This past Fall I traveled to a communist country. Imagine Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Time Square on News Years Eve or a major city after one of her sporting teams wins a “World Championship.” Magical, mystical, euphoric… There was the smell of spices and street food, colorful (paper mache) dragons meandering through the crowds of people, musicians playing music that will sweep you off of your feet, while couples swing dance and colorful lights dance off the lakes that presents itself as the hub from which ALL activity flows. Welcome to a land of contradictions…
As a whole, people long to be known and loved. It is the same even in Communism.
To those that we were “with” they experience a much different country than the tourist will see. It is a place of contradictions and persecution, where prison is their seminary and beatings are commonplace. BUT you will see the trappings of the church visibly, but in their words, “it is all just “make-up” to the outside world.” As a church, they are reaching minority people groups in rural areas. Police are harassing them and beating them. But the church is growing. Starting a church is difficult, but perseverance produces fruit and stability.
These are the words of my new friends and people who are your family, because they follow Jesus:
One Pastor: Are you followed right now? “I don’t know and I don’t care.” His stories are full of hope from despair, joy from sorrow, life from death. Jesus is enough; He is worth it.
One woman: Upon receiving a Bible in her language, she ran out and exclaimed, “the government lied to them and that Jesus wasn’t an American because He (Jesus) was found in their language.”
One Communist: “Because of Jesus we can now love those whom we hated before.” He is from an Ancestral Worship background. He walked away from his position in the military to follow Jesus. “We no longer live in hatred, but in love.” He now travels throughout the community sharing Jesus at great risk to his life and to his family’s well being.
One Voice: When asked if they felt freedom there was a pause. Their response, “we have freedom in God.”
One Heart: “We are not intimidated.”
Time and again we were reminded that prayer is the battle. To those we were with their enemy is not the prison cell, the beatings, or even Communism. These precious followers of Jesus viewed those things as their “Seminary Training.” It is where they learned to trust. It is where God’s word became more precious. It is where fellowship was priceless and it is where their cells became cathedrals of worship and their chains the ornaments of God. BUT they traveled at great cost to simply be with us. They longed for priceless fellowship to hear the precious word of God from our lips because they viewed us with trust and, in the end, they longed for nothing more than for us to pray for them as they humbly knelt before us. AND Jesus’ church is advancing and it is growing.
So, as we enter another year, may we begin to see prayer as the real battle and may we begin to see our life circumstances as the ornaments of God and our homes and work places as cathedrals of worship. Jesus’ Gospel is, indeed, good news and it will produce fruit and His church will grow and it will advance. I have been called “to have a presence” in the lives of people. It is not about programs, but it is about people and having a lasting touch on their lives. It is winning and capturing the hearts of men one person at a time that, in turn, will reproduce those efforts in their world. It is amazing what can happen if we would just be “with” them. So I go…
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