Eric Yassir // How I meet Jesus - Life Testimony

Summary

Eric Yassir shares how he became a Christian after growing up in a strict Muslim family in Sudan. As a child, he was sent far from home to a Quran school, where he says he was taught to hate Christians and people he did not know. He recalls being willing to fight Christians and violently attacking a Christian classmate named Zachariah.

Yassir says his outlook changed after Christians prayed for a seriously ill relative and told him that God loved him. He recounts that the relative recovered, and that later that night he gave his life to Jesus. His conversion led to rejection by his family, imprisonment, and eventually leaving Sudan. During a final visit to his village, he says he found comfort in the thought that the grave his family had prepared for him was empty—and that Jesus had defeated death.

Yassir connects his testimony to the biblical story of a blind beggar in Jericho who calls Jesus “Son of David” and asks for mercy. He presents the story as a call to seek a personal relationship with Jesus, trust him, and follow him.

He also describes meeting Zachariah years after the attack. Rather than seeking revenge, Zachariah told him he had prayed for him. Yassir says this moment helped him understand forgiveness and love.

Key spiritual practices and takeaways

• Practice gratitude: Thank God for loved ones, home, work, church, and the ability to worship freely. Don’t take security or peace for granted.
• Pray for others: Yassir emphasizes that prayer can reach people who seem far from faith and urges listeners not to underestimate it.
• Ask for help and direction: Reflect on what is happening in your life and what you need, as the blind beggar did when he asked Jesus for mercy.
• Identify what holds you back: Yassir uses the blind beggar’s discarded cloak as a metaphor for laying aside fear, sin, habits, or other obstacles to faith.
• Choose forgiveness and compassion: Yassir’s story of Zachariah illustrates praying for and loving people who have hurt or opposed you.
• Seek spiritual support: Yassir cautions against expecting others to meet every need, emphasizing that, in his Christian view, only Jesus can provide certain forms of spiritual support.
• Hold on to hope amid uncertainty: He describes faith not as having every answer, but as having the courage to trust while facing uncertainty.

Presenters and sources

• Eric Yassir — Speaker and author of the personal testimony.
• Wayne — Invited near the end to lead the congregation in prayer.
• The Bible — Yassir refers to Jesus’ encounter with a blind beggar in Jericho, commonly identified as Bartimaeus.
• Zachariah and two Coptic Christians — People in Yassir’s testimony whose actions and prayers he describes as influential in his conversion.