God keeps ‘taking me back’ to Drăgănești-Olt, Romania and three years later, I am only now learning torealize the impact that was made upon my spiritual life, while there. Truly, it is the place that began to open my eyes to the ‘unseen supernatural’ world that is around us every day.
*Now, I feel as though I should also place a disclaimer. When I mention the ‘unseen supernatural world’, I am only referring to that which is talked about throughout scripture, nothing more. As a point of reference; I would like to highlight Ephesians 6:10-20 but take note of verse 12 specifically. This is the world that God truly began to open up my eyes to while in Romania. I pray that Grace and understanding will fall upon you as you continue to read.
I would like to share a story
with you that involved myself, team-mates, our contacts and local police authority.
September 2013
I remember the day as though it was yesterday. After spending another morning soaked in prayer, worship and meditation our ‘mission’ for the day was to visit a nearby town and hand out tracks. Handing out “tracks” is one way in which the local church evangelizes. The goal was simple. Break into groups of 2-3 people and go door to door in the village handing these tracks out. We were too knock on each door and engage the homeowner in conversation (if they were home and open to having a conversation), or place a track at the door if there was no reply and move onto the next homestead.
Simple and harmless
right?
I would think so,
however, I have neglected to mention a few key political aspects. In Romania, you are free to follow
Jesus. You are free to believe what you
would like to believe. However, when it
came down to evangelism, local authority (police/ mayor etc) had final say as
to it being allowed or not. Basically,
you could end up in jail if you were caught evangelizing in a town/community
that deemed it illegal.
Not so simple anymore is
it?
Keeping this in mind, we
piled into vans and collectively headed out.
As we drove, I wrestled. I
bargained with God and I pleaded to Him to simply keep me safe. I am not sure if my contacts or my team could
tell how nervous I was about what we were about to do. Nervous is actually an understatement. I was flipping scared…Like a broken record, the
thought of ‘I could literally get thrown
into jail simply for talking about Jesus’ continually filled my brain. Guilt filled me, as I recalled countless of
conversations with friends/family back home in Canada in which I proclaimed
that I would ‘die for my faith’. Yet here I was, afraid to simply hand out
tracks at the thought of it potentially landing
me in jail. I was so out of my comfort
zone and we hadn’t even started. With
the final words of “have fun!” from our contacts, we were dropped off in the
middle of the village; with half the teams going right while the rest of the
teams took the left side of the village.
Before I knew it, I was walking up to the first house whether I was
ready or not. Truth be told, I don’t remember
much of actually handing tracks out or the response from the locals. It was like time had stopped. Perhaps what happened next, is why I don’t remember
much of anything else.
The group I was with, had
run out of tracks and so we headed to our central point for more to keep going. It was there that we were informed of what
was going on by a fellow squad member. We
were asked to stop what we were doing and to pray. Remember how I mentioned earlier about how
the local authority had the final word in evangelism being legal or not? Turns out, the local authority (police and
town council/mayor) of the village we were in, had established a law AGAINST
street evangelism. Basically, we were
all committing a ‘crime’, punishable with jail time, by simply handing out
pieces of paper that included the Jesus’ work on the cross (aka Tracks). I think my temperature must have risen about
25 degrees.
Information was limited
about our squad-mates. We knew that the
group of about 10-20, who had gone the opposite direction than my group did,
were being held at the local police station.
To our knowledge at the time; local authority was debating what to do
with them. There was talk of simply giving
them a fine and releasing them but there was also word about jail time as the
mayor wanted to ‘make an example’ of them. By this point, those of us who were
able to, were literally on our hands and knees praying. Not only were we praying but we prayed with
the authority in Jesus’ name. An authority
ABOVE ALL authority. We knew God is LORD
and that HE would prevail. We knew, well
I was honestly learning ‘on the fly’, and that our battle wasn’t against flesh or
blood but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Our contacts were actively involved in trying to settle this quickly (while still holding to the Truth of God’s Word). They knew of the ‘battle’ that laid ahead as they had personally experienced this form of persecution before. However, my admiration/respect for my contacts, grew as we got word that they refused to ‘back down’. They were sticking to what they believed, trusting that God would provide what was needed, even if that meant going straight to the USA embassy in the capital. (*side note, I was the only Canadian on my squad so those being held were all American and because of this, I was personally told to try and stay further back from everything-but to continue to pray).
Our contacts were actively involved in trying to settle this quickly (while still holding to the Truth of God’s Word). They knew of the ‘battle’ that laid ahead as they had personally experienced this form of persecution before. However, my admiration/respect for my contacts, grew as we got word that they refused to ‘back down’. They were sticking to what they believed, trusting that God would provide what was needed, even if that meant going straight to the USA embassy in the capital. (*side note, I was the only Canadian on my squad so those being held were all American and because of this, I was personally told to try and stay further back from everything-but to continue to pray).
Not only did God
provide a supernatural sense of peace to us (and those being held), I truly believed
that He opened the eyes of the police and council in a supernatural way. Before long, EVERYONE was released and we
were ALLOWED to KEEP handing out tracks.
We were told later, by team-mates who sat at the police station unsure
of what laid before them; of an incredible peace that they felt throughout the
ordeal. A peace that they could only
explain came to them through our prayers.
They told of us unbelieving police officers who ridiculed and mocked
them at first but who later asked for
tracks for themselves and for their families because they too, wanted to know
of this JESUS. They wanted to know of whom
these young people were willing to go to jail for!! Talk about the power in Jesus’ name alone! What
satan deemed for evil, GOD magnified into glorious POWER. Darkness was forced into the light. Truth became known and God’s Kingdom on earth
was established further.
God would later use an
Indian missionary couple in Cambodia; to further teach me about PRAYING FOR
persecution among our churches (especially the North American churches) today. God taught me about trusting in Him in ALL
situations; through a Filipino pastor couple confident that God would provide
for them, a green roof for their church simply because God is a ‘God of colour’. God would also reveal to me more of the power
of the supernatural realm through a South African believer passionate about
early morning prayer and meditation and bringing God’s Word through the game of
football (soccer). For now; God once
again affirmed to me of His unfailing love to His children and the true honour
it is to lay our lives before Him regardless of our unknown futures.
Its taken me 3 years to begin to realize the impact this specific experience had on me and my faith. I am not claiming to ‘know all the answers’ as I am still on this journey with God. Rather I am simply bearing witness to the supernatural power that God has given every Believer, through the Holy Spirit. After all, it was Jesus Himself who said that, ‘But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” John 16:7. Jesus also spoke these words, “and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and He will be in you” John 14:16-17.
Prayer works. God hears and He is here.
