‘Not another house’ I thought as we walked up to our fourth or fifth house of the day. This kind of door to door ministry is not easy for me. I have always hated repetition, even in music if a song repeats the same lyrics to many times, I don’t like that song. This month I find myself working in a constant state of repetition. I will tell the story of the gospel up to four times in one day, and my testimony the same amount. We say practically the same thing over and over again, with slight variation here and there. I fully understand that what we are doing is vital, and that it is an honor to be sharing the gospel, but the thought of doing the same thing over and over again every day for a month is exhausting.
I find myself not wanting to talk when we start walking up to a house. I want to just sit back and let everyone else do all the talking. Once I open my mouth however words just roll off my tongue and I don’t want to stop. I believe that this is a good example of me dying to myself for the sake of God, and him stepping in and speaking through me. I ignore my desire to just sit there and zone out because I know that God wants more for me, and from me.
We sat down on the front porch of one of the more expensive looking houses and waited for people to gather around. After a couple of minutes a pretty large crowd of people had gathered around us. Taking a deep breath I looked around at the men and women with their red "Tilaka" dots, and chalk marks marking them as Hindus, and stated a simple earth shaking truth.
We, being of the English speaking variety, had no idea what was going on. Luckily for us, there was a boy with us who speaks a little English and by talking to him we gleaned that the family who lived in the house had an older son who was a Christian, and that they wanted to be Christians but they wanted to put it off. They were going back and forth between wanting to become Christians and not. Next thing we know, pastor is pulling out his bible and reading an awesome passage from acts 17.
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Then, pastor turns to us and goes “They want to accept Christ, we are going inside.” So we all went inside and pastor led the parents and their two young daughters in a sinner’s prayer. Hearing the sweet melody of the young girls giving their lives to Jesus was one of the most amazing things I have ever heard. Their voices in unison praying to the only God for the first time almost brought tears to my eyes.
Not only were the lives of this family completely changed with two different generations now following after God, but the lives the children and their children’s children are going to grow up knowing about God. Something as amazing as this could be a nation changing moment!
Now, because this family was a family of practicing Hindus, they had cords around their necks symbolizing their faith, and a room with an idol, posters of gods, incenses and chalk in it.
As soon as this family finished praying, they stood up and began cutting the cords symbolizing Hinduism off of their necks, with no prompting from us and defiantly no hesitation. They were literally cutting the chains of oppression and lies off of their necks. They were cutting themselves free from the bonds of idolatry and deception that they have been associated with for probably their entire life. They were claiming freedom for themselves and walking away from everything they have ever known.
The next thing I know pastor is turning to me and saying “Grab your camera, you’re gonna want a picture of this” (only probably not in as good of English as I just wrote it). Chip and I then followed the family into this room set aside for their idol worship, and pastor told us to begin praying for freedom. Closing my eyes, I began calling out to God, begging him to wash over this house, removing any traces of the enemy that had manifested in the house due to idol worship. We spoke life over the family and over the house, claiming freedom. The next thing I know, one of the daughters and the mother of the family are throwing out their idols and anything associated with it. They were claiming Christianity whole heartedly. They were running nonstop into the father without looking back.
the family throwing away their Idols
We then returned to the room to pray life over the family, thats when the older son arrived home from school. When they had mentioned that they had an older son that was a Christian I had imagined a 16 or 17 year old boy who was starting to live his own life, and make his own decisions. When this boy who looked maybe 14 walked in, I was shocked. He had the courage to go against what his family, culture, and what society believed, to walk in what he knew to be truth. I can only help but wonder what that little boy thought, coming home from school one day only to find that his entire family was finally free. I can only imagine how many nights he had called out to God, begging him to bring his family to the light. How many times he had asked for a miracle? That is one of the most amazing things about the Race, we get to come here and we get to be the answer to prayers. God uses us to answer prayers of despration and longing. Prayers of lonelyness and hopelessness. Prayers of opression and confussion.
One of my favorite moments of the entire night however was right before we began to pray for the family, I looked down and saw one of the sweet little girls rubbing the mark of Hinduism off her forehead. She was literally wiping Hinduism off herself. She no longer was carrying the mark of sin. God was wiping her clean; she is now as white as snow. It was a beautiful picture of freedom that I will never forget.
This is why we are here.
We are here to bring freedom.
We are here to speak life.
We are here to answer the desperate prayers of the oppressed.
