Revival in the Kabylie Mountains: The Story of Algeria's Berber Awakening

Hello, and welcome back to Nations 4 Jesus. Today I want to tell you about one of the most remarkable revival stories happening in the Muslim world right now—a story that spans nearly 2,000 years, from the early church fathers to present-day North Africa. It's the story of the Kabyle Berbers of Algeria, a people who lost their Christian heritage 1,350 years ago but are now experiencing an unprecedented return to faith in Christ.

The Kabyles live in the rugged mountains called Kabylia to the east of the Algerian capital, Algiers. They belong to the Berber or Imazighen people groups—the original inhabitants of North Africa before the Arab invasion. And what God is doing among them today is nothing short of miraculous.

[The ancient roots - early Christianity in North Africa]

To understand this story, we need to go back to the beginning. The Berbers were the original inhabitants of North Africa, and many of them became Christians as early as the second and third centuries AD—just decades after the apostles! North Africa was home to some of the greatest theologians and church fathers in Christian history: Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine were all North Africans.

The North African church was vibrant and growing. Many Berbers were martyred for their faith under Roman persecution, well before Islam ever existed. Christianity had deep roots in this region for centuries. But then everything changed.

[The Arab invasion - a faith lost]

Around 1,350 years ago—in the 7th and 8th centuries AD—Arab armies invaded North Africa, bringing Islam with them. The Arabs Arabized and Islamized the Berbers through a combination of conquest, taxation of non-Muslims, and social pressure. Over the course of several centuries, the once-Christian Berbers gradually converted to Islam.

The Kabyle Berbers fled to the mountainous regions of Kabylia, and despite many centuries of Arab occupation, they were able to keep their language alive by passing it on orally to each generation. They maintained their traditional clothing—colorful dresses and headwear for the women. They preserved their distinct ethnic identity.

But their Christian faith did not survive. The Kabyles were very reluctant to become Muslim—they resisted for generations. But here's a critical detail: The Bible was never translated into Berber in those early years. This is a major reason why the Kabyles eventually became Muslim. Without Scripture in their own language, their faith could not be sustained.

Think about that! If missionaries in the 4th or 5th century had translated the Bible into Berber, the entire history of North Africa might have been different. This is why Bible translation matters so much—it's not just nice to have, it's essential for preserving and spreading faith across generations.

[Lilias Trotter - a faithful pioneer]

For many centuries, the Kabyles and other Berbers remained Muslim. But God never forgot them. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Christian missionaries began working in North Africa, and one of the most remarkable was an English woman named Lilias Trotter.

Lilias Trotter was born in 1853 to a wealthy London family. She was a gifted artist—so talented that the famous art critic John Ruskin told her she could become one of the greatest painters in England if she devoted herself to art. But Lilias chose a different path. She felt called to missions, specifically to North Africa and the Muslim world.

In 1888, at age 35, Lilias sailed to Algeria. She would spend the next 40 years of her life there, serving until her death in 1928 at age 75. She founded the Algiers Mission Band and worked tirelessly to reach Muslims with the Gospel, including Berber peoples like the Kabyles.

Lilias faced enormous challenges. Islam was deeply entrenched. Converts faced severe persecution. Progress was slow and often heartbreaking. She wrote in her journal about the spiritual darkness and the difficulty of seeing fruit. But she persevered with faith, prayer, and sacrificial love.

Lilias was also a gifted artist and writer, creating beautiful illustrations and devotional writings that continue to inspire Christians today. She saw the beauty of God in the desert landscapes and used her art to worship and to communicate spiritual truth. Her book "Parables of the Cross" is still read today.

Though Lilias Trotter died without seeing the breakthrough she longed for among the Kabyles, she was planting seeds that would bear fruit decades later. She was faithful to the call, trusting God for the harvest even when she couldn't see it.

[The breakthrough - 1980s revival begins]

And the harvest did come! In the early 1980s—more than 50 years after Lilias Trotter's death—the Lord started moving among the Kabyles in a new way. An Arabic-speaking Christian shared the Gospel with some young Kabyles on a football team. They accepted Jesus and in turn reached out to their own people.

This is how revival often works—not through big crusades or famous preachers, but through ordinary believers sharing Jesus with their friends. Those young football players became evangelists to their community.

Others saw dreams and visions of Jesus—a phenomenon that's increasingly common in the Muslim world. Small house churches began forming secretly in the mountains. All this took place underground for fear of persecution from the Muslim population. These believers were risking everything to follow Christ.

