Abdel’s Awakening
The atmosphere felt eerie as Ibrahim observed the man on the hospital bed. It was his friend and former manager from work, Abdel. Abdel’s eyes remained closed. He was brain dead. As Ibrahim lifted his gaze, he realized that the expressions of the nurses in the room were twisted with a look of pure evil. Each of them appeared to have Abdel’s face. Yet, they weren’t Abdel. It was clear this was a dream. Ibrahim then noticed that the head nurse was holding the hospital bed. His dark eyes held a depth of evil that profoundly disturbed Ibrahim. Suddenly filled with anger, Ibrahim grabbed the head nurse by the shoulders and shook him violently, shouting, “I burn you in the light of Jesus!”
Ibrahim awoke with a start, and sat up in his bed. The dream had seemed so vivid, but rather crazy. Abdel had been Ibrahim’s first team leader and manager at his workplace. Both living in the heart of the Middle East, and native to the area, they had forged a deep friendship over the past four years, even though Ibrahim was a Christian and Abdel a Muslim. Ibrahim had shared his faith many times with Abdel in bits and pieces. Abdel had often shared his heart and struggles with Ibrahim. Ibrahim had even prayed for Abdel at work one day when Abdel was having a rough day, and a peace enveloped Abdel, but he never spoke of it again. It had actually been several months since they had spoken. Ibrahim had finished that job and moved on to another. Ibrahim questioned himself. Should he reach out to Abdel?
Later, after seeing a different dream confirmed as a dream from God, Ibrahim was confident he needed to reach out, so he did. Abdel could not hide his excitement at hearing from Ibrahim. They met up the next day. As they began to talk, Abdel described how he felt. His work life, personal life and family life were suffering because of his decisions. Everything seemed so dark and in complete shambles. Aware that the dream might have been pointing to this, Ibrahim asked if Abdel felt “brain-dead,” as if someone else was running his life. Abdel’s eyes lit up as he declared that that was exactly how he felt. Ibrahim knew that the Lord wanted him to be as direct as possible. He was also a current ministry school student with the MAPS Global Middle East Missions Base, and had been practicing boldness in sharing the Gospel. Filled with authority, Ibrahim shared the full Gospel with Abdel.
“You will die,” said Ibrahim. “You will die if you do not go back to God. You are in a very bad spot. You are seeing how your life is going south. You need God. If you do not get back to the Source of Life, you will run out of life. And it will cost you everything.” Listening intently, Abdel’s eyes widened as he asked what he should do. “You need to accept Jesus,” said Ibrahim. “It is only him. There is no other way. I want to pray with you. You need to see that he is real.” Ibrahim started to pray with Abdel, and the presence of the Holy Spirit became very strong and tangible. Ibrahim even prayed over Abdel that the light of Christ would burn every evil thing within him. As the peace of Christ rested on them, Abdel gave his life to Jesus in complete genuineness of heart. A profound change came over him. Abdel was no longer brain-dead. Once asleep, he was now awake and ready to live life as a new man!