How is God calling Muslims to himself? As we survey the world and study movements in Islamic strongholds, our field staff are discovering four ways Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
The Love of Christians
For Muslim people, a loving God is unfathomable.
Allah is a god of wrath and anger. They perform ritual actions to keep his wrath from falling on them and to try to please this fickle deity.
So how do Muslims start to see God as love? Through the caring actions of Christians around them. In the Muslim outreach I am a part of, many families have said, “There is something so different about you Christians. You all carry peace.”
The number one desire of a Muslim is inner peace. And with so much uncertainty and violence staining their faith, they are curious about the love and peace that so many Christians carry with them.
How can they see Christ’s love in you if you refuse to acknowledge them? If you cross to the other side of the street to avoid them? If you look away instead of smiling at them?
I did all those things once upon a time until I stopped and opened my eyes and saw them as people created in the image of God who desperately need the love of the Father. What are some changes that you can make in your actions towards Muslims as a follower of Jesus?
Dreams, Visions, Miracles and Answered Prayers
For many Muslims cultures, heavy emphasis is placed on spiritual dreams, visions, and revelations. For thousands of years, they have beseeched Allah to grant them dreams and supernatural knowledge.
And in the past fifty years, they’ve been answered, but not by Allah.
Instead, the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are showing up supernaturally. When I was in the Middle East last year, evangelism was not difficult at all. We would enter a home, sit down, and ask them, “Have you had any spiritual dreams lately?” About 50% of the time, they would say, “Yes.” And almost all of them were of a man in white with shining white hair.
Sound familiar? Check out Revelation 1. It is Jesus. And God is showing himself to Muslims through dreams in this time.
This may be a little hard for us to grasp, but I cannot deny what I saw and experienced in the Middle East. Muslims are hungry for satisfying answers to the urgent need to understand the dreams and visions, and they are seeking hope more than anything else.
Jesus is calling to them in their dreams and asking them to find Him. Will you help show them the way?
Encounters with the Word of God
The Bible is the inspired Word of God, and it speaks truth into darkness.
In the Qu’ran, Muslims can read about the works of Jesus, but the stories are skewed. Even the Muslim Holy Book speaks about the importance of reading other spiritual texts, including the Bible. However, many Muslims are very hesitant about reading the Bible, claiming that it has been morphed and changed by Christians over the years.
But many who actually sit down and read the Bible are hit with the truth that it brings.
Did you know that the Qu’ran shares many of the same stories we read in the Old Testament? What would it look like for you to expose your Muslims friends and neighbors to the life-changing truth of the Word of God?
Many Muslim cultures are oral-based and rely on storytelling. Jesus’ culture in the New Testament was very similar. Many of Jesus’ parables are great to share with Muslims. Let them dwell on the words of the Messiah. What could they learn from the stories you know by heart?
Disillusionment with Islam
The incredible violence of the last seven years has shocked the entire world, including millions of Muslims. Radical jihadists are a small percentage of the entire Muslim population, but they remain headlined in the news because of their horrible acts of terrorism in the name of Islam.
We Americans have been terrified of the prospect of terrorism ever since 9/11, and for good reason. However, almost all acts of terrorism are not against Americans, they are against other Muslims.
War has rocked the Middle East for so many years that most Arabs cannot remember a time of peace.
The Syrian crisis has shocked and devastated the Muslim world in the Middle East. Many of these people feel like they have been abandoned and forsaken by Allah. Many doubt the truth of Islam because of the incredible destruction brought by this religion. The number one fear for many Muslim parents is that their children will be radicalized by a terror group.
Though they may not show you outwardly, many of your Muslim neighbors and friends and coworkers are even more terrified at what they see on the television than you. Their beloved faith has brought so much fear and death. How could it be the right path? What path is right for them? Are you there with a caring heart and answers for them?
The Great Commission compels us to reach the entire world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We have the answer in our hearts and in our hands to combat the destruction and fear we see in our world. Politics won’t change terrorism. War won’t fix this problem. This is not a humanitarian issue. It is a spiritual war, and Jesus is the only one who can bring victory.
Are you on your knees, fighting for your Muslim neighbors?
Jesus Christ can bring an end to the Syrian crisis. The Almighty God can bring peace to the Middle East for the first time in thousands of years. Already, God is doing an amazing and impossible work that we have never seen before in history. While media shows fear, we must hold onto the truth that God is at work in even the worst of circumstances.
Show love, not fear … and ask yourself, “What are three ways I can share love with Muslims?”