When Will You Return?

20160701_154618“How many villages are in these mountains”?

“There are thousands of villages in these mountains, pastor.”

“How many Christians are in those villages”?

“There are no Christians there, pastor.”  “None??”

“No, pastor, there are no Christians there. When we ask them if they know Jesus, they say ‘No, who is he?  We have never met him. He has never come here.’ They have no idea who Jesus is, pastor.”

It took a moment for this to register in my mind, then it began to penetrate my Spirit…thousands of villages…tens of thousands of people who have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How could this be?  Then, to think this same picture was duplicated hundreds of times throughout the mountains of North India…I just wanted to weep…and GO!

20160701_132642During the next few days we visited some of these villages.  In one of the homes they invited people to come hear about Jesus. We worshipped, told them about the God who loved them and died for them, and then we prayed. One after another received healing and deliverance.  The joy on their faces when their pain was gone was priceless. One woman kept stretching her arms above her head saying, “I could never do this before,” smiling broadly.

Then a young boy, maybe 8 years old, stepped forward motioning that he had full body pain. Everyone laughed thinking he was imitating the older people we had prayed for but when we began to minister a demonic spirit began to manifest.  I was struck by the fact that in these mountains filled with idol worship that even the children are tormented by evil spirits. Their entire lives are spent trying to appease these powers of darkness that hold them in bondage with fear and pain. Oh for the power and love of Jesus to set them free!

After a time of prayer the boy was gloriously set free. As we prepared to leave the20160701_134001 village some came to us asking why we were leaving so soon and when would we return…far from being rejected, they received us beautifully and wanted more.  We had proclaimed the name of Jesus with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. We introduced them to the God who loved them and could set them free.  

There is much work to be done in these mountains. Every day thousands live in bondage waiting for Jesus to come. He wants to come…and He comes through you and me.