While attending a conference with hundreds of Christians living and serving God in the Middle East, I heard the testimony of an Iranian pastor who had requested a Bible many years ago. This pastor had died without ever receiving one because none were available in his language. By the grace of God and the miraculous faith of the man who had received the request, 2.5 million New Testaments and 500,000 Bibles in the Farsi language have now been distributed and that number continues to grow today. When asked how this had happened, even through great persecution, the man said, “I had the faith to create a ministry because I vowed never to leave those working on the frontlines without the ammunition of God’s Word.”
“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:13, 17
Another man and his sons were preaching the gospel when ISIS soldiers kidnaped them. They knew they would be tortured and told to renounce their faith. But they also knew that God had ordained their assignment to share the gospel in this area, and they were covered in prayer. They felt they miraculously had the faith to proceed and witnessed how several soldiers suddenly became violently ill. The soldiers knew that others were healed through the captured men’s prayers, so they asked for prayer, and they, too, were healed. It was such a profound and liberating experience that the soldiers became followers of Jesus, which led them to share large quantities of food with the missionaries to give to those in need. Those soldiers now share the gospel in that same area!
“I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 NET
The Lord continues to raise courageous Christians to build His church. Those coming to Him in areas filled with war, persecution, extreme poverty, oppression, and political dysfunction often rapidly develop a strong and deep faith, engage with the Scriptures, and integrate into Christian fellowship and discipleship. Their appetite for God’s Word is insatiable because of its newness and their need to know how to walk their faith journey. Although persecution comes, they are gifted with nothing less than miraculous faith. And their faith bears fruit, as witnessed in the testimonies above—it is a powerful witness to an omnipotent God!
In his book the reason for God, Tim Keller wrote,
We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that He has power but also wonderful foretastes of what He is going to do with that power. Jesus’s miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts that the world we all want is coming.¹
May we continue to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters, seek and believe in miracles as we hear from them, and ask for an increase in faith as we seek to serve a Father who performed wonders when He walked the earth…and still does!
“You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.” Psalm 77:14
by Missions Director Trusha Barner
¹ Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Penguin Books, 2009.
