Blest Be the Tie That Binds
I went to a prayer meeting in Pastor Danny's church last night. Pastor Danny is the prayer committee chairman for the Franklin Graham event we will be having here in Saipan on February 21st. I have been to almost all of the citywide prayer meetings since we began to pray for the event in June 2019, and was excited to go last night because the meeting was in Pastor Danny's church. He and his people pray. Really pray. Two weeks ago at a prayer meeting in Pastor Lito's church, I sat by Pastor Danny's wife, Amy, whom I had not met before, and we paired together for the concert of prayer at the end of the meeting. A concert of prayer is where everybody in the room prays at the same time, usually in the language of their heart. Amy and I prayed together, hands clasped, she in Tagalog me in English, about whatever God brought to our minds, believing he would lead us both in the same prayer direction as we prayed together yet separately. I did not tell her of a need I had, but during the prayer I began to pray for my need, and the need was met the following day. And the next prayer meeting was to be in her church! I was so excited for the day to come.
Yesterday was the day and I almost missed it. I completely forgot about the meeting even though I wrote in on my calendar and had been thinking and praying about it for two weeks. I was behind in my schoolwork and at 5:45 pm (the meeting started at 6) I was jerked hard in my spirit to stop what I was doing and look at the clock. I did. Suppertime, I thought. I decided to do the last segment of my assignment due that day, but the Holy Spirit loudly put the words "prayer meeting" into my brain. I quickly washed up, put on some Iowa clothes because it would likely be cold in their building, winced at the sight of my unruly hair in the mirror---nothing I could do about it, and ran out the door. I made it in time, a few minutes early in fact. The church is only about a mile from my apartment.
Why do I tell you this? Well, for months, since November 2019 truth be told, I have been wrestling with the question of why I am in Saipan. And I haven't until last night been able to define a clear answer. Last night, as I went to bed after the prayer meeting ended and I finished my school assignment, I found myself telling God, "I know why I am here." It's about experiencing revival, an awakening in a city, something I have only heard about second hand from people like Mary Peckham who told me how she was saved in a Scottish revival in the Isle of Lewis a generation ago, and from books I have read on revivals. The common denominator has always been a spirit of prayer preceding the revival, and a spirit of unity among Christians across denominational lines.
I came here initially to simply help out at the Church of the Nazarene this summer, but once here, my imagination fired up. I saw the beginnings of the prayer and unity that led to revivals in other places happening right here in Saipan. Our first citywide prayer meeting in June 2019 together as churches was one of the most amazing things I had ever experienced. I have written already about it here, so I won't repeat myself, but it led to my beginning to believe that God might have his sights on Saipan and that he might be answering my 40 year prayer to be a part of such a movement of God in my lifetime. I began to want to stay here. The wrestling in my spirit, the heartache, the confusion of those last days of summer was terrible. I felt so torn. I had obligations to my church in Iowa. But I needed to be in Saipan, not next year, not next month, but now. My church in Iowa released me and I gave all I owned to a women's shelter, put six boxes of family treasures into my son's storage room, packed three suitcases and got on a plane.
Although I have put on a brave face, now that I am here, I confess to having a few doubts. As I have prayed for answers, the one thing that the Holy Spirit keeps saying is, "Unity among the churches. Prayer." And so I continued to pray and continued to unite with the churches as often as the Lord opened a way for me to attend meetings. I have fought the doubts, yielding my life again and again as doubts arise to the Lord's governance. He has a plan for my life. He wants me here for now. Roll my "whys" onto him, and keep rolling them. Draw near to God and resist the temptation to doubt. But oh how I have longed for a sign that I truly am in the right place at the right time!
My sign came last night.
Two weeks ago in the prayer meeting in Pastor Lito's church, God dropped into my mind a message for our prayer group. I got my Bible out of my purse and put my bookmark on John 17, telling God that if he wants me to speak this word, I will do it. I was not to tell anyone that I had a message, but to rely on the Holy Spirit to communicate the fact when the time was right. I went home having not spoken.
This week I spoke...unexpectedly. Sitting in a pew before the prayer meeting began last night,Pastor Danny came to sit beside me. "Will you be willing to pray for one of the requests on our list tonight?" I said yes. He looked down the list of seven requests regarding the upcoming Franklin Graham event and then started to circle an item down toward the bottom. "That's not the one!" I shouted in my mind to God. At that moment, Pastor Danny hesitated. His circle was half drawn when he picked up his pen and said, "No... that's not the one." I could see him look up and down the list, his pen touching each entry. Suddenly he circled Unity Among the Churches, circling the entry forcefully and without hesitation. "You pray for this, okay?"
I was blown away!
Many times in my 40 years of walking with the Lord, the Holy Spirit has given me a word for the church I was in that morning, but never has a leader been prompted by God to come to me. I was so excited. The Holy Spirit had connected us, spoken to both me and Pastor Danny, me two weeks before when it wasn't the time to speak and to Pastor Danny right now. After waiting two weeks, the time was now right. I said to myself, " It IS unity among the churches! I heard right. That is why I am here. Or at least why I am here right now." I began to think maybe I should preface my prayer with the short word God had given me two weeks ago. Was the word then still the word for today?
At that moment, Pastor Danny came back to my pew and sat down. "Would you be willing to share a word with us before we start the prayer meeting?"
Again, I was blown away by the working of the Lord. "Yes," I said, adding, "what would you like me to speak about?"
"Whatever the Lord has laid on your heart."
I spoke. The room was entirely with me, from the smallest child to the oldest saint...actually I am sure I was the oldest one in the room, by a decade or more. As I spoke, confidence rose up in me. I am here for a reason. I was right to leave Iowa. And then came the thought if God can move two people in the same direction like he moved Pastor Danny and me, he can move an island into an encounter with the Living God! I praise and thank him with all my heart for allowing me to be here to witness the unity of the churches in preparation for his move on this land. Then came the thought, if God could move here among such a diverse set of people and cultures and languages, he can move anywhere! I began to pray for the churches I left behind in Iowa, that the same unity of heart and prayer will rise up there also to prepare the way for a mighty move of God in that state. I pray for Guam who is also preparing for their own outreach event. I pray for the Philippines, the land so dear to the heart of my friends here, and my own heart as well. I pray for my home country of northern Minnesota. How I would love to witness a might move of God in the place I love most on earth.
The love of God for his church fills my soul this morning. I yearn for you to know God in his fullness, to experience the peace that comes from turning away from the life you have always managed on your own, in your own strength, to the true life that only comes from a total dependence on God through what Jesus did on the Cross to make it possible for us to approach God, face to face, without our being destroyed by his holiness.
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts to God and to each other in Christian love. The unity of the churches here in Saipan makes my heart sing. The hope of Jesus' prayer in John 17 being answered makes my heart sing:
"I'm praying...for those who will believe in me because of [the church] and their witness about me...The same glory you gave me, I gave [the church], so they'll be as unified and together as we are - I in them and you in me. Then they'll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you've sent me and loved them in the same way you've loved me" (The Message, excerpted).May you find your way to God this year because of what you see in the bond of love between Christians. I am praying for you! Message me on Facebook if you need someone to pray with you.
Much love,
Amy
My address is:
Amy Trosen
Box 10002 PMB 1041
Saipan, MO 96950
May God richly bless you for helping me do what God has called me to do here in Saipan. Be advised your gift is a personal gift and not tax deductible nor are you receiving from me any goods or services.
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