Praying To ForgiveParaugs

DAY FOUR: “Jesus Did Something Inside Me”

Jos, Nigeria, 2003

As I looked out over the sea of Nigerian faces, I could not see the edge of the crowd in any direction. Local evangelical rally organizers estimated more than half a million men, women, and children were present.

“I was a very hard man,” I began to confess. “What I used to do, the employment I used to have, dealt a lot with hurting and dying people. In my heart I became very cold to human need. When I came to Jesus Christ, He changed my heart because I went to Him and said, ‘I can’t love like You love. I can’t care like You care. I don’t have the resources in myself. God, You have to do something inside of me. You have to save me.’

“I can tell you tonight that God has been faithful to me because I can stand here and say with an honest heart that I love you. I love you because the love of God is in my heart. God has done a miracle in me, and He has shown me what true riches are in His kingdom. This is the church of Jesus Christ. This is the one true gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Now the choice is yours. Do you want to be a vessel of God’s light? Do you want to reach out to your Muslim neighbors? Do you want to reach out to the wounded in your society? Jesus came to His enemies and loved them.

The crowd began to shout and wave their hands in the air. No fewer than one hundred thousand people raised their hands to receive Christ as their Savior that night. I led them in a prayer to receive Jesus into their hearts.