Battles, physical and spiritual

Sitting four across the back seat, driving out of the city, Alan, Tommy, Phil and I are listening to the testimony of our new friend Anil translated to us by our driver Sunil. As the sun sets we suddenly come to a stand still and are informed by three men, all packed on one motorbike, that just ahead there has been an accident between a truck and a car with multiple fatalities. Both Anil and Sunil tell us to ‘stay’ as they jump out of the car to assess the awaiting scene. The four of us remaining are left to wait.

We’ve seen bad car crashes before in Australia and have definitely had some close calls on this car trip alone but all of a sudden, for some reason, this time it feels a lot more real. There is no great faith in the emergency services, or their ability to even make it through the traffic. It is extremely unlikely a doctor is close by, motorbikes are still flying past our windows inches from the revision mirrors, the only two people who had any idea of what was going on have left and we have no way of finding out whether the car in the accident isn’t one of the five carrying the rest of our team.

I feel helpless, crippled even. Anything I might have tried in my own strength or ability back home in such a situation seems completely lost here. I am suddenly aware of how quickly I’ve turned to God, the first port of call, the only one who not only knows what’s going on but controls it. He is holding us in his arms and we can’t fool ourselves into thinking otherwise.

Eventually, Sunil and Anil return to tell us all five team vehicles are safe, the road opens up and we pass the accident in convoy with the rest of the team. Each member had a different experience of what happened that night but all would say they were challenged to draw closer to God, challenged to rely more heavily on Him.

Finally, dark now, we roll into the first village, kids are gathered around the steps of a small church building and Sunil hits the horn as a man ushers his buffalo and cart out of our path… Kids swarm the car and we are quickly ushered to a local village wedding to say prayers and get in a few wedding snaps - it seems its a great honour to have ‘whities’ in your wedding photos!

Over the next three nights we partnered with Stanley and his crew Raja, Anil, Johnny Boy, Peto and Sam in a combination of dramas, singing songs, gospel presentations, personal testimonies and riot controlling (when it came time to hand out small Christmas gifts to the kids :) ) along with building work during the day. The formula is inconsistent and the approach sporadic which takes 23 task-orientated westerners a little bit of getting used to…

As the third night wound down we found ourselves sitting out the front of a local villager’s house eating sugar cane and feeling like we were starting to get the swing of things… a young Hindu girl ran up asking for us to come and pray for her father. We followed the girl back to her house where a man had been tied to a pole by some of the other villagers for acting violent and mad.

Satan’s strategy in keeping people from God is different according to the culture (Pastor Stanely later explains to us). In a place like these villages in India where witchcraft and black magic are common Satan is more likely to present himself physically through curses and possession. The supernatural realm is undisputed here, its part of everyday life for a lot of the people in these villages so Satan continues to bind with fear and physical attacks.

For the majority of the western world however Satan chooses a different strategy to keep people from the Truth. In our culture people live their life unaware of the supernatural realm, happy to believe it doesn’t exist at all and that there is no higher power of any sort. They then turn to what is directly in front of them to find meaning or comfort and in Australia that is frequently the materialism, drug addiction, sexual immorality and greed so prominent in our society. In other words, why would Satan reveal himself so obviously as he would in a physical attack within a culture already so content in its belief that neither he nor God exist at all and who are already happily following its own idols anyway?

That night in the village we were able to experience how Satan works in places like India. What is more important however is that we were able to experience God’s sovereignty over the entire world. We saw that only by His name demons can be cast out, only by his name are we able to come into a relationship with the living God and only by His name will the entire world receive salvation.

Please continue to pray for us as God continues to teach us how He does His work in India… We are having an exciting and challenging time, we are developing good relationships and are really enjoying partnering in ministry with the local believers here. Also give thanks for our health - we’ve had a bit of sickness (in various forms) but seem to be coming through that now..

Much love,

Lockie & India Crew