ABWE Mission Board told the following story in their recent newsletter:
Pastor Victor Morales started a gang outreach ministry after he noticed the rising influence of youth gangs near his church in Nicaragua.
Victor helped 13 young men leave their gangs and start a personal relationship with Jesus. These men became active members of the church, and Christ’s influence on their lives was undeniable.
In response to the impact that he was having on the community, local gangs issued a contract for Victor’s murder.
One day, a man stormed into Victor’s church. The man said he had been hired by the gangs to get rid of people causing trouble for their business. He pulled out a crumpled wad of cash to prove he had already killed one man. Then he pulled out a loaded gun.
Victor felt paralyzed until he noticed that the gunman’s hand was shaking. As he raised his eyes he saw turmoil in the gunman’s gaze. Suddenly, the man fell to the ground in tears. He confessed that this was the third time he had come to the church to kill Victor.
“Please tell me why I can’t kill you. Please just tell me why,” the man begged, as tears streamed down his face.
Victor calmly stepped towards the man, put his hand on his shoulder and prayed with him.
Obviously, it was God who kept that man from being able to shoot Victor. The man didn’t understand or know what was preventing him from being able to pull the trigger, but Victor knew – he knew God’s presence!
One day recently, as I was driving to work it was EXTREMELY foggy out. There was even one point where I could barely see 10 feet in front of my car. Everywhere I looked, there was more fog, and I couldn’t see the tops of the office towers around my office building when I arrived. Now, fog is just liquid suspended in the air. We don’t see air. We see the effects of air, like when the wind blows the air around and we see trees moving or leaves blowing or when the air is filled with fog. And that morning I saw quite visibly the effects of the foggy air around me. And when the fog filled the air, I could see that there was air ALL around me. There is always air around, but we just don’t notice it, unless something happens like fog. Obviously, without air, we’d die, and so the air is ALWAYS there.
I began to think that this is just like God. We don’t see God, but His presence is EVERYWHERE. He is ALWAYS around us. We often times just take God for granted and don’t really think much about Him during the day, but He’s ALWAYS there. We often see the effects of His work in our lives and in the world around us, and that reminds us of Him, but He’s ALWAYS there, even when we don’t see Him. We should find GREAT comfort in knowing that God’s presence is all around us at ALL times! He protects us from harm, provides our needs, and is there to comfort and guide us through this life.
Psalm 139:7-10 “Where can I go from Your Spirit ? Or where can I flee from Your presence ? If I ascend to heaven, You are there ; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”