I just returned from almost a month trip to Venezuela. One of the many highlights of this trip was connecting once again with some of our pastors. Three pastors, their wives and a few children joined us for a time of teaching, fellowship, food and relaxation. Sounds like the making a good time, doesn’t it? It had been almost two years since I had last seen them and so the initial use of the language was a bit tough but after a bit of practice my tongue was able to loosen up a bit and I felt more free to converse. It didn’t take long and we began to understand more fully the daily struggles and challenges these men face as they seek to proclaim truth to their own people. The opposition is great and comes at them on many fronts. It was interesting to hear from the pastors how the forces of darkness are making bold moves to put the churches under a spirit of fear once again. All of the pastors have shared how their hammocks have been lifted up while they were in them, and then suddenly dropped, soundly scaring them. At first they wondered what was going on. One fellow then shared the following:
“Suddenly I realized that this was nothing more that the evil spirits at work, seeking to hinder me. Well, I began to speak with them. I said: ‘I am not your servant, I belong to another. And yet I clearly recall the life I had when I lived under your rule. It was like I was an abandoned child, lost in a huge jungle, covered with sores all over my body, and eating nothing but dirt. Yes, I remember those former days. And now, because I belong to another, I tell you forcefully in the name of the Lord Owner Boss Jesus Christ to go away. Be gone!’ They left at once and the rest of my sleep was fine.”
Dreams seem to be another area in which the people quickly come under the control of fear and this fear directs and influences them to resort to old cultural methodology to appease the sources of these dreams.
One of many passages that was shared with our Pastors is found in Romans 8: 31-39. Paul is simply sharing that he was convinced that nothing was ever going to separate us from God’s love. Death can’t, life can’t, angels can’t, demons can’t, our fears or worries can’t, the powers of hell can’t, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus. What a beautiful “nugget” to share with our Pume brethren as they re-direct their focus, not on their dreams, or on the deceptions and antics of the enemy, but on the one true God and the truth He gives us in His word.
Please pray for these believers as they continue to grow and mature in the Lord.
