HE IS DYING
We had already prayed over his wife earlier that afternoon, she told us he had cancer. With a hand on her head, our team of seven surrounded her and asked the Lord to be present within her situation and within the man. Our translators told us that he was coming back from the hospital and would be at the church later; that was when we would be able to see him and pray for/over him. After many other house visits, we found ourselves heading back towards the church building to sit in our familiar lawn chairs and wait for service to begin. Although this evening, we entered into a very unfamiliar atmosphere.
Here he was, lying lifelessly on the floor in desperation of the Father's healing. The term “skin and bone” has never meant more then in this moment. Shortly after his wife came to his bed (floor) side and once service began, a handful of others approached him in love and concern. We were asked to leave this village in a rush after the teaching ended (likely because of idol worship that was taking place one block away). We asked, and were asked to be sure to quickly pray over him before we left the building. No one witnessed any miraculous healings that evening. That wasn't what the Lord had for that community that night, regardless of our asking him.
IT'S EVERYWHERE
India loves to worship. India loves to worship idols. They are everywhere. The faces and images of the idols are seen on door fronts and store fronts, framed within businesses, they are seen as statues on temple sides or standing alone hovering over the villages and cities. The streets are crowded with the public display of painted faces and dress code according to their prayer commitments. In the perspective of an American, it seemed as though they never stopped celebrating Halloween.
We drove through numerous idol worship festivals. All late at night on the way back from ministry. The first we witnessed was located under the overpass, a common crossing for traffic. They had created a large stage and a fenced in area specifically for the devoted worshipers. Within the seconds of the drive by, we saw young girls (about 10 years old) dressed up in black gowns and faces painted white. Within the fence was the crowd of worshipers – shirtless men. Outside of the fence was the rest of the community, observing the event.
HE SAVED THEIR LIVES TO USE THEIR LIVES
A couple weeks into the month I had the opportunity to give the message for the second time. The comfortable side of me wanted to just give the same message as I did before, although I felt he Lord inspiring me to teach something else. The overbearing idol worship wouldn't leave my mind, nor would the amount of times we were asked to pray for healing.
I walked them through Daniel 3, where he writes about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego not bowing to the gold idol of King Nebuchadnezzar and surviving the punishment of the blazing furnace. It was not a familiar story for them because they mainly read through Psalms and the Gospels. With the guidance of this story, I pointed out to them from 3:13-15 the faith these men had. The three of them claimed that God is ABLE to deliver them, they did not state that he WOULD within this situation – leaving room for the Holy Spirit. Secondly, they told the king that God will deliver them from his hand – referring to their faith bringing them into eternity with the Father. These men did not care if they died, they cared to live a pure and blameless life in worshiping the Lord without compromise.
Now if you continue reading, you've discovered that God indeed saved these men. This was where the importance of my message came into play. God saved these three men not to give them a pat on the back and to say “Have a nice day” but for the soul purpose of showing his glory. This event took place in front of all the important, high standing leaders of the land and it ended with King Nebuchadnezzar saying “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego…”
The Lord saved these men to use them for his glory. He did not save them to give them a more comfortable life and they did not bow down to avoid the pain of death. Just the same as this story, we see that Jesus did not avoid the pain of death, for he died and defeated death for us. Jesus saved our lives, and it is time we use our lives for his glory.
