We thank God for His Word and for His promise that times of refreshing will come from His presence. Springtime can be a time of refreshing. As the snow melts and the trees begin to blossom, the harsh winds of winter become the refreshing breezes of spring. Spring speaks of new hope. But true hope and true refreshing come from only one source the presence of God.
He is the only source of hope and refreshing in this troubled nation of Romania. The last week of winter brought snow every day. With the return of warm weather, it melted all at once causing heavy flooding in many areas. Thousands have been left homeless as a result.
The economy continues its downhill slide as prices continue to rise while salaries and pensions are losing ground. The teachers’ strike has ended with the teachers receiving a much needed salary increase. The salary increase is being paid for by restructuring the whole educational system. Many non-teaching positions were eliminated and smaller schools are being combined with larger ones. There is still a lot of bureaucratic waste and corruption that needs to be eliminated before the school system can be really run efficiently. Thank you for your prayers in this regard.
Many Romanians are concerned about the upcoming elections here in Romania. They are worried that Russian President Putin will try to re-establish the Soviet Union and pressure Romania to come back under Soviet control. The current front runner for the Romanian presidency is Ion Iliescu, a former (?) communist who is strongly pro-Russia and did little to help the nation during his six years as president immediately after the Revolution.
Times of refreshing will not come from an economic breakthrough or from a political solution. Refreshing can be found only one place – in the presence of the Lord, where sins are forgiven and lives are transformed.
We have seen the refreshing hand of the Lord more and more as we have taken the young people into the villages to preach the Good News to the poor and to bind up the broken hearted. We visited one village where a year ago there were only a handful of elderly in the church. But this time, they had just finished a week of evangelism. The church was filled with mostly young people from unsaved families who were coming to seek the Lord, looking for the refreshing that can only come from the presence of the Lord.
In another village the church was also filled with people of all ages. A children’s choir of about 30 voices led the time of praise and worship. We found out later that only 5 of these children were from families within the church. The rest came from unsaved families in the village. God is calling young people from around the world to serve Him and to sing His praises.
In yet another village God has been moving in a special way among the young people. Many young people from unsaved families in the village began coming to the church. Several young men gave their hearts to the Lord and were baptized about two months ago. Because of the transformation in their lives, many of their friends also came and gave their hearts to the Lord. They are going to be baptized on Palm Sunday. Then last week, one of the young men who was baptized just two months ago was involved in a tragic accident while working in Italy. He was instantly killed at the age of 23, leaving a wife and baby. His sudden and tragic death shook the village to its depths. The entire village came to the funeral Saturday where the Gospel was clearly preached.
Howard had preached in the village just two weeks earlier but they asked us to return to bring a word of comfort to the shocked and grieving congregation which we did. Afterwards we met privately with and prayed for the former principal of the public school in the village who was despondent to the point of being suicidal. A nominal Orthodox, she gave her heart to the Lord and experienced the life giving refreshing that can only come from His presence.
God is not just moving in the villages but He is also at work in every level of society. George Catana, the Director of Logos Christian Schools attended a recent conference sponsored by the Department of Education for the directors of all the model schools in the nation. The conference was paid for by funds from the World Bank for the purpose of improving the quality of the educational system in Romania. Throughout the conference, speaker after speaker talked about applying Biblical principles to the task of school administration. At nearly every break during the three day conference, other administrators came to George and his wife Doina, who is the director of the music school in Timisoara, asking for prayer for personal needs. God is turning the hearts of the Romanian people back to Him!
Here in Timisoara God is continuing to restore unity to His Body, the Church. As the pastors continue to meet monthly for prayer, God is tearing down the walls of division and competition that have risen up since the Revolution. At their most recent meeting, the visiting head of the Baptist churches in England spoke of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit he is seeing everywhere he travels. One of the Baptist pastors mentioned how the Pentecostal young people gather for prayer meetings on Friday nights and how the Baptist young people need to learn how to seek the Lord in the same way. As a result, it was decided that the Believers from all the evangelical churches in the city are going to meet together at the largest church in Timisoara for an all night prayer meeting on Good Friday to seek God for revival. A joint ecumenical service on Good Friday may be "ho-hum" in many communities in America but for the churches in Timisoara to commit to come together for a night of prayer for revival represents a major spiritual breakthrough.
This commitment on the part of the pastors to bring their churches together to pray all night for revival is not the only call to prayer that is being heard in Timisoara. Last week we were blessed to have a precious 65 year old grandmother from England named Shirley Clear join us for a special meeting of the Christian women in the city. About 90 Christian ladies from several different churches of different denominations came together to hear about a prayer movement called Deborah Arise Europe. The single purpose of this ministry is to call women together to pray daily on their own and weekly in small groups for God to save their children and grandchildren and to raise up an army of young people whose hearts are on fire for God and who are committed to taking this Gospel to the ends of the Earth. As God used Deborah in the Old Testament to challenge Barak to lead the armies of Israel against the enemy, so this movement challenges women to rise up as intercessory prayer warriors to stand in the gap for God to fulfill His perfect will in the lives of the children and young people in their families, their churches, their city, their nation, and the world.
The young people in Romania are in desperate need of prayer. The Revolution in December, 1989, opened the door to religious freedom but it also opened the door to all sorts of garbage from the West and false religions from everywhere. Young people today are faced with temptations their parents never even dreamed of. Drugs, alcohol, and smoking are everywhere in the public high schools. It is nothing to see 8 and 10 year old children sitting around smoking. Pornography is being sold at nearly every bus stop and it is almost impossible to buy a daily newspaper without pictures of topless women inside. MTV and NYPD Blue blare from the TV along with the most graphic sex and violence French and Italian television programming have to offer. Runaways as young as 6 years old slump on street corners sniffing glue from plastic bags.
Even those who have warm homes and loving parents often have little hope for the future. Jobless rates continue to climb and even those who graduate from the university often have difficulty finding a job that will pay enough that they can afford to think about getting married and starting a family. Most Romanians don’t really want to get rich. They just want to have a place to live, clothes to wear, and food to feed their family. But 92% of the nation can’t even do that!
Romania needs the times of refreshing that can only come from the presence of the Lord. Will you stand with us in prayer? Pray for the unity within the Body of Christ to grow and bring forth fruit. Pray for the women who have committed to be a Deborah, standing in the gap to pray for this generation. Join your prayers with theirs that God will raise up an army of young people on fire for Him and committed to walk before Him in holiness, taking the Gospel to those who have never heard. Pray for the many fine ministries such as Mana and Life Center that are reaching out to the orphans and street children in Timisoara. Pray for our outreaches into the villages that we can continue to bring hope into hopeless situations.
As you pray, ask God what He would have you to give to reach out in love to those who have nothing. Your prayers and financial gifts are what make this ministry possible. God is wanting to pour out His times of refreshing on a hurting nation that has nowhere else to turn. Help us to be His hands extended, reaching out to the oppressed and discouraged, bringing the Good News of His grace to those who have lost all hope. Thank you and may God bless you richly.