Idris thought about that dream every day. Every single day. It kept him from fully committing to Islam any longer even though it was the only faith he had known for his entire life. The dream is what drove him to seek answers, and it’s what drove his devout Muslim family away.
Fifteen years ago, Idris dreamed of Jesus, and for those fifteen years, no one in his Middle Eastern country could tell him much about the Jesus he saw in his dream. So he waited for the answer because he knew it would change his life.
After 15 years of waiting, he met a follower of Jesus—a missionary with East-West Ministries. Idris was excited. He could finally learn what he had been waiting for so long, and he wasn’t disappointed. As the missionary told him about the Jesus of the Bible, Idris soaked in every word. He knew that this Jesus was the One True God, and just moments later he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ for eternity.
I could tell many more stories like this one—stories of Muslims meeting Jesus for the first time supernaturally. But each one of these stories also consists of a believer who shared the gospel with them, because God’s plan is to use human endeavor to proclaim the message of the gospel.
“For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those bring good news!'” –Romans 10:13-15
There are literally billions of people on the planet who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ and billions more who have heard but do not yet believe. The call to believers has always been to “go and make disciples.” In fact, it’s more than a call. It’s a command from our Savior Himself.
I have seen lives and communities transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit and the gospel message, but that can only happen when we participate in God’s great plan for the world. It doesn’t always mean that you have to go across the globe. It just means you have to do something.
I’d like to offer you a few suggestions for how you can participate in bringing the gospel to Muslims and every other kind of unbeliever.
Pray: Prayer is a foundational element of our lives as believers. It changes our own hearts, submits us to God’s will, and brings about miracles in our lives. It can do the same when we pray for others. Even Muslims!
During Ramadan and beyond, I urge you to pray for Muslims. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- Pray that they will be given dreams and visions of Jesus Christ.
- Pray that the Lord would create restlessness in their hearts for answers about Jesus.
- Pray that their hearts would be softened to believers and what they have to say about Jesus.
- Pray that a believer will enter their lives to share the gospel with them personally.
- Pray for your own passion to grow to reach Muslims in your community and/or around the world.
Learn: It would be easy to make excuses: “I don’t even know where to begin with Muslims. How am I supposed to share the gospel with them?” But I believe that God wants us to take initiative and learn how to reach Muslims and other unreached groups of people. You can seek training to prepare you to share the gospel with Muslims in your community and beyond.
IMPEL initiative has created a specialized training as part of our focused on helping Americans have a spiritual conversation with Muslims—one that could even lead to sharing the gospel with them. The training is taught by missionaries with years of experience in Muslim ministry, and you will learn how to build a bridge between the Koran and the Bible to tell them about Christ’s sacrifice for them.
Go: Jesus told us to be His witnesses in our own communities and to the ends of the earth. That means we should be engaging Muslims and other unbelievers everywhere, and sometimes that requires extraordinary effort on our part, as a mission trip does.
East-West’s Muslim-focused mission trips allow believers to reach dozens of nations at a time by going to key gateway cities overseas. Through these trips, American believers have the opportunity to engage in spiritual conversations with Muslims from many different parts of the world. It is through these conversations that lives are eternally changed as Muslims learn the whole truth about Jesus Christ.
As the Church, we’re called to initiate global transformation, and the key to transforming the world is transforming individual lives. I believe that you and I both have a significant role to play in God’s mission of redemption. It’s time to unite in a response of obedience, so that every person has a chance to hear about the redeeming love of Jesus Christ.
Pray, learn or go today!
Dr. Kurt Nelson is President & CEO of East-West Ministries, a missions organization dedicated to multiplying followers of Jesus in the world’s spiritually darkest places. Through their ministry in unreached and restricted-access nations, people of many faiths—including Muslims—are encountering Jesus Christ and finding eternal hope. You can learn how to reach Muslims in your own community through their specialized IMPEL training. Register or learn more at www.eastwest.org/impel.
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