This is a powerful and incredible story of a missionaries faith and trust in God, and the power of the Holy Spirit to intervene:

Ready Yourselves

By dorsey
I write this in no way to boast about myself or to receive any praise. My intent is to share of God’s great and awesome grace, mercy, and power, and to give Him all the glory. It amazes me how He chooses to love, protect and dwell with and in us even though we are so imperfect and fall way short of his glory. As his child, I desire to get closer to him and I try to consistently read his word and talk with him throughout the day. I seek his wisdom, understanding, discernment and sound judgment each day, because without it I would make even more mistakes than I do already. We all, as believers, know that there is a battle between our natural nature and our spiritual nature. There is a constant struggle to choose the way of our flesh or the way of God. We must be aware of this war and consciously fight it by filling our minds with his truth. If we commit ourselves on a daily basis, as if practicing a sport or a particular skill, our response will become automatic. We will be filled and driven by the spirit, reacting in the spiritual nature. We will be ready in all circumstances. Of course there will be times when we make the wrong moves, but if we remain abiding in him, he will take over during critical moments without hesitation.

June 10, 2010 was the first day of our First Southern Baptist of Scottsdale youth teams mission trip. After working hard all day we spent the evening playing games on the patio. After relaxing enough I went upstairs to go to bed. Shortly after dozing off I was awakened by Julie, unusually anxious and concerned. She explained that there were men on the patio with guns. Not really sure what was going on, I jumped to my feet, fumbled with the phones that Julie put in my hands, and walked across the house to the top of the stairs. Bewildered, I looked down and saw a masked man at the bottom. Without fear, I boldly and confidently descended the stairs toward him. He backed away and retreated out of the house. When I exited after him I was met by another masked man pointing a shotgun at my chest. I noticed the group, sitting in a circle, heads down, some crying, others stunned. I was forced to sit. One man went through the house collecting valuables while the other held us hostage at gunpoint. The potential for this to get worse was too great and this had to be stopped now. I immediately confronted the masked gunman and rebuked him with authority in the name of Jesus. After a few minutes he responded, “I didn’t know you were Christians.” The power of the name of Jesus was breaking him. He was intimidated by the spirit of God. Sensing this, without fear, I stood up and got in his face, pressing him even harder with Gods truth. With the shotgun at my chest we conversed for some time about Jesus, forgiveness, salvation and the power of God to change lives. He backed down, both physically and spiritually. His heart was softened, open, and remorseful. It was clear that these two men had walked into something that they didn’t expect. They came to instill fear. They thought that they were in control. However, that wasn’t the case. They must have thought “this isn’t how this is supposed to go”. It was clear that God was in control, and I was not afraid, and they knew it. They were the fearful ones. One man was fearing me and calling for me to be shot and killed, the other was fearing God and asking for forgiveness. One ran away. The other stayed to be prayed for, shook my hand and walked off, no doubt, in deep thought.

It is difficult to put into words the awe, the wonder, the amazement, the gratitude, the elation and the faith that followed such a monumental display of Gods presence. God knew exactly what I needed and he gave it to me. He took over and directed every move. There could not have been a more perfect ending. The name of the lord is our strong tower, our deliverer, our defender. He is always there. Jesus you are so good to us!

“Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2

Filed in: Founders’ Blog • Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010