Despite war and persecution in the Middle East, Muslims there are encountering Jesus and coming to believe that He is the Son of God and witnessing miraculous answers to prayer in Jesus’ name.
During a recent visit to South Africa, Jane*, a missionary based in Lebanon, shared with Gateway News a few testimonies of what God is doing in the Muslim world to draw Muslims to Him.
Many of her testimonies are from missionaries working among Syrian refugees who have fled the war in their country. About two million Syrian refugees in Lebanon now have access to the Gospel because of Lebanon’s religious freedom. For some this is the first time they are meeting Christians.
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Jane told of a Syrian refugee who had been taught to be afraid of Christians. She believed that Christians were evil, violent and would kill you in your sleep. She fled to Lebanon and discovered this was not true because it was the Christians who came to her tent in the refugee camp, who gave her food and who cared for her.
The Syrian war is awakening local churches and churches in neighbouring countries to open their doors and welcome Muslims in. Lebanese churches that open their doors to Syrian refugees are flourishing as they disciple them into finding the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord, said Jane.
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Their are even positive testimonies from Syria itself. A pastor in one city in Syria had a congregation of about 60 people before the war. His whole congregation left when the war intensified but his family stayed and now they have a congregation of about 200, and these are predominantly believers from a Muslim-background.
A missionary who grew up in Jordan shared with Jane that before the Arab Spring in 2010, local believers knew each other by name. When a Muslim came to believe in Jesus, they all knew about it and everybody celebrated. Since the Arab Spring, this has changed, with so many Muslims coming to believe in Jesus that they no longer know every Christian by name.
Dreams of man in white
God is also using dreams to open Muslims to hearing about Jesus. Muslims dreaming of a man in white is so prevalent that the pastor whose church has grown in Syria uses it as a discipling tool. When groups of Muslims seek refuge at his church, he asks if any of them have had a dream of a man in white. This allows him to know where to start in the discipling process. It is effective because so many people raise their hands to indicate that they have had such a dream.
As Jane and other missionaries work among the Syrian refugees, they ask if there is anything that they can pray for in the name of Jesus. It is rare for the response to be no.
When this question was posed to Muhammed*, he asked that they pray for his wife to fall pregnant. He explained that after years of trying, they still had not been able to conceive.
Months later, Jane’s friends visited Muhammed again and he excitedly told them that his wife was expecting. He took out medical records that stated it would be impossible for her to conceive and yet, after prayer, she was able to fall pregnant.
There are also many stories of Christians praying and Syrians who have been jailed being set free. Currently, in Syria, the chances of being released from jail are slim. It is normal for people to be arrested and then disappear.
B* is a Kurdish Syrian Muslim background believer and the only Christian in his family. In December 2017, his brother was arrested and B called on his Christian friends to pray for his release. B and his friends prayed for six months before he received a call from his brother. His brother simply asked: “How many people did you get to pray for me?” because he knew that it could only be through prayer that he was released.
B’s whole family is now open to hearing about Jesus.
Jane shared another testimony of God setting the captives free. Lebanese Christians visited a Syrian refugee who shared with them that three of her brothers had been jailed in Syria. They prayed for the brothers and when they visited her the next week they found out that two of the brothers had been released the day after they had prayed.
The two brothers did not know where their other brother was as they had been split up from the time they were arrested. After more prayer, the third brother was released four days later.
Faith-building testimonies
It is testimonies like these that are opening Muslims to the truth of who Jesus is and what happens when you pray in His name. They are also stirring faith in Muslims to pray in Jesus’ name and they are seeing miracles happen.
Jane shared a testimony of a Muslim lady, Sara* who was regularly attending a women’s meeting where every week there were testimonies shared of healing and miracles. Sara’s husband was a construction worker and one day he fell off scaffolding and broke his back. The doctors gave no guarantee of recovery but said there was a chance that he would walk again after an expensive operation and months of rehabilitation.
This, however, would leave the family unable to support themselves as Sara’s husband was a day labourer. What he earned working for the day bought them food for that night. Sara remembered all the testimonies she had heard at the women’s meeting and decided to pray in the name of Jesus for her husband to be healed. He felt fire in his back, like lightening and he got up and walked. He was back on the construction site that afternoon.
These are just a few testimonies of how God is moving amongst Muslims. All testimonies are connected to people having faith and praying. Jane said that they are seeing that the extent to which people pray is the extent to which people were experiencing the move of God.
The harvest in the Muslim world is vast and it is not only in the Middle East. Jane is starting to hear of testimonies of Muslims in the West having dreams of a man in white.
Every dream of a man in white, every healing, and every story of prisoners being set free after prayer is opening Muslims to hearing the Gospel.
Jane ended with this challenge: “Be part of the breakthroughs that God is bringing, not only to your own neighbourhood, city and country, but become part of the global picture that God is drawing. Join me and hundreds of thousands of others across the world praying for God to bring breakthroughs and transform the world as we know it”.
* Pseudonyms are used in this report for security reasons.
In past years Missionary organisations have struggled to find ways of reaching Islamic countries. But God is at work in Greece as thousands of Muslim refugees pour into the country seeking to get into Europe. Hundreds of Muslims have come to Christ. This is well documented in a new movie called, “Jesus in Athens”, available from Amazon.
Glory to the King! The MAN IN WHITE, JESUS CHRIST, Living !!! Preparing His Bride,and all the guests..Amen!!!
we serve a living God. May God use all the saved souls to depopulate hell.
that’s great we serve the living master the gospel is real and Jesus is real must be worshiped in act 18:10 He says that he have many people to protect you in that city, that means even in Lebanon he have those to be changed, Amen.
Glory go Jesus Christ