by Josie Gabdon/IMB
PAKISTAN (IMB) – Many years ago, a believer gave Barkhat’s father a Bible.
“I have wanted to understand the Bible since I was a child,” Barkhat told two believers who came to his home to share the gospel. Over the next few days, they read the Bible together two or three times a day, and Barkhat soaked in the Word.
For two nights, Barkhat couldn’t sleep. He was a Shina man, and like most other Shina in Pakistan, he had followed Islam. But he had become disillusioned with Islam and had started searching for truth in Buddhism and atheism, finding no peace.
On the second night of wrestling with the message of the gospel, he picked up the Bible and read the parable of the sower (Luke 8:11-15). “I want to be the fertile soil!” he said.
That night, he read the entire Book of Romans, and the truth became clear. He put his faith in Jesus. “I believe!” he told the believers the next morning. “I have chosen to follow Jesus,” he boldly declared to his father.
Amazingly, his father replied, “You are an adult, and you can choose your own path.”
Barkhat was then baptized, celebrating his new life in Christ. In the days that followed, he visited with believers, read the Word, and his faith grew stronger.
Please pray that his transformation will encourage friends and family to ask about this change. Pray that through Barkhat’s testimony, many others will follow Jesus!
Josie Gabdon is an IMB worker in South Asia.
The work of the IMB is sustained through faithful giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.