Stories of Victorious Christians
Some of these stories I wanted to use as examples in the previous post but they would have made the post too long.
They Know How to Pray
The speaker at the seminar I attended travels the world interviewing persecuted Christians. The interviews each take three hours and he tries to pack as many into a day as possible. When he goes to a country to interview (and he’ll interview many there), he’s busy. While he was in one such South-East Asian country, he received an e-mail from a German doctor in another persecuted country further west. “Please! I need you to come here NOW!” He wrote to say he couldn’t come; he had solid interviews for many, many days. He did some interviewing in the back country where he was and when he returned to the city, he found two things—a chunk of interviews had been cancelled and another e-mail from the German doctor saying, “You must come now!” He wrote to say he couldn’t come; he had no time. But then another chunk of interviews got cancelled because a pack of pastors had been arrested and he received a third e-mail from the German doctor, urging him to come.
He left the first country and traveled to where the German was, a country which was bristling with danger—not just for Christians but for everyone. He got off the plane and was met by the German doctor who had with him three men who looked rather dangerous themselves. “Who are these men,” he asked. The doctor replied, “Don’t you know? They’ve been asking for you.” Then the doctor walked away, leaving him alone with the strange, dangerous-looking men who begin to tell him why he had come to their country.
Several weeks or months before, these men prayed, “We don’t know how to be Christians in this environment. Please help us!” One morning they pray this and God told them, “Go to the airport. The man who can answer your question is coming today.” Can you imagine being the answer to such a prayer? Can you imagine praying like that?
They Know How to Listen
Another time, the speaker was being driven to the airport in one country after he had finished some interviews there. Something happened along the way and they couldn’t get to the airport so they stopped, unexpectedly, at someone’s apartment. The person whose home they had stopped at had the table set for breakfast for four. The Holy Spirit had told him he would have three guests that morning. Can you imagine having such a connection with God?
They Know their Bible
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, there were hundreds of little house churches consisting of three or four families and most didn’t know that the others existed. Three pastors decided to gather up the teens from these various churches and bring them to Moscow so they could see each other and be strengthened in faith. The pastors were arrested and imprisoned for three years for doing this but said they’d do it again.
While the kids were together, they were challenged to gather their corporate knowledge together. They were able to collectively amass 1600 songs and all the gospels from memory with only 6 mistakes.
They’ve Claimed Their Freedom
One the imprisoned Christian had to be guarded 24 hours a day for reasons I can’t remember. The guards were not allowed to leave him. There was a problem, however. The man loved to sing songs about Jesus and the guards kept being converted. One pair of guards finally told him they didn’t want him to sing anymore because they were afraid of being converted. They had a solution. They would take him up to the rooftop every day. They would stand in one corner and he could stand in the other corner and sing in such a way that the wind would carry his voice away from the guards.
They’ve Lost Their Fear
A 17-year-old Muslim girl had a vision in which she saw a Bible. The Bible said to her, “Find me! Find Jesus!” She hunted and hunted until she found one under her brother’s bed. She read it every chance she got. One night, falling asleep with the Bible on her chest, she had another dream in which a light came to her and she accepted Jesus. Fifteen minutes later she went to tell her Muslim dad that she’s a Christian and that Mohammed was demon-possessed. As you can imagine, her father was rather irate. He beat her and broke her nose.
They Know Their Songs of Faith
Here in North America, a family was heartbroken because the dad, deteriorating with Alzheimer’s, didn’t know them. The son especially, wracked his brain wondering how he could connect with his dad. As he sat in the room, puzzling this out, he began, not even knowing what he was doing, to sing quietly one of the songs he had learned on his father’s knee. To his amazement, his father began to join in. When he was done, he tried another song and his father remembered that too. He rushed to the phone and called the man’s family back to the nursing home where they all gathered around the old man for several hours, joining him in singing songs of faith from when the man was young. The man still didn’t remember them but what a wonderful time of communion they had with him! We don’t forget the songs we sing.
They Know How to Pray
The speaker at the seminar I attended travels the world interviewing persecuted Christians. The interviews each take three hours and he tries to pack as many into a day as possible. When he goes to a country to interview (and he’ll interview many there), he’s busy. While he was in one such South-East Asian country, he received an e-mail from a German doctor in another persecuted country further west. “Please! I need you to come here NOW!” He wrote to say he couldn’t come; he had solid interviews for many, many days. He did some interviewing in the back country where he was and when he returned to the city, he found two things—a chunk of interviews had been cancelled and another e-mail from the German doctor saying, “You must come now!” He wrote to say he couldn’t come; he had no time. But then another chunk of interviews got cancelled because a pack of pastors had been arrested and he received a third e-mail from the German doctor, urging him to come.
He left the first country and traveled to where the German was, a country which was bristling with danger—not just for Christians but for everyone. He got off the plane and was met by the German doctor who had with him three men who looked rather dangerous themselves. “Who are these men,” he asked. The doctor replied, “Don’t you know? They’ve been asking for you.” Then the doctor walked away, leaving him alone with the strange, dangerous-looking men who begin to tell him why he had come to their country.
Several weeks or months before, these men prayed, “We don’t know how to be Christians in this environment. Please help us!” One morning they pray this and God told them, “Go to the airport. The man who can answer your question is coming today.” Can you imagine being the answer to such a prayer? Can you imagine praying like that?
They Know How to Listen
Another time, the speaker was being driven to the airport in one country after he had finished some interviews there. Something happened along the way and they couldn’t get to the airport so they stopped, unexpectedly, at someone’s apartment. The person whose home they had stopped at had the table set for breakfast for four. The Holy Spirit had told him he would have three guests that morning. Can you imagine having such a connection with God?
They Know their Bible
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, there were hundreds of little house churches consisting of three or four families and most didn’t know that the others existed. Three pastors decided to gather up the teens from these various churches and bring them to Moscow so they could see each other and be strengthened in faith. The pastors were arrested and imprisoned for three years for doing this but said they’d do it again.
While the kids were together, they were challenged to gather their corporate knowledge together. They were able to collectively amass 1600 songs and all the gospels from memory with only 6 mistakes.
They’ve Claimed Their Freedom
One the imprisoned Christian had to be guarded 24 hours a day for reasons I can’t remember. The guards were not allowed to leave him. There was a problem, however. The man loved to sing songs about Jesus and the guards kept being converted. One pair of guards finally told him they didn’t want him to sing anymore because they were afraid of being converted. They had a solution. They would take him up to the rooftop every day. They would stand in one corner and he could stand in the other corner and sing in such a way that the wind would carry his voice away from the guards.
They’ve Lost Their Fear
A 17-year-old Muslim girl had a vision in which she saw a Bible. The Bible said to her, “Find me! Find Jesus!” She hunted and hunted until she found one under her brother’s bed. She read it every chance she got. One night, falling asleep with the Bible on her chest, she had another dream in which a light came to her and she accepted Jesus. Fifteen minutes later she went to tell her Muslim dad that she’s a Christian and that Mohammed was demon-possessed. As you can imagine, her father was rather irate. He beat her and broke her nose.
They Know Their Songs of Faith
Here in North America, a family was heartbroken because the dad, deteriorating with Alzheimer’s, didn’t know them. The son especially, wracked his brain wondering how he could connect with his dad. As he sat in the room, puzzling this out, he began, not even knowing what he was doing, to sing quietly one of the songs he had learned on his father’s knee. To his amazement, his father began to join in. When he was done, he tried another song and his father remembered that too. He rushed to the phone and called the man’s family back to the nursing home where they all gathered around the old man for several hours, joining him in singing songs of faith from when the man was young. The man still didn’t remember them but what a wonderful time of communion they had with him! We don’t forget the songs we sing.
posted by Magdaleine at 11:21 PM
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