“…laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another…
… and do not give the devil an opportunity…
…let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:25, 27, 31-32)
Kips is known as a fighter with a hot temper. In the past, if anyone crossed him, he would not think twice… he would just nail the guy. Kips is now a strong believer and admitted to me in his testimony that he finally realized that he could not fight with God and win. Well, the man with whom Kips has had a gripe with, and with whom there is still bad blood, is coming from town to our village for Christmas. Welsen, another believer, was concerned that Kips would fight this guy if the opportunity arose, or if this guy came and threatened him. And Welsen knew that if Kips fought with him, that he would ruin not only his name(reputation), but also the name(reputation) of the believers. Welsen said to me, “I am praying that Kips would forgive the guy’s sin, not fight, and show his new life in Christ.” So I asked if we could bring this up to him before the other believing men, and he said yes, we could, and we should.
So when we were all together last night, Welsen, in a very culturally appropriate, yet graceful way, told Kips his concern, and exhorted his brother to forgive his enemy and to show the community how Jesus has changed his insides. He told him that Satan would desire that he fight so that his reputation would be marred. It encouraged me to see Welsen truthfully share his heart and what he thought could happen and the repercussions of it all (it is not traditional Tobo culture to care that someone else does the right thing).
After he was done sharing with him, Kips said, “My big brother. You are right. I was sitting in my house the other day just thinking about this. I was heavy of heart and Satan was putting many bad thoughts in my mind like, ‘What if he comes and starts hitting my house and calling me out?’ What should I do? Should I grab my bush knife or my axe? Should I come down quickly and hit him and then go and hide? Or Satan said, ‘What if he doesn’t come to my house, should I go to him first and hit him?’ And again I thought of how I could do that. I was sitting there planning all of this in my mind, but I knew it was Satan’s thoughts in my head. I don’t know what I will do, and I cannot say that I will do what is right because I know that Satan will try to fill my head with bad thoughts when this man comes.”
After he confessed that to us, all the guys pitched in and offered encouragement to him, telling him how important it was that he peacefully settle this thing, and how he needed to be a good example. They said that culturally, if this guy comes to hit him and comes to his house, if Kips comes down and is peaceful and does not retaliate, then the other party will be forced to not do anything, and their “strength will fall down” and the fight will be over with. So after they encouraged him in this, and after I told him a little bit more of how the Spirit will guide us and what kind of thoughts He will put in our heads, we had a time of prayer. Kips prayed. Welsen prayed for Kips and totally lifted up his brother before the Lord. And then Nikos prayed as well.
Afterwards, we picked up our guitars and Nikos lead us in a song, and then he abruptly stopped when it was done and said, “Guys, I love coming to sing, pray, talk, encourage and share from God’s Word with you guys. I look forward to it every week. When people come to my house and want to talk about things of the ground, I am repulsed and tired of it. But the time when we are together makes me happy and you guys are my true brothers.” To which Alex with tears in his eyes, gave a hearty, “I agree and you have just shot my liver. This is what Jesus has done for us.” Then we all sang another song or two and then went to our homes.
Please pray for Kips and the other believers, that they will not only be learning the word of God, but applying it in their every day lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment