If you read my latest blog you know that I had a very encouraging first day of evangelizing last Friday. I got to witness and participate in 3 Muslim men coming to know and accept Christ. It was the coolest experience – maybe read that post first if you haven’t.
It is crazy that a whole week has passed, but alas it is Friday once again. This morning we set out in three different groups to go share specifically with the truckers about the good news. (Saturday through Wednesday has been following up with the new believers and intentionally seeking out those men to disciple in their new walk with God.)
After meeting at the church for prayer, we hit the street to look for a taxi. We have such a big group on Fridays that we have to take 4 taxis to get everyone there. We follow our hosts like a long line of ducklings through the honking cars and trucks, hoping we can keep up and not get squished. Side note: I learned today that my trying to help get taxis was actually preventing us from getting them #whenhelpinghurts. If the driver saw our white skin they would immediately refuse to take us to the ports unless we paid double or triple! New law of the land: let the locals get every taxi.
So yeah, Abidjan’s roads are a madhouse. The church we meet at is on a pretty busy street, which connects to an even busier street, which feeds into the craziest intersection you’ve ever laid your eyeballs on! Man, I wish every one of you reading this could see it and experience riding through it. It’s basically a big, huge slab of road where forty cars go four different directions all at once with no rules. We have decided that the angels direct the traffic when we cross because it’s always a miracle.
Quick and strange praise! Today was the first time we saw a blue part of the sky (an answer to a prayer of mine actually) due to this odd thing called haze and this horrible thing called smog.
This morning we finally got some people to take us all to one of the ports and we walk. We walk until we feel like we should stop. On Fridays we usually stop when our hosts see a group they haven’t shared with before. So that is precisely what we did today with our little group of five. My teammate and raised up squad leader were with me, as well as Remi who would translate our words into French, and Isabel who would translate his French into Dula.
We opened with questions and found out that once again, the men all identified as Muslim. My teammates and I got to share the gospel with them and we felt the Holy Spirit moving to give us the words to share.
However, it was very clear that the enemy was not happy with what we were doing. While we were sharing, there were many outside interruptions and the men seemed slightly disinterested. One of the four men had actually been one whom we talked to a couple days before. I recognized him immediately because he was wearing the same clothing. When we shared with him that day he had seemed intrigued and even followed us to another group wanting to hear another Bible passage.
Interestingly, today the familiar face was very distracted and distracting to the others beside him. I was initially confused by his behavior, but got the idea that just like the seeds that fall along the path in the parable of the sower, the truth of God’s word which was presented to him days ago was quickly devoured by the birds. The enemy surely has been doing all he can to prevent this young man from finding and taking hold of God’s truth.
While sharing I felt the enemy whispering, “look at them, they don’t care what you have to say,” and “you should just give up now, there’s no breaking through.” It was crazy that while I was sharing about the enemy making Adam and Eve question themselves and God, he was whispering lies into my mind as well. I fought those whispers and kept sharing because the Holy Spirit’s voice was more powerful. Thank goodness!
We ended up speaking with this one group of men in between to massive semi trucks for over an hour. The five of us shared all that God had put on our hearts at the moment, and boldly asked what they thought. The young man from before said that god (Allah) is true but the Bible is not. The man next to him who had seemed a little interested declared that he does not believe Jesus can forgive sins but only God can. They did not want to accept the gift, and laughed a bit at the thought of it.
This experience was very different than my first experience. I know that the enemy is trying to keep those men as far away from the truth as he can, and he is also trying to devastate and discourage me. He wants me to think of today as a loss, a failure. He wants me to now go into sharing about Jesus with a fresh sense of insecurity and fear.
Well that’s just too bad.
Like my teammates who were with me noted, God is obviously knocking on the door, but it’s up to them to open the door and accept his love. We can be encouraged that we once again heard so clearly from the Spirit for what to share with them. All we can do is be obedient to what God has asked us to do, and say “yes” to spreading his awesome and potentially life changing news.
Please please join me in prayer for these men we spoke to today.
Pray that their eyes would be open and their hearts would be softened to the gospel.
Pray against the devil working in their lives.
Please pray for the men who have already faithfully committed their lives to Christ. Pray that they can find community and lead others to the truth.
Pray for the baptisms that we will have Sunday and for others to join them.
And pray that the Lord will continue to equip my team and I to step out in boldness and to completely reject the lies from the enemy.
Over and out,
Julia
