The Holy Spirit is a rebel. Jesus was and is too, but that isn't what this is about today. After going on a few short-term mission trips, I've learned that God will continue to teach you things from each trip, months and even years later.
When I was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we didn't necessarily do the typical "mission trip" things. We didn't work on a house or help build a church (don't tell anyone...but we didn't even do a backyard bible club). Instead, we built relationships with the people there, and encouraged the very few Christ-followers there were. The most profound and "damaging"(in a good way) thing we did, was prayer-walking. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is simply walking around a specific area and praying intentionally for the people there.
We started off most mornings with some time devoted to worship and prayer. One morning the wife of an "M" who we will call Pam told her husband, who we can call Jim, that we should go prayer-walk the mosque that is a couple miles away. Jim didn't seem very eager to do so because he had tried to go there many times before, but the Muslims wouldn't let one of the three white guys in Addis go in. Still though, Pam said she felt strongly that we should try. Jim reluctantly decided to go and took all of the men with him(I'm a man!). Jim didn't seem very hopeful, and so we didn't get our hopes up either.
In order to get there we went through what seemed like the African bush. I guess it was, seeing as we were in Africa. We finally arrived and there was a guard standing by the small entrance. Jim went up to him and was very kind and telling him how nice the mosque looked. When Jim asked if we could go in as tourists, the guard let us! We were the first Christ-followers to ever set foot in that mosque. That being said, the spiritual darkness was almost overwhelming. I kept praying and praying for The Spirit to come into that place. There were ropes on the ground about 12-18 inches apart all running parallel across the entire room. That means if you are looking at the front of the room, the lines are going from the left side to the right. The Muslims would stop at every line to pray. As, I walked past each line, the darkness got heavier. Despite the darkness, this was a moment when I could feel God's presence without a doubt, 100%. While in there, I got part of a song stuck in my head, that I started humming to myself, softly so no one could hear me.
Spirit fall Spirit fall
Hear Your children call
Spirit fall on us, fall on us now
When Phil Wickham plays this song live, he often goes into a bridge with the lyrics,
All Glory, Honor, Power is Yours, Amen.
As I got to that part of the song, the Holy Spirit swept over the entire room and His presence had been made known. The leader of the mosque came almost bursting out of a room and told us to leave. We did as he wished, but I'm fully convinced that the Holy Spirit remained.
It's crazy to think about how often we ignore or push aside the Holy Spirit and focus only on the Father and Son aspects of the Trinity. In Francis Chan's book Forgotten God, he asks the reader to close their eyes and to imagine that Jesus is sitting next to them in the flesh. When I did this, an overwhelming sense of joy came to me. He then reminded the readers that it is better for us that the Spirit is here with us than if Jesus himself was with us in the flesh. I know there are a some people out there who would say, "Just give me Jesus". But according to the Word, He wants to give us more.
"But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."
-John 16:7
Stay Sweet.
