In one of our locations in Central America, to say that the situation is difficult would be an understatement. The people are afraid, the murder rate is up, and gangs have taken the nation in fear, but just like always, when things are at their darkest, the light of Christ shines most brightly. These are the stories of some who were rescued from darkness this past December:
Military Ministry
I must commend the team I served with – no one had to tell them what to do. As soon as the soldiers arrived, they were speaking truth to them so that within a few days almost all of them had come to faith. In total, of the 11 soldiers who came to guard us, 5 came to faith.
One of the soldiers seemed especially broken when we spoke to him, but he was quick to turn his life over to Christ. Later, he confided in us that he was in the gangs only seventeen months prior – doing “terrible things”. He escaped and returned to his family, joining the military some time later. He told us that, “I continued to do terrible things, but God brought you all here to preach the word of God to me.”
Many soldiers have come to faith over our trips, but this man was the first to obey the call to be baptized, giving his testimony in front of our group before entering the waters of the Pacific Ocean to publically declare his faith in Jesus. Please pray for him – his life is still dangerous from the gangs, and he doesn't have much in the way of encouragement right now.
Peace at Last
Our time in December always takes us to a local center of idolatry where people come and pour out their prayers and light candles to idols who can neither hear nor help them. This time, I was pacing the building looking for someone to speak to when I saw a group of our team members in deep conversation with a man who was pouring his heart out to them.
He had come into the building heartbroken and looking for hope, and we began to open the scriptures to him, telling him over and over that he needed to believe and be saved while he kept telling us the good works he needed to do to please God and be saved.
Yet he continued to show interest in the scriptures, so we continued expounding the truth to him until he said, “I feel that God is telling me to share this message with everyone.”
I was concerned for a moment that he was continuing to recite his need for good works for salvation but he continued to speak, “When I came in to this place, I was contemplating killing myself or doing something evil because I can’t find a job and I have no hope for my life. I was crying, but now I have peace. Now I know that all I must do is believe and be saved.”
We took him out of the place of idolatry, because our time was nearly over, and we prayed with him. Someone on the team gave him a Spanish Bible and he clutched it tight, saying, “This will be my most prized and priceless possession. I know that you did not give me this; God gave me this gift.”
This, my friends, is a changed life. We left him, mightily encouraged that it was not us or our superior wisdom but the word and the power of God that had ultimately convinced him. This is the power of opening up the scriptures with someone – the word of God never returns empty, not even in a center of idolatry.
I remember what may have been the day of my conversion – I too was reading the scriptures when an incredible peace came over me, and my life has never been the same since.
The Power of Belief
What–or more precisely whom you believe changes everything. If you truly believe that your eternity rests on the work of Jesus Christ and turn to Him for your salvation, He will not leave you the same person.
One who has not had their life transformed by the work of Jesus does not truly believe. If we truly saw His agonizing death on the cross as our only way to eternity and believed that He was our resurrected Lord, our entire life would look completely different.
But it is impossible for anyone to believe in their own strength. God is the one who grants repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), God is the one who saves (Titus 3:5, Mark 10:26-27, Ephesians 2:8), God is the one who calls us to a holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9), and I am so grateful that I was saved by His grace.
Once I hated people, now I desire to see them full of the joy of the Lord.
Once the men we spoke to in December were doing terrible things and thinking about terrible things, now they have begun their new life of hope.
Once we were lost – now we are found.
I pray that if you are reading this, you are either encouraged by the news here and glorifying God, or that you will be challenged to trust in Jesus yourself and experience the true salvation that does not depend on our ability to be good. Being good and religious is exhausting, and it will never satisfy you, nor the wrath of God due for our sins.
Only the perfect life of Jesus and His death on the cross were sufficient to cover over our wretchedness and give us true peace. Only He can rescue us from Satan’s fortress and place us into the kingdom of light. To Him be all the glory for what He has done.
Grace and peace to you,
- Paul
