Rohingyas are experiencing new freedoms. Wait, did I just say Rohingya and freedom in the same sentence? Surely I can’t mean the people group who were pushed out of the land of their birth in Myanmar, only to be displaced into some seriously difficult situations worldwide? But I do mean it. You see, the Rohingya people were so isolated in the Rakhine state in Myanmar, that even living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh opens them up to new freedoms. “I never wore pants before I came to Bangladesh,” one Rohingya man admits. Though their geographical mobility is limited to staying in Kutupalong camp, they experience more freedom of movement than in Myanmar, where they would’ve had to get government permission to leave a small circumference around their village. Using electricity is new. The idea of solar power is new. Cell phone access is new. Having full access to health care is new. Rohingyas are experiencing new freedoms.
What if, during this season of experiencing new freedoms, Rohingyas could be introduced to a new life in Jesus Christ? Certainly, it would take a major prayer force to pull off any sort of mass movement. Your prayers are affecting more than you think. Most Rohingyas of this generation will live out their whole lives lacking legal status in any country. No country wants to say they really belong. They don’t need passports in the spiritual kingdom of heaven, though. Pray that the Lord would continue to draw people into His freedom. There are Rohingya believers in the camp. The more people from the outside try to help them, the more they are persecuted. But we can pray. We can gather a group together and have a prayer meeting for the persecuted, much like what happened in the early church. They prayed,
“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Acts 4:29-30
The result of their prayer was a seismic shift:
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Acts 4:31
Your prayers are doing more than you think.
- Pray that as the Rohingya are experiencing new freedoms for the first time, they would become curious about the message of Jesus.
- Pray that the Lord would continue to draw people to Himself, even when the security situation makes it difficult for outsiders to access the people group.
- Pray that the believers among the Rohingya would speak with great boldness.
- Make sure you can crouch under a table or something stable when the ground starts shaking.
- If the ground isn’t shaking, repeat steps 1-3.