Pete's Update

About six months I, along with a team from Pensacola, Florida, visited a beaten and battered people tucked away in the jungles of Southeast India. They had endured persecution at the hands of their radical Hindu neighbors. They suffered the destruction of some of their homes and the taking of much of their lands. They walked great distances for the water they needed to survive since they were not allowed to use the Hindu well a few steps away. These issues however, were not the primary source of their defeated condition.

As we met and talked with them the root of their downcast spirit was revealed. They told us, “We are Peter.” They held on to this identity because in order to spare their lives and the lives of their children they had denied Jesus when confronted by angry Hindu mobs.

I don’t know if I ever enjoyed bringing the good news of the kingdom more than I did that day. We shared with them that in fact they could claim Peter as their identity in Christ. I also reminded them that 40 days after Peter denied Jesus he preached at Pentecost and we are told thousands were saved. The application was also clear as I reminded them to embrace this part of their identity as well. I told them it had been 15 months since their failure and it was past time to move on and engage, like Peter, what God had in front of them.

They seemed overjoyed by this news and even relieved. Maybe you have experienced the joy and relief of no longer being identified by your failures but by what God was doing in you instead. Still, I wondered as I flew back into India this time what we would find in this remote village. As we trudged 8 miles up the mountain to see them I was excited to see what God had done.

As we gathered the believers for worship and to feast on fresh pig, the atmosphere was much lighter than in our previous visit. As we worshiped I marveled at the fulfillment of their prophetic identity with Peter. It was now much more complete. I realized sitting in a church that had doubled in size over the last 6 months it seemed they too had been preaching and displaying the Gospel of the kingdom in their region. This proclamation, like Peters', had resulted in many being aded to their numbers. Currently, In that small village, the believers outnumber the Hindus and the resulting change is palpable.

It’s so like the enemy to bombard our minds with reminders of our failure in an effort to frustrate and even halt the destiny we have in front of us. I’m thinking this happens not only in obscure villages in India, but maybe even here in the United States. As we wage war for the nations, and even for our own nation, maybe it’s good to know that the primary battleground is in the mind.

David