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

The unseen vs. the Unknowable

Many post-modernists today accuse Christians, or more broadly “theists,” people who believe in some sort of God, of basing their life and their belief system and their values on “blind faith.” They would even go so far as to say that God demands blind faith from anyone attempting to follow him. The kind of faith the Bible calls for however, is by no stretch of the imagination blind faith.

Biblical faith is a logical progression of projecting past experiences and acquired knowledge into the present reality, and the future existence. What a Christian is asked to believe about the unseen is nothing more than anyone who claims to live in the real world is required to believe countless times each day, and certainly cant be categorized as irrational faith.

For example; my volleyball team has lost its first two games this season. The statement “I have faith that I will win a game” is not irrational for several reasons. If in fact, I did not play volleyball at all, did not have a team and there were no games to be won, this statement becomes unfulfillable and therefore irrational. The facts that (a) I do play volleyball, (b) there are more games to win (c) winning is a valid result to volleyball games, makes this statement something more than blind faith.

Take square roots. Can you describe what a square root looks like? How much it weighs; what color it is? When children are taught math they are taught the square root of four is two. Are they asked to believe it blindly? No. They are given examples, and the concept is explained and “mathematically proved” but no one in the history of the world has been shown an actual square root. The end result of mathematical training therefore, ends with faith; faith that the next time the answer to the square root of four is given; the answer will still be two.

The same could be said about gravity. Our faith that the next step we take will not send us rocketing off the face of the planet is based on our past experience of gravity, and our knowledge, however limited, of the invisible law. Gravity, which keeps our earth in motion around its sun, and its surface securely beneath our feet has never been seen, tasted, smelled or heard, but mankind’s’ accumulated experience with gravity as an unchangeable force touching one of our senses is enough for us to put our total faith in it’s reliability as a constant, unchangeable physical law.

Belief in a God who created unchangeable physical laws, mathematical absolutes and the universe they govern is not an irrational conclusion based on blind faith. It is the most logical conclusion then; that the unchanging laws that make the universe what it is are reflections of an unchanging creator who designed a universe in accordance with his character. What would be more irrational is to say that these “laws” unchanging as they are, are the result of the random occurrence of a spastic and unorganized universe which, by some miracle, managed to morph reality to conform to universal laws. Knowledge of, and faith in God, are the only logical results an examination of our acquired knowledge and experiences can bring us to: Faith.

Andrew Greenplate

picture taken on Mauna Kea, Hawaii