After receiving funds designated for the purchase of some land for a church, we bought a piece of land which was reasonably priced and well situated, but then the Muslims of that area banded together and went to see the land owner to accuse him of betrayal, because he had sold his lot to Christians. They even took the matter to the Muslim mayor of this commune. The pressure was such that the man recanted, gave the money back and demanded the deed be returned to him. Legally we could have fought it, but it would have been counterproductive. After much prayer, we concluded that we sadly could only shake the dust off our sandals and walk away. This is not uncommon. The issue, of course, is not just property or a church building. It is opposition to the spiritual work we do, no matter what form this takes externally. The Church is birthed and planted in this country with much travail.

However, we knew that the Lord had not provided the funds for this need in vain. Praise the Lord, we found a great piece of property in the vicinity, and since it is a new development where we are among the first to buy, there is no established community of Muslim neighbors to oppose us. Our Heavenly Father favored us and lifted our heads by granting us this property for less than half the cost of the other one, and this has enabled us to negotiate for another property in another developing area where we plan to establish a church in the near future!!! We heard through the grapevine that our “adversaries” found out about our exceptional purchase and are confounded. Yes, the Lord has shown us favor and mercy!