Spiritual warefare in Indonesia

This past month I highlighted Indonesia as a prayer topic because of some amazing things God is doing there (Read the previous article for details.) This week I received a letter from Alan Lim, a good friend, and leader of YWAM's work in Indonesia, asking for some specific prayer requests. God has been challenging me with Psalm 20 as I have been praying for the hurdles His people are facing in Indonesia.

"May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
² May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
³ May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
⁴ May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
⁵ May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the LORD grant all your requests.

⁶ Now this I know:
The LORD gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
with the victorious power of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
⁸ They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
⁹ LORD, give victory to the king!
Answer us when we call!"

This is a letter from Alan sharing about the situation they face:

Dear Friends,

There are three things that keep any people or nation in poverty and bondage : Greed, Injustice and Corruption.
God has called us at Ywam/UofN Bali to disciple our nation, Indonesia. We are facing some giants in this land!

Would you stand in prayer with us? We need your immediate prayers and intercession.

Our present center is an 18 bedroom former motel. We leased it for 11 years and paid the full lease up to the year 2017. About this time last year, the owners wanted the property back because business in Bali is in the 'boom' and they have an investor who wants to build a hotel. Of course we said no. We have a legal, binding contract. They told us we have one year to make plans to move. They tried to influence our surrounding community and our neighbours but it was not successful. A few days ago, the local authorities "investigated us for wrongful use of facility'" siting that the building was registered as a hotel and we as a society has no right to use it. (they said nothing for the last 5 years). They said we needed to get the owners permission for a change of use. Do you think the owner will allow for a change of use? Otherwise we must leave. One of the officials dealing with us is related to the family who owns the building. We are engaging a lawyer to handle our case. We believe God has called us to 'disciple this nation. We are facing the giants of corruption, greed and injustice that holds Indonesia in poverty and bondage.

Will you stand with us in prayer for the next few weeks?

Thank you.

Alan

Students of the Bible Core Course run at the University of the Nations, Bali Indonesia.

Visiting with Alan and Susie Lim, directors of YWAM Bali.

Alan with some young friends in Bali

Update from the Islands

Island happenings
Hello! Greetings from Kona once again. The training quarter is more than half way over, and the rainy season has given way to what is going to be a hot summer! The Biblical Studies students barely notice however. They have been busy in what all of them admit has been the most academically challenging two months of their lives :-). By the end of this quarter, they will have completed historical research and compiled their own inductive commentary on almost every chapter of the New Testament. Please keep our campus in prayer this week. This is the final deadline for students to pay their tuition and outreach fees, and there are still many waiting to see how God will bring in the funds they need to complete their programs. God has been challenging us here on our campus not to settle for "little victories" like the people of Israel when they left Egypt. After their first victory, they wanted to pitch their tents and settle there, when the whole promise land still lay ahead of them. My prayer as we walk together towards the purposes of God in our lives, is that we would not be "settlers," but become "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37) in all the areas God want's to bring victory in our lives!

The UofN students of April 2011, gathered at the Plaza of Nations

A short trip to the mainland
The end of May found me in California for the first time ever! I had such a week of divine appointments, I feel like I have to share because God was seriously so amazing in preparing the whole trip. I was able to attend the wedding of a great friend, but also visit with several other friends from ministry in years past, and had incredible times of mutual encouragement, prayer, and networking for the Kingdom of God. I met with a friend from years ago who had gone back to school and is now feeling called into missions again, and feeling led to Indonesia in the area of education, along with a group of their classmates from Fuller Theological Seminary. The amazing thing about this is that a colleague of mine is currently working closely with the Indonesian government to develop B/A degrees for educators across the country, that will be facilitated by the University of Nations. Not only that, he lives less than an hour's drive from where we were sitting having lunch! They are setting up a time to meet and discuss God's dream of discipling this nation of Indonesia through Christian higher education.

Grassroots News
I want to share with you a new ministry that is starting up in YWAM, and is already making an impact in the area of news reporting. For years now, God has been challenging us as a mission to use our network (permanent training locations in 187 nations) to network and share stories of hope, and what God is doing around the world. Grassroots News is a response to what we have felt is a calling of God on our mission, and this summer, YWAM trained reporters will be broadcasting news stories from every nation on earth as part of the network launch. I would encourage you to check out this internet TV channel, as it is a great place to find up to date breaking news without political or advertising agenda, and exposes the hope, rather than the despair that is so often the focus of breaking news. Just to give you some examples, YWAM's grassroots news reporters were submitting breaking news stories of the earthquakes and relief efforts in Haiti and Japan before any major news networks had anyone on the scene!

God at work in Indonesia
There has been an on-going urgent education discussion with educators and christian leaders of Indonesia dialoguing with Loren Cunningham, founder of Ywam's University of the Nations (UofN). Indonesia has passed a law that by 2015, ALL teachers in ALL schools must have a bachelors degree or they will not be able to continue teaching. This will affect approximately 1.7 million teachers including 30,000 christian teachers teaching in Christian schools. This potentially will result in the shutting down of Christian schools. The body of Christ in Indonesia in cooperation with christian educators have a plan to establish over 1000 E-LEARNING CENTERS throughout Indonesia served by local churches to provide E-learning to christian teachers to help them get their bachelor's degree that is government approved. This is the first phase. Each e-learning center will serve between 20-40 teachers studying part time in the evenings over a one year cycle. A key to this strategy is providing FACILITATORS at each e-learning center who "LOVE THE LORD AND LOVE THE LOST". They will provide on-going discipleship, mentoring, coaching and guidance to the teachers so as to impart Jesus' heart to love and disciple the children in their classrooms .

