This past weekend our ministry host in Cambodia told us that we would be spending three days in a nearby village for ministry. So naturally we expected to be going to a remote village with no electricity, no running water, no wifi and no showers. We also expected that we would be doing hut to hut ministry, helping on the farms and any day to day village chores. But when we arrived to the village we were shocked to find out the “village” we were traveling to was actually just a english school called, “Village of the English School”!
We ended up spending the next couple of days teaching english to young students, playing with children and building relationships with the teachers. Although ministry was great and playing with the children was a lot of fun, we as a team did encounter a heavy load of spiritual warfare.
Cambodia, like most Asian countries, is a country were Buddhism and Hinduism is heavily practiced. Many homes and business will have a small alter for Buddha, a spirit house (were “village gods” or “ancestor spirits” live), Hindu god statues or all of the above. The worship of false-gods and idols opens many doors to the demonic and increases the chances for spiritual warfare. Which is what we ran into our first night at the “village”.
We set up our tents outside of the school under a ten roof, prayed a little bit then went to bed. The night was a night full of wind, heavy rain on a tin roof, lightning and loud thunder – The mood was already set for a scene from a scary movie. I fell asleep rather quickly from being exhausted, but was woken up to a lightning strike right outside of the school that hurled a bone shaking thunder. The thunder was so loud it woke our entire team up and within an instant, the spirit of fear crept in. We all settled ourselves down after a few minutes and begin to fall back asleep.
Then after about thirty minutes we were all woken up again, this time not to the sound of loud thunder, but rather, a scream! During my sleep I was having a demonic nightmare, one that caused me to scream myself awake in the physical. I’ll spare you the major details, however, in my dream I was trying to scream but my vocal chords were locked. On my third time trying to scream I was able to not only scream in my dream but also in the physical. The scream woke me and a couple other teammates awake. A couple teammates happened to already be awake praying because they sensed something going on spiritually. When I woke up I immediately asked, “if anyone is awake can you please pray now!?” My entire team was awake and we all got out of our tents, I shared my dream and begin to pray, proclaim scripture and worship for at least an hour. We decided it was time to go back to bed once we finished praying.
The next day happened and we were able to do our ministry without any doubts that God had claimed this land as His own. I share this part of our weekend with you not to induce fear or worries about spiritual warfare, but to share the importance of gathering in community to battle together through prayer and worship when you do face spiritual warfare of your own. Overall, the three days at the “village” was a lot of fun and full of many memorable moments.
Below is a link to a video from our time at the school. Please watch and share! 🙂
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“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” -Ephesians 6:10-20
