Day 3 – September 24

September 16, 2026

Read This Prayer Guide in Your Language

Egypt

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Egypt is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, with a recorded history stretching back more than five thousand years. Home to the ancient pharaohs, Egypt was also the birthplace of one of the earliest Christian communities — the Coptic church traces its founding to the Apostle Mark, and at one point Egypt was nearly 90% Christian. Through the centuries Egypt has gone through great changes, and today it stands as the most populous nation in the Middle East: a land of breathtaking ancient monuments, world-class cities, and a warm and hospitable people whose culture has shaped human civilization across millennia.1

Egypt is a land of remarkable beauty and deep history — the Nile, the pyramids, the bustling energy of Cairo, and a people known for their warmth and generosity. The Coptic Christian community — roughly 10% of the population and one of the oldest Christian communities on earth — has maintained a faithful presence for nearly two thousand years. Across the country, many are quietly searching for meaning and truth. A growing number of non-believers are encountering Jesus through dreams, satellite television, and digital media, and a new generation of Egyptians is asking deep questions about faith, identity, and the future.2

Recent News: Egypt is working hard to expand public-private partnerships to upgrade and advance its infrastructure while increasing entrepreneurship and investment opportunities. This could result in overall economic growth and create new job opportunities.3

Unreached people groups: Egypt has a population of 118,336,000 and of that, 107,486,000 are unreached. The primary unreached people groups in Egypt are Egyptian, Saudi, Sudanese, Arab-speaking Algerian, Moroccan, Gulf-Spoken Arabic, and Halebi Romani, among others. Click here to learn about each people group.

Pray with us:

God, we thank you for the great nation of Egypt. This country has a significant role in biblical history and has been used by You for Your divine and sovereign purposes. We thank You for early adoption of Christianity among the Egyptian people. We ask for a resurrection of the love they had for You at the first. Cause the coals of revival to spring to life there again! Bless the people of Egypt with this new economic plan which could better the lives of many and bring increase in many areas to Egypt. We pray also for the government to grant favor to the Church to meet and to share their faith openly. May the Gospel of the Kingdom be spread more freely, Lord. We thank You for this freedom in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Indonesia

“After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd--no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” Rev 7:9 (GNT)

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago — seventeen thousand islands, three hundred ethnic groups, seven hundred languages — and the most populous Muslim-majority country on earth. For centuries, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished here, leaving behind monuments like Borobudur and Prambanan. Islam arrived through trade beginning in the 13th century, spreading gradually and taking on distinctly Indonesian forms blended with older traditions. Dutch colonization under the VOC lasted nearly three centuries. Independence came in 1945 under Sukarno, who built the new nation on Pancasila — five founding principles including belief in God and national unity — creating a deliberately pluralistic state that recognized multiple religions without establishing any one of them.4

People live in Indonesia today in the world’s third-largest democracy, navigating a growing tension between its pluralistic founding ideals and the rising influence of conservative Islam. Blasphemy laws are used against minorities, churches are burned or forcibly closed, and Christians in majority-Muslim regions face significant pressure. Yet the church in Indonesia is also large and vibrant — Batak Christians in Sumatra, Ambonese believers in Maluku, and the vast Christian communities of Papua constitute one of the largest concentrations of Christians in Asia. More than two hundred people groups remain unreached, most of them in the Muslim heartlands of Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan.5

Recent news: Indonesia is formalizing and expanding its national move begun about sixteen years ago to combat radicalization. Their approach encompasses government action and legislation, community involvement, academics, religious and community leadership involvement, digital and online education and resources, and increased effective counterterrorism.6 In Indonesia, radicalization refers to the process by which individuals adopt and embrace violent extremist ideologies, often in the name of religion, politics, or identity, leading them to support or engage in acts of terrorism or violent extremism (primarily Islamic extremism.)7

Unreached people groups: Indonesia has a population of 285,721,000 and of that, 182,585,000 are unreached. The primary unreached people groups in Indonesia are the Sunda, Java Pesisir Lor, Java Negarigung, Java Mancanegari, and the Javanese among many others. Click here to learn about each.

Pray with us:

Lord, we lift this diverse nation of Indonesia before You. This nation has tasted Islamic extremism and violence, and is attempting to combat it with education, community involvement, and government intervention. However, we know that only when You are at the center of transformation, can peace and safety be experienced. So, Lord, we ask that there would be such a move of the Spirit in Indonesia, especially out from the areas where Batak Christians in Sumatra, Ambonese believers in Maluku, and the vast Christian communities of Papua are, that, like a wildfire, nothing can stop the move of God. If the heart of the government is to see peace and rest, answer them by revealing the only true peacemaker, and the only One that can give them rest, Lord – Jesus! Amen.

