Students

All eyes on the Middle East

Posted by Justin Long ⋅ September 2, 2006 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ View comments

The reverberations shook the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary guest room we were staying in. It was 6:20 am on Thursday, July 12th and the airport in Beirut had just been bombed by Israeli F-16’s. In the coming weeks more bombings would take place as Israel retaliated for the kidnapping of two of their soldiers by Hizbollah. We watched plumes of smoke in the distance and saw parts of a beautiful city being slowly laid waste. Our group of seventy were meeting for a conference before dividing into teams of six to seven and embarking on outreach throughout the Middle East.

I had many questions about why this was taking place. How did this play into the purposes and plans of God? How could this destruction and loss of life happen? “This region has been prayed over for almost a decade since the ‘Praying Through the Window’ saturating prayer initiatives during the mid-90’s—and now this?”  The Lord would soon give me a totally different perspective.

“Can we meet tomorrow?” Abdullah, a 22 year old Jordanian man, asked. “I must have an answer to my question!” he bluntly declared. Two of us had already spent an hour and a half in spiritual conversation with him. We shared the critical pieces of the gospel. He seemed genuinely interested. We had given him a New Testament and other literature. We made plans to meet the next day and wondered to ourselves what his “question” was.

Abdullah read the three pieces of literature in full over a 24 hour period (except the entire New Testament). We met for 3 hours in a Starbucks in Amman. He asked questions about following Jesus. His “question” surrounded his disgust with the hypocrisy of his friends who called themselves Muslims but who drank and did not live moral lives. His heart was hungry for truth that was real. He was typical of many we met in Jordan. Long-term workers in the Middle East have seen this spiritual hunger and disillusionment increasing.

Can a natural war positively help street level Muslims be pushed more towards the loving arms of Jesus Christ? Research indicates more in the Middle East have come to faith since 9/11 then in the previous 200 years of outreach. God often uses painful circumstances to bring transformation and openness to His love in a region or a city.  He is shaking the Middle East. Many Muslims are asking deep questions and pursuing true peace that has eluded them through Islam.

Could the natural war also be a reflection of what is taking place in the supernatural? Scripture says the Kingdom of Heaven “suffers violence and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). We know this is not natural force, but spiritual force ushered in through prayer and intercession and the bold sharing of the gospel. Centuries of laborers in the Middle East have had great difficulty. Is the hard ground breaking? Could their toil and sacrifice coupled with the intense intercession of millions over the past decade be finally seeing the first-fruits of transformation and breakthrough? I wholeheartedly believe so!

Signs and wonders, dreams and visions have been increasing. Two girls in Iraq encountered a young woman who had a dream of Jesus beckoning her to join His family. She did not know what it meant. When she shared it with the girls they discipled her. In Beirut a young man had a dream of the face of a western girl. Not knowing who she was he forgot about it. A few weeks later the same girl was in the park talking to people about Jesus. He was overwhelmed that God would communicate in such a way with him. He promptly gave his life to Christ.

Transformation is happening in small steps. People need to go to the region and incarnate the love of Jesus Christ. Who knows how long this opening will last! Fred Markert, a noted mission strategist and base leader for YWAM, said, “If we do not see 200,000 new missionaries raised up in the next 10 years, we could be set back significantly in the cause of world evangelism.” These workers need to be sent to the areas of the world that have the least access to the gospel and the lowest number of workers. Openness comes in cycles. We cannot assume they will be open 5 years from now.

Will you commit to in disciplined prayer for the Middle East? How about signing the Message Bearer Creed? Can you give lavishly to workers and ministries serving in this region, so new works and ministries can be launched?

We’ve watched global history unfold before our eyes. Now is the time to engage in the redemptive plan of God for this region of the world! Don’t let the perceived “cost” hold you back. Serving God seems costly when we view our situation from a low and finite perspective. From God’s perspective we see it is not costly, but a true joy to participate in God’s in-breaking Kingdom!

Ryan Shaw is the director of Student Volunteer Movement 2 (www.SVM2.net…), is based in Dorchester, Ontario, Canada and can be contacted at