Articles

The final part of a series by Joy L*

Mum and Dad had just died. Their deaths were awe-inspiring because they were ready to meet Jesus in heaven. Many of my Muslim friends came and shared heart-felt condolences, which they are so gifted in doing. Some prepared wonderful meals to honour me. How precious these women have become! They went far beyond sending a sympathy card or having flowers delivered. They cried and sat with me. But one thing they could not do was bring hope in my bereavement.

The very mention of death terrifies the average Muslim woman. Tala** created a beautiful homemade sympathy card for me but she left a blank where the word death should be inserted. She could not bring herself to write the fearful word. Because my heart was so full of emotion after the deaths of my parents, words came tumbling out. As I spoke about our beautiful heaven, I watched the women in amazement. Their reactions seemed to say, ‘Tell me more’. And I did.

Captivating

The words in Revelation 21:3-4 and 22:3-5 about heaven capture the women’s hearts without fail. This has proven to be one of the best ways to get a spiritual conversation going. For example, Aswad’s** full-term baby boy was born dead and her grief was beyond bearing. She did not have a Bible in her language. But I had her read verses on heaven from Revelation and she could not stop reading.

Then she responded, ‘We believe when a baby dies, he will bring us fruit in hell.’

I could not believe it. She had already destined herself to hell and was at least comforting herself that her baby would come and bring her fruit. I explained that Jesus could take both her and her baby to heaven. She wanted so badly to believe that but dejectedly repeated, ‘Well, we believe…’

More than ever, I was determined from that point on to keep talking about heaven. Many Muslim women admit to fasting and praying for the departed soul of their loved one to reach heaven. There seems to be an underlying belief among many that prayers and sacrificial fasting will lead to a safe arrival, and perhaps even influence Allah. There is also hope that this religious devotion will be merited. I like to respond by using powerful verses of Scripture to affirm that the crucified and risen Jesus is the One who can safely bring us to heaven, the longing of every Muslim woman’s heart.

In conclusion, I discovered that applying my convictions about my calling, Scripture, prayer, sin and heaven, significantly shaped me into a more effective witness to Muslims.

Some of these lessons, were fleshed out once again when Manal**, my North African sister, surrendered her life to Jesus. She was baptised and moved in with us for loving care, safety and in-depth discipleship. Her most apparent spiritual growth took place after I shared my own journey of dealing with sin and finding God’s deliverance and grace.

* Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.
*Names have been changed to protect identities.

MORE FROM LEARNING THE ROPES SERIES

BEING SET APART

USING THE SCRIPTURES

THE POWER OF PRAYER

TEACHING THE REALITY OF SIN

The fourth in a five-part series by Joy L*

‘Why don’t the women respond more to the red page depicting the cross in the Wordless Book**?’

I lamented to my husband. ‘Perhaps,’ he replied, ‘it’s because they don’t understand the black page depicting sin well enough.’

Could it be? I did talk about sin but I really had always wanted them to understand the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

A spiritual battle

It was my turn to share the gospel on the women’s ward of the mission hospital in the Islamic nation where we were serving. I decided I would try to explain sin more clearly. My legs began to weaken and I got very nervous. As I stood before about seventy-five patients and relatives, something ominous was happening. I was shocked to find that there was no black page to explain sin. I asked others to try to find it but they couldn’t either. Eeriness settled in. I put the book down in front of me for a few seconds and then went to pick it up and it was gone. No one had moved it. So I looked for something black to use as an object lesson.

As soon as I was done, my eyes saw the book lying where I had put it down. Still no black page. I was shaken as I returned home. I fell into a chair strangely exhausted, holding the book in my hand. As I opened it, the black page fell open and I heard inaudible demonic laughing. That day will never be forgotten because I learned a very important lesson. If we want women to understand and appreciate the value of the cross, they must hear a clear explanation about sin.

The turning point

It has taken me a long time to learn how to explain sin to Muslim women. There is little comprehension about the holiness of God in Islam. Almost every sin of their own can be justified as being legitimate. Someone else’s sin is a different matter. I have found that if a Muslim woman does not get a clear understanding and conviction of her sin, and yet accepts Christ, she will most likely fall away with time.

A turning point in seeing Muslim women begin to grasp an understanding of sin came when, after giving doctrinal explanations of sin that seemed to fall on deaf ears, I began to share stories of sin and shame in my own life. Initially I was reluctant to share such information, largely because I was afraid they would not want to associate with me, or might spread what I shared so that doors would even close to me as a result.

I was amazed to realise that deep down I really wanted to leave a good impression.

Hesitantly I began to share my own stories. Suddenly, Muslim women could relate to some of the things evidenced in my sinful nature or even a sinful stronghold where I had needed deliverance or mistakes I had made. The good news was that I could move on to declaring a Saviour – His saving and transforming power, forgiveness and grace. Especially powerful has been the mention of my own sins of lying, cheating, jealousy, hatred, anger, desires for revenge, a family line of occultic involvement, hypocrisy and rebelliousness. I also share our family mistakes in raising our children. All too often, we leave the impression that we are good. Since they want to project the same image, the issue of sin, so important in understanding the cross, is left untouched or not understood. My Tunisian friend understood sin very clearly and came under conviction. Even though she has had her share of trials and testings and even been weakened by them momentarily, one thing she knows is that she has a Saviour who died for her sin. Now the cross looms large for her.

*Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.
**The Wordless Book refers to a short booklet that outlines the gospel using symbols and images.

