Ever since I came to live to the United Status in February 7th, 2007, I have witnessed a gigantic necessity of the love of God. All we have seen about schools in the United States of teenagers smoking, having sex, having premature love relationships, having lack of respect toward authorities, and many others have formed part of my daily routine as a secret agent of the Lord infiltrated in the Enemy’s land itself.
Never had I been tested so. Never had I experienced such a great lack of protection as the one I had in my Christian schools back in El Salvador. As christians, our eyes blink and we are capable of seeing the reality. The only thing that my eyes now see every day in that place is dead people enslaved to the system and without any conscience of their existence bound to the will of Satan.
It is no easy task to approach someone and share the gospel in a public school where by law it is not allowed to discuss the Bible or even mention God, much less Jesus Christ, much less in a place where Satan has made sure to blind the eyes of each and every person that attends the school I go to. Religions, ideologies, philosophies, analysis, etc., form part of the perfectly designed mechanism that denies the existence of one and only and true God.
"Are you a virgin?" a school mate asked me. "Yes" I replied."Have you ever been close to having sex?" she asked me again.
At this point I was unbelievably uncomfortable and did not know how to escape that questioning that did not come from this girl, but from Satan himself working through her.
"I live for God, and my life is His now. I don’t live for myself, I live to please Him, or at least I’m working on it.” Was my final answer.
That same day, in my English class, the teacher was absent and we had a substitute replacing the teacher for that day. The students turned against the substitute for no other reason but to play the role of a clown and a rebel against authorities.
I was reading a book in class when I felt something flying over me. It was a paper airplane directed straight against the substitute. Two or three more followed it. The students proceeded by ripping the phone off the wall and creating a total chaos inside the classroom. Security was called and the disorder was once again order...temporarily.The bell rang and I flew out of the school heading straight to my fort of security…the apartment where we live in. As I walked, tears rolled down my cheeks as I spoke to the Lord.
"Lord! Why do you have me here? There is absolutely no fear of You anywhere, you have placed me in the midst of darkness, tangible darkness! It is so hard to do your work here, I am just a boy…I am no one for you to choose me to be your infiltrated agent in this battlefield…what do you want from me!? If you’re gonna have me here, at least give me the strength to move forward! They need your love so much, but they cannot see it! Many don’t want to see it!”
I listen to Petra, which is a christian band, because I have gound in them a ministry, not a band, but a group of people who glorigy the Lord and whose songs are filled with treasures and direct messages based firmly on the Bible. These songs have made me cry many times and the Lord has spoken to me through them. In that precise moment in which I was walking home, I was listening to a song called “Heart of a Hero” of Petra. Here are the lyrics:
Heart of a Hero
Based on Psalm 31:24
The fearless giant faced a brave young shepherd boy He said, "Your God is dead and your nation soon destroyed" But the son of Jesse proved what God can do in the heart of a hero Three men refused to bow to the idol made of gold They knew they could burn for not doing what they're told They'd rather face the fire than to kneel to a god made by hands (Chorus) It takes the heart of a hero To stand for what's right It takes the heart of a hero To lay down your life There are idols to be worshipped and giants in the land They'll drag you down, attack your faith and slay you if they can So let your heart be filled with the courage and strength of the Lord Have the faith of a child And the power of God And when you call on His name He will give you the heart of a hero Will you stand for what's right? Would you lay down your life? Do you have heart?
Just as I was protesting to the Lord and heard this song, he told me very clearly: “It is necessary, my son, that you go through all these things because I will give you the heart of a hero, and through these things that heart will be forged…my love for you extends beyond what you can ever imagine...now rise, be brave and continue on the good fight!”
There was such tenderness in the Lord’s voice and such power that it simply touched my heart and made me cry (again).
What do we call trials? We are so comfortable with the fact that we are already saved and we don’t work so that others may come to the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. I beg you brothers, le tus rise and pursue the heart of a hero for the Lord.
Which brings me to another point. Last night we had a Bible study with the brothers of the church. It was about the birth of the church in Philippi in Macedonia in Acts 16. Paul wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit prevented Him from going to Asia and took Him to Macedonia through a vision. Paul preached to women in a river of Macedonia, which was something men couldn’t do (talk to women) in that time. At the end a women, who was in the business of market and commerce called Lydia, approached them and practically forced them to ther house, and all in Lydia’s household accepted the Lord!
In the same chapter, Paul drew out of a girl a spirit of divination and her owners took Paul and Silas before the judged of the province and, without a proper trial, were flogged beyond what was stipulated (forty lashes minus one, Roman law) and were put in the worst part of the jail in a dungeon. Stocks were fastened in their feet and in this way they were prevented from any movement and forced into a rigid and extremely painful position, resides the bleeding and the immense pain of their flogging.
I had always read this chapter without paying any attention at all to what I was reading…”well, just another ugly thing that happened to the earlier christians,” but wait a minute…what does it say next? "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them" (verse 25). What!? How can someone be singing hymns and be joyful alter what happened? In what body or mind can joy have place in alter such a physical suffering!? Nevertheless, the other prisoners heard them, and I could bet Paul and Silas were not only singing hymns, but they must have preached to the other prisoners for, alter the earthquake took place and the chains of all the prisoners fell from their bodies, none escaped! Why wouldn’t they take the opportunity to escape from the dungeon!? After suffering the horrible tortures of the Roman jailer!? Surely they must have accepted the Lord as well!
The jailer (position which was mostly given to retired Roman officials) was humbled and taken down from his high position and also accepted the Lord him and who else?...his entire family!
What kind of work and lives are these of Paul and Silas? But what a hurricane these two were! And all the christians of the primitive church! They had the heart of a hero! They had been reformed for the service of the Lord! What kind of maniacs for the Lord were these!?
But…coming down from the cloud…have we sought the Lord’s face so that He can forge incide of us that heart? Or do we fear what being a REAL christian implies? There is no middle position…if we don’t live real christian lives alter accepting Christ as our Savior, please, PLEASE don’t call yourself a christian!
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