09/2021 Word of Director

In this first newsletter by Communio Messianica (CM), I would like to welcome all our readers in our common journey. Our focus will be on current developments of interest to MBBs worldwide. I encourage you to remain in touch sending us prayer requests and feedback on issues of interest and concern.

At CM, we are standing alongside all our Muslim Background Believer (MBB) brothers and sisters, to encourage all of you to stand firm with a strong sense of identity, community and accountability - as we all face the harsh and developing realities of today together with the confidence of tomorrow, because among many promises, we are told, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

We MBBs, as we are facing dire and apparently insolvable situations, can take great comfort in this passage in Jeremiah 29:11, knowing that it is not a promise to immediately rescue us from hardship or suffering, but rather a promise that God has a long-term irrevocable plan for our lives and regardless of our current situation, He can and will work through it to prosper us and give us a hope.

In looking at the current condition of MBBs throughout the Islamic world, we are reminded of the plight of God’s people in Moses’ day, when God spoke directly into their situation, giving His comfort and encouragement to all:

“The LORD said ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt ... I have heard them crying … and I am concerned about their suffering.’” (Exodus 3:7)

This is a description of precisely what is going on in the lives and situations of thousands of MBBs across the entire spectrum of the Muslim World, and most especially now in Afghanistan. So, we know that our God is not only “watching”, He is “concerned” – and He has a plan to rescue and establish His people, as clearly stated in the following verse of the above passage, “So I have come down to rescue them”. (v.8)

As a consequence, the persecution we are seeing and experiencing will not have the last word, nor will the actions of the Taliban. It is the LORD alone who will have the last word.

Indeed, it was Jesus who said, “… and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16-18) Although we don’t know the specifics or the timing of His plan, we can be fully assured, that as a holy God - in the future as in the past- He plans to both rescue and restore His people.

Because of these and all the many other unequivocal promises of assurance from our LORD throughout His WORD we can always have hope. We can always lift up our eyes and see Jesus and must always trust that He will complete His plan to set us free, not only from the bondage of sin but also from the oppression and suffering of this present age. He promises to draw us to Himself, and ultimately establish us firmly as His witnesses and His community: As Paul testifies under similar circumstances in his time: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).

Therefore, with all these assurances—it is time to stand firm together and count on Him and to absolutely trust in Him to bring our people into prayer together in concert, so that the heavens can be opened, and so that our people are encouraged.

It is time to be accountable for our unsurpassed gift of His spirit, grace, and presence, by raising our voices in song and mighty worship, as well as our prayers and supplications for each other by simply trusting in His plan and purposes, and by living in expectation of the fulfillment of these promises.

In closing, we pray to our LORD, “Let our prayers be counted as incense before you,

And the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice!” (Ps. 141:2).

We thank you for joining with us and praying as we stand in the gap on behalf of the MBBs and the persecuted church.