April 21 2023

PRAY THE PICTURE

Every day, we invite you into the ancient spiritual prayer practices of Lectio and Visio Divina. Each day you will be given a picture to meditate on in prayer, Visio Divina or “eating/digesting the image,” asking the Holy Spirit to prompt things from the image for you to pray into and to fill the image with spiritual meaning. Most of these visuals will connected to the concept of “Saturation” and will be connected to the insights included in each day’s prayer fuel.

We encourage you to start your prayer time each day by sitting in silence with the picture and listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction. It might also be meaningful to return to the image after you have read the additional pieces of the prayer fuel, using it to wrap up your time of intercession and giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak through it on even deeper levels. May you be blessed as you engage your Creator in visually inspired prayer.

PRAY WITH CULTURAL INSIGHT

Accounting for a staggering 52% of the nation’s landmass, the lower three regions of Morocco are dominated by the desert climate of the Sahara.  It’s because of this that the regions of Guelmim/Oued Noun, Laayoune/Sakia El Hamra, and Dakhla/Oued Ed-Dahab only house a tiny 3% of the country’s population. Did you catch that? Half of the country supports 3% of the population. The desert is the historical stomping grounds of the Bedouin Saharawi people—traditionally camel herders and nomads.

As you can imagine, conditions in these regions are harsh, and access and isolation are big problems. It’s a politically controversial area, and many of these people feel oppressed and impoverished in an area where there are few resources and scarcity is a way of life. In fact, the government offers tax and other financial incentives to Moroccan Arabs willing to move south, set up homes, and run businesses. There are currently no known gatherings or fellowships of Believers among the 1 million that live in these regions. Hot deserts aren’t known for their abundance of water, and so there is no other area where praying the concept of “saturation” feels more faith-stretching. The preciousness of this commodity is rarely far from the minds of a desert-dweller, and their days are often oriented around finding it, accumulating it, dispersing it, and wanting more of it. So, asking for streams in the desert brings into focus the absurdity of this request for saturation! But we aren’t the first to cry out for this.

“Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.” Isaiah 35: 6b-7a.

These prophetic verses from the prophet Isaiah speak of a total landscape change.

As we pray gospel saturation over Morocco, speak these verses out loud over these desert regions. As we pray for these desolate areas, ask that Father would plant a vision in the hearts of northern believers to move south and bring their testimonies with them, as they will draw much less attention than foreign witnesses. As West African migrants make their way north for work, they, too have opportunities to share their faith with these isolated people. As tourism is being developed, ask that believing tourists would use the opportunity to proclaim boldly about what Jesus has done in their lives. Lift up the translation work that is being done in the Saharawi dialect.

PRAY THE WORD 

Each day, as we engage the practice of Lectio Divina, “eating/digesting the Word,” the Scripture we will pray comes from a community of prayer from within Morocco that has been praying Saturation over Morocco.

Adjective: “Saturated”—holding as much water or moisture as can be absorbed; thoroughly soaked
Noun: “Saturation”—the degree or extent to which something is completely absorbed

This group is daring to pray audacious prayers of saturation—asking for God’s Kingdom to come to Morocco to such an extent that it is completely absorbed in His truth, presence, and transformation. Keep this in mind as you pray these Scriptures and join with those who are already praying audacious prayers on behalf of Morocco.  

Isaiah 35:5-9 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived. And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there. Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it.

Pray for God to saturate Morocco with his transformation, bringing about a total landscape change as a result of his presence coming in power.

PRAY THE SONG

God, in our brokenness we cry out to you.  You are the well that we draw from – we trust that you will provide more than we could ever ask or imagine…

“Isaiah Song” by Maverick City Worship (feat. Chandler Moore)