But the churches grew! They couldn't be hidden forever. Eventually, the Kabyle Christian movement became visible. It is now well known throughout Algeria that many Kabyles are Christians. A few years ago, the Algerian government even published figures indicating the presence of at least 7,000 Kabyle Christians—and that's likely a conservative estimate. Some believe the actual number is much higher.

[The Bible in Kabyle - Scripture returns]

And here's what's beautiful: Remember how the lack of Bible translation contributed to the loss of Christianity 1,350 years ago? God is rectifying that now! Some Kabyles started translation work and saw the emergence of written Kabyle for the first time in history.

The first book ever written in the new Kabyle Berber script was the New Testament! Not a novel, not a textbook—the New Testament. The first film ever translated into Kabyle was the JESUS film. Worship songs in Kabyle now exist. And soon, the entire Bible in Kabyle will be completed.

Do you see what God is doing? He's giving the Kabyles what they needed 1,500 years ago but never had—His Word in their own language. And this time, the faith is taking root and spreading because believers can read and hear God's Word for themselves.

[The character of the Kabyle church - boldness]

The Kabyles are bold people, willing to share their faith despite the risks. In Algeria, converting from Islam to Christianity can result in family rejection, loss of employment, physical violence, and even legal prosecution. Yet Kabyle Christians are not hiding their faith. They're openly baptizing new believers, gathering for worship, and evangelizing their communities.

This boldness is remarkable given the context. Algeria is 99% Muslim. Leaving Islam is considered apostasy—a serious offense in Islamic law. Yet the Kabyle church is growing and becoming more visible. Clearly, a revival is taking place.

[The broader context - Christianity in North Africa today]

The Kabyle revival is part of a broader movement of Christianity returning to North Africa. For over a thousand years, North Africa was considered a "dead zone" for Christianity—the region that once produced Augustine and Cyprian had become almost entirely Muslim.

But in recent decades, God has been moving throughout North Africa. In Morocco, there's a growing Berber Christian movement. In Tunisia, there are small but significant numbers of converts. In Libya, despite civil war and chaos, there are secret believers. And in Algeria, the Kabyle movement is the most visible and fastest-growing.

According to various estimates, there may be tens of thousands of Algerian Christians today, most of them Kabyle Berbers. Some churches have hundreds of members. The government has responded with increased restrictions—closing some church buildings, arresting some pastors—but the movement continues to grow.

[What we can learn - lessons from the Kabyles]

So what can we learn from the Kabyle story? Let me give you five lessons.

First, God never forgets His people. Even after 1,350 years of Islamic dominance, God remembered the Berbers who once followed Him. He brought the Gospel back to them. No people group is too lost, too resistant, or too far gone for God to reach.

Second, Bible translation is absolutely essential. The lack of Scripture in Berber contributed to the loss of Christianity in North Africa. The presence of Scripture in Kabyle is fueling the current revival. Support Bible translation! It's not a luxury—it's foundational to spreading and sustaining faith.

Third, faithful missionaries plant seeds that bear fruit later. Lilias Trotter labored for 40 years without seeing the breakthrough she longed for. But she was faithful, and her prayers and work contributed to the soil in which today's revival is growing. Don't measure success by immediate results—measure it by faithfulness.

Fourth, dreams and visions are important in reaching Muslims. Many Kabyle believers report encountering Jesus in dreams before they heard the Gospel from Christians. This is a pattern we're seeing throughout the Muslim world. Pray for Muslims to have dreams of Jesus!

Fifth, boldness in witnessing produces growth. Despite the risks, Kabyle Christians share their faith openly. They don't hide. They baptize publicly. They worship openly. And the church grows. Fear restricts the Gospel; boldness spreads it.

[How to pray and support]

So how can we pray for and support the Kabyle Christians? First, pray for their protection. Pray for the completion and distribution of the full Kabyle Bible. Pray for discipleship and maturity. Pray for a continued harvest. Finally, support organizations working with North African Christians. Groups like SAT-7 (satellite Christian TV in Arabic and Berber), Frontiers, and others are reaching and discipling believers in North Africa. Your prayers and giving can support this vital work.

[The bigger picture - Islam is not invincible]

The Kabyle story reminds us of something crucial: Islam is not invincible. For centuries, people assumed that once a region became Muslim, it would stay Muslim forever. North Africa was "lost" to Christianity.

