to the ends of Arabia - Part 1

Isaac of Ninevah and I decided to take a little trip to Oman in southeastern Arabia.  No particular agenda – just to love people with Kingdom power.  I've had a special heart for Oman for many years.  We've visited many times and lived there briefly many years ago.  There was a strong Christian church in Oman before Islam (they even sent Bishops to the Council of Nicea in the 4th century)

This and the following posts are some of things that we saw.

Our first night we traveled to a coastal city to visit some friends who are pursuing a supernatural, Kingdom ministry.  As we we were walking along near the beach that night we stopped to engage a group of Omani young men.  I had gotten a word of knowledge about a right eye condition and one of them had that and let us pray.  Another man had swollen hands from being stung by bees which he let us pray for and we felt like the swelling went down considerably (sometimes it's hard to tell. We should have taken before/after pictures).  We also got to interpret one of their dreams.  We also told them that the following day we were headed to the city that is considered the "center of witchcraft" to which some of them responded with fear and told us they would never go there.  We got to explain why we weren't afraid and actually what we wanted to do – more about that city and our experiences there in the next post! It was a very encouraging encounter giving us a "taste" of how open Omanis would be to receiving ministry.  Numbers were exchanged.

The next day we headed up a Wadi that had water running in it (it had rained the day before).  On our way back, we stopped to ask two Omani guys a question and one of them had his finger bandaged.  I asked what was wrong.  He had cut it slaughtering a sheep for their Eid holiday and I asked if it still hurt.  It did.  I explained that "we are healers" and that I wanted to pray for him.  He let me pray and the pain left his finger!  Numbers were exchanged.

While walking through our friend's neighborhood before we were to have an evening meeting, the Lord gave me a word of knowledge as I was walking by an Omani man in front of his house.  I explained I was a healer and that I believed God wanted to heal a particular condition.  He didn't have it, but one of his relatives did who wasn't there at the time.  We pointed him to the house where our friend lived (you could see it) and he said he would bring him/send him later.  At the time of writing this, I am not sure if he has come, but the point is that this Omani is clear where the Christians who heal the sick live in his neighborhood.  That is important!

Also on that walk, as I approached another Omani man in front of his new house, after a few words, he insisted we go inside his house.  All three of us went inside and what followed was about 45 minutes to an hour of ministry – we got to pray for him, his friend and for his brother.  We also got a word of knowledge for his wife and got to minister to her as well.  She joined us and Isaac interpreted one of her dreams after prophesying over her.  It was a remarkable time of Kingdom ministry.  Did it matter that the brother worked for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs??  Not a all!  We told them we were healers and they let us pray for them and minister to them.  Numbers were exchanged.  

We had a great time of fellowship with a group of believers in that city that night and we saw more healings (a neck and a back) through words of knowledge and a lot of prophetic ministry took place.  So encouraging.

Note:  Why am I emphasizing "numbers were exchanged"?  Many wonder (or ask) what happens after a person is healed?  How much of the Gospel was actually communicated in a quick healing encounter.  In short, I ALWAYS try to give a person a way to connect back to a Christian (or to myself) for further follow-up.  Many (if not almost every one) muslims we meet are encountering God's Kingdom for the very first time.  They've NEVER met a believer (at least one who can communicate with them) and they have no exposure whatsoever to Christ and His message.  So we are "sowing" the very first seeds in many cases.  I want them to go away and think, "What just happened?".  I then want them to actually take the initiative to call me back/text me back/email me back.  We are looking for hungry seekers of truth.  We don't chase after people who aren't interested.  In many cases they don't call me back/contact me back.  That is o.k.  I trust God's ability to lead them and to bring them to a place of further revelation and truth in His timing.