As I was enjoying my morning quiet time with the Lord a few days ago, I thought back to the many testimonies shared with me, many of which I’ve been privileged to put to paper. These testimonies are from Muslim sheikhs, imams, and an unknown number of refugees who have come to experience the glorious freedom and release from the […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…8/9/2023…”Everlasting to Everlasting”
A question that comes to mind at times, and badgers us as believers, is will God’s love for me truly endure? Will it continue even through my failings and sinful mistakes? Can my own weaknesses as a Christ-follower ever wear down His love for me? Psalm 103:17 tells us that The love (mercy) of the LORD is from everlasting to […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…7/6/2023…”Knocked Down But Not Destroyed”
Just before sharing the latest call from Pastor R, I would like to refer to a passage of Scripture found in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians the Living Bible. 7 But this precious treasure — this light and power that now shine within us — is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…6/16/2023….Our God Has All Things Under Control!
One request that is made quite often in the Mideast Updates over the past 11 years, is for prayer. Why is prayer requested? It is because God’s intervention is needed. I wonder how many of us, yours truly included, pray in a nonchalant way, not really grasping the gravity of what we are doing and not realizing what is involved […]
MIDEAST UPDATE….6/3/2023….”Groaning”
In God, every heartache, every tear, every difficulty, and every sorry that we experience in this life will bring forth the birth of new life. The pains we experience in this world will be forgotten in the next in the joy of new life. Notice the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8: 18 “For I consider that the sufferings of […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…5/22/2023…”When GOD’s Answer Isn’t So Prompt”
One of the things that sometimes can cause frustration in our Christian lives is when we are in difficult situations and, seemingly, no amount of prayer is changing things — or at least, not that we can see. Gary Wilkerson in his World Challenge Newsletter, addressed the subject by using King David’s prayer in Psalm 6 as an example. I […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…5/10/2023…”God Sometimes Works In Mysterious Ways!”
How does one face life as we find it in 2023, knowing that tomorrow’s news will likely be more troublesome than even today? There are those who live in constant fear. There are also those who avoid knowing what is going on in our world. Others focus on staying entertained and refuse to deal with the more unpleasant realities of […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…4/7/2023…”PAID IN FULL”
Before sharing a brief update, I want to wish everyone a wonderful Resurrection Day on April 9. For 2,000 years, followers of Jesus Christ have taken this weekend every year to think through the momentous events when Jesus was crucified. As He was about to offer up His spirit into the hands of His Father, He said, “It is finished”, […]
MIDEAST UPDATE….3/23/2023….”Is Anything Too Hard For Our GOD?”
Most of us have read Bible accounts of the spectacular miracles performed by Old Testament prophets, and of course in the New Testament, at the hands of Jesus and the Apostles. For most folks, it is not so hard to believe that the Biblical miracles really happened, but it’s a bit more of a challenge for some of us to […]
MIDEAST UPDATE…3/17/2021…Our GOD Never Leaves Us, Nor Forsakes Us
As I was recalling my last conversation with Pastor R, I thought back on the difficulties that our friend has gone through over the years. Snippets came to mind of stories about the first Omar, back in 2012 and 2013, when he took the first handful of Bibles over the border from Jordan into Iraq and subsequently started a House […]