My Elephant is Coming
From Sheila Miller's book, "Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle".
My Elephant is Coming
Somewhere in Asia lived a Dutch Missionary whose name was Ian. He lived on an island and his goal was to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the villages on the island before Christmas. He worked with the Jesus film and drove around with his 4x4 and a generator.
At the beginning of December Ian still had one more village to go to. It was all the way up a mountain. The terrain was difficult and the forest very dense and dangerous. But the missionary wanted to keep his promise. So, he kissed his wife and children goodbye and off he went.
Ian faced many challenges on this trip: breakdowns; stuck in the mud; snakes; suffocating heat… but he persevered with the Lord’s help and finally he arrived at his destination: The last small village that lived in utter darkness and had never heard of the one and only source of Light.
Ian went to the chief and explained why he was there. The chief allowed him to speak to the men, under a tree, that evening. And when Ian had shared the gospel and showed the Jesus film many men came to Christ. Ian stayed for a couple of days to share from the Bible but then it was time to go down the mountain back to his family to celebrate Christmas with them. The chief was not happy to see Ian go but after Ian had promised to come back and explain some more from God’s Word, he agreed to let him go the following morning.
That night, a huge storm blew over the mountain. Ian was afraid that his hut would blow apart or that a falling tree would destroy it so he prayed through the night and the whole village was so grateful that nobody was hurt. That morning Ian walked down the trail to his 4x4 and of course all the villagers went with him to wave him goodbye. But when he arrived at his 4x4 he saw that a huge tree had fallen over the road the previous night. The village people tried to push it aside but there was no way that this huge tree was going to give way. Although Ian was troubled the chief stayed his cheerful self and said: ‘No problem! ……… You have told us about this big God. Now we can pray to God that He will remove this tree for you!’ All the people agreed that it was a good idea… although Ian felt a bit unsure, he closed his eyes and prayed as he had never done before… and after praying Ian looked up and behold……. the tree was still there! The people started to get restless. Ian did not know what to say but at that moment 2 men came running down the mountain towards Ian. They did not want Ian to leave. They too wanted to hear about this big God. They were from another village, higher up on the mountain that Ian did not even know about. Ian looked back at the tree, picked up his belongings and walked with the people towards the unknown village.
Ian stayed there for three days and in this village many came to Christ, but Ian needed to return home. When returning to where his 4x4 was, the tree was still there, unmovable. In the meantime, the people from both villages had gathered and again the chief spoke: ‘Ian, we can see why God did not answer your prayer the first time. You needed to meet with the people of the other village but now there is no reason for God not to answer your prayers. Pray to God again and see how He is going to remove this tree for you!’
And again Ian prayed. This time he looked up to the heavens in desperation, yet with hope, that God would bring justice to His own name and save Ian’s life as he called upon the Lord, the Great and Mighty One.
Ian looked again and… nothing, absolutely nothing happened. The crowd began to murmur, it started to get louder, and Ian could hear some say: ‘Liar, liar, liar…’ Ian was completely desperate and thought for sure his last hour had arrived…… but then suddenly something totally unexpected happened, on the scene, that made everyone go quiet and stand back in shock. Never had the villagers seen an elephant on top of this mountain! As it was coming towards them, they could see a man waving his arms calling the elephant to stop but the elephant kept on walking towards the crowd. The chief stepped forward and asked where the man and his elephant were coming from and why they were there.
As the chief listened his face suddenly started to grow into a big grin, which turned into laughter and he started praising God, the Almighty One. Then he spoke and explained: This man has owned this elephant for 20 years and he has worked for him faithfully in all these years. Never has the elephant run away. But 3 days ago, at the same time Ian said his first prayer, asking God to remove the tree, the elephant had broken his chain and walked off, towards the mountain. He had seemed completely deaf to the owner’s commands and kept walking for three days until he came to this specific spot…
It was clear to everyone: God had heard the missionary’s prayer the first time he prayed. They had not seen it but God had moved the elephant to break away and come to the mountain. When all was clear to the owner of the elephant and they had all praised God, the owner climbed on the elephant and removed the tree from the path.
Ian had learnt a great lesson, a lesson we should keep in mind too… God always listens to His children! He is working on behalf of us and our prayers, but we don’t always see it right there and then. We need to be patient and always trust that our Father knows best and always hears us.
A true story, based on the book by Sheila Miller, “Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle”.
Dive in Deeper with a message
by Cecilia Engelbrecht
Have you been praying about a situation in your life and found yourself waiting for a breakthrough? Are you wondering why the answer hasn't come yet? Do you feel as though victory is passing you by?
Sometimes when we pray long and hard about a situation in our life without receiving any answers, we just learn to live with it. We go on about our business, wondering if or when God will send the answer. But God does hear those prayers, and He’s working out the answers even though we may not know all the details. Our situation can change suddenly—quickly without warning!
