Dubai malls - Tunisian muslims - Day 4

Not only had we tried to minister to the Emirati men, but I had also spoken with the Egyptian muslim manager of the coffee shop to send us any of his employees (there were probably about 10 or so) to us if they needed healing.  He said he would, but then like some of the managers we make the same offer to, he didn't keep his word.  Later he told me that he was simply busy, but after the Emiratis left, I decided that I would approach his staff independently.  I spoke with one Filipino server and she didn't have a problem but grabbed her co-worker standing next to her and said she had a back problem.  I asked the first woman to lay her hands on the area where the pain was and I prayed a quick healing prayer.  Quick because they were working and the place was busy.  She was healed and they were both thanking the Lord. 

It was like that changed the atmosphere for us in the place.  Sitting next to us was a Tunisian family, who like us had made this coffee shop a bit like their "base" - in other words we had all been there for quite a long time.  I had earlier begun to engage them over their son's interest in professional soccer and after some more small talk, I basically explained that the woman with us (our other female team member was snowboarding) was a healer and asked if they had any need of a miracle.  They were very open and allowed her to pray for the man's neck after we got a word of knowledge.

One of the most in-depth times of ministry we have had in our entire time in Dubai ensued.  We were able to prophesy over them.  The man was extremely touched at one point when one of our team laid hands on him and began to speak in tongues (we wanted to know if he could interpret them).  He used the Arabic word that is equivalent of  the Hebrew word for "shekina" to describe how he was feeling.  He had a profound encounter with the peace and presence of God right in the middle of the coffee place! 

At this point, Isaac of Ninevah who had also been prophesying over him (he described some of his gifts, a situation that he had left in Tunisia, some problems with co-workers and how the Lord was going to give him strategies to solve them through dreams), and got some words of knowledge for his mother back in Tunisia; one was specifically for her right knee which was accurate.   So what could we do???  How about calling her on the phone right then and there and see what God would do.  That was the plan.  So he calls her, and gives me the phone.  I instructed her to put her hand on the affected knee and proceeded to pray in Arabic - a very basic prayer that any educated Arabic speaker could understand as the Tunisian dialect is quite different than the one I speak.  I give the phone back to him and it turns out she didn't understand a single word of what I was saying/praying.  She spoke French and a particular dialect of Arabic but was not educated in Arabic.  So what next?  I come up with another idea.  His father was educated in Arabic and so we call them back in Tunisia and his muslim father becomes my ministry team member!  I have the father lay hands on his wife's knee as I prayed again and released the Kingdom of God in Arabic praying clearly in the Name of Jesus.  I give the phone back to the son and he inquires as to what is happening.  She was feeling heat in the knee and from what the son indicated she was healed.  Obviously I had no way of testing it out or seeing what was happening, but the reason I believe she was healed is because a little while later, we were on the phone to Tunisia yet again to pray for his wife's mother who couldn't walk properly.  We did the exact same thing, because her mother also hadn't been educated in Arabic and this time had the wife's sister lay hands on their mother and I was able to minister again from Dubai, to Tunisia via a Qatar-based mobile phone.  We won't know the extent to which the mother was/is healed until she checks it out on a long walk.  Who says we are limited? 

Beyond that, I told him I would "construct" some French prayers of healing (through some of our community who speak French) so that he could pray over some of his other sick/hurting relatives.  I also told him I would send some of our friends in Tunisia to visit their relatives.

What was crazy is that this muslim family spend the next couple of hours with our team.  Their two young daughters could not stop hanging on the women on our team.  When we were setting up the second phone prayer session, I had left to go get my son and they waited and then brought their whole family across the mall where I was and then because we didn't have good cell phone reception we walked all over the place and ultimately put their phone chip in another phone to make sure we could pray at that time.  I am reminded of the guys who were so desperate that they lowered their friend through the roof to get him to Jesus.  This was truly hunger and desperation in action from this muslim family.

We exchanged contact information and will have people follow up with their relatives in Tunisia and with them in Qatar.  My experience with many North Africans is very similar to this Tunisia family, extremely open to the Gospel and no reservations whatsoever to receive ministry through the hands of Christians.

Our time in that particular mall really ended up becoming about ministering to this one family.  What a blessing it was to befriend them and to share with them the supernatural love of God and to demonstrate the revelation and power of His eternal Kingdom.