In celebration of SEAPC’s 30th anniversary, throughout the next 12 months, we will be sharing stories and testimonies of God’s goodness and faithfulness from friends around the nations! Each of these testimonies is like a stone of remembrance (Joshua 4) for all that He has accomplished. We are taking this year not just to look to the past, but also to praise God for what He has in store for us and those we serve in the years to come. We hope you enjoy these stories our friends have prepared each week!
It was cold as I laid in my heavy-duty sleeping bag buriedunder two horse blankets, clothed in multiple layers of clothes and a heavyjacket, but I still shook and shivered until it seemed my bones rattled.
As the hours of the night slowly passed, I could hear the 30-mile-per-hourwinds whipping through the camp. I could hear the chomping of the yak herd asit fed on the thick Tibetan tundra, and I could hear the labored breathing ofmy tent-mate as he was dealing with a combination of food poisoning and severealtitude sickness camping at 16,000 feet.
"Steve, are you okay?" I asked but got noresponse. "Steve! Are you okay?"I asked again. No response. A third time I called out, he groaned as hecommenced rolling over and laying his head right on mine. Steve and I are good friends,but not this good.
I rolled out of my bag and blankets and began to shake him,calling his name to get him fully conscious but to no avail. "This is notgood!" I thought. Having my roommate die on my first prayer journey in aforeign land was not the experience I was looking for!
I jumped up to get help when I saw Mark Geppert walking by.The sun was just beginning to rise, casting yellow hues across our bright bluepup tents. I went over to Mark, trying to sound as calm as I could. "Steveis breathing, but he is not conscious," I said.
Mark's eyes penetrated mine. "Hmm, what to do?" He said in typical Mark fashion. Heimmediately rounded up our tour guides, who applied oxygen, and we managed tolift Steve onto a bus to be taken down the mountain to a local hospital.
As the bus lumbered away, I took a moment to look at my surroundings in the early morning sunlight. The snowcapped mountains in the background; with a herd of yak and sheep tended to by a few Tibetan nomads; a beautiful deep blue lake nearby was glistening with the early morning sun; the colorful round tents covered with animal skins that the nomads called "yurts," were scattered across the green plateau…and looking at Mark, I thought, "How did this guy get me to come out here to the ends of the earth?"
Since then, I have realized that I am only one of a great cloud of witnesses to ask that same question!
I had met Mark a few months earlier when he came to Phoenixto recruit people to join one of his prayer journeys. Mark has been prayerwalking the nations for forty years and is a legendary missionary to unreachedpeople groups. He spoke of his work in Tibet, providing heart surgeries forchildren and planting house churches. That is all very nice; I attended this meetingas a favor to my friend Steve, thinking I would pray for him from Phoenix whilehe was on the trip.
Then, Mark spoke the words that would change my life. "Iwould like to invite you to come on a prayer journey to Tibet and proclaim thename of Jesus where His name has never been proclaimed before."
His words profoundly startled me! Are there still places that a Christian hasnever touched? Places where no one hasever taken the Good News of Jesus before? Those words penetrated my heart likean arrow. The thought of being the first person to proclaim Jesus to those whohad never heard and never even had a chance to hear overwhelmed me entirely. Thethought of literally going to the outermost parts of the earth to advance theKingdom of God completely captivated my heart.
As I sat and listened to Mark speaking about doing rawpioneer work, tears began to stream down my face. Traveling to unreached peopleand going to a place like Tibet had never crossed my mind, but the Holy Spiritwas squeezing my heart. I didn't even know where Tibet was. Suddenly, it seemed the old church classroomwas empty except for Mark, Holy Spirit, and me. Every word he spoke profoundly affected me. Out of nowhere, Jesus wasspeaking. "Daniel, I want to go to Tibet. Are you willing to take me there?' All I could say was, "Yes,Lord. Yes, I will go!"
My wife looked over at me and saw the tears that would notstop flowing. "You are going to Tibet, aren't you?" I nodded yes andkept wiping the tears.
Now, I was standing somewhere in Tibet next to Mark gazingat the incredible surroundings; I asked him, "What now? How do we reach these people with Jesus?"Mark looked back at me and said, "Hmmm, what to do?" As I prepared togo into spiritual warfare to bind the spiritual "strong man" of theregion, casting down spirits of false religion, attacking any dark spirit thatI could think of, believing this would open the way for people to hear andunderstand the gospel freely, I heard Markpraying a simple prayer. "Jesus, you brought us here. What do you want to do?"
"Okay, let's now wait and see what happens." He said as he glanced over at me.
"What? Wait. That's it? No spiritual warfare? You pray that little prayer and wait?"
