Last week I spoke out at the Tulsa Workshop. I had two seminar sessions--one on "Reaching Out to Muslims," and another on "Reaching Out to Today's Postmodern Culture." In the study and preparation for this, I was very much convicted of the need for us to have a consistent, intentional prayer ministry for Muslims and all other people who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ.
Why is this so important? Take for instance, reaching the Muslim population. Muslims who convert to Christianity can and have been killed for their faith. This happens especially in other countries, but also can happen here as well. In foreign countries it is difficult for Christians to share Christ openly. So reaching Muslims requires God making this possible.
This past year, we had over twenty baptisms, the majority of which were adult converts. Four of these were Muslims--two young men and a young couple. God clearly brought them our way. The young couple, for instance, said that they had tried to go to a church in their [country in the Middle East], but that the Christians there told them that it was too dangerous. So they sought us out once they arrived. They said that they had been touched by the "authentic prayer" and "love" of Christians that they had visited. And they had been touched by Jesus.
This should not cause us to not be proactive in reaching out. Our ESL/FriendSpeak ministry is a great draw for people from other countries, and many came our way last year from this ministry and others. But the lesson from the Muslim converts is that God is the one who touched hearts and lives and causes people to seek him out.
Furthermore, thousands of Muslims have reported having visions and dreams of Jesus, and this has led a great many to accept Christ. (See Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus) And they have nothing to gain and everything to lose, including their lives, by reporting a dream or vision of Christ. This is one of the things that puts credence to these dreams and visions. And we must remember that Jesus appeared to Paul in a vision some 15 years after the resurrection. Why? If you know Paul, he probably would not have been converted in any other way.
So I have on my heart right now to pray specifically for Muslims, that God may send more our way who want to follow Jesus that we can baptize and teach to obey all of God's commandments. Our Muslim converts know others from primarily Islamic countries who are here in the US. However, they find it difficult to share their faith openly, as they have relatives back in their home country who would be killed if it were found out that they had converted to Christ. So, again, we need God to touch hearts and lives to bring more seekers our way.
So, if you would please join me in praying for the lost. And if you can, join me this week in praying for Muslims.
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Prayer for Muslims to Know Christ
"Dear God, we thank you for the Muslim converts that you sent to us. It was such a joy to see them come to faith in your only son, Jesus Christ. May you safeguard their lives. We also pray that you will have more come our way, and that we might show them Jesus. We pray for Muslims around the world, that they may come to know you. We pray for Christians in Islamic countries who are risking their lives for the gospel, that you may safeguard them and help them reach many people for you. Amen."
What role has prayer played in reaching the lost that you have witnessed? Have you had any experience with reaching Muslims for Christ? If so, what have you seen?
Comment
Wow, Jerri. That is an amazing story and testimony. I have heard parts of this story before from you, but not this fuller recounting. What a testimony! Thank you so much for writing and sharing.
I have always done outreach, but I used to think it was my choice to whom I reached out until my friend, S. She was the mother of my most unruly student at our preschool. The first day of school, during parent orientation, he somehow got out of my classroom and made his way to the parking lot of the school while two adults, including me, were watching the children on the playground!
Every day I had to make sure he was with me. He smiled at me and cheerfully disobeyed. Every week I talked to his mother who always came in to drop him off. If he hadn't been so cute and his mother so attentive, I might have grown frustrated, but he found a place in my heart. It was after Mother's Day, at the end of the school year when I found out the real problem.
S. came to my classroom and soon was in tears. She told me in her broken English that her husband had been terrorizing her and her children. We had made a flower pot gift for the Moms, and her husband had smashed it in front of their son and then held him up to her face and made him call her horrendous names. She showed me pictures of their house that had been demolished in one of his fits of rage. I had met her husband, and he gave off a sense of danger behind his smiling face and flattering words. I believed S. and sought the help of our teen minister, because I knew him and had gone on mission trips in the inner city of Nashville with him.
We helped S. move out of her home and into a women's shelter with her children. S. then wanted to study the Bible with me. Our teen minister and I studied the Bible with S., and she was secretly baptized after a class for adults that she went to during our VBS. In that class a woman taught the value of women to God and Christ. S. told me she had never been told in her country or any other place that women had any value. Thad day she was baptized. We became good friends, though she eventually removed the restraining order on her husband and allowed him to see their children again.
S. told me that Jesus led her to see crosses all over her country (Iran) as she was growing up. She saw crosses in fence posts, in rocks, in shapes of glass, everywhere she looked. She was drawn to the cross. S. also taught me many things. She taught me to overcome my fear of teaching Muslims. I knew S. after 9/11, and she had such remorse over what Muslim people had done to our country. She was afraid I would hold her somehow responsible. But she was my sister in Christ. Jesus led me to her, and while I taught her what I knew, she taught me far more about faith and courage.
Now Jesus is calling Muslims to Him, and He has graciously allowed me to know many and study with a few. One woman I studied with for a year. We read small portions of the Bible every week, but she read books of the Bible in between. She is a brilliant young mother and God has called her, though she has not yet converted. She moved away after a year to pursue her masters' degree and, not coincidentally, my best friend's sister lives where she moved and teaches Muslim women.
I am constantly amazed at God's provision for people when we pray. James has hit the core of outreach. Pray without ceasing. Pray for open hearts. Pray for courageous workers. Pray for Muslims everywhere, as well as any heart He chooses to call to Him. "I planted seeds, Appolos watered, but God grants the increase." I Cor. 3:6 Jerri Harrington
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