Have you ever wondered why God led you somewhere?
Someplace that appears to be a dead-end?
Where you have wasted what limited time you have allotted for whatever mission you are on?
I was on a mission trip with a group of men from the states. After driving for about an hour we attempted to enter a particular camp to distribute Bibles. We were not granted permission to enter the camp or set up tables to distribute our Bibles and literature. But we had free access to the beach. We walked down to the Mediterranean and stood on the edge of the water. We struck up a conversation with one of our contacts in the area who was helping us to make connecttions with the camps in the area.
We learned that Malik was a Muslim who had converted to Christianity about two years earlier. He had memorized most of the Koran and had questioned his Imam about some inconstancies he found with their teaching and what the Koran actually said. His search for truth led him to read the New Testament of the Bible. He discovered the Way, the Truth, and the Life and gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He read through the New Testament twice inside of two months and had memorized large blocks of the Scripture. One day while he was reading Gospels he came across the passage in Matthew
Matthew 10:32-33 (NIV)
32 "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.
33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Malik had been living his life as a secret Christian in an Arab country. Even though the country was moderate they still had strict laws that would not allow people to convert from Islam to any other religion. That night he decided he needed to publicly proclaim his faith in Jesus, even though it could mean imprisonment.
He lost his family, his business and nearly his life but God was gracious and he managed to flee the country and move to the West. Malik has a passion to reach Muslims of whatever stripe with the saving knowledge of Christ’s message of forgiveness and eternal life. He and fellow former Muslims are creating animated movies of questions about Islam and Christianity Muslims have and posting them on YouTube.
After hearing his testimony I said to the team “This is the reason we are here in this place at this time. We are here to meet and pray for and with Malik.”
Never doubt God’s plan or God’s timing my friend. If you do, you might just miss a blessing or blessing someone in need!
Oh the joy of unexpected appointments!
Dr. Val
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