Fall to His Knees

“When Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” Luke 5:8, NASB.

Benny* is one of the students that we have met through the ESL (English as a Second Language) classes. Like many of Benny’s people, he has experienced and believes in occult, paranormal phenomena. He has shared with me in the past about evil spirits that bother him when he tries to sleep at night.

One morning Benny called me on the telephone. He was very excited about a dream he had. I asked him if he was still experiencing trouble with the evil spirits. He admitted that the spirits had not troubled him as much since I had been praying for him. Benny then launched into an animated description of his dream.

“A man dressed in white with a shining face came up to me in my dream,” said Benny. “When I looked at Him all I could do was fall before Him and cry. His presence made me realize how sinful I am.” Benny has experienced this dream several times. He said, “There must be some way to connect with God through someone who doesn’t have sin.”

Benny also shared that his friend, Nick, who had studied the Bible with me and Benny earlier, had called him during the week. Nicked asked Benny if he was still studying with me, because he’d like to study with us again.

I took the opportunity to share with Benny what the Bible said about Jesus. I explained that Jesus was sinless, and He is the connector to God that Benny was looking for. Benny agreed to continue meeting with me to study more.

Dreams are an important part of Benny’s culture. Spiritual direction that comes from a dream is taken seriously not only by the individual who receives the dream, but also by the community at large. People who claim the experience of a dream or vision are much more accepted than people who just deviate from the norm.

We have asked many believers to pray for dreams and visions to be given to our people, and we see this as a direct answer to those prayers! Benny has yet to place his trust in Jesus, so we continue to share, pray and trust that God will continue the work He has begun.

*Names changed for security reasons. Excerpt from the newsletter of a Last Frontier worker in the Pacific Rim.

Pray that:

Benny will realize that Jesus Christ is the connector to God that he is looking for.

Wisdom will be given to this Last Frontier worker as he shares truth from the Bible in response to dreams and occult experiences.

Faith decisions among this people group will be based on the truth of God’s Word, and not upon subjective experiences such as dreams and visions alone.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.