UofN International has been formally approached to help train these FACILITATORS in Indonesia using much of our DTS content and values. Loren has made a call internationally and at least 10 of our largest bases in Ywam worldwide and Ywam leaders from Indonesia has responded to this challenge. Mark Brokenshire, International Dean of UofN's College of Education is facilitating this partnership. FACILITATORS coming for training will be sent by their local churches who are starting up these e-learning centers. UofN's primary task is to help train and disciple 4000 FACILITATORS within the next 2 years. Transformed facilitators will in turn transform teachers who will transform students who will transform an emerging generation What an opportunity to disciple a nation! UofN Bali will begin the first FACILITATORS training this July and will establish a pilot e-learning center shortly after.

Would you pray with University of the Nations and the body of Christ in Indonesia as we embark on these two challenges? Pray that the Lord will strengthen our partnerships and bless our friendships especially at key leadership levels. May He grant us faith to do the seemingly 'impossible' because He has spoken and He is able to accomplish as we hear and obey.

Live from Singapore

I am sitting in Singapore as I write this, but the update I am sharing this month is least of all about me, and more about the wave of God's spirit moving on the earth that I have been privileged to see some pieces of in the past month.

PhotogenX group on the move!

As our traveling group moves from Biblical studies into a new module called "Humanities and Science, a Christian Perspective," God has been rocking us with the way we view the world and relate to people and cultures around us. We had a week on "worldview" brought to us by an amazing guy from Kona, then I taught for a week titled "God's fingerprints in Human History." I've been away from the team for a few days, so when I get back to them at the end of the week I will get caught up on the rest of their studies. But we have a project coming up that I am really excited about, which involves trekking out to Romania to work in a community of "Roma" people, who you probably have heard referred to as "the gypsies." This is a people group scattered all over Europe, universally exploited and marginalized, longing for a hope and a future. I am hoping and praying that our time among them, both researching and identifying, will be the beginning of a move of God's church to reach out in a massive way to these people. I'm sure I will have more to share about them next month.

Teaching in a new Bible course in Bali:
I had the privilege last week of teaching the Gospel of Mark for a new Bible school being pioneered in Bali, Indonesia. All Indonesian students, on a campus brimming over with passion for the Lord, and compassion for the lost. Each morning of meeting together, someone was always practically bursting to share a testimony of how they had seen someone radically saved on the street, or in the store, or at the beach the day before. And their hunger for the Word is incredible! I simply brought them a book of the Bible, some background information and some study tools, and they ran with it, Pray for this group as they continue their study and their ministry. They are planning on going to East Timor for their outreach phase, a nation that has some deep-seeded wounds in their history from Indonesia. But God has given his children the ministry of reconciliation in the earth, administering the Revelation 22, leaves of the tree of life, for the healing of the nations.

Bali from the air

Bali: the last Hindu stronghold of Indonesia

Justice through the arts

God has been challenging me through my students in this area. Their vision is so singular, so focused, I find myself daily contemplating the way I use my gifts to serve God. Whatever our gifts and talents may be, God's dream is for us to use them to pour salve on the many wounds of our world. I am so thankful to know people like Lindsay, whose photography will reconcile nations, and Sam, whose passion for soccer is changing Cambodian kids lives, and Karen, whose hospitality ministry to ESL students breaks through all cultural barriers until these students simply see Jesus... the list goes on. I will leave you with this quote, and would suggest to you that whatever your talent, skill or profession, if you submit it to God he can turn it into an art form the world will notice. “The task of art is enormous. Through the influence of real art, aided by science, guided by religion, that peaceful co-operation of man, which is now maintained by external means – by our law-courts, police, charitable institutions, factory inspection, and so forth, - should be obtained by man’s free and joyous activity. Art should cause violence to be set aside.” – Leo Tolstoy

cliffs surround some of Bali's most famous surf spots, I went out surfing here on a fairly big day and could tell I was out of practice

Rice farmers work the mountainous landscape

Prayer for Nations: Indonesia
One week in Bali is enough to overwhelm me with the beauty of God's creation, but I know a lifetime there would not suffice to convey the depth of God's love for the hurting and the lost of Indonesia.
I was so encouraged to get to spend some time with the base leaders, Alan and Susie, and to hear about all the things God is doing through YWAM and partners in that nation. But the harvest is HUGE there! Indonesia is the largest (population wise) Muslim nation in the world.
God is raising up a battle tested army there. Religious persecution has tried and failed to stop them, natural disasters have only strengthened their resolve to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and more and more, the hearts cry of the Indonesian YWAMmer is being changed from "Lord send people to us" into "Lord send me!"
Pray for this young warrior movement when you get a minute, it's part of the harvest I would suggest not missing out on.
If you would like more information in order to pray, or if you think Bali might be a place you could visit and be part of what God is doing, check out http://uofnbali.org/ and maybe do a DTS there!

Some of the wonderful people you will meet when you visit YWAM Bali!