MORE FROM LEARNING THE ROPES SERIES

BEING SET APART

USING THE SCRIPTURES

THE POWER OF PRAYER

THE ATTRACTION OF HEAVEN

The third in a five-part series by Joy L*

‘Please pray for me,’ my Libyan friend begged.

Khadija** had a serious liver disease, and the doctor had advised her against getting pregnant. She now carried a baby and was desperate. This should be interesting, I mused. She is one of the most conservative women I have met. I let her know that I would pray in the name of Jesus, and asked if that would be okay. She agreed, and so I weakly prayed for a miracle. After all, I had not learned how to do this in church. Khadija swiftly requested, ‘Now pray a second time and put your hand on my stomach.’ This woman is desperate, I concluded. Soon after the encounter, I chided myself for being so weak in faith and spiritual authority. A few months passed and I was called to the hospital.

Khadija was close to losing the baby and wanted prayer again. However despite the scare, a beautiful healthy boy was delivered some time later. Khadija helped me reach a turning point. I came to understand the power of praying on the spot with Muslims. During thirteen years of ministry, I had assured many women that I would pray for them, which I tried to do, faithfully keeping my word. It was quite a different matter to pray with them and to do it boldly in the name of Jesus. At first, I felt joy and surprise, discovering that Muslim women yearned to be prayed for. And it continues to amaze me now. I watch people sit quietly in wonder and awe, often wiping away tears. Seldom do I witness this in my own culture. Many of my strongest experiences of the presence of God have come when I have prayed with Muslim women.

* Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.
**Name has been changed to protect identity.

MORE FROM LEARNING THE ROPES SERIES

BEING SET APART

USING THE SCRIPTURES

TEACHING THE REALITY OF SIN

THE ATTRACTION OF HEAVEN

The second in a five-part series by Joy L*

I pondered a new missionary’s comments. He was describing ‘Scripture reading times’ with non-seeking Muslims. I grew up in a missionary home in an Islamic country and had never witnessed this approach by any missionary. And in the ten years my husband and I were missionaries in an Islamic country, I had not heard of anyone simply reading Scriptures with non-seeking Muslims. I wondered if it really worked. Everyone I knew talked about Scripture with Muslims, but did they actually encourage Muslims to read the Bible for themselves?

After thinking and praying about following that practice and asking the Lord for courage, I decided to plunge in and try it out. First, we tried it in our home when we had Muslims over for tea or dinner. We lined a bookshelf in the living room with Bibles in different languages. They were put in full sight of guests who often noticed them and made mention of them. We would pull out the Bible in their language and let them look it over. Then we would ask if they would like to hear a story Jesus told. Finding the portion, we would ask them to read it out loud and tell us the story back. They often asked where they could get a Bible and then we would give them one.

Once we felt comfortable and natural doing this in our home, I decided to keep a small Bible wrapped in a cloth in my handbag. Every time I would visit Muslim homes, I would see if I could get them to read passages. During conversations I would bring my Bible out and ask if they would like to hear the Christian perspective on the issue. Most of the time, the Scripture reading was gladly received. After about twenty years in Muslim ministry, another turning point in becoming a more effective witness to Muslims had just taken place. I discovered that it is far more powerful to use the Bible than simply to share about it. Now our Muslim acquaintances equate us with the Bible. They know a Bible will usually come out during a visit. One day Layan* was in our home when she suddenly blurted out, ‘Where is your Bible?’ And Aliya*, a strongly opposed Muslim PhD student, asked one night, ‘Are you not going to read the Bible with me?’

* Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.

MORE FROM LEARNING THE ROPES SERIES

BEING SET APART

THE POWER OF PRAYER

TEACHING THE REALITY OF SIN

THE ATTRACTION OF HEAVEN

The first in a five-part series by Joy Loewen*

‘Oh, Lord, I cannot do that!’ I tried to explain to God as I knelt by my bed.

I was about forty years old when I sensed the Holy Spirit suggesting that I remove my make-up and my jewellery, except my wedding rings. I was not much into fashion, but the modest make-up and jewellery I wore had been part of me for quite a few years. I looked very unfashionable in comparison to Muslim women at their parties all decked up with their expensive lustrous gold bracelets and necklaces purchased in the Middle East. Now they would think I was unattractive and they would be embarrassed to associate with plain me. So I presumed, but God was testing me. I was determined to pay any price to bring the gospel to Muslim women, but, really, it was going too far to ask that of me. ‘Well, try it, my child, and just see what a difference it will make,’ I heard God saying.

By this time, I was sweating it out with God. ‘What will my husband think? What will others think? I will be a prude. I will not look young and attractive anymore. Besides, there is nothing sinful about wearing make-up and jewellery…’ And so on, went the internal struggle. Then submission flooded my soul. I got up, put away my make-up and jewellery and waited to see what would happen. That was about seventeen years ago. That step of obedience was the turning point of effectiveness in my ministry among Muslims. The biggest surprise came from the reaction of Muslim men. I now had more open doors to their wives. I discovered that a Muslim man sometimes is afraid a Western woman will corrupt his wife. We are often seen as Hollywood seductresses, all out to lure and capture men. Suddenly, as if almost overnight, both Muslim men and women saw me as a ‘religious’ woman. Muslims feel safe among religious women. Doors opened for me never before. Presentations of the gospel no longer came with mixed messages. I was amazed. Something very important had taken place, which I could not quite identify. Slowly I realised that in the eyes of Muslims, I was ‘set apart’ for religious purposes.

* Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.

MORE FROM LEARNING THE ROPES SERIES

USING THE SCRIPTURES

THE POWER OF PRAYER

TEACHING THE REALITY OF SIN

THE ATTRACTION OF HEAVEN