For the past three years I have met with a Moroccan pastor on Thursday mornings, Thursday afternoon for him, on line. We started using Skype and we are now using GoToMeeting. Yesterday, I shared that we have an enemy that is completely dedicated to destroying us. He showed up again.
We connected this afternoon, we got video but the audio seemed to be blocked. My friend told me through the chat box that the Moroccan telecom companies, which are run by the government, had blocked Skype, WhatsApp, and other VOIP applications. It looked like that was what was happening with GoToMeeting.
As we attempted to fix the problem, I called GTM support. They told me of a work around. I had to set up a toll free number in Spain that would connect to my account. That would mean that the pastor would have to call Spain and it would cost him per minute and it would cost me per minute as well to the tune of about $8 per hour, but it was a solution.
While this was going on I was praying against the schemes of the enemy, Ephesians 6:10 – 20. I prayed that the Lord would be magnified and glorified in this situation. By the way that is a direction that the Lord has been taking my prayer since last fall.
I had to restart the meeting to get the phone number in Spain to work. When I did the audio came back. By that time we had spent almost 45 minutes of our hour together trying to connect. With the audio we dove into Acts 13 – 14. My friend started sharing some observations from Acts 13:48 – 49. He was really excited about what he had seen in the text. As he started I hit the record button on the application. In three years I have not heard him as animated over something he had seen in the Word. It was great stuff.
What he shared directly related to a conversation that I had yesterday with another man here in Tulsa. I was able to send him the audio from our time this afternoon.
The enemy did all he could to keep that from happening today. But the Lord was magnified and glorified through prayer.
The take away for me is to do what Peter suggests in 1 Peter 5:8. We have to be alert. The enemy will do all he can to frustrate, block, steal, and obscure the Word of God. We have to be alert when He attacks and call on the Lord to magnify and glorify Himself in the situation. If I am reading 1 John 5:14 – 15 correctly, that will be smack in the middle of His will.
We connected this afternoon, we got video but the audio seemed to be blocked. My friend told me through the chat box that the Moroccan telecom companies, which are run by the government, had blocked Skype, WhatsApp, and other VOIP applications. It looked like that was what was happening with GoToMeeting.
As we attempted to fix the problem, I called GTM support. They told me of a work around. I had to set up a toll free number in Spain that would connect to my account. That would mean that the pastor would have to call Spain and it would cost him per minute and it would cost me per minute as well to the tune of about $8 per hour, but it was a solution.
While this was going on I was praying against the schemes of the enemy, Ephesians 6:10 – 20. I prayed that the Lord would be magnified and glorified in this situation. By the way that is a direction that the Lord has been taking my prayer since last fall.
I had to restart the meeting to get the phone number in Spain to work. When I did the audio came back. By that time we had spent almost 45 minutes of our hour together trying to connect. With the audio we dove into Acts 13 – 14. My friend started sharing some observations from Acts 13:48 – 49. He was really excited about what he had seen in the text. As he started I hit the record button on the application. In three years I have not heard him as animated over something he had seen in the Word. It was great stuff.
What he shared directly related to a conversation that I had yesterday with another man here in Tulsa. I was able to send him the audio from our time this afternoon.
The enemy did all he could to keep that from happening today. But the Lord was magnified and glorified through prayer.
The take away for me is to do what Peter suggests in 1 Peter 5:8. We have to be alert. The enemy will do all he can to frustrate, block, steal, and obscure the Word of God. We have to be alert when He attacks and call on the Lord to magnify and glorify Himself in the situation. If I am reading 1 John 5:14 – 15 correctly, that will be smack in the middle of His will.
What a powerful illustration of that that truth in 1 John 5! And it gives some flesh to James' exhortation to "Resist the devil and he will flee...." (4:7)
ReplyDeleteThis is also a a wonderful story of the joy we all feel when someone meets God in such a powerful way "on his own" in the Word, especially after such a time. I'm reminded of the process in Proverbs 2 of the work required to gain true wisdom, the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:1-6 ff.). It's seeking for hidden treasure far more valuable than silver or gold.
Living now in Colorado among the evidences and legends of the early prospectors during the "gold rush" I appreciate more than ever of the cost to those who gave their lives to find that "mother lode." The images come to mind from my childhood when the best black and white TV programs were The Lone Ranger, Roy Rodgers, etc. There was always a dusty old prospector who had traded whatever his resources were to acquire a broken-down old burro, a shovel, filthy blanket, a couple of pots/pans and spent his life in the mountains hunting and hunting. And if he hit "pay dirt" and brought it to town he was usually killed by the bandits.
We have a treasure far more valuable available. Teaching others as you do, Mike, to search for and mine it takes time, months and often years. But when they finally hit "pay dirt...."