A modern day scene from Acts

We have watched God do many amazing things throughout the 13 years of Love In Action International Ministries, and He continues to amaze. What happened Tuesday here in the Philippines was nothing short of a miracle. It was a true revival as the Holy Spirit moved mightily among a people who do not believe in Jesus Christ.

 It was like a scene from Acts. We simply preached Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the grave and His love for everyone. Through the love of Christ, the Holy Spirit touches hearts and like in Acts 9:31, the church was multiplied. "And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied."

I won't mention the exact area or any names to protect the people, because their decision to accept and worship Jesus can put their lives in danger. The people I am referring to are Muslims who live in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Philippines (ARMM).

On Tuesday, we traveled inside the ARMM. It's a place that many are afraid to travel, even Filipinos. I'm not saying that to say we are brave; far from it. The point is, everyone needs to hear about Jesus, even those in dangerous places. They all need a chance to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And, when the Lord tells you to go places, you can be assured He is with you and protects you. We never felt threatened and never were in any danger. It was as if the Lord put us in stealth mode and got us in the area and back out without being noticed, though we didn't try to hide.

About 60 Muslims were in the service, and that alone is amazing as usually hearing the Word of God is an insult to those who practice Islam. One of the men in the service included a Islamic Imam, which is the equivalent of a pastor in their religion. He is a very important leader. He said he was searching for something and maybe he can find it in Jesus Christ.

The people soaked up every word we told them as Martha shared John 3:16 and told them of the love of Jesus. Then I preached a message on salvation and explained how Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead. I explained God's love for them through His Son Jesus Christ, who is the only way to God.

They marveled at how much God could love them and how much we loved them and showed that by traveling such a long distance from the USA to tell them about Jesus.

After the service, a Muslim walked up to Martha and me and quoted John 3:16 and said he loves Jesus. They were so thankful that we came, and smiles were on all of their faces. Such wasn't the case when we first arrived. Only Jesus could touch hearts like that and bring peace to a people living in an area consumed by hatred and turmoil.

Another person walked up to us and told us about his wife who was in a bad accident and still suffered from a head injury. He asked us to pray for her. We asked if we could pray for her right then, and  he allowed us to pray with him in the name of Jesus Christ. He said he loves Jesus.

A tremendous move of the Holy Spirit occurred after we left. The people went back inside of the structure where we met and started crying tears of joy as they fell on their knees and worshiped Jesus. Can you imagine that? All of those people, mostly Muslim (there were some Christians there), on their knees before almighty God crying and worshiping Jesus.

Our indigenous pastor friend said he has never heard of anything like that, and he has been preaching in the ARMM for a while. God is truly awesome. We were all overwhelmed by the power of God and thanked Him for touching the hearts of the people and drawing them to Him. Praise God!

We are praying that the Imam will turn the mosque where he serves into a Christian church. I pray the next time I am in that area I can hear him preach a sermon about salvation only through Jesus Christ.
God is doing a great work among the Muslims here in the Philippines. Many are making decisions to follow Jesus, and it's so humbling to be part of it. It is truly amazing to see.

I wish I had at least a couple of months to stay over here. There is so much work to be done, and for Americans to preach the Gospel is very effective. As we have seen from last year's trip, we are seeing a lot of fruit that remains. Our pastor friend says the people talk about us being there with their families and others in their communities and it really is effective. They realize that for us to make such a long journey to tell them about Jesus, there really must be something about this Jesus. As we all know, there is.

Jesus radically changed my life, and He is doing the same thing to many others here in the Philippines.

Please continue to pray for those we reach out to and for us.