A Table Before Us in the Presence of our Enemies! (Psalm 23)

Greetings Friends,

I would like to share in more detail about one of our recent events. Yesterday, Mel and I were on our way to a meeting in the wee hours of the morning when we were stopped by the police in zone 10. Normally I wouldn’t be too bothered by a routine traffic stop except the fact that our passports were at the immigration office and all that we had were some flimsy papers from them saying that they had our ID.

So the police stopped us and asked for ID, title and another document. So I explained the issue with the ID and the officer said, “that’s not sufficient explanation” and began to get weird….The only phrase that comes to mind when I think about his behavior is “Napoleon Complex”… You know the guy; short guy with a power trip… Anyway, It was going to get worse before getting better.

In addition to my “insufficient” ID, I couldn’t find my original title or other document. All I had was photo copies of both… This made him even more angry…. So after he told me what I need to get (an official stamp and signature from a lawyer), he took me out and searched me… Then he got in the car with Mel in there (Which made me extremely uncomfortable) and searched our car… Forget about the constitution! Forget about any kind of rights or procedure… This was just unchecked authority! While he was doing this I was thinking: “What’s to keep him from attacking my wife?”…”What’s to keep him from planting drugs in my car?”… So I begin to pray… Right there like they didn’t exist… I reminded God why we were in Guatemala… I asked Him for justice.. I knew we had no one in this world that could save us from the authorities.

That is when the tide changed… I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but now I see that God, in His sovereignty, was using this situation the whole time. He had us at a “Table in the Presence of our Enemies” and He wanted to show us His Power over all authority!

So the officer began his “beat around the bush” fear tactics. He said, “None of your paper work is good. I need to take your car” several times. From his end He wanted me to throw Him some lunch money. From my end I was accustomed to justice and police who do their job, so I wasn’t taking the “hint”. I really didn’t know… I just thought that he was taking the car…. So after 3 or 4 threats to take the car… I told him, “do what you have to do”.

This is when he asked where we were going, so I told him to our friends house to a prayer meeting. He said, “Does he speak better Spanish than you?… (Really meaning does he understand what a bribe is?)… I said, “Yes he is a resident… He speaks well…”.

So they followed us 5 blocks away to my friends house and I invited him outside to talk to them. Little did the officers know, but my friend has had an ongoing discipleship ministry for the local police department for the last several months… Like 25 of the 50 cops are coming to his training…. So they tell him what’s going on and he says, “OK let’s go to the station, but first do you guys work for Captain so and so?”  That’s when the table turned! They got nervous and said, “Uhhh. yeah, but He’s on vacation…. and you know what, never mind about the paperwork… You guys have a good day…Then they left.

So let me just be frank about what’s going on… We began praying for revival in this nation and breakthrough in all parts of Guatemalan society for a couple weeks now… We get together everyday early in the morning and invite pastors and other leaders to join us… God is sending a huge wave to crash down upon the land.. A glorious wave of His presence that will wash this place and usher in an awakening before he comes again. This is the 11th hour! His coming is at hand!

Our experience shows us at-least 3 things:

1. God is in control
2. The corruption that we pray against daily is more prevalent than what we thought
3. We must be doing something right if the enemy wants to discourage us so

 

As always I want to thank you dear friends for your prayers and support… We would not be here with out you… God knows that we are weak and would fail without Him and you… Your strong platform of prayer and relationship holds us up… We love you and bless each one of you!