Stories from the Field

August 2006

God Works Unexpectedly
From a Christian worker on the field

One man in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, had not allowed the group to pray for him on the first day of the volunteer group’s prayerwalk. On the second day, when the group returned with cassettes he was seen shooing his children into the house when he saw them approaching. They decided to not disturb him remembering his response the previous day. After they passed by, he called out to the Baptist worker using his local name. The group immediately returned to the door of his house. He said, “I just wanted to greet you.” The representative offered the Wolof Bible tapes, and surprisingly, he accepted them with gratitude. Then the Wolof man invited the worker to come another day for discussion and prayer inside.

The volunteers and the missionary stood speechless at first trying to digest what had just happened. Then they rejoiced that God had touched this man whose heart had seemed so closed. Pray for this man to recognize the truth of God’s Word when he listens to the cassettes. Pray that all the workers will come to expect such changes where God is at work.

It is not unusual to receive a response that shows that the people are afraid of neighbors and family members who might overhear them discussing the wrong religion with strangers. The Wolof lives in fear of upsetting the spirits and the Muslim establishment. Still, responses like this remind us that God goes before and prepares the ground, and that He is at work in unexpected places. His draw on hearts is greater even than the fear in which Satan envelopes them. Pray, with us. that this man, and others like him, will come to hear and understand the truth which can set him free and turn his fear into faith.