Church and State

We made it to Guatemala (our last country on the race) three days ago. We are working with a newly married couple, Paul and Hilda, who have their hands in many different ministries. They run a few Christian radio stations and they are very involved around the community of Puerto Barrios. They help out at a local orphanage, run a small after school program, they have an internet cafe which teaches school kids how to do research for school, they minister to the local prostitutes, visit and take clothes to remote villages and so on. It seems like we will have our hands in many different places for this last month of the Race but I’m enjoying ministry here already and I’m excited for the rest of the month!

Today was unique but fabulous. Yesterday the mayor of Puerto Barrios asked our contact, Paul, if we could come pray at his office today. Paul said that this was a huge deal so we were very excited. As soon as we arrived this morning they invited us into a meeting room where about twelve men were sitting around a table. We briefly introduced ourselves and then got right to it. We all spread throughout the room laying hands on the men. The Holy Spirit fell and God broke my heart for the second man I prayed for. His name is Raúl. He is probably in his late fifties or early sixties. As I started praying for this man the Holy Spirit immediately started revealing to me what was inside of Raúl’s heart. I heard the Holy Spirit saying that Raúl’s heart was very heavy and burdened. As I continued to pray for Raúl his eyes began to well up with tears. After praying for Raúl I was able to speak with him briefly. He said that his heart was heavy, that he was carrying around many small problems. He said that he had “church” faith. He went to church but that was about it. My heart broke because Jesus is just waiting for Raúl to lay his burdens down at His feet. Jesus doesn’t care how big or small the things we carry are, He just wants them! We aren’t called to carry heavy burdens. We’re called to lay them at the feet of Jesus and we don’t have to be at church to do this.

What are you holding on to that Jesus wants to hold for you?