But God is breaking that paradigm. Muslims are coming to Christ in unprecedented numbers—in Iran, in Central Asia, in North Africa, in Indonesia. The Kabyle revival is one of the most visible examples, but it's part of a broader movement.

[Closing reflection and prayer]

As I researched the Kabyle story, I kept thinking about Lilias Trotter. She died in 1928 without seeing the breakthrough. She prayed and worked for 40 years with so little visible fruit. But she trusted God.

If Lilias could see what's happening in Kabylia today—thousands of Berbers worshiping Jesus in their own language, the New Testament in Kabyle, churches growing despite persecution—she would fall on her knees in worship. Her faithfulness mattered. Her prayers were answered, just not in her lifetime.

That's a challenge for all of us. We want to see results now. We want to see breakthrough in our lifetime. But sometimes God's timeline is longer than ours. The question is: Will we be faithful even when we don't see fruit?

Let me pray: 

Thank you for joining me today. The Kabyle story is a powerful reminder that God is at work in the Muslim world, and that faithfulness matters even when we don't see results.

Until next time, remember—keep your eyes on the nations, and trust God's timing for the harvest!

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The Glory of the Impossible: Samuel Zwemer's Call to the Unreached

Hello, and welcome back to Nations 4 Jesus. Today I want to share something with you that stirred my soul deeply—a challenge from Samuel Marinus Zwemer, nicknamed "The Apostle to Islam." Zwemer lived from 1867 to 1952, and he was an American missionary who served in Arabia—in places like Busrah and Bahrein—from 1891 to 1905.

Here's what's remarkable about Zwemer: He was famously turned down by the American Missionary Society. They wouldn't send him. So he went overseas alone anyway! He founded and edited the publication "The Moslem World," and his greatest contribution to missions was stirring Christians to the need for evangelism among Muslims.

And I believe that need should be stirred again today! The Muslim world remains one of the most unreached populations on earth. Muslims comprise a vast majority of the 10/40 Window—that rectangle stretching from West Africa across the Middle East to Asia where most of the world's unreached peoples live. In some Muslim regions, there are as few as three missionaries per million Muslims. Think about that—three missionaries for a million people!

Islam is the second-fastest growing religion in the world, after Christianity. And yet, how much of our missionary effort is focused there? How many young people are preparing to take the Gospel to Muslims? How many churches are praying for and supporting work in the Muslim world?

What I want to share with you today is Zwemer's message called "The Glory of the Impossible." I'm going to walk through his main ideas, translating his powerful 19th-century language into something we can grasp today. Listen carefully, and let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart.

[First main idea - Faith transforms sacrifice]

Zwemer begins with this foundational truth: Our willingness to sacrifice for something is always in proportion to our faith in it. If you really believe in something, you'll give everything for it. Faith, he says, has the genius of transforming what seems barely possible into actual reality.

Think about it—once you're dominated by the conviction that something must be done, you won't stop until it's accomplished. That's what real pioneers are like. They don't get discouraged by setbacks. They don't quit when things fail. In fact, even when missionaries are martyred, it only motivates them more! Opposition just makes them work harder.

Zwemer says it bluntly: Great victory has never been possible without great sacrifice. If winning a battle requires soldiers willing to die, then we can't expect to reach the hardest mission fields without loss of life. And here's his penetrating question: Does it really matter how many die or how much money we spend if we truly believe that missions is warfare and the King's glory is at stake?

War always costs blood and treasure. Our only concern should be fighting aggressively and winning the victory, regardless of cost. Then Zwemer says something powerful: "The unoccupied fields of the world must have their Calvary before they can have their Pentecost."

Just as Jesus had to go to the cross before the Holy Spirit could come at Pentecost, the unreached fields must see sacrifice before they'll see breakthrough. There's no resurrection without crucifixion. There's no Pentecost without Calvary.

[Second main idea - Following Jesus means suffering]

Zwemer then reminds us that the unoccupied fields await those willing to be lonely for the sake of Christ. Jesus said to His disciples, "As my Father has sent Me, even so I send you." How was Jesus sent? His welcome was derision—people mocked Him. His life was suffering. His throne was the cross.

If that's how Jesus came, Zwemer says, then that's how we should expect to go. We must follow in His footprints. The pioneer missionary has the privilege not only of knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, but also the fellowship of His sufferings.

