I Participated in Ramadan + Failed.

As the beginning of the year rolled over I was reminded of my time in Israel and Palestine last year. If you've kept up with the news at all you probably heard about the overwhelming amount of deaths in the Holy Land since October 7th, 2023. My heart grieved for all of the loss and longed for peace instead of war. I lived in the west bank for almost the entirety of my time in the holy land and I got to know the kindest people. I learned about the history of Palestine and the destruction that Zionism has brought to their people ( Christian and Muslim alike). My body and my mind ached for the truth to be made clear and Jesus to be made known. I prayed countless prayers for the safety of my friends in the middle of chaos and also for the hearts of so many people to be awaken to the power of God. I don't want to offend anyone by the words that I write here and I don't want to get too political. So, I'd like to interject for a second to say that I do support Israel. But, I also stand for Palestine in the way where I know Jesus came to save everyone. And if you are unfamiliar with Zionism a blog by "Do Justice." explains "Zionism is a political ideology that promotes the aspirations of the modern state of Israel. Christian Zionism shares these same political views but integrates theological interests. Thus Christian Zionism employs the Bible in order to say that faithfulness to God should be expressed in terms of faithfulness to modern Israel’s future. This is not about defending or respecting Judaism (though some may make that claim). It is about claiming that the secular state of Israel has divine privileges that no other nation has. It asserts that God’s purposes are being realized in the pursuit of Israel’s security and prosperity." The article goes on to explain why Jesus isn't a Zionist saying " In Jesus’ day, there were many Jews urging their neighbors to engage in political activism on behalf of Israel—they said that this was a divine duty. Some used diplomatic leverage (the Pharisees, the Herodians) while others used raw violence (the Zealots). But in each case, the aim was the same. Advancing Israel’s political fortunes was a matter of faith....But Jesus rejects this notion. Instead, the mission of his kingdom is to transform the world (not just Israel). If Jewish expectation was local (Israel), Jesus’ expectations was global (all the earth). If Jewish expectation was tribal (blessing Israel), Jesus’ expectation was universal (blessing all)." More that 70% of people in the Holy Land don't believe that Jesus is the messiah. Only 1.9% of the population is Christian. And less than 1 % of the Jewish population of Israel believes in Jesus as the Messiah. Out of the 9.5 million people that live in Israel only 15, 000 of them are messianic Jews. This should be overwhelmingly heartbreaking when we think about what the Holy Land means to Christians. And as Christians who support Israel, we need to understand what we should support and what we should stand against. I believe we have a responsibility to bring awareness to Zionism and how it came about. "When the modern State of Israel declared independence in 1948, those who established this new version of the nation of Israel were primarily secular. The key minds behind the modern Zionist movement, including Theodor Herzl (the father of modern Zionism), were non-religious, if not antagonistic, toward religion. These early European Zionist leaders, who were agnostics or atheists, believed the redemption of Jewish people was possible through human effort alone." explains an article by Chosen people Ministries. The article then goes into details about recent surveys amongst Jews in Israel, and the belief about the coming of the Messiah. Our prayers for the state of Israel and our world should be focused on people coming to know Christ. As the conflict escalated my heart became burdened specifically for the Muslim people Palestine and Gaza who were caught in the middle of chaos. People who most likely didn't believe in Jesus. People who didn't deserve to die. And people who didn't support H*mas and still had faith in God. I continued for weeks praying over Gaza, Israel and the West Bank and it was put on my heart to learn more about Ramadan. I learned a little from my host family at Aida Camp but I didn't know the extent of how powerful Ramadan is for Muslims. But I did know that my heart was absolutely shattered to pieces knowing that there were thousands of people in Gaza already starving who then had to find the strength to fast from they haven’t. I did a bunch of research on Ramadan and talked with a friend from Azerbaijan about her experience with Ramadan growing up. And I knew that I needed to fast for the people participating in ramadan.

Acts 17 jumped out at me saying "So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us".

