Hamza is sitting in one of the most famous ćevapi restaurants in the Serbian city of Novi Pazar with his foreign friend. People come here to drink coffee and to enjoy the best sausages and a good view of the pedestrian zone. Hamza, however, is here to learn from the Bible. On their mobile phones they read John 8:32 together: “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
After a moment of silence, Hamza says: “That is what my people need. They should recognize Jesus as truth and as light. And then he will free them from the many dark powers and the slavery of money.” And he continues: “God sent you here for me! Without you, I would no longer follow Jesus.”
As the only known follower of Jesus in the entire region with around 250,000 Muslim residents, Hamza knows life in Sandzak. It is not easy for him to live his faith, but he always draws strength from the Bible. The Muslims in Sandzak are a significant majority locally, but overall, they are a minority in Serbia and Montenegro. Thirty years after the war, they are still discriminated against. This is one of the reasons why many Muslims here are very religious and devout. In the city of Novi Pazar alone, there are over 60 mosques, three Koran schools and an Islamic university for future religious teachers and imams.
The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a worldof not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love. ~ Corrie Ten Boom (I Stand at the Door and Knock: Meditations by the Author of The Hiding Place)
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask that You help the small number of believers in the Sandžak region by providing companions to read the Scriptures with them, so that in difficult circumstances they may experience Your grace all the more and grow strong and steadfast in faith. May many Muslims in Sandžak come to know that “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life,” and see that the light of Jesus is greater than the powers of darkness they have known, so that they may be willing to pay the cost to follow Him. Father, send many gospel workers who will share the good news with the people of Sandžak in creative and culturally fitting ways. We declare that the believers in Sandžak will receive faith like a mustard seed, small at first, yet in the end growing into something great. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
