As the Yangon Love Joy Peace Festival with Franklin Graham drew to a close, Christians marveled at the way God has answered prayer.
Christians in Myanmar have long known that, in a land where they comprise a small minority of the population, they must look to God for sustenance, guidance and fruitful ministry.
And in the past 17 months, their prayer has been even more intense. In June 2015, they began holding monthly prayer rallies for the Festival.
Even before the Festival meetings began, they saw answers to prayer. The day before a children’s rally in October, the venue was completely flooded due to an unusually late-season torrential rain.
But God answered fervent prayer, and by the next day, the venue was dry, allowing some 16,000 children to hear the gospel. More than 1,400 indicated committing their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ that day.
As Myanmar’s people have seen expanded freedoms the past few years under the civilian government, Christians have begun to make their voices heard in new ways.
In the same way that Franklin Graham has spent most of 2016 challenging American Christians to become engaged in the civic process—even being willing to run for office—Christian leaders in Myanmar have encouraged believers to be involved in nation-building, to make their witness known not only through proclaiming the gospel but also by being involved in every aspect of life.
On the final night of the Love Joy Peace Festival, the convention center grounds once again filled with people coming to hear the Good News. Many had been invited by friends and neighbors.
Yangon Kachin Baptist Church had sent members door-to-door in a rural area near Yangon to invite people to the Festival, and on the final night, they brought 60 guests on a chartered bus.
“Many of you here tonight are going through your life blindly,” Franklin Graham said during the final night of the Festival in Myanmar. “And if you don’t change the direction of your life tonight, your life could be destroyed. But tonight you have a chance to come to Jesus Christ. He will cleanse your heart. He will guide you and direct you. And if you’re willing to believe by faith in Jesus Christ tonight, He’ll forgive your sins. You can have a new life and a new beginning.”
Many responded to that offer of new life. Altogether, more than 7,600 people indicated decisions for Christ during the three-day event, with over 170,000 in attendance.
Seeing how God worked through the Festival, Franklin Graham’s longtime friend and Festival patron Tin Maung Tun said: “We are overwhelmed at the manifestation of the Lord’s hand. Here is the manifestation that the Word of God does not change.”
The Rev. Dr. Saw Mar Gay Gyi, festival executive chairman, added: “This is more than we expected. The Holy Spirit is really here working and using Franklin. So this is, I think, God’s amazing grace for our people, and we hope that because of this, our country will be blessed richly.” {eoa}
This article was originally published on billygraham.org.
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