The next day I thought I knew where I was going. Five of us even left earlier in the day to beat the heat – a rookie mistake on our part the day before. The walk to the grounds was more somber, focused and prayerful as we asked God to mentally and emotionally prepare us for the unknown spiritual aspects of the day ahead of us. Clothed in the armor of God we entered the elaborate gate, paused to pray on the steps in the shade of a large fruit tree and then headed onward and upward. Past the huge golden buddha and up the steep staircase where all sizes of monkeys loiter and snack on stolen mangoes.
Then we paused to play with the dozens of puppies that ran out of the jungle bush on our way to the ticket booth, because PUPPIES. A true gift and encouragement from our God who enjoys surprises, rewards interruptible living and provides random tupperware for us to fill with water. Puppies ya’ll.
After saying goodbye (praying healing for the sickly ones) and purchasing ‘foreigner’ tickets, we headed up the next huge set of stone stairs set on the side of a mountain. Careful not to trip over my long skirt, we paused to enjoy the breeze, appreciate the gorgeous views and attempt to capture the scenic moment on our little phone screens.
On this climb, God began to whisper that these ancient temples, with all of their fancy idols and man-made grandeur were still sitting on His mountain, overlooking miles of trees, rocks, mountains, animals and all of His creation. Even the 100ft golden buddha statue was dwarfed by His intimidatingly perfect scene. The very attempt to create a space separate from God had only ended up glorifying Him more.
Once we arrived at the top, having declined vendors selling flowers, fruits, elephant pants, crystal stones and brass statues, we were told it was mandatory to check our shoes at a little hut. I remembered a conversation I had with my teammate a few weeks ago who visited another ancient temple while in Malaysia. She had said “While I was there I had this thought of how cool it would be to take off our shoes and walk around with our bare feet and pray for the temple. How weird is that – its not something I would ever think of!” So as we kicked off our chacos I reminded her of that thought and how it was now happening! (It took her a solid 6 minutes to even remember telling me that – that’s how out-of-her-character but in-Gods-character it was).
Leaving shoes behind, declining a guided tour and entering the tourist-accessible part of the Cave Temple, we were suddenly extremely aware of the spiritual battleground we had entered. Here is a gist of the land we entered, “There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding area. Major attractions are spread over five caves, which contain statues and paintings. These paintings and statues are related to Guatama Buddha and his life. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings and four statues of gods and goddesses. The latter include Vishnu and the Ganesha. The murals cover an area of 2,100 square metres (23,000 sq ft). Depictions on the walls of the caves include the temptation by the demon Mara, and Buddha’s first sermon” taken from the ever-trustworthy source of Wikipedia (#sorrynotsorry).
Its difficult to put into words an experience I am only beginning to understand myself. To clearly describe a chance to partner with God’s heart and reinforce His victory on the Cross in an atmosphere working to ignore, confuse and negate it. But feet bare, I walked across the scenic yard to the furthest cave, entered and began covering it in prayer. Because Sri Lanka is 1% Protestant Christian, it’s important to physically display respect for the other religions and people around us. For our safety, and also to keep doors open for conversations or relationships that couldn’t develop if we displayed anything less. I snapped a few pictures of the ceiling artwork, wandered around each idol and shared smiles with the other tourists, all the while praying for it to collapse around me.
As believing believers in the power of a Risen King, we are called to stand strong in the knowledge that death has been defeated, the enemy has been beaten and we are no longer slaves to sin. The enemy’s one trick is to lie and convince us we are powerless, unimportant, isolated and should be afraid. And that’s straight bull.
As redeemed creation, sons and daughters of an active, living God, vessels of the Holy Spirit, re-presenters of a risen King Jesus, we are powerful, important, fearless and integral partners in God’s plan to resurrect the entire Earth into relationship with Him. As such, in this time, place and space of eternity, we brought with us the presence of Heaven into one of the deepest, darkest, most ancient strongholds the enemy thought was his.
When we went into the biggest cave, immediately following some sort of ceremony, the weight of the darkness was tangible and physically felt by all of us in the form of heightened anxiety, weighted heads and chests and physical discomfort or pain. But as we prayed asking God for His words, His perspective and to show us what the place needed, Heaven came down. Light invaded dark corners, the hard ground softened and the atmosphere lifted. Cracks in the idols grew deeper and people began walking away. As I felt Him put specific people on my heart who walked in unassuming, curious yet unaware, I watched them turn and walk out, unsatisfied by the answers it offered, away from lie of the cave.
Suddenly I looked around and I was the only person left in there. The privilege of partnering with God Almighty kept me in there longer, praying His heart – that caves dedicated to others would collapse, that idols would crumble, that patched cracks would shatter beyond repair, that Creation would be released of tension living this side of Eden yet that side of fully redeemed – after all this is what God promises will happen and what we all have the responsibility to enforce.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”
Isaiah 61:1
Sometimes our ministry gets to look like verbally sharing the Gospel. Sometimes it is a smile to a barista who’s been working all day, a snuggle during naptime with a tired child on a dirt floor, speaking words of encouragement to tired friends, praying healing over a devout buddhist, or just pouring into a teammate who hasn’t slept well all month. Sometimes we harvest, we fertilize, we cultivate, we plant, we sow. And sometimes we have to absolutely drench dry desolate ground with living water until it is soaked through and has enough texture to hold seeds that are coming.
The next day I knew that our ministry in Dambulla was done, that we had fulfilled God’s purpose of our presence in that town, but I didn’t have peace. I needed God to release me from that place like He had reassured me it was time to leave Mahangeni as I described in this earlier post. After a day of rest I knew I had to return, and God had a beautiful revelation for me when I did.
Part 3 of this little series coming soon my dear friends and family!!
Love, Hannah
**There are only a few days left to financially contribute to all God is doing around the World through myself and my team! Please consider donating any amount you can:) **
