thinking about you...

I know that it's been awhile since we've connected. But, today as I was spending time in God's presence I was reminded of you. I was reminded of the importance of sharing life together and because we are separated by a great distance, sometimes sharing life together means writing and reading about each other's many life adventures. So, here are some highlights of the past couple months and please forgive my absence. 

November: a month of transition. I spent much of this month adjusting to both the culture of Taiwan and the church I am serving. Every church is different. Sure most all church believe the same truths (some may place a greater emphasis on specific truths), but all in all the basic tenants of the Christian faith are in place. What differs from church to church is their core values (what drives the church) and philosophy of ministry (how they minister to people). This is what I have been adjusting to here at the church in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 

Being Chinese, you'd think I would flow right into the Taiwanese culture, but alas that has not been the case. It took some time for my brain to adjust to hearing and translating Mandarin and an even longer time in growing more confident in speaking Mandarin. Talk about rusty. Though I grew up hearing Mandarin all my life from my parents and their friends, I've always spoken English back to them. So, let's just say it's been awhile in actually having to speak it. 

But even more than the language has been adjusting to a technology laden Pre-Modern society. Pre-Modern in the sense that there are temples and shrines at even turn. Pre-Modern in the sense that many store still offer food and drink offerings to various gods of fortune and prosperity while trying to buy their favor through burning "hell money." Now, I'm not just talking about small family owed businesses but stores like Subway, McDonald's, Nike and Adidas to name a few still practice these traditional offerings. 

December: a month of inner healing and deliverance ministry. God opened up so many opportunities for me to minister to people by bringing both inner healing and deliverance to them. A real consequence of all the idol worship that happens in Taiwan is that people's lives get enshrouded by darkness where suffering and tragedy happens in great frequency. Also, the amount of demonic activity I've seen and experienced here is truly disturbing. But, even so, I've also seen the tremendous compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ come and bring deep healing to people's hearts and great freedom to people's spirit's. God is so faithful and good! 

I wish I could go into some detail here, but let me just say that I have seen demons manifest themselves in people by physically controlling their bodies and by speaking. If you asked me which is more disconcerting I would say both. But, when these demons start speaking, let's just say that it is a bit more challenging. But, I have seen King Jesus time and time again come and exercise His Lordship over these demons by setting people free of them. Sometimes, it's been through Him releasing authority to me through His Name and power to me through of the Holy Spirit. Other times, I've seen Him come and set people free Himself where I haven't had to say or do anything. These times are particularly amazing! 

"You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross" (Colossians 2:13-15 NLT). 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 4

Today there weren't that many people walking around today which I'm thinking may have been due to the chance for scattered showers weather forecast. Needless to say, I was kind of glad there weren't that many people out today because I felt a lot of hostility from people which was a bit discouraging. Now, I know that this is all part of the package of this street prayer ministry and I'm ok with that, but it still doesn't take away the sting. It was like nobody was even slightly interested in even saying hi to me. I was ignored most of the time. I even got some sneers and eyes rolled at me today. One man had to forcibly restrain himself from just going off on me. Thankfully by God's grace, I just smiled and wished him a wonderful day which seemed to really throw him off balance. Proverbs 15:1 comes to mind, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."  

So, I spend much of the day with my head buried in the bible reading through the middle part of Isaiah. It was good because I found refuge and comfort in God's Word that reminded me that God is the Creator of the universe (Isaiah 42:5) and that there is no reason to be afraid because He is with me (Isaiah 43:5; 44:8), He is Savior (Isaiah 43:11) and that no one can snatch anyone out of His hand (Isaiah 43:13). Thank you Lord. I did pray for people today, and what I really felt impressed to pray for the people I saw was for the revelation of Christ. Over and over again, person after person, I was moved to pray for the revelation of Christ to be birthed in people's hearts which may be telling of the people I encountered today maybe even the spiritual condition of the Wicker Park area at large.

I find what happened today interested because I spent the first part of my time today praying for revival. More specifically, I prayed against the principalities of lust, drunkenness, greed, anger and hate. I prayed that God would release hope into the area where there was hopelessness, love where there was hate and peace where there was anger. So, maybe it's no surprise that in engaging with the darkness of over this area of the city, I was confronted with opposition and hostility. Maybe I'm over spiritualizing all of this, but I tell you, when I left the park I literally had my tail between my legs, that's how discouraged I felt. It was like I couldn't get away from that area fast enough. I was even telling myself that I hope it rains tomorrow so that I wouldn't have to come out. But, God's faithful and I believe it is through answering people's prayers that I have been renewed. So, thank you for your prayers. I am feeling much better and yes I will be heading back out tomorrow.