I’ve been wordless for a while.
But during that time I’ve been learning a lesson.
I’ve been trying to figure out why God sometimes teaches lessons
Only to wait a long time to reveal his purpose.
I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how long it takes for him to give understanding.
It doesn’t matter if he waits two weeks or twelve years before showing
His purpose behind making us walk through certain things in life.
I was in India last month
And India was hard.
It was a dark place.
It was a place where the enemy was at work destroying lives.
During the service one night there was a demon possessed man.
After the worship and preaching was over we did what we did every other night.
We prayed for the people.
But that night I knew I wasn’t supposed to walk around praying for physical healing and blessings.
I went over to that man, along with a few teammates, and began praying.
It was some of the most intense praying I have ever experienced.
After praying for quite some time the man got up and walked out of the church.
He walked away without me ever knowing if he was set free or not.
And as he walked away I was finished.
Physically and emotionally I had nothing left to give.
It didn’t make sense to me why God would allow his child to be entrapped.
I didn’t understand why if my faith was strong enough this man wasn’t released of this spirit.
I wrestled with this for quite some time before leaving India
Knowing that despite everything my God is a sovereign God.
That his plans are better than my plans.
That his ways are higher than my ways.
That his timing is perfect and mine is not.
I realized that in the current moment I didn’t understand God’s purpose in me
Praying for a demon possessed man only to watch him walk away still captive to this spirit.
But I trusted that whether it be three months later or six years later
He would explain it all to me.
When he was ready he would show me what his purpose was.
I walked out of India feeling confident of these things
And walked into Nepal ready for new things.
Before coming to Nepal my knowledge consisted of
That’s where Mt. Everest is.
I didn’t know anything about the culture.
I knew nothing about the people.
I didn’t even know what their language was called.
After having one meal here and seeing the faces of these people
I quickly realized how similar Nepal is to India.
I was eating curry and looking at women with red dots on their foreheads.
Right away I knew that meant this month would be challenging.
But I was ready for it.
Our contact, Megh, has a bookshelf full of books written in English.
When you don’t see a whole lot of English anywhere you realize how much of a blessing this is.
So the first night here I began exploring the shelf.
I came across one book on demon possession
And asked Megh if this was a common thing in Nepal.
He told me it was very prevalent to have people under demon possession here.
I considered reading the book in means of preparation for the month
But put it aside and continued exploring the shelf.
I then came across a daily devotional.
It was by John MacArthur and the tagline was “daily readings for a deeper faith”
So I figured this was something I could use right now.
I decided that along with reading through Isaiah this month I would do a daily devotional.
It just happened to be September 1st so it worked out perfect
That I would begin the book with a fresh month.
I opened it up to September 1 and the title for the day was “The Reality of Spiritual Warfare”
As I read through the page I realized this wasn’t just today’s topic
But spiritual warfare would be the topic for the whole month.
I kept reading it the next two days
Just assuming God was trying to help me wrap up India
And the darkness I experienced while there.
And then we entered a house for a prayer meeting on our first day of ministry.
As I’m sitting there on a chest covered with a sheet
A young woman walks in and sits on the ground below me.
She catches my eye immediately.
Maybe it was because she was sitting right in front of me.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was because God wanted my eyes to be focused on her.
The prayer meeting began and the room was filled with voices praising the Lord.
During one of the songs this young woman threw her head back onto my legs.
The two women on either side of her grabbed her hands and tried to keep her from choking herself.
It was quickly apparently this young woman was under the attack of an evil spirit.
I sat there and looked over at a teammate and said “I don’t know what to do”
I knew I wanted to jump down on the floor with her
And begin praying for the release of this evil spirit
But I also knew that if I moved my legs
She would slam her head against the chest I was sitting on.
I realized that me being on the floor with her would do nothing different
Than me sitting on the chest with her head in my lap.
So I sat where I was and prayed.
The meeting continued with more music and reading of the scripture.
But my mind was distant from all of the Nepalese worship.
My mind was fixed on this beautiful girl.
I sat praying for her during the course of the meeting.
I didn’t need for God to set her free to prove to me how powerful he was.
I needed God to set her free because this was his child entrapped by a spirit not of him.
This was his daughter who he loves and who needed to be released.
As the meeting was closing more people gathered around this woman and began praying.
After much prayer this beautiful child of God opened her eyes and sat up straight.
A man close by handed her things back to her.
She sat with her Bible in her lap and began putting her scarf on.
All of a sudden she threw her Bible across the room
And began flailing her arms and head again.
We couldn’t stop now.
We began praying intently again.
And after a few minutes she sat up and I could see her for who she was.
I saw her as a beautiful woman whom God loved and cherished.
She talked with Megh for a while before gathering her things
And telling us thank you and goodbye.
I’m still not sure I can explain to you everything that happened in that room.
But I am sure of something.
I’m sure of why God had me expend everything in my body
With a demon possessed man in India only to watch him walk away still possessed.
I’m sure of why God had me choose to read a devotional book this month
That talks all about spiritual warfare.
I’m sure of why God had that girl sitting in front of me during the prayer meeting.
It didn’t take twelve years for God to explain his purpose behind all of this to me.
He had me pray for the spiritual freedom of an Indian man
In preparation for the house meeting in Nepal.
He had me read on spiritual warfare
To again have me prepared for the people he would have me encounter.
In the beginning of the race he showed me how he is the same God all over the world.
And now he is showing me that the enemy is also the same all over the world.
He is showing me how real spiritual warfare is
And how I must be prepared at all times to put on the armor of God and go to battle.
The enemy is not relenting.
But neither is my God.
And he is much more powerful and victorious.
