting) and those who miss out on meals on the streets. We believe that even during Ramadan, which is filled with spiritual darkness and Satan's lies about fasting and doing good deeds to get to heaven, the light of the Lord will dispel the darkness and render lies meaningless in the face of the truth of the Word.

Egypt's economy has been in the worst shape since the Arab Spring in 2011, and the recent influx of Palestinian refugees and population growth in Gaza has taken a toll on the country's economy. More than 9 million people from 133 countries are refugees in Egypt, including not only Palestinians but also Yemenis, Iraqis, Syrians, Sudanese, and others, and the country is spending more than $10 billion annually to host them.

The Church and people of Egypt believe they are at the center of the Arab world and the final consummation of God's kingdom, especially among refugees, with many Sudanese living in Egypt, more than Syrians.

In April 2023, there was a civil war throughout Sudan, and many Sudanese people came to Egypt. Many women and children came as refugees, and there is much pain and suffering, but as the Egyptian church and saints serve the refugees in Sudan with the love of the cross and the gospel and vision, we believe that the Sudanese church will be the center of the fulfillment of the last kingdom of God in Africa and beyond. <Sudan>

Sudan is a country located in the region of the Bible called Cus. It was a strong Christian kingdom in the 6th century, but was conquered by the Arabs in the 16th century and Islamized. With the Islamization, Christianity in Sudan began to crumble, with Christians going to jail for being Christians and risking their lives to defend their churches. One pastor told of police officers barging into his church, beating him, dragging him to jail, and torturing him, while another has been in and out of jail numerous times in his 20 years of ministry, and is still under police surveillance. In the midst of this persecution, less than 3% of Sudan's 46 million people remain Christian.

Since 2012, the Sudanese government has detained Christians and expelled foreign Christians and aid organizations. In December 2018, popular protests against the government's tripling of bread prices led to the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, toppling the Islamic fundamentalist dictatorship after 30 years. The transitional government then abolished the death penalty for converts and vowed to keep state and religion separate. After a brief period of allowing ministers back into the country, the military seized power in Sudan. Citizens protested in response, and on April 15, 2023, a civil war between government forces and rebels began, resulting in at least 12,000 deaths and more than 4.5 million refugees, many of whom fled to neighboring countries Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt. As they traveled overland to neighboring countries, they suffered cold and hunger, their brothers were captured by rebels and taken to rebel bases, and their sisters were sexually assaulted.

As they struggle to make a new life for themselves in a strange land, life in a strange land is not easy for Sudanese refugees. While they confess that they have no hope, they believe that Jesus alone is the hope for Sudan. Prayer is needed for the scattered Sudanese Christians to rise up in faith, hold on to the Word of promise, and be victorious to the end.

At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide,an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty. (Isaiah 18:7)

Sudan is on a mission to send 200 young missionaries by 2030. A missionary training program that began in 2021 is raising up young people who are eager to go to the field. The hope is that the first Sudanese missionaries will open closed doors and go to the nations, bringing the power of the gospel to all of Africa. A holy generation will be raised up to fulfill the covenant words of Isaiah 18 for Sudan.

[Today’s Prayer]

1. Allow the light of life to shine in the darkness of Ramadan and truth come in the midst of lies, that the 90 million Muslims of Egypt may come to the grace of Jesus and to the truth.

2. For the churches in Egypt may minister to the Arab world with a martyr's spirit. May the Egyptian churches, which believes that the restoration of the Jews is the final restoration after the restoration of the Gentiles, be a church that ministers to the 90 million in Egypt, the countless refugees in Egypt, and the 400 million Muslims in the Arab world.

3. For the Sudanese refugees in Egypt and the Muslims of Sudan would hear the gospel and be restored to Christ's church, joining with the Egyptian and Arab churches to complete the final kingdom of God.

4. Have compassion on the people of Sudan, who are suffering from civil war, and grant that they may live in eternal hope among the poor in spirit. Let Your light shine, that all the powers of death may flee and run to the Lord of life. May the scattered multitudes of Sudanese Christians be a people of strength to tread down the enemy, as Isaiah 18 says, and may they move to the spiritual front lines and stand as a valiant army to tread down the enemy and turn all nations to You.