9 Things You Told Me: Quotes from Believers Working in North Africa (Part 3)
Just because God calls us to something, excitement isn’t a prerequisite. He doesn’t require that. Sometimes it’s hard to do what God is asking of you. It’s just taking a step of faith. Even though I’m not excited, and confused still.
It’s been ups and downs, just trying to get to know people.
So often the locals will think if anything doesn’t work out, it is because they haven’t been faithful enough, or they haven’t been praying the right way, or they haven’t been dressing the right way. So then they have to increase those things in order to get the blessings that they want in their lives. I’m single, and they ask me, “Why are you so happy?” “I don’t know. God gives me contentment.” I can talk to them about the difficulties of being single and not having family. But also being able to say, “It’s not because I haven’t prayed enough or haven’t been dressing right. It’s not any of those things. I know that God is with me no matter what.”
They don’t talk about infertility. They don’t talk about abuse. I was talking with some friends and they don’t talk about those things. They don’t talk about kids with disabilities and the shame of that. And so the very fact that we can talk about it kind of opens the door for many of them to be like, oh, we can talk about this stuff.
I think no matter how long you're there in that country, if you invest highly in someone and if they're walking the road toward Jesus or on the road of Jesus, there's going to be some that choose to go back. And that sense of betrayal and heartbreak at seeing someone turn back to Islam when they've testified to Jesus at one point--that's really, really difficult.
When we come into a context thinking that we have the answer, the newest technique, the latest way of sharing the gospel that's going to be effective in the Muslim world, we're setting ourselves up for great disappointment.
I think we are aware in our minds about the spiritual oppression and the spiritual warfare that was happening in that region. And yet, at the same time, you don't really understand it until you live in it--realize the blanket of darkness that's over that region, the lies that Satan has perpetuated, and the bondage that people are in, and that spiritual oppression is steady, and like a dripping faucet, it just wears you down over time.
The reality is that we need people that are going to be willing to commit themselves to 10, 20 years. The reality is that it takes two years to learn the language well enough that you can clearly explain the gospel in the heart language of the people. That's two years. And a lot of people come in with a short-term mindset that doesn't even allow them to get past the language-learning stage. And so then they get discouraged that they haven't had an impact. And that's true, because they haven't been there long enough. And the reality is that there's a crisis point probably at the year seven, year eight mark. And very, very few people push through that seven-, eight-year mark and move on to 10, 15.
It's not about us trying to convince people, talk them out of what they've believed all their lives. It's about the Holy Spirit revealing the Father to them and helping them to understand that Jesus is His son.
Is God stirring your heart for the unreached in North Africa? Talk to a mobilizer about working in North Africa.