I n the book of Acts Paul said that

before his conversion, “he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.” If Paul had grown up in Dagestan, he probably would have come from the town of Gubden in Dagestan. This town has the reputation

of being one of the fiercest fundamentalist Muslim epicenters in Dagestan.

People in Gubden are influenced by a zealous strain of Islam emanating out of Saudi Arabia. Women dress more conservatively than in the other Muslim regions of Dagestan. They devoutly pride themselves on their adherence to Muslim laws and rituals.

Paul writes in Philippians, “... as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal ... after the Law, above reproach.” Then he found “the power of the resurrection ... the righteousness which was not based on human strength, but through faith in Christ.” And “... what I previously highly valued, I now consider as rubbish, in contrast to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Pray for new “Apostle Pauls” among the religiously zealous Gubden people. Pray for the Lord to meet them on new Damascus roads in the mountains of central Dagestan. Pray that by the resurrection power of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit will begin to flower on these hillsides just like the fruit orchards one can see now. Two years ago, a Gubden woman accepted Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to influence this region through her testimony.

MUREGO/GUBDEN PEOPLE

And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

Pray for these twin people groups to find mercy and grace in the eyes of the One whom all mankind pierced. Pray that they will lean on the arms of the One who was pierced for our transgressions.

21DAY

Zech 12:10, NKJV

108

Listen to the personal words

of a woman who grew up in a large Andalal village—“As a girl, knowing no other way, I was proud and happy that I had been born into a Muslim family. I believed that Islam was indeed the religion of peace

and goodness, and with all my heart I searched for a close relationship with the God of Islam just like millions of honorable people in Muslim cultures do today. My story is of a lack of peace in my heart... . As I grew up, I was full of pain from many horrible things that had happened to me since childhood. … In the midst of all this, I believed in Allah, although I was experiencing more and more disappointment with the religion in which I was born.... As I grew I carried with me a mass of internal confusion, emotional pain, and a catastrophic amount of self-doubt.”

The Andalal and Qarakh-speaking groups have been intensely Islamic for hundreds of years. They have amazing cultural strengths, but also a tragic deficit of grace, forgiveness, and agape love. Due to these deficits, in recent years even many of the historic strengths grow progressively dimmer in the face of the devastating effects of sin.

Pray that many, like the author of this writing, will find the love of Jesus for healing and regeneration. Pray for revelation through dreams and visions, which also were key in this Andalal woman’s salvation story.

ANDALAL/QARAKH AVAR

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Pray for apostles and evangelists to be raised up for the Dagestani peoples who now live without the grace or love of our Lord.

22DAY

Eph 4:11-13, NIV

109

“T he first book ever published in our language!” The Bezhta man was celebrating the historic

breakthrough, which took place for his people in 1999. For thousands of years the Bezhta language had been only an oral language, so having access to the printed page is a novelty to them.

What is doubly remarkable is that “this first book” was the Gospel of Luke! How did this amazing gift of grace happen among this staunchly Muslim people of over 10,000? Magomed (not his real name), the trailblazer of the Bezhta Gospel of Luke, must be a “man of peace” as described by Jesus in Luke 10. Sometime in the early 1990s Magomed was exposed to Jesus and made it his project to get the Gospel of Luke into a published form in his Bezhta language. The Book of Proverbs in the Bezhta language was added in 2005. In 2014 there was huge news when two Bezhta people embraced Jesus as Lord!

Pray for these two believers to be steadfast in Him. Pray for representatives of Jesus’ love who are linguistically gifted to come and be ready to serve the Bezhta people as translators of the Bible into their language. Pray for the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to break through to open hearts among the Bezhta, and spread the Word of God from clan to clan, and village to village.

BEZHTA PEOPLE

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.Pray persistently for this clear promise of Isaiah 55 to be fulfilled among the Bezhta people, based on the Gospel of Luke already among them. Pray that Holy Spirit-empowered disciples of Jesus will be sent, just as Jesus instructed His disciples in Luke 10. Who will go?

Pray for workers to be thrust out to the Bezhta people!

23DAY

Isa 55:11, NKJV

110

The Didoi region, at least 38 total villages, has been “on edge” for the past four years. Their

location in the southwest corner of Dagestan became “the edge” of Russia when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. This left them on “edge” in the province of Dagestan, both politically and emotionally—leading to mysterious fires in 2012-13. One burned out village, Khutrakh, by translation literally means “The Edge.” Most Didoi villages are literally built on the edge of ridges, with houses stacked vertically on top of each other. Living such precarious lives, it’s no wonder they are known as the “eagle people.”

