|
Lesson 1 God is at work even at times when it seems that He is not. God is always at work and He is faithful to accomplish what He has ordained. Our task is to listen and be obedient.
We were somewhat frustrated on the evening of the second day of the leadership training conference. Since coming to the Kigadi region we had witnessed many baptisms and weddings. We heard testimonies of people who had come out of cult influences and were now part of the church.
Once we started the teaching, however, there seemed to be no response from the leaders involved in the training. This is not unusual when you minister through an interpreter, but we had no indication that anything was reaching the people.
That evening, our team began to ponder the feedback. The Lord had been faithful to provide for the conference. He had confirmed our team and had given us specific areas to share with the leaders. We had faithfully worked as hard as we could. Yet, the fact remained that nothing appeared to be taking root.
The lie the enemy puts into your head is that you left something out or you haven’t done something right.
The third day we walked in prepared to start all over again. However, something was different as we entered the sanctuary. The leaders were in worship and the presence of the Holy Spirit was so strong you could feel it on your arms. A spirit of repentance began to manifest itself and people began to rush forward for the opportunity to repent. Some of them actually got saved! Marriages were healed. All of this was happening and we hadn’t spoken a word. God’s Word had taken root and the Holy Spirit had done a deep work in the hearts of people.
Lesson 2 The enemy is unrelenting and he will often hit the hardest after a great victory. The counter reality is that God is faithful.
Uganda was the first portion of our trip. A second team of business people met us in Rwanda to work on micro enterprise projects. I, Ken, had been fully involved in the teaching in Uganda, but in Rwanda I was only responsible for team leadership. Uganda had been powerful, yet it drained us. I was looking forward to just leading the team and letting the business experts carry the load for teaching. I would just be able to bask in the victory the Lord had just brought. My guard was down.
From the minute we landed in Rwanda it was like a fog settled over me. I was able to take care of basic administrative details, but the spiritual side of leadership was left undone. I didn’t do things that were second nature to me and essential parts of normal team life. Common team prayers and meetings to keep each other strong didn’t happen for the first two days. Confusion of schedules and purpose began to settle in to the team. Spiritual attacks from the enemy which would usually be nipped in the bud were having free reign in both the team and the work projects.
Finally, Ed, a seasoned member of the team who had been with me three times in Rwanda, sat me down and said, “What is wrong with you?”
Suddenly, I came out of a fog and I began to see things clearly. I had to ask the Lord’s forgiveness for just putting it into cruise and giving the enemy room to work in the people under my responsibility. We started then to gather for prayer and compare our observations to develop the whole spiritual picture of the assaults set against us. The whole atmosphere of the trip changed and we all began to function normally.
|