In my research I found blog called Neighborly Faith and a blog post talking about "6 Things Christians Should Know About Ramadan" Acts 17 was highlighted at the beginning saying "Christians shouldn’t be satisfied knowing very little about what their neighbors believe or what they celebrate. Paul set an example in Acts 17 that knowing what our neighbors believe and observing their practices help us to speak coherently to them. Paul frequented the synagogues and the marketplaces. He observed temples, statues, and poets. He lived a public faith among his neighbors of diverse faiths, and we can do the same while remaining faithful to Christ." I loved how they explained our need to understand other religions, so when we share our faith we know the foundation on which we stand is solid. It's so much easier to share our faith with people when we allow them to share with us. That's one of the things living in South Africa taught me; to find common ground and affirm the truths we do share even when our religion is different. But its also important to be able to explain the truth that backs up your faith.  Colossians 4:6 says "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." We need the words that we say to not be foolish but intentional. And what better way to do that than to also deeply understand someone else's perspective as well. So with that, I decided to participate in Ramadan. Which started April 10th of 2024, on a new moon. Ramadan is a month long period of fasting where Muslims don't eat or drink anything during daylight (and its truly so much more than that but that's the readers digest ). So for me eating before sunrise was at 7:05 and sunset was around 7:15. Which doesn't seem that difficult until I realized I work in a kitchen and am surrounded by the smell of food for 8+ hours a day. As I was praying about participating in Ramadan the vs in Matt 6 kept repeating in my head. “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." I knew that if I was to participate in Ramadan I needed to keep things as discreet as possible. I didn't tell my family ( I still haven't told them actually haha) I didn't tell my friends or my Muslim host family. I set 5 alarms for me to stop and pray 5 times a day and hoped that each night we we ate dinner it was past dusk. The first day of Ramadan was on a Sunday and thankfully my church got out late so when I missed lunch with my family I had a few excuses not to share in eating lunch with them. And then for the first couple days after that I was checking on a woman's cat and I like to go before it gets dark so I would check on it while my family ate dinner and I would come home and eat later. After I no longer had a cat to check on I went walking with a friend (which is very typical for me to do). But it was hard to go about my normal life. One of the first few days of Ramadan I went walking with Dawn; we walked about 3 miles but because it wasn't dusk as we completed our walk I wasn't allowed to drink any water. I was thirsty. Absolutly parched. And weak. I was weak but continued to pray for strength. And again reminded of the people in Gaza who have been cut off from clean water and don't have anything to drink as their sun begins to set. It became easier to understand in a more tangible way what Jesus meant when he said that he is the bread of life and the living water. It's easy to forget you are participating in Ramadan when you aren't being constantly reminded or surrounded with people who are struggling with the same struggle you are. There were a couple days I accidentally ate a piece of ice without thinking and when I didn't have time to eat breakfast before work or when I ignored my alarm to pray. I quickly realized how important the prayer part of fasting is. Because if we aren't in a constant state of prayer we forget the purpose and instead of becoming fervent we become famished. I said that I participated in Ramadan and failed. And I failed not because I lacked discipline to fast for an entire month but because I lacked the community that every other Muslim has to rely on during a difficult time. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” Just because the religion of Islam is different the community built around faith is virtually the same. I realized the great community of people that Muslims have as they fast with millions of other people unites them and gives them strength. They suffer together and they pray together.

A powerful revelation I had in the Holy land was every day 5 times a day ( even not during Ramadan) 1.9 billion people stop to pray at the same time. Imagine how much more faith Christians would have in God if we all banned together to pray 5 times a day. Heck, imagine even one time a day the 2.4 billion Christians in the world stopped and prayed. Imagine how much unity that would bring if we could unite knowing my bother or sister in Christ is praying to the same God I am at the same moment and he hears us all. I failed Ramadan because I was never meant to do it alone. Just like we were never meant to live life alone or live life without prayer.

Continue to pray for Gaza, and Israel and Palestine as the world becomes more and more chaotic. On April 13th Iran bombed the Holy Land. Lets pray for more people to find Jesus. Pray that out of horrible tragedy comes grace, forgiveness, peace and reconciliation.

On November 18th 2023 an article was published by The Western Journal that over 200 Muslim men had Jesus seen in their dreams and are now seeking Christ. Let us pray that more stories like this make headlines and that more people come to know Christ. Let us not create division based on opinions but find unity in the fact that Jesus came to save all.