“What Will War Bring to Iran? Praying for a Country in Crisis”
by March 5, 2026, by David Mathis, at: http://www.desiringgod.org
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As the world watches Iran, Christians look on with another set of eyes. Wherever we reside, we watch and pray with a spiritual vision that transcends natural concerns and our own nation-state. We are Americans, Brazilians, Canadians, Russians, Iranians, etc.; yet in Christ, we are now most fundamentally citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). Our supreme allegiance is to Jesus– risen, ascended, and reigning over all nations for the special good of his church — even in the great sorrows of these days.
Some estimate that in recent weeks the Muslim regime in Iran has killed more than thirty thousand protestors. As of today, the United States and Israel have executed six days of coordinated attacks on strategic targets in Iran. Over one thousand Iranians are reported dead, a number that includes soldiers, civilians, and the nation’s 86-year-old supreme leader, who had ruled since 1989. Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes across the region. So far, twelve Israelis and six Americans have died in the conflict.
How might Christians look on, and pray, in these tragic and potentially momentous days in Iran and the Middle East?
The current Shiite Muslim regime came to power in 1979 following the nation’s frustration with its shah (king) and his oil-money personal excesses, friendships with the West, and modernizing efforts. The history of twentieth-century Persia/Iran is complex, but relevant to our immediate Christian interest, is the widespread disillusionment with Islam in that area. Operation World reports that in Iran alone “50,000 mosques have closed in recent years as Iranians are disillusioned with both the regime and with Islam;” and, that “the younger generation is fed up with the legacy of oppression, bloodshed, cruelty, corruption, economic hardship, and cultural isolation from most of the world.”
According to Mindy Belz, the trend was evident even a decade ago: “An estimated two to seven million Muslims have converted to Christianity since the start of the twenty-first century. They occur in all parts of the Muslim world, including areas most hostile to Christianity, like Afghanistan and Iran. More than 80 percent of such movements began after 9/11.” In the last decade, the trend has continued, and accelerated, particularly in Iran.
Pastor Afshin Ziafat is the pastor of Providence Church in Frisco, Texas. Ziafat lived in Iran till age six. Six years ago, he wrote:
As of 1979, there were about 500 known Christians from a Muslim background in Iran. In 2005, it was estimated that there were 40,000 ethnic Iranian Christians (not including ethnic minority Christians who live in Iran). That number grew to about 175,000 Christians in 2010. Today, the average estimates of Christians within Iran range from 300,000 to upwards of one million, according to some missions experts. More Iranians have become Christians in the last twenty years than in the previous 1,300 years, since Islam came to Iran.
That is a stunning turn — especially since it has happened while evangelism, conversion, and owning or distributing the Bible in Farsi has been illegal. According to Operation World, “Massive numbers of Iranians have come to Jesus in recent years! From only 500 Muslim-background believers in 1979, some estimates suggest the number is even greater than 1 million just in Iran alone. Large numbers of Persian people have also encountered the risen Christ outside of Iran.”
Ziafat updated his congregation briefly this past Sunday that present developments feel “very momentous” (see ten-minute video below for more):
For 47 years, the people [of Iran] have been under the oppressive Islamic regime. Some of the most hospitable, sweet, kind people that you will ever meet in life are Persians. And so, I really want to make sure you separate the government of Iran from the people of Iran in your mind. And the people of Iran have been tired of this Islamic regime. This could be a very momentous occasion if it leads to a regime change, not only for freedom’s sake, but also for the sake of the church.
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A PRAYER FOR IRAN
Father in heaven, as this crisis unfolds, with its devastating sorrows and tremendous hopes, we who trust in your Son watch with the eyes of faith. Help us to see beyond what our natural eyes see: economics, world leaders, militaries, weapons. We want to see by your Spirit, and we ache for the unfolding of your good purposes in all of history and in every nation. We pray for the many nations and world leaders now involved. Guard them from the fog and excesses of war, and bring a deeper and more lasting peace on the other side of this conflict. We pray that the war may be brief and not escalate unnecessarily. We ask for minimal loss of life.
Father, guard and protect the church in Iran as we give thanks for the growing number of Christians in that troubled nation. Give them strength to endure persecution and remain faithful. May these terrifying times usher in a new era in which your church might come above ground, and your people then lead peaceful and quiet lives. And may that then inspire their evangelism in the name of Jesus, and the establishing of many new churches (1 Timothy 2:1–4). May Iranians who claim the name of Jesus shine as lights in the darkness. Father, how remarkable it would be if the doors of one of the world’s most significant “closed countries” could swing open for Christian missionaries and teachers.
Father, we pray that you move in the hearts of the many disillusioned Muslims who may have lost all hope. Open their eyes to see Jesus and find their true peace and hope in him. May the good news that Jesus saves sinners spread like never before in Iran– for youth disenchanted with Islam, for women who have struggled under its demeaning structures, for the aged who have been deceived and have cried out for rescue for decades. We pray that Persian Christians, and all Christians, might declare the gospel of your Son clearly and boldly, as we ought to speak it (Ephesians 6:20; Colossians 4:4), that the word of Jesus “may speed ahead and be honored,” and that Iranian believers, new and old, “may be delivered from wicked and evil men” (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2). Father, we pray that you work wonders in Iran and beyond, both for the ending of these temporal sufferings, and for bringing to all people decisive rescue from eternal suffering.
Make the great sorrows of Iran for these last fifty years, and in the present time, give way to millions discovering the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord (Philippians 3:8). In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
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Below are two previous EmailMeditations on the amazing growth of the church in Iran. We have many Christian brothers and sisters there.
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IRAN IN THE BIBLE: “Iran” is the fairly recent name for the ancient civilization known as Persia, which plays an important role in the Bible. The name Persia appears almost thirty times across five books in the Old Testament. Persia emerged as the liberator of the Old Testament Jews from their exile in Babylon. The Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the proclamation that freed the Jews to return home and rebuild the temple (2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–4). After Cyrus were kings Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes, who ruled over the post-exilic lives of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
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