"Yep. Spiritual warfare was completed through the Cross.Colossians 2:15 tells us that every spirit and principality was stripped nakedof their authority; he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamedthem publicly by his victory over them on the Cross. According to thatscripture, there are no powerful demons, only those that Christ has defeated. Moreover,Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us that we have been seated with Christ at our Heavenly Father'sright hand. That is a position of total, complete, absolute authority. We arehere to enforce what Jesus has already accomplished. Why should I pick a fightwith demons Jesus has already defeated?" Mark went on to say that helearned that if he focused on Jesus and walked in His Spirit, demons wouldcower to the Spirit of Christ. The LORD would show Himself almighty in settingpeople free of sickness and disease.
I thought I was a seasoned veteran in spiritual warfare, but I had never heard this insight into God's truth before. "So, no strategy? No agenda? We have no big plans? We pray and wait to see what God will do?"
Mark laughed a little. "Yep. Do you think you can comeup with a better plan than He can?"
"Hmmm, what to do?" I thought.
Later that afternoon, a woman had come down to the lake tofill water bottles. She looked at our camp filled with foreigners with greatcuriosity. At 16,000 feet and hours from the nearest town, they didn't get manyvisitors up here. She must have wondered who we were and why we had come. Acouple of ladies on our team greeted her with smiles which she returned; herbright smile made her dark weathered face brighten and glow. Our translatorspoke to her briefly and then turned to me. "Come, come! She has invited us to visit her home."
With curiosity, I followed, knowing I was about to step into a new world and a culture that was utterly unknown to me. As we entered her yurt, it took a few moments to see through the smoke of burning yak dung that filled the room. As I squinted through the smoke, I could see another woman sitting on the ground tending the fire. She was a little older, with a weathered face that looked like tough leather seasoned in the sun and the many hard years in this high Tibetan altitude.
Our translators spoke with her asking if she had any painand would like to receive prayer. Theyhad not mentioned anything about Jesus. They just said we had come to pray forpeople in pain. The woman quickly began to point to different parts of her bodythat were hurting. She stood in front of me, her eyes full of expectancy. Igently laid my hands on her head and released the Presence of God into herbody. After I prayed, she chatted with our translators for a few moments, andwe made our way out of the yurt. As we left, the woman came to me and pulled atmy arm, then touched her head with both hands motioning for me to pray again. AsI did so, the Presence of God came on us both.
Again, we said our goodbyes, and we began to walk away.Again, the woman pulled at my arm and touched her head, motioning me to prayfor her. For the first time in her life, this woman was experiencing thePresence of God, and she wanted more! Finally, we made our goodbyes and wentback to camp.
The following day, after another sleepless, bone-chattering,cold night, the sun began to come up over the mountains casting the softmorning light across our camp. As I crawled out of my cocoon of bag andblankets, I looked up and saw a group of nomad women coming over the hill intoour camp. I watched as they spoke briefly with our translator. Quickly, thetranslator motioned for me, and I walked over, curious about what was goingon.
"They want you to pray for them," she said. Thewoman I prayed for the previous day had gone from tent to tent, telling herneighbors about the foreigner who had prayed for her and that she experiencedGod. With great excitement and expectations, a number of us on the team beganto lay hands and pray for these precious women. We called out for God torelease His immeasurable love, His Kingdom, and His Presence upon these womenand their families.
Our translators were able to speak to them about Jesus, theone true God who loved them, died for them, wanted to forgive them, and givethem eternal life. After prayer, two of the women approached me. In Tibetanculture, it is their custom to honor someone by placing a white scarf aroundtheir neck. One at a time, the women stepped forward and placed a scarf aroundmy neck, bestowing upon me their highest honor.
I could not help think how God had entrusted us with such agreat responsibility being the first Christians they had ever met. What theynow thought about Jesus would be based on what they thought about us.
We had prayed our simple prayer asking God what He wantedto do. We then waited, and He revealed His plan. He did what we could havenever manufactured on our own. People experienced the power and presence of Godand heard the message of Jesus Christ for the first time. In fact, at this sametime, my friend Steve was back at the hospital recovering from his sickness andwas praying for the sick in that same hospital. Our act of spiritual warfarewas to apply the finished work of Jesus on the Cross and watch God do what He doesbest; show His magnificent Love and power to heal and transform lives.
I had just presented the magnificent love and power of Jesus where He was unknown before. I'll never forget that moment; I experienced the presence and power of God in such an intimate way. I felt like Jesus was saying, "Thank you. I have been waiting to come here for 2,000 years. Thank you for bringing me here and being My ambassador."
This time I did not even bother trying to wipe the tearsthat were streaming down my face.
