Wouldn’t You Like to Know?

My squad has moved into the 10/40 Window and we’ve hit the ground running. For those who may not know what that is, the 10/40 window is a rectangular shaped area of the world between ten degrees north and forty degrees north. This window contains the most unreached (with the Gospel) people groups than any other area on earth. Think North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

One of the most noteworthy differences is that we’re no longer working with people groups who are primarily Christian. Some of these people haven’t even heard the name of Jesus. The religion we are encountering the most this month is Islam, so check out this article to learn a bit more about that faith if you’re unsure of what that even means.

 Our conversation had shifted drastically from my fresh Turkish haircut to this man’s resolve to be satisfied with the absence of assurance in his salvation. My heart broke when he released that information to me. Soon after, before I had the chance to respond, he was ripped away to deal with business at his shop. As he walked away, a thought popped into my mind about how to share the Good News with him. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know if there was a way for your entrance into paradise to be guaranteed?” 

I relayed that question to my buddies, Jacken and Josiah, and we quickly gathered our belongings and bolted in the direction that we’d seen him walk, but had no luck finding him. We did, though, find his brother who fooled us into believing that he’d lead us to him. I don’t know why I was surprised, but He had taken us to another of his friends’ rug shops, but we dipped out of there swiftly because we’d been schemed into this one too many times and we were familiar with the pitch that was being made to us. 

Our next location was another of his friend’s shops. Initially we assumed it was another handmade rug scam, but this one was unique and we’d not been invited into one of these spaces just yet. He’d brought us into a local leather shop.  

Immediately we took notice of the “evil eye”, a token that catches bad luck before it makes it to you, hanging over the door and started to talk to Dad while we browsed. Eventually, we were joined on our shopping spree by the owner and we started to make small talk. Our hope was to move the conversation from the superficial business casual content to the deeper stuff, so we asked him about the pagan idol that hung in his shop and then made way into his life as a practicing Muslim. 

During our time together, we talked through many theological issues ranging from the deity of Jesus and His Spirit dwelling within us to the necessity of the pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims. I had the opportunity to present the Good News to him two times throughout the course of our dialogue. Each time I became more emotional and you’ll never guess what came up in conversation. 

His satisfaction with the lack of assurance in his salvation as a Muslim. 

Papa brought me to tears with His love for this man, I physically felt it and I looked him in the eyes and I asked him the question that I thought was intended for the original man, “Wouldn’t you like to know if there was a way for your entrance into paradise to be guaranteed?” We went on and on and round and round for a while before Jacken took a potty break and we started to chat about something a bit more superficial for a moment, but I couldn’t shake this pain that had just showed up in my left shoulder. 

When we had all returned to the table, he offered more tea, but we kindly declined and I pushed through the awkwardness that I felt and asked him if he had any pain in his shoulder. Humorously, he didn’t know what I meant by pain, so I talked him through that and his confusion faded. He was seated across from me and revealed that he did indeed have pain in his right shoulder, the one mirroring my left one. Whoa. Come on Holy Spirit. 

Asking someone to pray with them in this neck of the woods is a next level move that I was stoked to make and he was excited to accept and receive. I laid my hand on his shoulder and I went after it, praying in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 

Walking away from him, I asked if he had any more pain and he just sat there. Staring at me, while he was rotating his shoulder. He started to laugh and he asked me, “What did you do?” I told him about the power of the Holy Spirit and he was amazed. He told me that he had no more pain and I offered a prayer of thanks to the Lord for healing this brother. 

As we were presenting the Good News to Him for the third time, I’ll never forget my disappointment as we were ushered out of the room by our guide and we didn’t get to finish our conversation. 

Most likely that encounter doesn’t have the resolution that you wanted and it’s definitely not where I wanted to finish, but that’s what the Father wrote and whether or not that makes sense to me, it’s the best version of the story. 

This situation was a bit scary for me, to step out like this in a Muslim country, to offer a prayer of healing wasn’t the easiest thing ever, but it was worth more than I can communicate to you. A seed was planted to radically transform the life of a man who finds himself eternally damned to hell without Jesus. Would you join me in praying for him? Honestly, I don’t remember his name, but our Dad knows, so lift him up.

We have to start counting the cost of our disobedience. What’s at stake for people who don’t know Jesus? 

I’m fired up about this. Step out, Church. Be the Church. Go to the nations. 

I love you. 

AWM