Will this crisis among the Didoi lead to new openness to the love of Christ? Caring disciples of Christ have reached out to the suffering 20,000 Didoi people, but have been blocked by Dagestani powers. In late 2013 in far northern Dagestan in a lowland settlement, a Didoi man (name left anonymous) has come to Jesus!

Pray for the Spirit of God working through this first Didoi believer in his family. In light of the hostility from Muslim powers in Dagestan, pray for more “men and women of peace” among the Didoi to welcome the love of Christ. Pray for the Father to send the right people at the right time into the right relationships, bringing the grace and power of Jesus into the Didoi world.

DIDOI (TSEZ) PEOPLE

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

The Didoi are known as “the eagle people.” In what way are they like eagles? They live on the edge of cliffs, and they know how to persevere when all kinds of trouble comes their way. They lack the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit that can help them “rise up with wings as eagles, to run and not be weary.”

Pray for the empowering of the Holy Spirit to take these

“eagle people” to new spiritual heights with their Lord!

24DAY

Isa 40:31, NKJV

111

AKHVAKH PEOPLE

An Akhvakh family had been bothered

by a troubling spiritual presence in their home and a string of bad circumstances. They called upon the local exorcist to come and engage in ritualistic work to appease the

troubling spirits and then to seek to overpower and expel them from the family dwelling.

Among all the peoples of Dagestan, such folk Islamic practices are widespread and exist alongside official Islam and its Five Pillars. One Dagestani scholar suggests that such practices are especially strong among the 6,500 Akhvakh, although not much less so among the other 33 language groups of Dagestan. In the eighth chapter of Acts similar folk magic was superseded by the redeeming grace of Jesus, as Holy Spirit power overflowed in healing and deliverance through Philip’s ministry.

There is good news among the Akhvakh people. An Akhvakh mother and her teenage daughter have recently come to Jesus. These are the first two known Akhvakh believers.

Pray for the Lord to guide these Akhvakh believers in their relationships with their Muslim families and clans. Pray for representatives of Jesus’ matchless grace to become true friends of Akhvakh culture, honoring and helping preserve the unique Akhvakh language. Pray that this same empowered love will find entrance deep into Akhvakh culture. Pray for doors to open for simple prayer in love in the name of Jesus, as His Word goes out with signs and wonders.

We pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power—in order that the name of Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him.

Make this your prayer for the Akhvakh people.

25DAY

2 Thess.1:11-12

112

An Akhvakh village

The elderly Botlikh man implored him, “Come and see me—I may not have many years yet to

live.” The year was 2004, and this Botlikh “man of peace” (see Bible verse below) was living in the capital city of Dagestan in southern Russia, 200 miles from his home village in the western mountains of Dagestan. The Christian friend responded, and that afternoon Khalil, with a noble spirit, welcomed the grace of Jesus into his life while his aged wife, Patimat, watched attentively.

A few years later Khalil died; but back up in the large mountain village of Botlikh no others had yet come to Jesus. Traditional Islam, tinged with ancient folk customs, holds sway in this region. The 7,000 people of Botlikh speak their distinct Botlikh language, and Russian as a second language. The region is famous for its fruit trees, even grapes and apricots, which grow bountifully in this unusual environment amidst the rugged mountain ranges of western Dagestan.

Pray that the fruit of the Spirit, which was born in Khalil’s life that fall afternoon in 2004, will multiply 30-60-100-fold to his relatives and descendants among the Botlikh people. Pray that the few urban followers of Jesus in Dagestan who have connections into the Botlikh culture will follow the voice of the Spirit like Philip did on the road to Gaza in Acts 8, and reach key men and women inside the Botlikh world.

BOTLIKH PEOPLE

And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you.

Everywhere people take the name of Christ, there are people who may welcome them into their community. That is the person we call a man or woman of peace. Though it’s extremely difficult to break into Dagestani communities, God may be raising up some from within each of them to welcome Christ’s ambassadors.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to move among those who are spiritually hungry in Dagestan. Pray for these people to welcome Christ’s ambassadors into their communities.

26DAY

LK 10:6, NKJV

113

ANDI PEOPLE

… may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…

Pray that the Lord will show His grace and mercy to all Andi people in such a way that they will come to Him with thanksgiving and repentance.

27DAY

Eph 3:18, NIV

114

The powerfully-built Andi man

murmured out loud, “I’m not as tough as my brothers and uncles—I haven’t yet killed a man with my

bare hands.” This middle-aged Andi man looked tough enough. He is renowned in his circles for his hard-nosed life and his many wives. The Muslim Andi number at least 40,000 in Dagestan, near the western border with Chechnya. Blood vengeance is one of their enshrined values, and cycles of violence have continued to ferment through the generations. However, there are great strengths in the Andi people—remarkable elements of culture and beauty.

