Squatting down alongside the inky crumbling wall, Jackie Pullinger encouraged the young triad to pray that he might be released from his enslaving vice of chasing the dragon. Unwillingly and with no clear idea of what he was doing, he prayed to be set free from his addiction. Instantly he was. Chasing the Dragon, by Jackie Pullinger, depicts how hundreds of heroine and opium addicts were set free from their addictions through their drastic encounters with Jesus. This book seriously challenged my perception of the Holy Spirit. Previous to this, I had not thought a lot about the Holy Spirit nor its role in influencing my thoughts or actions. I knew that, as a believer, the Holy Spirit was living inside me. However, I had never seriously allowed it to enter intimately into my life.
Romans 8:5-6 says, however, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what nature desires; but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” Also, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says,”Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own.” As a follower of Christ, I am not my own. I am not to have control over my life. Rather, I should relinquish dominion over my thoughts and actions to the control of the Spirit.
After the first few days in Si Khoraphum, Thailand, I was frustrated by the language barrier and my inability to share the gospel with the children I taught English to. I did not know how to work the gospel into an English lesson, without interfering with their studies or upsetting the teachers. So the only thing I knew to do was pray. Once in the classroom, the teacher left, so giving us the opportunity to share the gospel using the alphabet as a guide. Each letter of the alphabet represented a part in the story. The joy I experienced after hearing the kids say Jesus, possibly for the first time in their lives, is unexplainable. I know that, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2). Also, Romans 8:26 says, ” Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” I know without a doubt that the Holy Spirit answered our prayers and gave us wisdom in our weakness as to how to witness to those children.
Please be praying for my team and I as we witness in Thailand.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” ( Romans 15:13).