And one thing is certain: Before God moves suddenly, we will wait. Waiting for answers is a fact of life—nobody gets out of it. So, the question is not if we'll wait, but rather how we’ll wait. And I believe HOW will determine how LONG.
This brings me to my scripture for today:
Ephesians 3:14 - 20
14 “I fall on my knees and pray to the Father.
15 the creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
16 I pray that from His glorious unlimited resources He will empower me with inner strength through His Holy Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, HOW WIDE, HOW LONG, HOW HIGH and HOW DEEP his love is
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
When we wait upon the Lord as we read in
Isaiah 40:31
Those who hope in (wait upon) the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
Two Ways to Wait
We will either wait passively or expectantly.
A passive person hopes something good will happen and is willing to sit around waiting to see if it does. After a short time, he gives up, saying, "That’s it! I've waited and waited and nothing has happened."
The expectant person, on the other hand, is hopeful, believing the answer is just around the corner, due to arrive any minute. His belief is not passive, his heart is full of hope, expecting his problem to be solved at any moment. He wakes up every morning expecting to find his answer. He may wait and wait and wait and then suddenly, what he’s been waiting for ………. happens when as he has expected it to happen.
It’s just like a pregnant woman; she is told that she is expecting a baby. She carries inside her the promise of a baby, and even though she can’t see it, she knows it's there. The moment she learns of her pregnancy, she begins to plan for her baby's arrival. She starts collecting items she'll need and busily gets the nursery ready. She actively prepares for the arrival of the baby because she knows the promise will be fulfilled—it's just a matter of time. She is expectant and she'll wait as long as it takes.
The word WAIT means "to expect" or "to look to" …. but remember, it also means "to serve" — just like a waiter waits on your table at a restaurant. Our act of waiting isn’t supposed to be spent sitting around passively hoping that something will happen, sometime soon.
Be eager waiting with Faith
Once we've asked God to answer a question or solve a problem, we need to be eagerly awaiting His answer. We need to be serving actively, aggressively and expectantly. When our hearts are eager to hear from God, He loves to rush in suddenly with His solution. In many cases this waiting period serves as a time of preparation for the answer. If God answered right away, many of us would be ill-prepared to handle His solution.
Sometimes we find ourselves in such horrible messes that it's hard to imagine waiting one more second. But we need to keep waiting on God and trusting Him with a sweet and simple faith. Then, in a way we never could have figured it out—God moves suddenly!
……. just as Paul and Silas ……. they knew about waiting, and they waited well. Acts 16 tells the story of how they were attacked by a crowd, beaten and thrown in jail. Verse 24 says the jailer put them into the inner prison (the dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks. He was making sure they couldn't escape. But about midnight, God showed up. Now it would have been nice if He'd come a little earlier, but Paul and Silas didn’t seem to mind—they just decided to start singing and began to worship the Lord. They began to wait on God.
Verses 25 & 26 say, "But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them, there was suddenly a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were unfastened."
God answered them suddenly!
Through their freedom so many others were freed as well.
When people patiently and expectantly wait on God in the midst of horrible circumstances, God suddenly breaks through.
So PLEASE don't give up!
IAN WAS WILLING TO GET UP AND GO TO THE NEXT VILLAGE EVEN THOUGH GOD HAD, ACCORDING TO WHAT HE HAD SEEN, NOT ANSWERED HIS PRAYER THE MOMENT HE PRAYED
Don’t stop believing!
IAN COULD HAVE GIVEN UP AND SAID THAT GOD HAD FAILED TO SHOW UP WHEN HE NEEDED HIM MOST
Stay full of hope and expectation.
IAN WAS SO FOCUSED ON THE PEOPLE, LOST WITHOUT GOD, THAT HE WAS WILLING TO GO UP HIGHER ON THE MOUNTAIN
God's power is limitless, and He WILL break through for you.
I AM SURE THAT GOD’S POWER TOOK OVER EVEN THOUGH IAN EXPERIENCED FEAR, FOR THOSE PEOPLE, AT THAT MOMENT HE JUST FOCUSED ON THE PEOPLE’S NEED AND NOT HIS FEAR
Reach out to Him and believe that His unlimited resources are there for us, His Word is the truth and will always be there for us as a anchor!!!!!
Why…...because He loves us sooooo much!!
…….and as we think of all our unanswered prayers let us, thank God……. as we recall them …….in our prayers …. get excited about what God has already done …. about the answers that we cannot see at this moment …… but look up and see ……. MY ELEPHANT IS ON ITS WAY …… try to see MY ELEPHANT coming to remove the logs that are still hindering me in my life!!!!!
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