This story, however, continues with an astonishing twist. One of the sons of this very same Andi man—we’ll call the son Aslan, encountered the power of the Holy Spirit. He said, “What surprised me most ... was the amazing love of God.” Aslan is the first follower of Jesus among the Andi people. Aslan represents the hope of a powerful life-giving strength that is far greater than the old fleshly way of vengeance and violence.

Pray for good relationships between Aslan and his family, including his father, relatives, and acquaintances. Ask God to let the radiance of His Holy Spirit shine through Aslan, so that many can be drawn to the light. Pray for divine grace and help with the beginning of a Bible translation into the Andi language. The Gospel of Luke in Andi was published in 2015. Pray for the development and distribu-tion of biblical audio recordings. Pray that many Andi people will see the superiority of the ways of the Spirit over the old ways of vengeance.

Proud descendants of the Mongolian Empire’s Golden Horde, the Nogai speak their own

distinct Turkic language. Though over 100,000 of them live in Russia, more than 90,000 self-identified Nogai live in Turkey. There is also significant Nogai populations in Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine.

This once-nomadic people now live in small villages and work with livestock. A distinctive Nogai cuisine, preserving many of their Mongol roots, survives— vividly embodied by Nogai tea, a hot tea prepared by boiling milk and tea together, along with butter, salt, and pepper. Unfortunately their lives are tempered today by disillusionment from the destabilizing elements of violence, chaos, and corruption in their country.

At present there are approximately 20 Nogai followers of Jesus. In 2011 the New Testament was published in the Nogai language; and now Genesis, Ruth, Esther, and Jonah are complete. Early last year the JESUS Film was completed in Nogai. Nogai believers risk rejection by their families, as well as a threat to their livelihood if their identity in Christ becomes known in the midst of the intensely Muslim Nogai society.

Pray blessings on the Nogai Bible portions and the JESUS Film as they penetrate Nogai culture. Pray that many Nogai will become open to the love, peace, and joy of the gospel, and for this to spread through Nogai circles in the Nogai language. Pray that the descendants of the Golden Horde will find their greatest joy in the generation ahead in the fulfillment of the Golden Rule, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

NOGAI PEOPLE

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Pray that the Nogai people will respond to the grace shown them by the Lord and by His people.

28DAY

Ps 84:11, NKJV

115

We last prayed for the Ingush people three years ago this very day! They are a Muslim

people group who have experienced being displaced by Russian “Christians” in the 1940s and having their homes taken from them by “Christian” Ossetian families.

In the 1990s, Imran, an Ingush man, needed to bury his grandfather, and he could not do so in his traditional homeland since their community had long since been forcibly removed. Fortunately, his boss, a Russian follower of Christ, helped him to find a burial plot and also helped to pay for it.

Imran has seen two kinds of Christians; those who are Christian in name only, and those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus to love one another. Most Muslim peoples, like the Ingush, have very little opportunity to see and experience the self-sacrif icing love that Jesus calls for. The world is watching!

Pray that entire Ingush communities will experience the self-sacrificing love of Christ’s followers. Pray for more of Christ’s ambassadors to practice audacious love for Ingush people. Pray for further progress on the fledgling Ingush Bible Translation: Luke, Jonah, Ruth, and Esther are done; Matthew, Mark, John, Genesis, and Proverbs are in progress. Presently, of the 415,000 Ingush, there are approximately 15 known Ingush believers; pray that their tribe will increase, and that they will shine with the light of Jesus in their spiritually dark communities.

INGUSH PEOPLE

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This entry gives us a great example of what can happen when we follow the Lord with our deeds. Muslims worship God. They follow rules, some of which benefit others. But they need the Holy Spirit to transform their lives. Imran has seen this transformation in his boss, and he knows what the Lord can do.

Pray that the Lord will send Holy Spirit transformed believers to the Ingush people.

29DAY

MT 5:16, NIV

116

Twenty-five hundred years ago the Greek historian, Herodotus, noted that Greek seafarers

encountered a tribe named the Abaza along the eastern shores of the Black Sea. The descendants of the Abaza later migrated northeastward into the Caucasus Mountains, and became devotedly Muslim over the past 1000 years.

A war-like people, the Abaza have known little mercy. Many died in the Caucasus Wars with the Russian Empire in the middle of the 19th century. The Abaza now live in at least 14 towns and villages in the mountain region of Karachai-Cherkessia in southern Russia. Their ancient language is fascinating—it functions with 63 consonant sounds and only two vowels!

