As I look back over the last two weeks of ministry in Myanmar, I realized even more that we serve a living God who wants to reveal himself to us. Other major religions deal with man trying to get close to God, but christianity is all about God drawing us close to himself. We had the privilege of being able to evangelize to the people of Pyin Oo Lwin in north Myanmar. We were first invited into their homes through our ministry contact because they were interested in hearing about Jesus. We would enter their homes or huts and usually be given food and a drink. After introductions it was time to share the Good News. Through the help of our translator we shared the Gospel to families that have never heard about Jesus before or only knew very little about Him.
You could tell that many were interested in what we were saying and hoped to keep in contact with our ministry host to learn more. How crazy is that?! Hearing about what Jesus did one time and they are very interested, Some even said they felt something in their heart. We also had the privilege to see others give their lives to Jesus the first time they heard the Good News. It was so rewarding to see them at church the next two Sundays and to revisit a couple and see their strawberry farm.
We were also able to pray for and encourage new believers. There were two instances where God came through in a miraculous way in people’s lives. One lady had given her life to Christ, yet her husband was not interested at all. Her family had problems with debt after a friend hurt them in a bad business deal. They owed about 70,000 Kyat (70 USD) after we prayed for the family the debt collector came and said they only had to pay 10,000 Kyat. She was so happy and came to tell us about what God had done and through that her husband is now interested in knowing more about Jesus.
We prayed for another couple who were experiencing anxiety and spiritual attacks at night in their house. We encouraged them to use the name of jesus to fight off any attack, and we also prayed over their hut. We also had them remove a picture of sheba from their house in order to give themselves more to God. We were also able to encourage them in a family dispute were the wife’s family kicked them out of their house. They did not know where to go and needed money to move to a new place. We told them that God would provide and we prayed with them. A few days later we received word that the parents let them back into their house to stay.
It was also very encouraging to hear stories from believers about how Jesus revealed himself to them in dreams, visions, songs in their hearts and healings after coming to know Christ. While teaching at a mission conference, a man gave his life to Christ the third day of the conference. Weeks before, Jesus had revealed himself to the man and he knew it was time to stop drinking alcohol and follow Christ. We also had the privilege to see him baptized at the conference. He said that night was the best night of sleep he has had in a long time.
Our God is a living God he wants his people to come to know him and he will go after them to make it happen. He will appear to them, use missionaries from their own country or send Americans to tell of his greatness. God is doing great things in Myanmar and I am so excited to see how he uses the missionaries and children from the ministry that we partnered with. So after reading this blog please send up a prayer for Myanmar and the ministry that we partnered with.
