Stand By Me

If the sky that we look upon

Should tumble and fall

All the mountains should crumble to the sea

I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear

Just as long as you stand, stand by me.

Lyrics to STAND BY ME by the Temptations

Early last week I did a road test a third time for a middle age lady who had come here from Syria. This time she passed and after I gave her the review she told me that at the end of the week she was heading back home for a visit. “Pray for me.” she said looking very concerned. “Are you afraid?” I asked. She said she was. “Just yesterday 3 bombs went off outside our home.”

You and I cannot really imagine what that would be like, either living in conditions where people actually want to kill you with no remorse, or being safe but having family enduring that daily fear.

I follow a blog written by one of my favorite authors, Joel Rosenburg. He converted to Christianity from Judaism and although he is a tremendous advocate for the nation of Israel he also created something called THE JOSHUA FUND which raises money to provide food, clothing and other aid for Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Mid-East. They have been very active in supporting Christian pastors in Iraq. Last week he posted that after a lot of prayer over the last year he and his family would be moving that week to Israel. They had been granted Israeli citizenship but could also retain their U.S. Citizenship. Here is a paragraph from that post:

Moving to Israel during a war may seem crazy to some, but we are at peace that this is what the Lord is calling us to do. Indeed, we count it an honor to stand with our Israeli and Palestinian friends to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Psalmist commands. Our hearts grieve for those on both sides of the border who are suffering because of this war, and we want to serve them and care for them in any way we can. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” We trust the Lord will show us how in some small way we can serve Him in a Land still so in need of His grace and peace.

A couple of days ago I was talking to my daughter Becky who has always had a great interest in the persecuted church. A FB friend of ours know a family that was ministering to persecuted Christians in the Mid-East, I think maybe even Iraq, and he gave my daughter their contact information. They told her that their ministry has suddenly gained great credibility with the locals because when the troubles came all the foreigners left, except their family. We would think that is extraordinary but their heart response was, “how could we leave them?”

When my daughter was telling their story to a co-worker the person wondered how anyone could go to a place when they knew that both them and their children would be endangered. Becky thought about it and responded that it all had to do with wanting to share the love of Jesus and the new life that is possible in Him to a hurting people living in darkness. Whose lives are more precious?

My father use to remark that it takes a strange type of person to be a salesman. “You have to like people.” He would say that in reference to owners of furniture businesses he knew who loved to design and produce beautiful product but thought the customer was a necessary evil and the salesman an even greater evil. “I would get home from my travels on a Friday night and have a list of angry clients that needed to be calmed down because they had received a nasty response from the owner in response to a reasonable grievance."

I think the same philosophy is true for people who want to share the truth of the gospel, or to minister healing or deliverance. It is not an intellectual truth, a better way, a special formula or any program designed to produce great results. Instead you begin with this bit of wisdom from my father; YOU HAVE TO LIKE PEOPLE.

Francis MacNutt in his books on healing and deliverance emphasizes that we need to remember that the sickness or the evil spirit, as ugly and detestable as they are, are not the same as the person being ministered to. We need to separate the two. In reflecting on the long and successful ministry he had in healing and deliverance he said that many people told him the most powerful thing they experience while being ministered to was not a particular prayer or word of console but rather the sense that here was someone who actually loved and cared for them.

Many times a wound caused either by a trauma or sin or exposure to the occult results in a person's reluctance or inability to trust the one willing to help.  They don't believe that God can love them and they don't believe that other people can really love them either.  In these cases the wound needs to be healed, the sin needs to be repented and the occult activity needs to be renounced.  Then after the house is swept clean the Holy Spirit must be shown in to repair, restore and rebuild what was lost.  This may take time.  We might be willing to do that for family but what will drive us to do that for others?

I've written awhile back about what is a common thread among successful missionaries and evangelists.  They have a heart for the lost.  They have a great love for a certain people, land or nation.  They lay in bed at night praying for the lost.  The works of the enemy actually makes them mad.  And yes, they trust in God's provision and timing and they are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The song by the Temptations was a love song.  The world can fall apart but it won't matter because I know that even in all that distress you will stand by me.  We can also see it as someone who trusts that God will be with them no matter what else happens in life.  Through all these trials and tribulations He is standing with me.  

And finally we can see that as a call for us to stand with those that need us now.  For people who need God's love because they are sick or hurt or living in darkness.  For people who are being driven from their homes because of hate that comes straight from the pit.  For the missionaries and aid workers and their families who are risking their lives because of their love for these people.  And finally, for God's chosen people, many of whom are also living in darkness but are threatened with extinction simply because they are His chosen.