Mosque in Amman

So I know my last blog was about the start of my time in Turkey but I’m going to go back to Jordan for this blog. The two weeks after we switched teams we had ATL, which I explained what that is in some previous blogs. One of the things my team decided to do was mosque ministry. So we went to the oldest mosque in Jordan which is in downtown Amman. Mosque ministry is just going into a mosque for about an hour, specifically during the evening salaat, which is one of the five times a day a Muslim is supposed to pray. The salaat itself lasts only 5-10 minutes but when you’re in there it feels like forever. We went to the mosque three times in those two weeks.

The only thing we did in the mosque was sit down. I would read my Bible and be praying as the men around me were going through all the motions required of the prayer. They have to go through all these different motions from kneeling with their head against the ground to standing and other stances. 

I will clarify that I was most definitely not joining them in going through all the motions for their prayer. I was sitting on a bench with my Bible in my hands either reading it or praying that the men around me would see Jesus not just as a prophet but as God. I remember the first time we went, God told me to read 1 Kings 18. Which is the story of Elijah vs. the 450 prophets of Baal. I just felt so comforted and strengthened that despite being outnumbered by Muslims both in that mosque and in that country it didn’t matter because my God is so much bigger than anything else. He will make His name known!

Both the first and the second time my teammate was approached by men who then invited him, the other guy on my team, and myself for tea. It allowed for some really good theological conversations, especially the second time, since the guy we met the first time didn’t really speak English.

However, the third time we went to the mosque we were only there for about 15 minutes. That’s because the assistant imam saw my teammate reading his Bible near the front of the mosque. Then he approached him and had him talk to the head imam, who we were later told doesn’t like tourists to begin with, and reading the Bible didn’t help that. So he kicked him out and while my other teammate and I weren’t near him they just saw two other foreign-looking people and kicked us out also. 

While I didn’t want to get kicked out, of course, it showed us that what we were doing was making an impact. The enemy was noticing what was happening and he was fighting back.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12

When you do the will of God and further the Kingdom you will get resistance at some point. This next thing I say just as much to myself as I do to everyone reading this.

Are you serving the kingdom in a way that the enemy fights back?