Week 6, Day 2

We live among Muslims in the Middle East. Typically, Eastern culture is more accepting of dreams than the West. Eastern culture, as we have experienced, feels less analytical, less critical, less in need of control. They lean more into relationship over productivity. In many ways, the Muslim view of God lets God be God. He cannot be understood by the human mind. He is in control. He speaks how He wants and on His time. There’s not always a full mental understanding required to accept what God says or does.

He speaks to Muslims in dreams very often. Jesus reveals Himself to those who are seeking the truth. Many times, that journey to finding Him begins with dreams. Most stories of Muslims coming to faith involve one or more dreams. Sometimes He shows up as a man in white. Sometimes He says His name and other times, it is a more mysterious type of dream and might even take years for them to talk to someone about it.

I recently was in contact with a Muslim lady who had a lot of trauma in her past. She was involved in black magic and had multiple curses put on her. She was living in extreme pain, anxiety, and constantly up against her life falling apart. She had lost her income and had family steal money from her. When I met her, she started the conversation with “Let me tell you why I love Jesus!” She was in desperate search of a Bible in her own language that she could start reading.

She had a dream in the middle of all her turmoil where men dressed in black were coming towards her to take her. She described them as representing evil - all the darkness, curses, magic, hatred - she had been experiencing in her life. They were coming towards her, but she held up her hand and they couldn’t come any closer. She looked up and in her hand, there was a Bible. These men couldn’t touch her or come near her because of the Bible she was holding out as her defense. This dream prompted her to start searching about the Bible and Jesus online, which is then how she got connected to me. She is full of questions about how Allah of the Quran and the God of the Bible are different. She is so hungry to know. She now has an Arabic Bible, is reading about Jesus, and in her words, wants to be filled with the Holy Spirit so her life can fully change.

• We are a busy and distracted people. Our schedules are full. Our minds are often on overload and that makes it hard to be still enough to hear God’s voice. Have you ever thought that while you sleep actually might be a good time for God to speak to you?

• In reference to this story (and thousands like it!) have you ever thought about how God might reveal Himself to others in the world who don’t have access to a Bible, Church, or other believers?