Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, ancestors of Iran, were present at Pentecost (Acts 2:9)
https://bible.art/p/iWNKTLmLQwVAWpetezXd/acts-2-2
Guest blog by Saideh H. Bonab with Jeanne C. DeFazio
How can Christians pray for everyone to bring peace to the Middle East? Jesus’s solution was for his followers to help everyone to reconcile with God:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).[1]
Saideh H. Bonab, an Iranian Christian student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, models how to pray for everyone to receive Jesus. Once I converted to Christianity, I saw the beauty and the power to change lives of my glorious Lord Jesus who instilled peace, love, joy in me, and the desire to love and serve others. I knew that I had made the best decision in my life by believing and trusting in him. One core tenet of orthodox Christianity is that the Lord Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to atone for the sins of all humans, as Peter, one man whose life Jesus Christ changed, reports: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit (1 Pet 3:18).
This is what Saideh herself experienced: Jesus died for everyone: Christians, Muslims, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhists. Jesus is a living God who has thoughts and emotions and speaks to us and guides us because his Spirit is alive in us. To reach out to a Muslim, I develop a trusting relationship between us. I have compassion for unbelievers looking at them through the lens of love, respect, and humility through the heart of the Lord Jesus which he opened to me. I don't mock and criticize anyone. I share about my own conversion and change of heart, especially the testimonies of the numerous prayers Jesus has answered as he guides me through my daily life.
I have learned that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and does not believe in an “eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth.” In Luke 6:29, Jesus taught: “If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them” (Luke 6:29). The idea of forgiveness, rather than revenge, is a core message of Christianity. I build a relationship with my Muslim friends with love and respect. Christians must not forget that once we all were in the darkness and the Lord found us and called us to be his hands and feet. So let us be the Light of Jesus in this dark broken world and bring his light and glory to everyone.
I have found Dr. John Azumah’s book, My Neighbour’s Faith helpful when he states:
Despite the effects of [Muslim] theologians and polemicists over the centuries, and the negative and even hostile news about Jesus that they have produced, many Muslims around the world continue to be fascinated by Jesus. In a survey of over six hundred converts to Christianity from various parts of the world, one in four speaks of the role the figure of Jesus played in their religious development. Many speak of him appearing to them in dreams and visions, sometimes in direct encounters. Their ideas may not be quite clear, but what is clear is that Jesus is encountered as a very real person: a master, a friend, someone who listens and helps.[2]
As soon as I read this, I got up dancing and crying, realizing that my husband was not the only Muslim who had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and received him as his Lord and Savior. Over six hundred others are documented to have had direct encounters and visions with Jesus.[3]
All glory to Jesus! As Christians, we need to testify to the living Christ rather than engaging in fruitless debate of who he is and who he is not. The Lord of lords and King of kings performed so many miracles. These miracles are beyond comprehension. The Lord of glory and majesty cares for the marginalized, widows, the poor, orphans, for everyone from every diaspora, and he is the healer of the sick. I tell everyone who asks me to pray to believe that Jesus is the healer of our sick bodies and souls. Isaiah 53:4 explains: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering” (which Matthew relates to Jesus’s healing of the demon-possessed and the sick in 8:16-17).
There is no one like Jesus in this entire universe. So, how does prayer impact national and world events? Lisa Schrad explains:
Prayer transforms us, and our individual transformation does bring change in the world. St. Francis put it even better: “Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.” It feels so much more glamorous and enticing to go sanctify society first, right? I’d much rather work on problems “out there” than have to face my own sin. But how can we even know what true justice and mercy are—much less how we are called to live them out in the world—unless we are first people whose hearts have been changed by God to love those things?[4]
In short, praying for others to change begins with praying for ourselves to change to become the people Jesus wants us to be. Praying for other societies to change follows our prayers and our work in changing our own society to be who Jesus wants it to be. The Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples by teaching all that Jesus commands starts out home, then reaches out across the world. Our prayers are based on the change Jesus made in us, his filling us with peace, love, and joy.
When I discovered the real Jesus, I mentioned to my Muslim husband that we were not serving the living God and our God is a bogus God. Then he had an encounter with Jesus and fell in love with the Lord. He was so excited to tell me about his encounter that I thought he would live. He was in the hospital dying of cancer. When he died, shortly after, he died in peace going into Jesus’s everlasting arms.
Today my two favorite scriptures are Mark 8:36 what good is it to gain the whole world and to lose our soul. The other one is Matthew 25:35-36 I was hungry and you fed me, and I was sick and you looked after me, and I was in prison and you visited me. My husband and I have done these, and we practiced hospitality in our humble home. These days our family is emotional because my little girl is graduating and is becoming a scientist just like her father and cries a lot, missing her father. I told her that her dad is present in spirit. She is getting a dual degree and she also won an award with money as she is very excited. The good and gracious Lord has been on our side and a beautiful Provider and has given us joy and his peace.
Jesus has been changing our lives. As I learn more and more about the impact of Jesus’s death for my failings, I want everyone to benefit from his sacrifice. I want everyone of every faith to discover Jesus is a living God whose compassion and love is gracious and kind and brings light to our darkness just as he brought light to my life and the lives of those I love by his great love and care.
[1] All Bible quotations are from the NIV 2022.
[2] John Azumah, My Neighbour's Faith: Islam Explained for Muslims (Nairobi: Word Alive, 2020), 128.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Lisa Schrad, October 13, 2017, “What Difference Does Prayer Make in the World?” https://intervarsity.org/blog/what-difference-does-prayer-make-world, para 6.
