E3 Partners Expedition Podcast 21: A Jewish Girl Finds Christ in Iran and Prayers Are Answered in Nazareth

E3 Partners Expedition Podcast 21: A Jewish Girl Finds Christ in Iran and Prayers Are Answered in Nazareth Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Every week, we share stories about the amazing ways God is at work around the world. We hope that you’ll be encouraged by these stories and inspired to greater involvement in God’s Great Commission to go out to the world – near and far – and train, instruct, and baptize people in Jesus’ Name. This week, we start off by hearing from Tom who met a young Jewish girl living in the midst of a Muslim culture of Iran, and how she found Christ:

I met a young girl named Shirine, a young Jewish girl living in Iran. Now most people aren’t even aware that there are Jewish people living in Iran, but the truth is that they have been there ever since the Babylonian captivity, 2,600 years ago. She had spent her life going through all the Jewish rituals and traditions, but never felt herself drawn close to God or having a real relationship with Him.

One day, while at work at the nearby bank, a man she knew began talking with her about what had been going on with him lately. He told her about how great things were happening in his life and how much he was loving life at the time. She simply looked at him and said, “What are you talking about? We’re living in Iran. Our country is perpetually on the brink of nuclear war. How could you be loving life in light of all this?”

He replied, “Well, when I was a Muslim, I used to never have a good outlook on life. But when I committed my life to Jesus Christ, he changed everything. That’s why I have joy in my heart.”

Shirine answered, “You can get killed talking like that!”

He said, “I know, but I don’t care. Because has changed my life.”

He then went on to share the Gospel with her as their paths crossed throughout that day. By the end of the day, she had heard enough and accepted Christ as her Savior. So, here you’ve got this Jewish woman in her 20’s being led to the Lord by a former Muslim man in Iran!

He then said to her, “The next step is you need to be discipled in order to grow in your faith. We have a group of people that meet in an underground church that would be good for you. We’re meeting tomorrow from midnight until 5:00a.m. I’d love to bring you, but there are secret police that we have to look out for, since they could drag us all to jail if our church is caught. So, I’ll drive by the street corner over by where you live, tomorrow night at 11:30. If you want, be there and I’ll slow down and open my car door. You can hop in and come with me to the underground church meeting.”

The next night, she met him just as he had described. They then drove around for about 30 minutes just to make sure that they weren’t being followed. Then they went on to a house, entered in and walked down to the basement. Shirine was amazed when she walked down to discover over 30 former Muslims clapping and cheering for her. You see, her friend had told them about her several months before and they had all been praying for her for months.

Shirine recalls, “When I saw these former Muslims just loving this little Jewish girl, I knew that I had found the right God because only He can do that!”

This story is especially exciting because it shows how God changes the hearts of people. It’s absolutely beautiful! Wouldn’t you love to have been in that room to see that illustration of the unity of God’s people in Christ!

Next, we hear from Marion as she shares about her recent trip to Israel:

I was invited to be on an intercessory prayer team. Our role was to meet all through the day and pray for the teams as they were out evangelizing. We’d come together each morning and just wait on the Lord to show us how He wanted us to pray. We’d ask Him to reveal to us the strongholds in the area – we were in the city of Nazareth. Even in Jesus’ day, the Bible tells us that He did not do many mighty miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief. There are still strongholds of unbelief there today.

So we would pray against everything that would stand against our ministry each day. The Scriptures say that God has given us “weapons of warfare” that are mighty through Him for the pulling down of strongholds.

We also went to strategic sites in the city to again ask God how, specifically, to pray. There was one site near our hotel where some people were planning on building a new mosque. At that point, they had tents set up with people meeting inside. God revealed to us that, number one, the mosque was not to be built. So, we prayed fervently against the plans and against the very foundation of the Muslim worship center. And, we praise God that the mosque still has not gone up!

Each day, we also asked the Lord how we should pray for our team. There was one woman who was on her first trip with E3 Partners with her husband, with five children back at home in Tennessee. It was really hard for her to be so far away from their kids. So, we felt that God wanted us to pray for her peace and that while she longed to be with her own kids, she would be open to ministering to the local children there in Israel – and that’s exactly what she found herself doing in the days that followed and she had great success in leading them to the Lord!

We also had a wonderful surprise while in Israel. One of my former roommates had come from Texas and before she had left, God told her that she would be praying for the healing of someone who had trouble with their legs. But, as the trip progressed, my friend had no idea who that might be. I knew of a couple of women there who were having leg problems. One of them was Elaine – a member of our prayer team. Elaine was actually paralyzed for a time. She had been to Mayo Clinic and had sought medical advice from America’s top physicians, but no one could ever give her a diagnosis. When she came with us to Israel, she was able to walk, but definitely not at full speed. Well, sure enough, God instructed my friend to pray for Elaine and when we went to Masada the next day, Elaine was able to walk, climb stairs and keep up with everyone without any struggle at all! That was just the beginning of her healing process and she is now at complete full speed, thanks to God!

For more encouraging and engaging podcasts and videos, visit the E-Squared Media Network at www.e2medianetwork.com.