There is so much I used to take for granted in America. Our fountain pops, free ketchup, and toilets to name a few… But one thing I will never take for granted again is my freedom to be a Christian.
In America, not everyone may like Christianity, not everyone may choose to be a Christian, but it is certainly not persecuted, oppressed or restricted the way it is in so many parts of the world. In China our Bibles were illegal, we had to “cover-up” what we were really doing by working at a café, and sneak away from the police.
Here in Serbia almost no one has heard the true Gospel. They hear a distorted, man-made gospel, which is bound by rules, traditions, and politics. They do not know about the LOVING, LIVING God. One of the amazing men here named Dragon described it well when he said “The people here view God like he’s a piece of furniture; something that just sits in the room but doesn’t do anything. Not as a being that is alive and dwelling within them.”
We are the first Christian missionaries to ever come to the city of Pozarevec. People will go to Bosnia and Croatia, but hardly anyone comes to Serbia. They have no help here. This country has been through so much; they have experienced so much oppression through the wars and have countless reasons to have hardened hearts. They cling to their “traditions” because it is something “safe.”
If only they knew that the only safety and security they could ever experience is by receiving salvation through Jesus Christ.
Last week we wanted to go to the hospital in town during visiting hours and offer prayer to anyone who would receive it. It was Amaris, 2 of our Serbian friends, Alex and Dragon, and I approached a nurse and asked if there was anywhere we needed to check in. Well what we thought would be a simple thing turned into quite the fiasco. The first nurse grabbed a superior nurse and she shared that “the Orthodox church prays for people in church, because the church is the only place you need to pray.” She explained that “Orthodox priests are the only people who come to visit and that we are not needed here”. She said that the Orthodox church has a random list of names of people in the hospital and the church prays for those people…
Obviously not having any idea who they are or what their stories are or if they are dying and have not received salvation.
We then told her that we would like to meet the people so that we could know their names to pray for them as well. She said that that was not needed and asked us to leave. I couldn’t leave without giving it one last try, so as she was about to walk away I asked her if she was a person who prays. She said yes. I then asked her what she believed her prayers actually accomplished. She said that she didn’t want to talk about that here. I then told her that I believe that my prayers have the power to bring healing and life to others through Christ and that isn’t that what a hospital is for? To bring healing and life to others? So I told her that I feel that a hospital is the perfect place to pray.
She then walked away. As we walked down the stairs and out the building my eyes filled with tears and I began to weep. It breaks my heart that people do not know the truth about Jesus. That a woman can say that she prays but have absolutely no belief in what her prayers could actually accomplish with the Holy Spirit inside of her. That a nurse would keep us from patients who could be laying in their hospital beds crying out to a God they don’t really know, asking Him to reveal Himself to them and heal them, and that revealing and healing could happen through me.
As I was standing in front of the hospital, crying into Amaris’ shoulder, a patient in a robe appeared beside us out of nowhere. She asked if I was crying happy tears or sad tears. Alex, who was translating through this whole experience for us, explained to her that I was sad because we weren’t allowed to pray in the hospital.
She said that my prayers are heard from anywhere and that we should pray for her.
She then told us that her name was Mira and that it means peace. The Lord instantly brought me peace! And not only did He bring me that but He also gave me a name of someone in that hospital to pray for. Her name is Mira and she disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared to us just a moment earlier.
I believe that experience was a gift from God. He wanted me to get kicked out of a Serbian hospital so that my heart would truly break from the people of Serbia who are spiritually dead. The next three days in a row the Lord brought us people in the park to share the gospel with. The Lord supernaturally softened their hearts and for three days straight we were able to bring joy, prayer, and the truth about Jesus to strangers in a park in Serbia. The realities of God’s love became so real to some of them that tears streamed down their face.
One woman, Claudia, received salvation.
Not only that but she also received healing and freedom from her past. She is now coming to church and it seems that every sentence she speaks include the words “Jesus Christ” (in Serbian of course!)
Light will always cause darkness to flee. Nothing has authority over Jesus Christ. One day every knee in Serbia will bow. My confidence is in Him.
