Article

Ordinary to extra-ordinary

Jesus handpicked lowly fishermen and transformed them into preachers of the Gospel. He’s doing the same today. Taking ordinary, everyday people and making them extraordinary.

Solikhin* knows this well. He’s from Indonesia, and was raised as a Muslim, but an encounter with Jesus changed his life for ever.

Around fifteen years ago, Solikhin* was seen as a respectable man. Villagers looked to him for spiritual matters. His knowledge of the Quran was impressive. One day he became ill. It was so severe that he didn’t recover for a long time and was no longer able to work or earn money to provide for his wife and children.

His wife left him. His in-laws took his children away. None of the villagers who once adored him paid him a visit or asked about his condition.

“I was left alone. So I just read Quran and surrendered my life to Allah, praying that He’d show me a sign”.

His relative, a Muslim cleric, suddenly came and told him, “If you want to be healed, you have to ask for guidance from Isa, the Savior.” The next day, a neighbor visited him and repeated his relative’s suggestion.

“That instant, I felt something very different and new in my heart. Peaceful and fresh, right here…”

To quench his curiosity about Isa, he welcomed being prayed for in the name of Isa. A few months later, he was healed and felt a strong urge to walk to a mission worker’s house to learn about Jesus.

When he went back home, he had a supernatural experience. “I saw a white spirit and felt it entering my body. That instant, I felt something very different and new in my heart. Peaceful and fresh, right here,” said Solikhin, touching his chest.

Since that day Solikhin hasn’t looked back, seeing 12 other people become Christians, forming a small church. He is proud of Jesus despite being mocked every day and threatened several times. The villagers discovered his new faith and three times threatened to torch his house if he persisted with hosting church meetings. Instead of giving in to the demand, Solikhin’s group rescheduled their meetings for flexible more secretive times and places.

There are days when he gets tired of the verbal harassments. “But I realize that the road to salvation is a narrow path, so I keep a good relationship with my neighbors and treat them nicely because I’m follower of Jesus now”.

It has been 13 years since Solikhin decided to follow Jesus. The community does not respect him anymore. They insult him all the time. But it does not matter to Solikhin because he knows he is precious in Jesus’ eyes.

*Names changed for security reasons

Pray now..

• Pray for Solikhin and the small church that he looks after
• Ask God to give them strength, courage and boldness to keep following Him
• Pray for more miracles and more people coming to know Jesus through them
• Pray for their safety and emotional needs as they face threats and intimidation from the community