WHAT? Did you get that? The impossible happened TONIGHT. Prayers were answered! Seriously, like God answered our prayers verbatim, and then added some beautiful and unimaginable twists. ALL the glory belongs to God. The way He orchestrated everything blows my mind! Matko and I practically skipped with joy all the way back home. We couldn’t stop cheering. This is NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR for me, let alone for Matko! The transformation we prayed about was instantaneous, radical, and so, so, so beautiful. Just YESTERDAY Matko and I were talking about the beggars here and he shrugged and said most beggars in Croatia are crooked and he’d never give them money. Just TWO HOURS ago he gave away all the money he had on him to a beggar on our walk home! <lol>
So I’m getting ahead of myself, but I can’t help it. I spent literally all day on my face praying for him. Honestly, I noticed a lot of spiritual attack… I really felt like the enemy was trying hard to get me to doubt-to doubt that I heard from God, to doubt the power of God, to doubt in the accuracy of Scripture, to doubt myself, to doubt the power of prayer, to doubt the willingness of God. “Should I have written my blog with such confidence? Should I have made those promises? Am I setting up God for failure? Am I endangering the church’s reputation? Am I full of wickedness and pride? Am I testing God unrightfully?” All day long I spent rebuking the enemy’s lies and interceding for Matko, until I finally felt like the Israelites when they were up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army coming up behind them. I felt like God was waiting until the very last possible moment when all looked hopeless because He wanted to show off some awesome power in parting the Red Sea.
And man, HE DID! He raised the dead! He pursued Matko throughout everything and all of heaven is rejoicing tonight at the works of His hands. God ordained every tiny detail today according to His perfect timing and will. If you knew Matko, you would be literally blown away. After we prayed, he immediately became transformed. He started saying things like, “I want to be like Jesus! I want to bring hope to people and help them!” He tried, but failed, to explain the supernatural joy he was feeling inside. I’m just like, “I know, man! I can’t explain it, either!” He felt a happiness lift away his depression for the first time in his life. As we were walking the strip, everything felt alive to him, “I feel like a new person! I see the world with different eyes!” Oh yeah, and I didn’t say a word to him about his lack of a job or laziness, but God must have! That was cool, too. Matko exclaimed that he wanted to get off his butt and find a job the very next day! He told me, “I don’t feel any laziness over me at all. I can’t explain any of it!” It literally felt like he was going through true deliverance-as if strongholds were, in fact, being torn down, and the enemy’s lies were, in fact, being exposed by the light of God.
Okay, so it began as I was praying alone in the basement of the café. I kept hearing Matko’s voice, but I waited and prayed until God just directed everything in a really cool way that I don’t need to share. In fact, I don’t think many people would believe me, anyways! Regardless, I ended up inviting him for a walk to the Riva (the gorgeous strip on the coast of the Adriatic). We just hung out and I told him everything God had been putting on my heart.
Matko is truly a great guy, and I believe God is going to continue to work miracles in his life. Something changed in him tonight. All of a sudden he was totally and uncharacteristically excited to learn about the Bible. I shared with him some stuff in my own words, but I can’t wait until I can share with him the pure honey of the Word. He opened up and shared some things with me that he said he’s never shared before, and he wants to meet with me to learn about God every day until I leave Croatia!
I hope as you read this, you’re just like, “aaaaawesome!” Isn’t it cool to see the supernatural at work? Isn’t it cool to KNOW that you’re a part of this Kingdom? There is nothing in the world apart from God that could deliver someone instantaneously from suicide and depression. Nothing. You guys, I know a lot of you read my last blog and posted your prayers for Matko. I know others of you have prayed silently. I hope you know that God not only used the missionaries here in Croatia, but that He also used each of you to play a really special role in this story. I don’t know exactly how or why God uses our prayers to accomplish His will, but somehow and for some reason it is pleasing to Him.
And Isn’t this exactly what the church is all about? I didn’t expect Matko to ever read my blog (maybe I did), but after I saw God radically transform him before my very eyes, I just had to share with him some more about his cool story. Honestly, what a great first glimpse of the church of God! His first night as a Christian, he got to see what its all about. We read through a bunch of prayers for HIM with the biggest, dumbest smiles you could imagine, hugging each other, and overall acting entirely undignified. During his first evening as a member of the body of Christ, he witnessed the church genuinely love him before he even knew the church. Sound familiar? Isn’t that how God has loved each of us?
