Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The days have gone by quickly since we left Kosovo last Thursday and now we find ourselves being in India for almost a week. We were joined here at the house late Sunday evening by a team of 30 people from World Race.  They have been traveling to different countries for 7 months now serving and partnering with local ministries in each country.  India is their stop for this month and then they will be off to Nepal.  Prakash and Ravi, the leaders here, have organized different ministry things to do; Jeremiah and I feel that some of our time here will be partnering with them in what the Lord is doing here.

Yesterday was the first day of really experiencing Indian culture through being taken to one of the largest hindu temples here.  This experience was all new to me and I did not know what to expect.  Almost all of India practices hinduism and there are over 2 billion gods that the people worship.  It is nothing to go down the road and see 5 temples or places of worship, even at the trees and in the median of the highway.   The moment I stepped outside the van, I began having pain in my left knee as if I had twisted it, though I had not.  The deeper I went into the temple, the stronger the pain grew.  It did not take long for me to discern that there was something evil taking place in the spiritual there; and I knew this because of the unexplained pain.  I was not ready for what I would see when we went through the dark tunnel with signs explaining how one would get to heaven, who god is, and all of the other beliefs.  Upon exiting, I was blinded by such bright light reflecting off of the gold sculpted idol at least 4 stories tall.  It was surrounded by grey pointed stones that enclosed the worship area and it bore a trident and a snake wrapped around its neck, among many other disturbing things.  It felt as if I was walking into a spiritual prison.  After going through all of the required processes of removing shoes, skipping the hand washing and surpassing the priest waving smoke on us, we entered the main worship area where one is able to see the god in all its “glory.”

By this time, the pain had increased and spread down my lower leg to my foot.  I was praying against it but told Jeremiah, and he said that he had a headache and his left leg was hurting as well.  During debriefing later, we discovered that many people experienced headaches and pain.  We spent time in silent prayer over the area, the people of India, and that God would tear down every idol and make His authority as the One True God known to them.  My heart broke for the people that the enemy has deceived so many into believing they have to do all of these things for a god to hear them and bless them.  The enemy has counterfeited what God has done and perverted the truth.  This was extremely evident to me when seeing the babies and children with markings on their head from birth.  It is as if the enemy has tried to lay claim to the children when they don’t have a choice and are brought up in these beliefs.  He tries to show it by the physical markings on them.  Oh that God would come in His power and wash away all of these things!

During our journey, God had me begin reading from 1 Samuel and in the Gospels for my daily readings.  I am finding more and more that in what I have been reading, I am seeing it in real life as we go along.  I finished 1 and 2 Kings, which is all about how the kings did not do what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and established idol worship, defiling the Temple of the Lord and making it a place of idolatry.  After more than 200 years of disobedience to the Lord, King Hezekiah was brought forth and destroyed every ounce of idol worship and evil that had been established, and brought back worship of the Lord.

In prayer over India when we arrived on Friday, the Lord gave me the verses, Isaiah 56:7-8, “I will bring them to My holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in My house of prayer.  I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices because My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.  For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel says: I will bring others, too, besides My people Israel.” and Micah 4:5, “Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.”  There was once a move of God in India, just as in King David’s reign; but the enemy has come in with lies that have deceived many.  I believe these are prophetic words for India and pray that God would raise up people to speak truth.  I pray that the power of God would triumph over the works of the enemy bringing forth freedom and life to the people here.

This is my prayer for America as well, that every physical and spiritual idol would be torn down and the reign of the Lord would reside in each heart!  India is a Threat Level 3 when it comes to missionaries.  This means that we are viewed as hostiles with the intent of converting and disrupting the way of life here; we are dangerous and the word of the Lord is not welcome here.  America is a place of freedom and of resources that are meant to be given out and shared.  Let this be an encouragement to you that if you aren’t able to go out physically to other nations, that your prayers are just as and more important than anything!  A lifestyle of Radical Prayer brings forth revival.   Do you have the passion and determination to pray radical prayers and to give of your time, resources, and efforts for the people of the world?  If so, ask the Lord to take you to even deeper levels and how you can give love more!

Blessings,

Katie, Pure Fire of Yahweh!!!