Iran

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NASB)

Iran is the heir to one of the oldest and most powerful civilizations the world has ever known. The Persian Empire stretched from Greece to India; its kings appear by name in the Hebrew scriptures. For centuries, Zoroastrianism — a religion of light and truth — shaped Persian culture and ethics. The Arab conquest of the 7th century brought Islam, and when the Safavid dynasty rose to power in 1501, they imposed Shia Islam as the official state religion, a distinction that sets Iran apart from most of the Muslim world to this day. The 1979 Islamic Revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini transformed the country into a theocratic republic, replacing the Shah’s western-leaning monarchy with rule by Islamic jurists.8

People live in Iran today under one of the most repressive governments in the world — and yet the church is growing faster here than almost anywhere on earth. The Islamic Republic imprisons, tortures, and threatens death for those who leave Islam, particularly those who share their faith with others. And yet tens of thousands of Iranians are coming to Christ, drawn through satellite television, social media, dreams, and the witness of fearless believers. Many Iranians — especially the young — are deeply disillusioned with the Islamic Republic, and a generation that has only known theocracy is searching for something true.9

Recent news: For a number of years, it has been reported among Christian news sources that the Church in Iran is experiencing the greatest growth in the world as one of the fastest growing moves of evangelism is occurring there.10 Into this place where Holy Spirit is drawing so many lives to Christ, the enemy has moved through Iran’s hardcore Islamic government to expand terrorism throughout the Middle East. Iran has been steadfast in its determination to be a nuclear military power. Israel and the United States moved to stop their nuclear armament in February. Conflict is continuing after a number of failed peace negotiations. Other nations in the Middle East, especially those with U.S. military bases, have been attacked as well.11 All of the Middle East is watchful. Overall, the people of Iran are suffering greatly as a result of this conflict.12 And Christians inside of Iran are being persecuted as “being Zionists.”13

Unreached people groups: Iran has a population of 92,418,000 and of that, 80,828,000 are unreached. The primary unreached people groups are Persian, Azeri Turk Azerbaijani, Southern Kurd, Gilani Gilaki, and Feyli Luri, among others. Click here to learn more about the unreached people groups of Iran.

Pray with us:

Father, the area Iran now occupies was the home of Daniel and Esther. You spoke with and through them there to save Your people in their generation. We believe you are not done with Persia, Lord, even in our day. We ask You to intervene to save Your people there once again. We need a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit to save the Believers there. Grant them great courage to share the Gospel in the face of great persecution. Let them save their family members, friends, and neighbors by Your miraculous hand, such that they can see Your reality. Turn the hearts of the leaders like a watercourse, Lord, away from destruction. Let them desire to save their nation from war, economic destruction, and famine, and give way to cooperation with other nations. We ask these things in Jesus’ mighty and faithful name. Amen.

Iraq

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

Iraq is the ancient land of Mesopotamia — the cradle of civilization, where writing was invented, where Abraham was born, and where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates have nourished human life for ten thousand years. Babylon, Nineveh, Ur: the names appear throughout the Bible. Christianity took root here in the first century, and for two millennia the Assyrian and Chaldean churches kept faith alive in the land where faith first flourished. The Arab conquest of the 7th century brought Islam; centuries of Ottoman rule followed. Britain carved modern Iraq from the wreckage of World War One. Coups, Baathism, Saddam Hussein, the Gulf War, UN sanctions, the 2003 American invasion, and a decade of sectarian bloodshed culminated in the rise of ISIS — which nearly completed the erasure of the ancient Christian community.14

People live in Iraq today in the aftermath of catastrophe. The ancient Assyrian and Chaldean Christian community — once 1.5 million strong — has been reduced to perhaps 150,000 survivors. Entire Christian towns in the Nineveh Plain were emptied by ISIS in 2014; some families have returned to rebuilt homes, but most of the diaspora has not. The Muslim majority, overwhelmingly Shia, is led by a fractured and corrupt government. Ordinary Iraqis — Arab, Kurd, Yazidi — have endured more violence in a generation than most nations face in a century. Yet even here, the gospel is moving quietly, carried by satellite television, courageous local believers, and the desperate hunger of a people who have seen what godless power does.15

Recent news: Iraq is a nation that has been at the center of global tension and seen much war over the last 20 years since the Iraq War began there in 2003. Currently, it finds itself newly involved in conflict between the U.S. and Iran due to the U.S. military bases there and Iraqi militant groups connected to Iran.16 Those Iranian-backed groups have begun to attack other Middle Eastern countries from inside Iraq, putting Iraqi citizens once again in a very precarious and dangerous position.17

Unreached people groups: Iraq has a population of 47,021,000 and of that, 44,651,000 are unreached. The primary unreached people groups in Iraq are Iraqi Arab, North Iraqi Arab, Dorani Kurd, Meddle-Eastern Turkmen, Badani Kurd, and Iraqi Afro, among others. Click here to learn about each people group.

Pray with us:

Lord, into this land that once held a thriving Christian population, we sow our intercession for a generation that has only known war. Christianity is hard in Iraq, as they suffer under persecution, war, displacement, and lack. Now, under a new wave of conflict, we ask You to show Yourself supernaturally to a generation that has never heard the Gospel. As our scripture for Iraq states, draw the weary, the brokenhearted, and the burdened to Your rest. Only You can heal the trauma. Only You can grant hope and faith in the midst of such fearful circumstances. Lord, be merciful, loving and kind to the innocent ones there. Strengthen the Church, and turn the hardest of hearts to Jesus. Let Iraq be a nation that belongs to the Lord. Amen.

Sources

Country information and unreached people group information from Joshua Project.