Team Talithia Cumi in Zranjenin, Serbia
I'm an artist by nature. It's in my blood. Generations of musicians, painters, crafters, writers, creative minds, and theatrical men and women are what make up my heritage. So it is second nature for me to stop and revel in the glory of art in its many forms. It fascinates me and often removes me from reality and transports me into the mind of the creator. I think of the time period in which a piece was created or a song was written. I think of the history behind it. But what most intrigues me about art in its many forms is the emotion behind it that lead to its creation.
My teammate Angela and I in Serbia
This was definitely on my mind as my teammate Angela and I were doing a prayer walk around the little town of Zrenjanin here in the country of Serbia. When you spend time in other countries your eye is always drawn to the things that differ from your own culture. In Serbia, one of the most visible differences from our American culture is the incredible amounts of graffiti that covers almost every building in this country.
My Teammates Janice and Katelyn in Serbia
In America, we see graffiti as a sign of disrespect and defacing, but here in Serbia it's almost like it is natural and almost encouraged. As Angela and I walked and prayed against the great darkness we felt in the city from the moment we arrived, I was very distracted by the elaborate and colorful displays of graffiti all over the place. These people were artists! So creative but they had no outlet or platform in their country except on the sides of buildings, on signs, and even houses. They made sure and made themselves and their agendas known. All over street corners there were identical signs that mark the territory of local gangs and clans. I was noticing that the graffiti, although it was in a completely different language that we could not understand, was the cry of a people longing to be heard. We continued to pray until all of the sudden we approached a building and we both immediately felt a deep darkness that far outweighed what we had felt anywhere else….
My Teammates Sierra and Kaylee in Serbia
Ok so hold up. I feel the need to back up and explain up to this point. You see, Angela and I spent time praying and crying out to God for guidance before we left where we were staying to go out into the city. As we were praying, I began to explain to The Lord, "Holy Spirit, I know there is such a need here. There is a darkness but you have not yet revealed to us the specifics of it. If you would please just expose the plan of the enemy for this city and these people, it would make it way easier to stay focused in our prayers."
To that the Holy Spirit responded, "Be patient and alert and I will expose My enemies plan as you have asked Me to."
So we continued to pray. I continued to pray for guidance but I distinctly heard The Lord say, "Just be quite and listen for a moment."
So I sat there listening and, all of the sudden, I felt myself get really tired. So I lay my head on the ground and closed my eyes. (I know I may lose some of you with what Im about to say but, seriously, I promise, it will all make sense at the end of this story.)
So as I had my eyes closed, God began to give me a vision. In this vision, I saw a huge canvas and I saw the hand of God drawing something. I was mesmerized like I always am when I see an artist at work. As the drawing began to take shape I realized it was a building surrounded by a fence and trees. It had many windows. When He finished the building He began to create a city in the background. There was no color to this drawing. It was just a sketch of black and white. When The Lord was finished with the sketch, He stepped back smiled and then went to go get color to complete the drawing. When He stepped back the enemy immediately came in. The enemy looked at the drawing and grabbed a pen and began to scribble all over the city. He was marking his territory. He looked at the building and began writing words. These words stood out to me because they were in English. I couldn't make out what they said because I was more focused on the fact that the enemy was ruining this beautiful drawing that The Lord had just created. I began to pray and rebuke the enemy. I was so frustrated and angry and I began yelling at him to stop. I began to tell for The Lord to come. Of course, when I rebuked the enemy and called on The Lord, He came and the enemy immediately fled. The Lord looked at the defaced drawing and I could tell that His heart was sad but He was not defeated. He took a paintbrush and covered the canvas with white paint. Then when all the old picture was washed away, God began to create something brand new. It was the same picture; but this time He added color and it brought such life and joy to the painting. The words the enemy had once painted were no more and before me was a completely new creation! God had made all things broken and destroyed brand new and it was beautiful!
After the vision was over I snapped back to reality and sat up and told my teammates, Angela and Sierra, what The Lord had just showed me. They both confirmed that God had given them the same kind of picture and feeling toward the city.
The next day is when Angela and I took off for our prayer walk which brought us to the building afore mentioned. The darkness was heavy as we approached this large building surrounded by fence and trees. The white paint chipped from the outer walls and as we peered though the many barred windows it appeared to be abandoned. It was a depressing and forlorn sight. The feeling of neglect and deep sadness overcame Angela and I, and we began to pray. In the middle of our prayer, I looked up and was totally surprised to see written in big black letters, in plain English: The Exploited. This was pretty much the first graffiti we had seen in English in the whole city. God said, "You asked for specifics, well here you go. This is what the enemy has marked this city and these people as…THE EXPLOITED." Angela and I began to specifically pray for those in this city and country who were being exploited and against the plans of the enemy for their lives.
When we finished praying for THE EXPLOITED, I looked over and saw the word, in English, plastered across the side of the building: DISORDER. And God said, "The enemy has marked this city and its officials with DISORDER." So Angela and I prayed against the plans of the enemy for the government, and prayed for order in the city.
After we were finished praying for that, I felt like God wanted us to walk around the building as much as we could to pray. I walked behind Angela and listened. The Lord was not speaking, so I waited and listened as Angela prayed out loud. She was praying against the spirit of VIOLENCE on the city. I began to agree with her in prayer as we walked. Then, I kid you not, when we approached a fence and could go no further I looked on the wall of the building and saw the word, written in English: KILL!
The Graffiti on the building we came upon in Serbia on our prayer walk
These were no coincidence! The Lord had revealed to us that the enemy had marked this city and its people as THE EXPLOITED, caused DISORDER in the government, and placed a spirit of VIOLENCE in the people. As I stepped back and looked at the building again it was like a veil was pulled off my eyes and I realized that this building was the exact same building that God had shown me in my vision!
At that moment God revealed to me why my team and I where here in Serbia! We were to pray, resist the enemy, expose his plan, and pave the way for God to do a new thing here in this country! So right at this moment God is pulling out His paint brush and washing away the past that has haunted Serbia for so long! The depression and hardship that came from the communistic rule is being washed away and God is doing a new thing! The hopelessness of the people of Serbia is being washed away and God is beginning to reveal their true value! He is doing a new thing!
We are excited and waiting in anticipation to see God move here! I may never see the fruits of our prayers but I know it's coming! It has been revealed in the most unlikely form of art; through the graffiti! The graffiti that the enemy meant to mark his domain has exposed his plan! And now it has opened the door for Gods power to sweep through this country!
So come Lord! Let Your kingdom come! Your will be done! Here on earth as it is in Heaven!
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Thanks for reading and thank you for your prayers! They are obviously working 🙂
Quick financial update: I am halfway funded and am in need of $3,500 by October in order to continue on this mission. Thank you to all of you who have already invested in and have made this mission possible. If you feel led to give click on the SUPPORT ME TAB on the left side of my blog screen! Thank you and much love from Eastern Europe 🙂
