NOTE: This is the second submission from Ezekiel, a missionary doing great work in Asia. To add context to this story, be sure to read the first submission on Day 5.

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In 1980, I went to a village, Sameunto. I walked with Yisaya that day. We started to walk around 7:30 a.m., up and down hills, on foot in the jungle. There was no village along the way until we reached Sameuto. We finally got there at around 10:00 p.m. We stayed in that village for a week and told them about the love of God in Christ. 

While we were there, a man named Laosi approached us and said he and his family wanted to accept Jesus. He went on to say that he has a terrible health problem. He had gone to many popular demon priests/doctors to cure his sickness, and he had also gone to many physical doctors. No matter what he did, however, his physical problem did not improve at all. 

After years of struggles, this man had exhausted all of his resources. (Both the evil spirit doctors and physical doctors cost a great deal of money).

Finally, he met us and heard the Gospel of Jesus. After he heard the Gospel, he decided to accept Jesus. So, he and his wife invited me and my friend to their home. We went to their home and told them more about why we need Jesus and what it means to accept Him. Soon after, we prayed for their whole family. Then we took all of the things from their home that belong to evil spirits and burned them!

After that, we all walked to a river and baptized the whole family of six: four children and the parents. It was beautiful! 

When we come back to Chiangmai, we brought Laosi with us. He stayed with my wife and me for nearly five months. During that time, my wife nursed him. She fed him with things he felt like eating and drinking, and she took daily care of him. During his stay with us, I did not take him to any doctor, but I prayed for him and supplied some multivitamin pills. Over time, his health improved so much that he seemed like a new man. 

Two days ago, his daughter came to my house and invited me and my wife to participate in her father’s 82 years birthday. So, we went there and shared the story of Laosi background—How he became a new man in Christ and how God blessed him with a longer life in this world. 

I am including two pictures that we took on his 82 years birthday.

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I hope this story helps and builds up our faith in Christ.

FINAL WORD:

In his book The Jesus Revolution, pastor and author Leith Anderson shares a story about the tension that sometimes comes between obeying God and obeying the law of the land. A number of years ago, he and three others were traveling to a Communist country where Christians were regularly being persecuted. They did not have a direct flight to their destination, so they had to stay in a neighboring country for one evening. That night, while having dinner with a few fellow Christians in that country, Anderson and his companions were approached about smuggling in some Bibles for the underground church. Anderson immediately refused to do so, pointing out that it was illegal. The Christians in that country would not take no for an answer, though. They told Anderson they would return in the morning with the Bibles and that Anderson’s group should “ask God what they should do.” Anderson writes about the tough decisions that would follow: 

Overnight, I made a decision. A Bible or two might be risky, but not impossible. However, I wasn’t prepared for the following morning’s delivery. It was a small library of Bibles, books about Christianity, study tools, and videos. 

I truly can’t explain why we did what we did. We divided up the Bibles, books, and videos among the four of us and loaded up every available space in our suitcases, carry-on bags, and purses. It was not a comfortable experience. When nearing our destination, the flight attendants distributed customs forms representing our names, passport numbers, and the answers to pointed questions. Were we bringing guns, narcotics, or literature into the country? The four of us sat paralyzed over what to write. If we said we were not bringing literature, we were lying. If we checked that we were bringing books and Bibles, we were in serious trouble…

It was one of those moments when the Holy Spirit gave a simple solution that we would not have thought about ourselves. We didn’t answer the question. We left it blank. I can’t say that we were confident in our choice, but that’s what we did. As we passed through immigration surrounded by armed guards and immigration officers, our forms were carefully scrutinized, and all four of us were waved through.

What I next remember is the secret night meeting when we turned over the Bibles and literature to Christians from the underground church. Their faces still remain with me all my life.

You may want to criticize my lack of courage or condemn my actions as dishonest. For me, I was suddenly in the sandals of Peter and John, who said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

REFLECT:

Get alone with God and ask Him to give you ONE PLACE where you are to bravely stand. Boldness, as we have seen, and is an attitude that God develops in us over time, much like a runner develops stamina. Write down in your journal what comes to mind—that stand God is calling you to.

Consider the lines from Braveheart: “Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!” Ask the Father in secret where He wants you to stand—this is where boldness begins. Jesus told his disciples and also tells us, “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.” Luke 12:3-4