And what is that suffering? Zwemer calls it "the glory of the impossible!" Who would naturally choose to leave the warmth and comfort of home and family to go after a lost sheep whose cry we've barely heard in the howling storm? Nobody! Yet that's the glory of the task—it's so important that neither family ties nor personal needs can hold back those who've caught the vision of the Great Shepherd.

Why? Because the lost ones are His sheep, and He's made us His shepherds, not hired hands who run away when danger comes. We must bring them back.

[Third main idea - Avoiding the calculating spirit]

Here's where Zwemer really challenges us. He points out that in the early days of Christianity, there was an absence of what he calls "the calculating spirit." Most of the apostles died outside of Palestine, even though human logic would have said they should stay there until their own country was fully Christian.

The calculating instinct is death to faith! If the apostles had been calculating, they would have said: "The need in Jerusalem is so huge, our responsibility to our own people so obvious, that we need to focus here first. Charity begins at home, right? After we've won Jerusalem and Judea, then we'll go abroad. We have so many unsolved problems right here that it's absurd to take on a new burden."

Sound familiar? That's what we say today! "We have so many problems in America—why go overseas? We need to fix our own country first!" But that's the calculating spirit, and Zwemer says it's death to faith.

What thrilled the early church? The bigness of the task! The difficulty! The apparent impossibility was the glory. The worldwide scope was the grandeur. And the same is true today.

[Fourth main idea - Plowing in hope]

Zwemer encourages pioneer missionaries with this promise: Those who plow virgin soil should plow in hope. God never disappoints His farmers. The harvest always follows the planting season.

He shares a testimony from missionary Hogberg in Central Asia. When Hogberg first arrived, it was impossible to gather even a few people to hear the Gospel. They couldn't get children for school. They couldn't give away Gospels or tracts. When they built a chapel, they wondered if it would ever be filled with Muslims listening to the Gospel.

But guess what happened? The chapel filled up! They needed a bigger room! Day after day they preached, and Muslims no longer objected to hearing about Jesus. One Muslim told Hogberg, "Before you came here, no one spoke or thought of Jesus Christ. Now everywhere one hears His name." At first, Muslims threw away the Gospels or burned them. Now they buy them, kiss them, touch them to their foreheads, press them to their hearts—showing the highest honor a Muslim can show a book!

But here's the key: The pioneer must have long patience. Results don't come overnight.

[Fifth main idea - The prospects are bright]

Zwemer tells the story of Adoniram Judson, the great missionary to Burma. Judson was thrown in prison, loaded with chains. A fellow prisoner sneered at him and asked about the prospects for converting the heathen. Judson calmly answered: "The prospects are as bright as the promises of God."

That's our confidence! Not in our abilities, not in favorable circumstances, not in easy access—but in God's promises! And Zwemer says there's scarcely a country today that's harder to reach than Burma was when Judson faced it and overcame.

So the prospects for evangelizing all the unoccupied fields are as bright as the promises of God. Why should we wait any longer?

[Sixth main idea - Making a life, not just a living]

Then Zwemer issues a challenge to talented young people. Is there a more heroic test for human potential than pioneer missionary work? Here's an opportunity for those who may never find room at home for all their abilities, who may never find adequate scope for all their powers.

There are hundreds of Christian college graduates planning to spend their lives practicing law or working in business just to make money. Yet they have enough strength and talent to go to unreached fields! There are young doctors who could gather thousands of suffering people at a new mission station and lift their burden of pain. But instead they confine themselves to comfortable practices where healthcare is measured in cash and competition.

Zwemer's devastating line: "They are making a living; they might be making a life."

What are you doing? Making a living, or making a life? There's a difference!

[Seventh main idea - Pray for power, not ease]

Zwemer quotes Bishop Phillips Brooks: "Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle."

Perfect words for the challenge of reaching the unreached! God can give us power for the task. He was sufficient for those who went out in the past, and He's sufficient for those who go out today.

[Eighth main idea - It's no sacrifice]

Finally, Zwemer closes with David Livingstone's famous words when he visited Cambridge University in 1857 to appeal for missionaries to Africa. Livingstone said:

"For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God appointed me to such work. People talk of the sacrifice I made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paying back a small part of a great debt we owe to God? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blessed reward in healthy activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of glorious destiny? Away with such a word! It's emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it's a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then may make us pause and cause our spirit to waver and our soul to sink—but only for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice."

[Personal application and challenge]

So let me bring this home. Zwemer's message is clear: The unreached fields of the world are waiting for Christians who will embrace the glory of the impossible. They're waiting for believers who will say, "The bigger and harder the task, the more glorious it is! The impossibility is what makes it worthy of Christ!"

