Elijah*, in Bangladesh, recounts the testimony of a family of new believers.
“In the last months, I with my team have been sharing the Gospel while also teaching on subjects like agriculture to Tribal…and Hindu day laborers who were selling their labor to a Muslim landowner.
[One day] we were sharing how faith can move mountains, from Matthew 21:21-22. The laborers heard this, but were astonished, and the Muslim land owner, Aamil*, was also disbelieving.
He told us that prayer could not have that kind of power, and that we should not tell stories like this. After some conversation, we left that place to go back home.
Three months later, we met Aamil at a grocery bazaar, and he began sharing his family problems with us. His daughter Sabihah* had been attending college, but had begun suffering from an internal illness, and that no one had been able to treat her.
He told us that his daughter’s classmates had told them that prayer could heal her. But when the family tried it, nothing happened.
We were very happy to hear this, but we explained that for the prayer to work, they must have faith, in the same way we had shared about before. We reminded Aamil of how he had made fun of faith before, but told him that we would be happy to pray…and that he must first have faith and believe on Jesus….
So, he made this decision and we five members went to his home that evening to pray for his daughter.
Sabihah already had a New Testament that one of her classmates gave her, and she had studied some of the chapters. She had learned a lot about Jesus and His salvation by studying the Bible, and had already become a Christian. Then we asked Aamil if we could pray over her. We prayed for her, and for the whole family.
Now Sabihah gets better every day! The whole family has now been changed by Christ, even their neighbors have been changed! They believe that everyone around them will come to Jesus very soon.
So praise the Lord for His power to change this Muslim land owner, and for healing his daughter!”
Jim Elliot’s words resonate here. This formerly Muslim family, and so many others in Bangladesh, are giving up that which they cannot keep – safety and comfort – to gain what they cannot lose – Jesus Christ.
They will face persecution, they will experience joy in Christ.
Join us in praying for our new brothers and sisters in Christ. Will you stand with us in prayer as they take the step of baptism, publicly proclaiming their trust in Jesus Christ?
*Names changed for safety