The Battle's Already Won

 So last week I told you I'd give you a little preview of some of the amazing things we witnessed on the mission field, in terms of spiritual warfare. Here goes…


It seems obvious to us, in light of the evidence all around, that Satan is definitely alive and well, but that in some of the countries we’ve lived, he’s better at staying hidden. I think he chooses to operate at whatever level “works best” for his evil purposes. In some places that mean open and overt in-your-face activity, while in others, he’s comes across as more subtle.  


Anyway, I mentioned before the small prayer group made up of broken and discouraged missionaries. For the first several weeks, we never looked at each other; we just fell on our faces, figurately and sometimes literally, praying for ourselves and our own needs. Then one day, we started noticing each other. In tiny steps, we began to pray for the other people in the group. And to the amazement of us all, God heard us.


At first, we just asked for encouragement, then for things like persistent allergies. Then someone suggested we pray for the gunpowder in Tony’s eye, the product of a shotgun explosion 25 years previously. Instantly, he was miserable, as if someone had thrown a handful of salt in his eye. The feeling lasted all night; then when he woke up the next morning, two of the three most prominent specks of debris which had kept him out of military service were gone. That got our attention, along with a whole set of theological questions. “Great job, Lord! But … what about that third spot?” The only answer that came to the group was 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you …”


Then people started showing up at our prayer meetings, asking for help. One Christian friend came with a Japanese lady. "I've got a person here who just appeared at my church and is asking if the Christian God can help her.  It  seems  that this morning she woke up with absolutely no voice. It had never happened before, she's not sick, just absolutely no voice.   In her panic she went to the Buddhist temple and they wouldn't even see her, then she called a fortune teller and whispered her problem over the phone and was told that  her  future looked very dark." She had then, in a real panic, thought she'd better try Christianity. 


We laughed to ourselves, wondering if a fortune-teller's "Very Dark" could be interpreted as a double negative and therefore positive.  


That's how it turned out.  When the missionary sat her down, another of our group, who was absolutely clueless to the Japanese culture (of subtlety, reserve, etc) stood up and addressed her.  


"Ma'am, I don't speak Japanese so this lady (pointing to another missionary) is going to translate what I say and you're going to repeat it."  She nodded assent.   


"First of all" he began, "I'm going to tell you that you WILL be healed today so you can stop worrying about that, but unfortunately someday you're going to die, and without Jesus you're going to hell.  (Everyone shuddered inwardly at his boldness)


So, continuing, he said, "repeat after me." He began with first an acknowledgement of Jesus, who would become her Saviour, because of His death on the cross, which she whispered correctly.  Then he went on to have her say that she was a sinner, in mortal peril of her soul. 


 Again, whispered correctly.


And then, to everyone's AMAZEMENT, as the missionary and translator continued, she began to get ahead of them both and started whispering out the confession she needed, completely untaught, to accept Christ.


This went on with us all opening our eyes and staring drop jawed, until she practically shouted out in a full and vigorous voice, "And Jesus!  I BELIEVE in You and Your power to forgive me and save me from my sins!!"


Everyone in that room realised once more that Jesus is REAL.  What a blessing we all got. And of course, this woman is a strong believer to this day, (who wouldn't be after that) and a faithful church member.


God CAN win the battle.


So many things to pray for this week, thanks for staying tuned. 


Marsha



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