Part 2 of this story series.
You may be asking yourself, as I was when I heard about the daunting Mission Impossible, “How would one person be able to reach thousands and thousands?”
It seems … well … impossible.
As I sat in the Global Team meeting absorbing the numbers of souls and what this means for eternity, I began to feel hopeless. “There’s no way,” I thought to myself. “Even if we can sponsor 400 people, there’s just no way they can do it.”
But.
But then our team leader John Musick outlined what can happen when one person steps forward and shares the message of God’s love.
See, in the United States, where we have an abundance of churches and opportunities to hear about Jesus, we don’t really see the types of miracles that occurred in the first century church – at least, not in great degree. We have ample chance to hear and understand. So we don’t really need the miracles. They are something we ponder from Scripture, but most of us don’t really see the same types of marvels as done by Jesus and His disciples in the book of Acts.
However – in India, it’s very different.
In a country where many have never even heard the name of Jesus spoken, God is working through His emissaries to perform the same types of things that happened 2,000 years ago. On this side of the globe, we don’t hear about this very much, but it’s happening, John said.
People are coming to know Christ through dreams and visions of Him.
People are being delivered from evil spirits or are being supernaturally healed. Those who have been lame for years are walking. The blind are receiving their sight.
One woman in particular has a healing gift. She does nothing but keep her home open to the sick. She prays over them in Jesus’s name, and they are healed.
And in another area, the state of Orissa where many persecutions have been taking place recently, missionaries are working solo. They share the message. Then, thousands of people accept Jesus in one fell swoop.
In one case, a missionary received a request from a community to come and preach. He was concerned that he might be walking into a trap. So he told the community leaders that he would only come if he received a signed petition from the residents. They returned – with scores of names. When he went and preached, hundreds came to Christ.
These stories are endless, John told us.
What we can know is that when we trust God, He becomes the secret weapon to the Mission Impossible. He can do anything. He can use one person to reach thousands if He wants.
And He is. He’s doing it in India, right now.
But wait – there’s more. Tune in tomorrow to find out how Quest’s partner in India is organizing the effort – and what you can do to help.
Heidi... i dont know you except through your blogs which i have followed for a time now...your transparency and honesty in sharing your experiences allows me to almost step in your shoes and "feel" what you are living..your Soul is exposed..so its possible to "see" you and therefore assess where you presently are spiritually speaking..i can identify with you because i've been where you are now..in your journey. ..i remember being in the Charismatic Movement and getting excited hearing the storys of the dead being raised in s.africa...people walking on water..cancers disappearing..crowds being "slain" in the Spirit..healings and prophecy and more....when i look back on those years i chuckle (at me)..it was an invaluable experience which taught me so much about myself and human behavior..and about being taken advantage of by a good Con..my lack of common sense or my refusal to use it back then is unbelieveable to me now..for complicated psychological reasons i NEEDED to believe the storys EVEN WHEN I KNEW THAT THEY WERE'NT TRUE..Thank God im through that stage..so when i hear the storys your mentioning about the miracles in India i wince and remember when i too was a "believer".
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous, and thanks so much for your truthful, forthright and note of what I perceive to be genuine concern.
ReplyDeleteYou may be surprised to find out I am extremely skeptical and was not involved with anything charismatic my entire life. I actually don't think of my current church as being that way, and I'm very careful about churches that prey on emotions rather than allowing God's actual Spirit to take charge.
That said ... I think that the reason I have chosen to believe this is that I trust the team leader who has visited India and has presented this information. He has a real heart for lost souls, and his genuineness is very clear to me.
The thing is that we discount these stories easily in America, because when we have heard of them here, they usually prove to be false. However in this case, I do believe that God is doing miracles to speak to people in cultures that do not have a strong Christian presence. I have also met people from other countries in the past year who have experienced visions first-hand -- even one who I met recently here in this country who had gone through the same thing to become a Christian.
If it was possible for the apostles of Acts, why isn't it possible for India? We can be intelligent, rational and also allow God to work in our hearts so that we have faith to believe He can reach people any way He wants to reach them.
For my part, I choose to believe He can and is doing it. Knowing the mindset of many people raised in other religions, I can see that it may be the ONLY way to reach them. He knows what is needed, and we have to trust that He will do whatever will bring the lost home to Him.
Hope this helps a little. Thanks so much for your comment.
Heidi