“I drink a lot, and I can’t stop,” Abbas said to Daniel and Scott, two Frontiers workers. “You can have all the Christians in America pray and nothing will change. This addiction is my fate. It’s God’s will.”
“No problem,” Scott heard his team leader, Daniel, reply. ” We’ll pray for you in Jesus’ name, and your drinking problem will be gone.”
Scott, a new field worker, had recently agreed to rent a room from Abbas. This was his second night in the Muslim man’s home.
“Pray for me if you want,” Abbas responded with a shrug. “It won’t make a difference.”
“OK,” Daniel said, smiling. “Scott here will pray for you.”
Scott’s knowledge of Abbas’ language was still limited. So he stuttered a short prayer: “Jesus, stop him drinking. Amen.”
“We’ll pray for you in Jesus’ name, and your drinking problem will be gone.”
After that night, Abbas and Scott started studying the Word together. Abbas was patient with Scott’s small vocabulary and helped him learn new words as they read Bible stories.
A couple of months later, Abbas shared, “I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since that time you prayed for me.”
Scott knew that giving up drinking wasn’t that simple. He had grown up in a family with a history of alcoholism. And yet, God had answered Scott’s prayer and freed Abbas from addiction.
“I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since that time you prayed for me.”
One night shortly after, Scott couldn’t sleep. He went to the roof and began praying. For hours, he interceded for Abbas, asking God break through and reveal Himself.
Then around 4:00 a.m., just as the first call to prayer began to sound, Scott went back to his room and fell asleep.
A couple of hours later, he woke up to Abbas pounding on the door.
“I couldn’t sleep all night,” Abbas said as he pushed into the room. “Then the call to prayer started, and I fell asleep and had a dream.” In his dream, someone was knocking on his front door. Abbas opened it, and Jesus was standing there.
“I want to have dinner with you,” Jesus said to Abbas in the dream. “Can I come in?” Abbas welcomed Him in and started to make a pot of lentils for their dinner.
“I want to have dinner with you,” Jesus said to Abbas in the dream.
When Abbas brought the lentils to the table, Jesus said, “Just wait a minute. Someone else is joining us.”
There was a knock on the door. Abbas opened it and found his neighbor standing on his doorstep. He invited the neighbor in and started to serve his two guests.
Again Jesus said, “No, wait. There are still more.” Two other neighbors came in. Then two more. Soon the whole street was lined up outside Abbas’ door, waiting to come in.
“There’s not enough food for them,” Abbas said to Jesus.
“Don’t worry,” Jesus replied. “Just serve them.” As Abbas served the lentils, there was more than enough for everyone.
Then Abbas woke up. Falling back to sleep, he had the same dream a second time. Again he woke up, fell asleep, and had the exact same dream a third time.
“I just woke up from that third dream,” Abbas said to Scott. “I want to be baptized now!”
- Praise God for revealing Jesus to Abbas in a dream, and ask Him to send dreams to Muslims around the world.
- Pray for Abbas to grow in knowledge of the Word and mature as a servant-hearted leader who invites many into the Kingdom.
- Ask the Lord to raise up more faithful men and women who will go and make disciples of all nations.
Desperate and alone, Damira spent two weeks in the desert praying at a tomb. But a recurring dream set her on a path to discover the One who overcame the grave.
This account comes from a long-term worker. Names have been changed for security.