Inspirational Story<\/b><\/p>\n
This is from Light Force by Brother Andrew.\u00a0\u00a0Brother Andrew started an organisation called Open Doors which still exists today with the aim to strengthen and equip Christian Churches who are struggling under persecution in all parts of the world.\u00a0 After the publishing of the book God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew, it was decided that Andrew was too well known to continue trips into the communist countries and so this was left to the others who by then worked with him.\u00a0 Brother Andrew then turned his focus to the Middle East and that is where Light Force is set.<\/p>\n
Ghassan Khalaf was one of those faithful servants of God who had stayed put during the war, keeping his academic ambitions on hold \u2013 for ten years he had done little work on his PhD dissertation \u2013 to pastor a church and provide stability to the Arab Baptist Seminary nestled in the hills above Beirut.\u00a0 At the conclusion of the final night of the outreach, he invited me [Brother Andrew] to dinner.\u00a0 He seemed pleased with the results of the campaign, with approximately six hundred attending the final meeting.\u00a0 But there was also a weary look in his face.\u00a0 Fifteen years of living and ministering within what he called ‘an open hell’ had aged him.<\/p>\n
The seminary was barely surviving.\u00a0 To illustrate, Ghassan placed a book on the edge of the table where we were eating.\u00a0 ‘I’m living all the time like this.\u00a0 As you can see, the book is about to topple to the floor.\u00a0 If I put the least pressure on it, it will fall.\u00a0 I first met you in 1979, and Open Doors was supporting the seminary even before that.\u00a0 You can see why every dollar your ministry provides to the school is much appreciated.\u00a0 It’s keeping us alive.\u00a0 We’re not falling.\u00a0 Ask me, “Ghassan, how is your faith?” and I’ll say, “God is faithful!”\u00a0 My faith has grown over these years.’<\/p>\n
I asked him to tell me how his church congregation as managing.\u00a0 He closed his eyes for a moment, then told me about one incident where he went to visit a young woman who had lost her husband in a recent skirmish, leaving her with three little children.\u00a0 ‘There were several friends there, trying to comfort her.\u00a0 When she saw me, she shouted, “I don’t believe in God!\u00a0 Don’t speak to me about Him!\u00a0 He doesn’t care for us!\u00a0 He is just watching us and letting us die!”\u00a0 Andrew, I felt a wave of compassion for her.\u00a0 She only said what thousands in Lebanon are feeling.’<\/p>\n
‘So, what do you say to these people?’ I asked.<\/p>\n
‘After she calmed down, I said, “Dear lady, what you have said about God would all be true if He had not become flesh and died on the cross to redeem us.\u00a0 That proves that God does care.\u00a0 God in Christ was involved in our situation.\u00a0 Because He has passed through suffering, He is able to help those who suffer.\u00a0 Do you believe that?”\u00a0 She nodded.\u00a0 I know she believes that but it is so hard.’<\/p>\n
‘You have to minister to people like this woman, but you are suffering as well.\u2019<\/p>\n
My friend agreed. ‘I remember one black period when day after day the sky rained mortar shells and rockets.\u00a0 No place was spared shrapnel.\u00a0 Everyone was in danger of having his house burned or losing his money, his car, his possessions, or even his life.\u00a0 Those were anxious days.\u00a0 I remember days of confusion, and I asked God for victory over the feelings of anxiety.’<\/p>\n
‘And did He give you peace?’<\/p>\n
He smiled as he answered.\u00a0 ‘One night, I dreamed that my car was stolen.\u00a0 Feelings of resentment attacked me.\u00a0 A struggle began in my soul between complaint and contentment.\u00a0 After a cruel struggle I completely surrendered and accepted the loss.\u00a0 Then I woke up.\u00a0 I was happy it was only a dream.\u00a0 But then I thought: It is beautiful to be victorious in a dream, but it is more glorious to be victorious over anxiety in real life, while I am awake.’<\/p>\n
‘When God gives you that peace, then you are able to pass it on to others.’<\/p>\n
‘There have been some people \u2013 we call them “the war rich” \u2013 who have profited from the war.\u00a0 But for God’s children, this had been an opportunity to prove the genuineness of our faith.\u00a0 We have become “war rich” on a spiritual plane.’<\/p>\n
I was touched by this man’s humble testimony of God’s faithfulness.\u00a0 Then he soberly added, ‘You know, over the years almost all foreign missionaries and missionary agencies have left the country.\u00a0 They’ve gone to Cyprus, Athens, Istanbul, Amman.\u00a0 What remains here are the local churches and the nationals.\u00a0 We feel forsaken.\u00a0 We feel cut off from our bigger family.\u00a0 No evangelical leader from the West came here to ask, “How are you?\u00a0 What are you feeling?\u00a0 What do you need?”‘<\/p>\n
He started laughing.\u00a0 ‘Then you came!\u00a0 Do you know what it means when Brother Andrew come to Lebanon and lives with us among the shelling and bombing and difficulties?\u00a0 That is the value of your visits.\u00a0 Every time you come, there is a spirit of revival in my heart.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Inspirational Story This is from Light Force by Brother Andrew.\u00a0\u00a0Brother Andrew started an organisation called Open Doors which still exists today with the aim to strengthen and equip Christian Churches who are struggling under persecution in all parts of the world.\u00a0 After the publishing of the book God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew, it was decided … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[17,18,19,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183,"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edmonton-adventist.org.au\/wpcontent\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}