I will never forget my Upper Room Visit one evening in Romania. I had just landed in Cluj Napoca around 11pm after traveling for over 14 hours. I was anticipating meeting my friends and being whisked off to their home for a long-awaited sleep. But, after clearing customs I was greeted by my friends and instructed that I had a speaking engagement and several hundred people were waiting for me. This I was not expecting!
So, as we traveled I asked them what do you want me to speak on. They said, anything God puts on your heart. Naturally I take every opportunity to speak about Christ and so I began to formulate my thoughts in the car around 11:30pm.
When we arrived I noticed it was very gloomy and the street lights seemed to have very little effect on the darkness. As we entered the weather worn structure I was escorted up four flights of stairs, lights dangling precariously from the ceiling with only a few actually working. We finally entered a room on the fourth floor filled with women.
As I made my way to the podium the Lord impressed on my heart to express clearly that He would forgive their sin no matter what it is. So after forming my thoughts I opened by saying, ” Jesus loves you and wants you to know that He is able to forgive any and every sin in your life.”
My talk didn’t go any further. After that one sentence the silence of the room was interrupted by sniffling and weeping as a number of women were overcome by emotion. I looked at the interpreter and asked, what did you tell them? I was certain of what I said, and it was good news. I was uncertain what the interpreter said because why were these women crying? The interpreter responded back to me that she had communicated exactly what I had said. We both were in a place of confusion because we did not expect this immediate and overly expressive response.
After about ten to fifteen minutes, things began to settle down and we started to unwrap what had just occurred. What we discovered deeply impacted me. The women expressed their deep relief hearing that Jesus would forgive their sin, even if they had an abortion, and nearly all of the women in that room were included. They went on further to communicate that they had been rejected by the Church and told if they had an abortion that they were condemned to hell. Their was no hope for salvation for them.
When they heard those very few words from me about Gods love for them including His forgiveness, it impacted them so deeply that their only response was one of tears. They had no hope and now they were filled up with hope. Their minds, hearts and physical bodies could hardly believe what they just heard. It had been so long, and for some, they had never heard such good news. Thus the weeping.
What occurred that night was nothing short of a movement of Gods redemptive power. What it took was for someone to go, even though very tired and weary; to Listen to the prompting of the Lord; to deliver that word in obedience and then observe the Holy Spirits work. Here we see the Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility combo at work.
I too was dramatically changed. I now knew I must help the church understand the power of its voice and then influence it to be a life-giving voice rather than a life taking voice! Helping the Church find its voice on this matter and then walk in that authority can and will impact the world for life. This is a top priority for Life International.
I wonder, how many people in the world are just waiting for a simple, God prompted word filled with life, and how many are willing and prepared to go and deliver that word? When the Church captures this voice, the world cannot remain unchanged. Life trumps death every time!
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