Memories are flooding today as I watch Afghanistan descend into a hell-driven terror. Chicken Street, Camp Eggers, the University of Kabul, English classes, the half-destroyed National Museum, a high school graduation, ballet classes, sitting under a chaila at the coffee shop by the same name, visiting a family of weavers, worshipping with brothers and sisters.

Few countries have been yanked back and forth into tyranny as often as Afghanistan. This land-locked country the size of Texas has a population of about 40 million people, all of whom are now under a new reign of terror by the Taliban.

Would you take some time and pray for Afghanistan?

Pray for Afghans who believe in Jesus. The church, maybe 5,000 in number, lives under a constant state of persecution, imprisonment, and threats. Pray the the Holy Spirit would grant them courage and boldness. Pray with the early church from Acts 4:23-31.

Pray for Afghans to come to know Jesus. May God be known to these people through His word and through His people. May the work of generations of faithful witnesses bear fruit.

Pray for the clear testimony of the remaining Christian workers in the Afghanistan. May God preserve their lives for His glory and grant them wisdom to make decisions about leaving or staying.

Pray for displaced Afghans to find comfort in the hope of the Gospel. Although reports very, more than 5 million Afghan refugees reside in more than 70 countries around the world, including more than 300,000 in the United States. Pray for them as they watch further chaos in their homeland. Pray as they worry for family still in Afghanistan.

Pray for the sick and hungry. Medical care was haphazard at best before 2020. The removal of medical aid workers and COVID impact will bring further devastation.

Pray for the protection of women and children. If previous reports are any indication of what the country will face, women and children will be brutalized with physical, sexual, and emotional trauma.

Pray for soldiers from around the world who spent time attempting to bring security to this troubled land. I don’t know what the political answers were or are, but these soldiers must feel a kind of despair watching the utter undoing of all they worked for.

Pray for the peace of Afghanistan. The President has fled, and the Taliban is now in control. May these people know what true peace is.

Pray for the wisdom and courage of the world’s leaders.

Update: Here are some prayer requests from pastors in Afghanistan. May God humble and embolden Christians around the world as we pray for them.