Wednesday, August 02, 2006

You may have heard this story, but you haven't heard my version.

I'm going to tell you.

One afternoon, our North Africa team was prayer walking in Amizmiz. We went out in teams of four to walk the streets, see the people, see their lives, their need, and simply pray for them and the things God is doing there.

Frankly, I was not looking forward to it. I thought I had seen all these things before. My prayers were all starting to sound the same. I was tired of being so hot that I would break into a sweat just standing outside for two seconds.

We began our walk. I began to pray for the Lord to adjust my attitude... I knew I needed it. The first person we ran into was a good friend, a Moroccan man who worked with us during our time there. A man who knows about Jesus's love but is waiting to make a decision because it would disgrace his father, who is dying. A man our team grew to love. As we briefly talked with him, I felt the Lord begin to change my heart. This sweet man, who knew we were praying for him, who understood what we were about... my heart broke for him and the way his heart is ready to follow the Lord, but his circumstances are holding him back.

The floodgates of prayer were opened in my heart. I had not seen everything before. We walked in places in the village I didn't even know were there. We passed by a garage FULL of children in some kind of summer school, all their small voices repeating phrases in unison. My spirit leapt at the opportunity to come before the Lord on their behalf...

God began to impress upon my heart the desire for these people watching us walk through their village to KNOW the Power we walked in. I became desperate to actually be walking in Jesus's authority, that His presence in me would be unmistakable! And so for the next however-long, that is what I prayed for. That is the desire God set in my heart for Him, for my team, for the North Africans.

On our way back to our home base in the village, two little boys began following my prayer group. They wanted money; they wanted water; they wanted whatever they thought we had to give. After several minutes, they weren't cute anymore. They were annoying.

Until I realized... Jesus, this is what it is to walk in Your Power. People follow. They have a hunger deep inside themselves that can only be satisfied by what I have deep inside myself - You.

Later that night, our team was able to perform our salvation-themed drama in another small village outside of a major city. This was the night we happened to meet 5 Europeans.

Matt was from Poland. He spent a significant amount of time talking to several of my teammates about God and why we were there. While his European colleagues left to eat, he stayed and watched the drama. It was not translated in a language he knew, but he understood it. He saw its spiritual significance. Matt came to know the Lord that night - it was such an amazing God thing!

And this is what Matt told my teammate who helped lead him to Christ:

There is something different about your team. I can see it on each of your faces. You have something I do not.

We walk in the unmistakable power of Jesus Christ!

Lauren

3 Comments:

At 9:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This past Sunday our Bible Study teacher asked us, "if you had any Jewish friends would they be envious of your walk? Then he expanded it to "would any of your unsaved friends be envious" Many dutifully answered "yes", but I honestly think many times those around us don't see us as being very much different from them.....unless we are walking in THAT POWER. It really does make a difference doesn't it? Thanks for sharing.

 
At 1:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This reminds me of Exodus 33:12-17 when Moses replies to God, "If you don't go with us personally, don't let us step from this place. If you don't go with us, how will anyone ever know that your people and I have found favor with you? How else will they know that we are special and distinct from all other people on earth" (NLT).

We need to be sure that we are walking with God or else we are just like everyone else and not distinct. We need to be intentional about our wakl with Him.

Laura O.

 
At 12:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a prayer request. One of my classmates, Jon Francis, from college went hiking in July and July 16th went missing. He still has not been found, and people are still searching for him. I ask that we just keep him and his family in our prayers. He is a youth minister at Luther Heights Bible Camp in Idaho. There is a website about his search: www.jonfrancis.org/

Laura Allyn

 

Post a Comment

<< Home