Right now, there are 7,401 unreached people groups representing 3.4 billion people. There are Muslim regions with only three missionaries per million people. There are Buddhist peoples, Hindu peoples, animist peoples who have never heard Jesus's name. The unoccupied fields still await.

Are you making a living, or making a life? Are you spending your talents in comfortable careers that benefit you, or are you investing them in eternal work that glorifies God? Are you calculating what's safe and reasonable, or are you embracing what seems impossible because of your faith in God's promises?

The prospects are as bright as the promises of God! God never disappoints His farmers—the harvest follows the planting. The unoccupied fields must have their Calvary before their Pentecost. And it's no sacrifice—it's a privilege!

[Closing prayer]

Let me pray: 

The glory of the impossible awaits! Will you embrace it?

Until next time, remember—keep your eyes on the nations, and don't settle for making a living when you could be making a life!

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Do Not Fear the Muslims: God's Call to Reach 1.9 Billion People

Hello, friends, and welcome back to Nations 4 Jesus. Today I want to talk about something that might make some of you uncomfortable—but it's something we desperately need to hear.

A few episodes ago, I talked about Afghanistan and the incredible things God is doing even in the midst of darkness and persecution. We've seen how God is reaching the unreachable, how He's appearing in dreams and visions, how His Gospel is penetrating the hardest places. But I want to address something that I believe is holding back the Western Church from fully participating in what God is doing in the Muslim world: fear.

[The biblical command - do not fear]

Deuteronomy 1:29 says, "Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.'" The Bible tells us more than 365 times—one for every day of the year—not to be afraid, do not fear. But friends, do we hear Him? Do we believe God when He says He will be with us and that we should not be afraid?

Because here's the truth: The Muslim world terrifies many Christians. Images of terrorists, burning towers, mobs chanting and lifting weapons—these images seem to have immobilized the progress of the Christian Church into the Muslim world. The statistics speak this truth plainly.

[The sobering statistics - where we're not going]

The greatest concentration of Muslims is in a place called the 10/40 Window, which includes North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Asia. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims in the world today—that's nearly a quarter of the global population. Many countries in the 10/40 Window are predominantly Muslim, with some having populations that are 95-99% Muslim.

Yet according to Jason Mandryk in "State of the Gospel," the Western Church sends only 1 out of every 40 missionaries to this region. Think about that! Only 2.5% of our missionary force is going to reach 25% of the world's population. In many Muslim countries, there are fewer than three missionaries per one million people. In some countries, like Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, there are virtually no resident missionaries at all.

Why the imbalance? Partly it’s that some of these countries, like Afghanistan, make it virtually impossible for a Western Christian to live there. With that said, I believe a significant part of it is that many in the Western Christian Church fear the Muslims. We've allowed images of extremism to define an entire people group in our minds. We've let fear—not faith—determine our missions strategy.

[God's answer to fear - power, love, and sound mind]

Listen to what 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us: "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Friends, fear doesn't come from God! When we're controlled by fear of Muslims, we're not operating in the Spirit God gave us. We're operating in a spirit that's contrary to who God is and what He's called us to do.

The Church needs to believe in the power of God to overcome the obstacles Satan has placed in the 10/40 Window. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that "the gates of Hades will not prevail" against His Church. Gates are defensive structures. Jesus is saying that when we advance, the forces of darkness cannot hold us back! We need to believe this and move out in trust, wisdom, and power.

[Learning about Muslims - breaking down fear through understanding]

So how do we overcome our fear? We start by learning about Muslims. What do they believe? What is their family life like? What makes them happy, sad, concerned? As we learn about them as real people—not just statistics or stereotypes—God can begin to break our hearts for them.

Let me share some things you might not know. Muslims value family highly, often more than Western cultures do. They practice hospitality generously—in many Muslim cultures, a guest is treated with incredible honor and care. They pray five times a day, showing a discipline in spiritual practice that should humble many of us. They fast during Ramadan, denying themselves food and drink from sunrise to sunset for an entire month. Friends, these are people who take their faith seriously! And guess what, they are open to talking about their faith and listening to you talk about yours. In fact, they think it odd that most Western Christians don’t easily talk about what they believe. 

But here's what breaks my heart: Despite all their prayers, fasting, and religious devotion, they don't have assurance of salvation. They live in fear of judgment, hoping their good deeds will outweigh their bad. They don't know the love of a Father who sent His Son to pay for their sins. They've never experienced the peace that comes from knowing Jesus.

