Prisoners

 

 

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not fail. Teach me Lord, teach me Lord, to wait."

 

If I were to lack food, I should look up at an eagle in the top of a tree. Eagles do not live where is no food, but they watch below, waiting, and are rewarded when they suddenly see the prey that will satisfy both them and those in its nest.

 

"Men's hearts failing them for fear of the things they see coming on the earth..."

 

We are all aware there is so much happening to cause that during these perilous days. For such a time as this, we who strive to live daily walking with our Lord, there is one fact that nothing happening will ever disavow His promise: God is faithful, and His Word shall never fail.

 

My many years have not only turned my hair gray, but God has let me experience trials and tests designed to teach me the truth of that statement, and God has allowed me, through prayer, to become involved in mighty miracles. Sometimes prayers are delayed, but this in no way means our prayers are not heard. I truly believe that those answers are designed for God to receive glory and God gives us opportunity to partake of it with Him through our prayers and faith.

 

Let me give you a true-life example:

 

In the year 1996 in the capital city Lima, Peru the Japanese ambassador was having celebration for the Japanese president's 63rd birthday at his official residence.  Some 500 dignitaries, military officers, businessmen and government officals from many countries had been invited and it was a gala affair.  Dressed in their finest, we can only imagine this would be an impressive sight to behold. 

 

Suddenly the terrorist group Shining Path struck the residence, taking everyone hostage. After releasing 150, the remaining would be held there for 126 days (four months). Later, Peruvian soldiers dug tunnels underneath the residence and freed them, killing all the terrorists.A report revealed that Shining Path attacks had killed as many as 11,000 civilians, though it estimates as many as 70,000 people were killed overall in fighting between the Peruvian government and this group.

 

The captured residence was later demolished, and the Japanese ambassador was recalled to Tokyo and a new one was sent to Lima to take his place.

 

Sometime afterward, while in Tokyo doing ministry, I was asked to speak at a small Christian meeting. Waiting for the meeting to begin, I was sitting by myself when a lovely Japanese woman came and sat beside me.  She introduced herself to me and said that she was the wife of the Japanese ambassador to Peru.  That made my ears perk up, for the night before I had had a dream that I was somewhere in a beautiful palace:

 

I saw an eleganty dressed Japanese woman talking with a man.  They were discussing the safety  and security of the palace and arguging about it.  Then I saw a group of men outside who had boomerangs in their hands and were throwing them at the palace.  But as soon as the boomerangs reached the outside wall, the boomerangs turned and chased after the terrorists. This was the dream. 

 

But I didn't say anything about it right then.

 

I asked this lady if she liked living in Peru, and she answered, "No. I cannot go anywhere without bodyguards going with me. There is so much fear that those terrorist will still attack.  Do you remember that hostage crisis recently?"  I answered her "yes".  Then she told me how they were now rebuilding the ambassador's residence and that she and her husband had been installed in this new ambassadorship.  But she was filled with fear as they waited to occupy the new residence.

 

I didn't say anything to her about the dream until the last of the meeting.  Then I pointed to her and told her of my dream.  I also gave her the interpretation: That God had heard her prayers, and that she is not to worry about terrorism any more.,   the weapons formed against them would not prosper but would return upon the terrorist' own heads and that they would run and be disbanded.

 

She was shocked and immediately looked into her purse and pulled out a picture....of the ambassador's staff.  She brought it up to me and said, "Can you identify the man who was in charge of security that you saw in your dream talking to me?" When I pointed him out, she immediately picked up her cell phone and called her husband in Lima and told him everything.

 

And so it happened, just as God had showed us.  The Tupac Amaru group disbanded and were not to cause them any harm anymore. Later, I learned that this ambassador's wife was a woman of prayer.  Yes, it had taken some time to pass, but the same God who knows the exact number of hairs on our heads also hears our thoughts and prayers will never abandon His children in their difficulties and trials.  It is when we dare to believe this that we become involved in the glory that will surely follow.

 

Terrorism is a fact of life for so many..worldwide.  Hearts truly are fearful everywhere of the things they see coming on the earth.  But as Paul said, "I am a prisoner of Christ"...and as such, his life was in God's hands..not Rome's. 

 

Knowing this, no storm, no shipwreck or serpent's bite would ever keep him from seeing fulfillment of the plan of God for his life.

 

Yours and mine as well. 

 

 

MARY ELIZABETH ADAMS