Divine protection

Bow, arrow, and bush knife

Something missionaries have to deal with is security in unfamiliar and sometimes unknown conditions. We go where we go because the Lord calls us there, or maybe because we have to go for some reason, not necessarily because it is “safe” to go there. Search the Scriptures and see that this is nothing new. There really isn’t any place on earth that is 100% free of sin, crime, or war. (If you found a place that was and went there, you would probably ruin it before too long with your own imperfections, if nothing else.) There are, of course, places that are scarier than others, and statistically much worse in terms of crime per capita, war, etc.

A friend of mine, Pastor Joseph, was doing some church planting work in the Western Highlands Province, recently, when he was in a prayer meeting that was interrupted by the sound of some youths making a racket outside of his door. They had a gun, bush knives (machetes), and masks, and evil intentions. The people inside kept praying, and the racket suddenly stopped. After they were done praying, Pastor Joseph went to the door to see what was going on. He saw the would-be bandits kind of frozen in place with their knives and gun. He asked if they were OK. They couldn’t really talk, but kind of made a tiny “no” motion. He asked the Holy Spirit to release them, and the gun and knives dropped to the ground and the youths kind of shook themselves to work out the kinks in their muscles from holding still so long. He invited them in, prayed with them, and had his wife make dinner for them. It turns out that these were from the church youth group, supposedly Christians. They learned some fear of the Lord and some of the love of the Lord that evening.

Compare this with the story in 2 Kings 6:15-23.

There is no power on Earth or in Heaven greater than the love of God.