Anwar was excited to go to Azma’s village. He and his team were eager to share the Gospel with the villagers of a small village in Bangladesh. Azma at first told Anwar, “No, you can not do this.” He refused to let Anwar evangelize in his village.
So Anwar set about building a relationship with Azma. First, he called Azma to chat. After a few conversations, Anwar offered to pray with Azma. Later Anwar met with Azma to have tea and a conversation together. Azma even began to call Anwar the affectionate nickname of Dada, which means father.
The next time Anwar visited that area, Azma gave him a handshake, stating, “This is good, Dada. You do as you like.” Anwar knew that Azma had not accepted Jesus as his Savior, but Azma continued to be friendly and offered tea to Anwar again. He also encouraged Anwar to evangelize in his village.
So Anwar and his team came to that small village expecting to share the Gospel with the Muslims there. The hope and prayer was that there would be many converts. After three or four months with little success, an acquaintance of Azma’s, Zaad, visited Anwar.
Zaad told Anwar, “Sir, I want to talk to you. I like you, Sir, but Azma does not like you. He paid several of us to stop your work here.
Anwar responded, “Okay, if all of you say I cannot work here, then I will not come here.”
Zaad said, “But sir, as I watched you, I heard what you told the people. You said that we need Jesus. If you leave, we will not get Jesus!”
As Anwar continued the conversation with Zaad, Zaad suddenly said he wanted to pray and accept Jesus.
Zaad asked Anwar not to share what had happened with the villagers. He did not want to be persecuted. So Anwar met with Zaad in another village to teach and disciple him. After a time, Zaad was baptized in another town to avoid persecution in his home village.
Eventually, Anwar confronted Azma, saying, “Azma, I like you. I love you. Why are you going against me?”
Azma at first denied, “No, no, no, I never would do that. I always say you are my favorite.”
Anwar continued, “But I heard many young people say you have been sending four different people to work against me. Did we talk against Muhammad? Did we speak against the Quran?”
Azma responded, “No,” to both questions.
Anwar asked, “So, what is your problem? If I am pressing against Muhammad and against the Quran, then you can protest against me. I’ve been telling the good things in the Bible, and you can accept them or not. So you don’t need to work against me. It is frustrating to me.”
Suddenly, Azma had an unusual request, “Give me your own New Testament.”
Anwar complied, giving his New Testament to Azma. Azma walked away, looking at the New Testament.
Much to Anwar’s amazement, two months later, Azma returned, asking many questions. “What is salvation? What is eternal life? What is the Holy Spirit in the beginning?” He had many such questions, which Anwar explained throughout their discussions.
One day, Azma knocked on Anwar’s door with an odd request, “Dada, You save me. I don’t know how to be saved!”
Anwar’s response was, “I cannot save you. Jesus can save you.”
Azma quickly replied, “I want to receive Jesus.”
Anwar answered, “I will be in your village next week.”
But Azma did not want to wait and prayed right then to be saved. After he prayed, Azma confessed to Anwar that he had sent four people to work against Anwar and his team when they evangelized in the village. Azma asked to go with Anwar to share about Jesus with the four. Anwar did not tell him that one of the people had already been saved and baptized! The other three accepted Jesus as their Savior and were baptized because of Azma.
Azma is now a pastor in his home village, evangelizing the very people whom he had tried to prevent from hearing the Gospel!
You can pray for missionaries like Anwar to be able to reach the next village where people have never heard about Jesus. Download 7 Days of Prayer for Missionaries for guidelines as to how to pray.
Names of persons and places may be changed.
