Not Sent but they Went

A newly converted taxi driver in an Asian city went to a bar where the waitresses were prostitutes and the owner sold drugs. He made friends with the owner and showed them the love of God. 

The owner and prostitutes became Christians, and the bar became a church.

The taxi driver went on his own initiative. 

He was not sent but he went.

A young English woman went on a voyage to Hong Kong. She went to the most horrible slum where the police never went. It was a closed community of gangsters, drug addicts and prostitutes. God protected her and used her. The horrible slum was cleaned up and many became Christians.

She was not sent but she went.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. Acts 11:19–20 NIV

These first generation Christians were not appointed by the Apostles.

They were not sent but they went.

In fact these pioneers were sent by God, although not appointed by human leaders.

My wife and I started a prayer meeting at home on Friday evenings. We prayed with the woman across the road who belonged to a different church. My wife watched the crime statistics in our suburb. The number of crimes steadily declined as we prayed.

Then our pastor and his wife asked if they could come. Of course we agreed. Some time later they said the church didn’t have a prayer meeting. They took over the prayer meeting and relocated to another house nearer the church. Not long after that the church failed and closed, along with the prayer meeting. We felt cheated.

It is so important to encourage Christians to take initiative. How do you mobilise the Holy Spirit? Just let God do what he wants with anyone who is willing to do something.

My wife and I spent ten years in a church which had no membership list. People from other churches or no church were welcome to come to free flowing meetings on Friday evenings. The pastor told us listen to the Holy Spirit and just go out and do something.

God called me to go to Germany five times from 2011 to 2016. I did not ask the pastor for permission and when he found out, he just encouraged me to just go and do it. God blessed my freelance mission trips with many invitations. I preached many times and made lifelong friends.

I started writing Christian messages in about 2008. In the beginning it was a circular newsletter using email. Then I started blogging in 2009. Since then the readership has multiplied and I have received feedback from people who have reported their lives have changed.

When I started writing, my pastor was not at all supportive but then we moved to a better church and the pastor actually prophesied that God was using me.

If you have a gift or a calling from God, it may help if your pastor or your church appoints you but sometimes you need to just go and do something.

Church leaders can be great encouragers, but sometimes they can hinder what God wants to do.

God's Amazing Protection in Wartime

 1944 was a terrible time in Germany. The war was as good as lost, but the Nazis were still in power. British and American air raids became more and more intense. Day and night, thousands and thousands of civilians lost their lives.

During this traumatic time, a German preacher, Hermann Zaiss, lived in Solingen, a neighbourhood in Wuppertal. He had suffered a lot in his life.

He was a prisoner of war for 4 years during the First World War.  Then he served as an evangelist in Germany, but he was persecuted by the Christians because he was a Pentecostal. Then his wife became mentally ill, chronically psychotic.

His heart was broken. He could no longer bear it. He decided to turn away from God. He still believed, but he told God he wanted nothing more to do with him.

“I told God: ‘If you are alive and have an interest in me and your love for me is so great, then come and get me again after 20 years!’”

He divorced his mentally ill wife, became very successful as an entrepreneur and remarried.

Then came the terrible bombing raids in Germany. Everyone was gripped by panic and despair.

As early as 1939, his wife Clara had found her way to God through prayer for her seriously ill daughter. God had healed her daughter and she begged her husband again and again to resume his ministry and help the suffering people.

On 22 July 1944, exactly 20 years after turning away from God, Hermann and Clara knelt down in the bombed-out Protestant church in Ohligs and prayed: ‘Lord, if you want us back, here we are.’ He received a clear commission from God to preach the gospel boldly and with power.

Schneider, Peter. Lame dancing under the pulpit: signs and wonders in the church services of Hermann Zaiss (German Edition) . Asaph Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Hermann started a house group and God blessed this small beginning. Many desperate neighbours sought Gods help.

The meetings grew larger. They prayed together and trusted God to protect them from the bombs.

In November 1944, Solingen was bombed and thousands lost their lives. Then Hermann Zaiss heard on the radio that the bombers were on their way to his neighbourhood in Ohligs. He went into the garden and prayed for protection and peace.

Shortly afterwards, he heard again on the radio that the bombers had turned away for no apparent reason.

There were also faithful Christians on the British side who prayed for protection.

Colonel Whittlesey was the commander of a British regiment in the Second World War. He was a Christian. He ordered his soldiers to recite Psalm 91 every day. The regiment was in fierce fighting for five years and not a single man was killed.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. Ps 91:7 NIV

If God protected many German civilians from bomb attacks during the war and also saved British soldiers, you can be sure that He can also help you during this time and wants to save you.

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. Ps 91:1–3 NLT

God Calls All Kinds of People

 In China, Christians are multiplying every year. Over twenty years ago, missionary experts said that there were at least one hundred million Christians in China and that several million Chinese were converting to Jesus every year.

Nobody knows how many Christians there are in China now, but the communist government is afraid of Jesus. The basis of the powerful Christian movement in China is not an ordained leadership with professional preachers who have to undergo years of theological training.

Most meetings are not held in well-equipped churches, but in private homes. Many pastors are arrested or simply disappear. Someone then has to lead.

More than seventy per cent of the church leaders in these house churches are women with no extensive theological training, but they burn with love for Jesus and their devotion is unlimited.

Education is not worthless. Paul and Luke were educated men. Martin Luther and John Wesley were educated, but Peter and John were fishermen.

In the mighty move of the Holy Spirit that is soon to come, educated preachers will also be anointed with power, but the mark of the coming revival will not be education, but heavenly love, miracle-working faith and unstinting devotion.

A woman in Brazil was the daughter and granddaughter of high-ranking witches. She became a prostitute and then a witch with terrifying demonic powers, but true Christians love their enemies. Christians prayed for this woman until she converted to Jesus in a traumatic crisis. She became a preacher who was able to reach many lost souls for Jesus.

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Mt 19:30 NIV

A highly respected Muslim preacher in Africa led a double life. He secretly visited prostitutes until he was infected with AIDS. The Christians prayed for their persecutor and God answered. On his deathbed, he experienced a visitation from Jesus. He was converted. He was supernaturally healed and then became an influential evangelist for Jesus.

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Mt 19:30 NIV

In the revival that is coming in Europe, God will call evangelists who are now in other religions or in pubs or brothels.

The apostle Paul said:

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 1 Ti 1:15 NIV