Overcoming Fears to Reach Our Neighbors

One of the things our Scriptures In Use team looks forward to the most is hearing new testimonies of impact from people who attend one of our Bridges training events held around the world. We know these testimonies will be coming, and to be honest, I kind of get giddy with excitement waiting for them to be shared. (Giddy is probably an old school term, but oh well, I am getting up in years.)

These new stories come in waves, sometimes during, but especially after our Bridges training events, and it is one of the many highlights we get to experience by being part of a mission on the leading edge (or what some call the “tip of the spear”) in reaching and engaging new people groups living in oral cultures.

Overcoming Fears to Reach Our Neighbors

Recently, during a weekly team prayer time, one of our missionary trainers shared the following :

“Many of the participants, after the training was finished, shared that before this new training, they had little understanding of the unreached people groups that they lived near. They even had a general fear of them. Though many of them had been to these unreached groups’ villages, prayed for them and even seen many healings among their people, they had closed the door to building relationships and following up with them. After the training, they were excited to rally the local churches to start work among this unreached people group in their community.

 

“One man, who was afraid to work with a local unreached people group, had a dream the third night of the training. He dreamed that a cobra passed between him and his wife in the night. He startled awake and heard God speak to him, “Just as the cobra passed you without hurting you or your wife, so will it be as you work with this unreached group. I will keep you safe and no one will hurt you or your family.”

Dreams and Visions

Whoa! When that dream of this local grassroots leader was shared with us, it brought much emotion to me and the rest of the team. I get chills of excitement and encouragement just thinking about that moment. It encourages me to step out of my comfort zone and any fears that I might be experiencing. It helps me reach into new areas of ministry and relationships as I seek the Lord and His perfect will and plan for my life. Having dreams and visions from the Lord is nothing new to these Bridges participants and our SIU team, as it happens quite often. The Lord speaks to all of us in many ways, and one of those is through dreams and visions. I’ve had a few of my own that I share when the Lord prompts me to do so.

The Lord our God commands “Do not be afraid” or “Do not fear” or “Fear not” more than 360 times in His Holy Word. It is the most frequently mentioned command in the Bible, which also holds many stories to address this command, such as  the story of Gideon in the book of Judges … BUT that is for another devotion and blog post.