{"id":5130,"date":"2014-10-29T07:45:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T14:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?p=5130"},"modified":"2014-10-29T07:45:54","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T14:45:54","slug":"the-extraordinary-move-of-god-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?p=5130","title":{"rendered":"The Extraordinary Move of God in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mark Ellis, God Reports<\/a>, October 28, 2014<\/p>\n

The nightly news may present disturbing images and a bleak outlook for the Middle East. Yet behind the horror of war, God is touching hearts in powerful ways, unleashing his Spirit among refugees, their families, and into surrounding communities and nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something happening right now that is unprecedented,\u201d says Brother Thomas (pseudonym), a Middle East coordinator for All Nations<\/a>. \u201cThe spiritual openness is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent trip into a refugee camp he met with a Muslim family inside their tent. The father\u2014the patriarch of the family\u2014started to tell him about his son Yusuf, who sat next to him. (Yusuf is the Arabic equivalent of the biblical name Joseph)<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know about the prophet Joseph?\u201d Thomas inquired.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, he\u2019s one of my favorites; he\u2019s the dreamer,\u201d the man replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you had any dreams of significance?\u201d Thomas asked the son.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but my mother has\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

His mother excitedly broke in: \u201cEver since he was a child I\u2019ve had dreams of a man in glowing white hugging my son. In the last dream he was crying, and his tears were coming down his beard and on to my son\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have such a warmth for this prophet,\u201d she continued. \u201cI know he is a prophet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know who that person is in your dream,\u201d Thomas said with assurance.<\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s eyes widened with intense interest. \u201cWho is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Brother Thomas told them the story of Jesus\u2019 love for children, when He said, \u201cLet the little children come to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman began to cry. \u201cIt was so moving for her to hear someone loves her family so much he would give her dreams demonstrating his love.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he toured the ramshackle refugee camp with structures composed of cardboard, wood slats, and plastic tarps, he found many who had similar encounters with God. \u201cAlmost every family we visited had some kind of experience, either through dreams or someone had given them a New Testament in the medical clinic or prayed for them,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Brother Thomas observed a feeling of desperation that pervaded the camps. \u201cThere was a lot of fear and uncertainty about the future,\u201d he discovered. \u201cEvery family has lost people through warfare or has a story of pain. Because the war is Muslim against Muslim they have a feeling there has to be something better. They are looking for answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver and over we saw people who have questions, who want to know more about Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brother Thomas knows other Christian workers equally amazed. \u201cI have friends who have been here 17-20 years and it\u2019s mind boggling for them,\u201d he says. \u201cPreviously they shared with someone for seven or eight years before they came to know Jesus. Now it happens in two or three months and they bring others with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this move of God seems to have originated in the refugee camps, it is not contained there. \u201cIt\u2019s happening everywhere, but mostly around the refugees,\u201d Thomas notes. \u201cThere is something happening in the spiritual atmosphere because these refugees are so open and so hungry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs they respond, the neighboring countries are responding in the same way. Something is being stirred up. People are coming into the kingdom practically without us\u2014we get to be the midwives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brother Thomas is struck by the contrast between the grim news portrayed on television and the reality of God\u2019s work behind the scenes. \u201cWhen I watch the news, it seems like things are getting worse,\u201d he observes. \u201cBut when I talk to my friends in the area I see the Kingdom is coming\u2014people are coming to the Lord. Whole families are coming to Christ, communities are changing, I can see the Kingdom expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00bb Full story with pictures<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Ellis, God Reports, October 28, 2014 The nightly news may present disturbing images and a bleak outlook for the Middle East. Yet behind the horror of war, God is touching hearts in powerful ways, unleashing his Spirit among refugees, their families, and into surrounding communities and nations. \u201cThere is something happening right now … Continue reading The Extraordinary Move of God in the Middle East<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5131,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions\/5131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}