Among the 43,000 Abaza, there are only 10 known believers; pray for these courageous ones, who are carriers of the desperately-needed grace of Jesus for their people. When they have His Word in their heart language, it will be much easier to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32, NIV). The fruit of the Spirit can start to grow and spread throughout the culture. Pray for the few followers of Jesus among the Abaza to embody the forgiveness and kindness of Jesus to all whom they meet. Pray for a fledgling effort which is barely underway, to begin translating portions of the New Testament into the difficult Abaza language. Thank the Lord that in the last three years, two new prayer movements in the interna-tional church have begun to pray for the Abaza people.

ABAZA PEOPLE

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

This month we have prayed almost daily for people groups that lack the grace of God in their communities. The results have been tragic for centuries.

Pray that every people group we have prayed for this month will crave and accept the grace of Jesus, and spread it to others.

30DAY

Jn 1:16-17, NIV

117

The Balkars of Southern Russia and Their Deportation (1944-57)

Indelible events are often stamped into the consciousness of a nation. Th ese events shape individuals, and often entire socities, in the way they view social, cultural, political, ethical, and especially spiritual realities. Th e deportation of entire ethnic groups of the North Caucasus region of southern Russia was an immense operation of the Soviet government during World War II. Th e Balkarians, or Balkars, were forcibly taken from their native homelands and deported to distant lands within the Soviet Union. Th ey remained in exile for thirteen years. Th e third generation of Balkars since that horrible experience continues to live in the shadow of the atrocities committed against their people. Th is book applies comprehensive research to the facts of the deportation. More importantly, it examines lingering resentments and current sentiments of the Balkarians through extensive personal interviews with those who experienced the deportation.

List Price: $13.99Our Price: $11.19ISBN: 9780878086276Karen Baker (Author)Published by William Carey Library, 2013Paperback, 200 pages

WILLIAM CAREY LIBRARY

www.missionbooks.orgUS: 1-877-333-4411

Ho! Everyone who thirst, come to the waters …. So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

With faith, pray that the efforts to get God’s word to the peoples of this region will not return void. Pray for the word to spread quickly and transform lives and communities.

31DAY

Isa 55:1a, 11, NASB

BIBLE TRANSLATION PROCESS

A Dagestani Bible translator shared, “When I read my first-ever Christian book in my

language, it had a huge spiritual, emotional impact inside me that overwhelmed me. I understood spiritual truths at a much deeper level. I knew I had to finish the Bible for all my people. In our culture, even if some don’t read well, the fact that this important book is actually in our language makes all the difference in the world. All will say, ‘This Bible is something that is part of my culture. I can respect it.’ Doors open. When I am in my deepest crisis times and cry out to the Lord in prayer, I pray in my own language, not Russian.”

David Garrison in his book, Wind in the House of Islam tells of many from Muslim backgrounds such as this story from Egypt: “I took out my Qur’an … but instead something drew me to the New Testament. As I read it, I felt my heart open like an old door. … It was like drinking cool water, and I wanted to drink it all.” Likewise, the peoples of Dagestan desperately need the Word in their heart languages.

Pray that the 18 active North Caucasus language Bible projects (three more than three years ago!) will be complet-ed, and the seven inactive projects will be restarted. Pray for startup projects for the remaining 13 languages. There are now 10 languages with complete New Testaments, and one complete Bible in Chechen. Pray for widespread usage, distribution, and penetration and transformation of cultures.

118

119

The Balkars of Southern Russia and Their Deportation (1944-57)

Indelible events are often stamped into the consciousness of a nation. Th ese events shape individuals, and often entire socities, in the way they view social, cultural, political, ethical, and especially spiritual realities. Th e deportation of entire ethnic groups of the North Caucasus region of southern Russia was an immense operation of the Soviet government during World War II. Th e Balkarians, or Balkars, were forcibly taken from their native homelands and deported to distant lands within the Soviet Union. Th ey remained in exile for thirteen years. Th e third generation of Balkars since that horrible experience continues to live in the shadow of the atrocities committed against their people. Th is book applies comprehensive research to the facts of the deportation. More importantly, it examines lingering resentments and current sentiments of the Balkarians through extensive personal interviews with those who experienced the deportation.

List Price: $13.99Our Price: $11.19ISBN: 9780878086276Karen Baker (Author)Published by William Carey Library, 2013Paperback, 200 pages

WILLIAM CAREY LIBRARY

www.missionbooks.orgUS: 1-877-333-4411