[What God is doing - the incredible harvest]

And here's what we saw in our Afghanistan series: Muslims are responding to the Gospel in unprecedented numbers! According to missions researchers, more Muslims have come to Christ in the last 30 years than in the previous 1,400 years of Islamic history combined. God is appearing to Muslims in dreams and visions across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. In Iran alone, it's estimated that hundreds of thousands—possibly over a million—have come to Christ despite intense persecution.

In Afghanistan, as we discussed, there are now thousands of believers where there were virtually none 20 years ago. In Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, there's a growing underground church. In North Africa and Sudan, entire villages are coming to Christ. This is what God is doing! The question is: Will we partner with Him, or will we let fear keep us on the sidelines?

[Real stories - God uses willing servants]

Let me share a powerful story of what happens when someone overcomes fear and goes. In a majority Muslim country, a young American girl, who I have had the privilege of getting to know, is attending college to learn Pashtun. In her home city, many Muslims have immigrated. God put on her heart the desire to learn their language so she could share Christ with them. So, she got on a plane, put on a burka when she arrived and lives among Muslims. 

She has had to give up many “freedoms” that American girls take for granted, but she is walking in a faith and courage that I truly admire! And God is using her mightily! She is sharing Jesus with her classmates. She is advocating for better living conditions and treatment of the young women. And after two years of school, she has gained so much respect. Doors are opened and seeds are being planted that I KNOW will bring forth fruit. 

[The cost of our fear - who's paying the price?]

But here's what we need to face: Our fear has consequences. While we're staying comfortable and safe in our Western churches, 1.9 billion Muslims are living and dying without ever hearing the name of Jesus. Every day, approximately 160,000 Muslims die—and the vast majority of them have never had a single opportunity to respond to the Gospel.

Romans 10:14 asks, "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Friends, they can't! And if we're too afraid to go, too afraid to send, too afraid even to pray for them—their blood is on our hands. That's a sobering thought, but it's biblical truth.

[Practical steps - what we can do today]

So what can we do? Let me give you five practical ways to overcome fear and reach Muslims with God's love. First, pray for them specifically. Get a copy of "30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World" or use the Joshua Project app to find unreached Muslim people groups. Pray for them by name. As you pray, God will replace your fear with love.

Second, learn about Islam. Read books like "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus" by Nabeel Qureshi, “Son of Hamas” by Moses Hassan Yousef or my recent favorite “In the Land of Blue Burqas” by Kate McCord. Understanding what Muslims believe will help you engage them with the Gospel more effectively. Third, befriend Muslims in your community. There are likely Muslim immigrants, refugees, or international students in your city. Invite them for coffee. Show them genuine hospitality. Build real friendships.

Fourth, support missionaries working in Muslim contexts. Give financially and pray regularly for those on the front lines. Organizations like Frontiers, Pioneers, and Arab World Ministries specifically focus on reaching Muslims. And fifth, ask God if He's calling you to go. Maybe short-term, maybe long-term. Maybe to a closed country, maybe to Muslim refugees in Europe or Muslims in your own city. But ask Him! Don't let fear make that decision for you.

[The stakes - eternity hangs in the balance]

Friends, I know this is challenging. I know it's easier to focus on comfortable, safe ministry opportunities. But we need to understand what's at stake. Jesus came to seek and save the lost—all the lost, including Muslims. He died for them just as much as He died for us. And He's commanded us to take the Gospel to all nations, not just the easy ones.

In our Afghanistan series, we saw that difficulty doesn't stop God. Persecution doesn't stop God. Even death doesn't stop the spread of the Gospel when His people are obedient. The question isn't whether God can reach Muslims—He clearly can and is! The question is whether we'll partner with Him in that work or let fear keep us from obedience.

[Closing encouragement and prayer]

Jesus is waiting, friends. But He needs obedient servants. He needs people who will cast aside fear and follow His call into the Muslim world—whether that's across the ocean or across the street. We can begin today by praying for Muslims specifically, learning about them, and then asking God how He would have us reach out.

Let me pray: 

Thank you for joining me. This message connects directly to what we've been learning about Afghanistan and God's work in impossible places. Don't let fear rob you of the joy of seeing Muslims come to Christ. They need to hear of Jesus's love, and they need someone willing to tell them.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the nation and remember—do not fear. God has given us power, love, and a sound mind.

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