Warfare at Lewis House

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

We had finished up a week of lectures on Lordship and felt refreshed and peaceful. Our speaker Mark Parker before the week ended, said the following parting words; “Don’t get too comfortable. The enemy waits at the foot of every mountain.” All of us nodded but didn’t realize how true his words would be until the next evening.

On Saturday March 20th, I was upstairs in my room working on homework. My bedroom overlooks the parking lot and I suddenly heard the sound of multiple feet running hard on the pavement. Even before I heard anything else I jumped up from my bed and knew in my spirit something was wrong. Next I heard a scream and the sound of shattering glass. I bolted down the hallway towards the front door seeing a mass of people starting to gather by the stairs.

Our glass front door to our base was in pieces on the floor and people were standing around confused. I didn’t know what happened but I yelled at some of the guys “Don’t be a hero. Get back!” I walked down the hallway and passed people who had confusion and fear etched on their features. I walked into the dinning hall and saw Svein, (my friend and member of my India Outreach team) sitting on a chair trying to catch his breath as his chest rose and fell.

He shared with me that he, two other guys and a girl went to McDonalds down the road and passed through a shortcut through a alley in a neighborhood. A group of six guys randomly decided to attack them and started cussing them out. One of the guys attacking them grabbed the girl (another member on my India Outreach team) and the other guys on my DTS grabbed her and ran. The guys who attacked them chased them up the hill all the way to Lewis House (our base).

A staff member was on the front porch and saw them running and opened the door for them and shut it behind them so they were safely inside. The guys who chased them started to taunt them, cuss them out, spit, and one smashed his head against the glass and then ended up shattering it by putting his fist through the door. In that moment when the glass shattered something happened. They did not enter our base, they backed away.

After Svein shared with me what happened, our base director David Stevenson gathered everyone together and announced that the police were on their way and then asked us to pray together as a group. The thing I love about Stevo (our base director) is that he was willing to press charges if the attackers were caught. I love his wisdom in the whole situation, and his grace and forgiveness.

We prayed against the fear that was gripping the base, we prayed that the police would catch the guys, and we prayed for peace over the people who were attacked. Something Stevo said after we were done praying was that we were at war. Looking at my two India team members who were attacked, I realized how true those words were. Svein a few weeks ago had another encounter with someone who was territorial and was punched in the face. This was the second time he was attacked. Is it coincidence? I don’t think so.

Something broke in our group after Lordship. We surrendered our lives to God and we laid aside everything that was distracting us from our relationship with God. By opening ourselves up in front of each other, we broke the fear of man. The very next day we our base was attacked and intimidated. Mark Parker was right. The devil does wait at the foot or every mountain.

Although there is a powerful darkness coming against us here in Newcastle the God I serve is even more powerful. The students were saved, they weren’t harmed, and God protected them. I think in the moment that glass of the front door shattered those guys felt the presence of God flow out of the base, and then they became afraid.

This week our India Outreach team needed to buy our plane tickets. That day we prayed and asked God to provide. By the end of the day we needed to buy the tickets and two of our team members still didn’t have enough money for their tickets. At the last minute one of the students had a $2900 donation that took care of the rest of their lecture fees and also paid for their plane ticket.

Without us knowing it, our leader spoke to the travel agent who was holding the tickets and found out that we needed to buy at least 10 tickets to get the group discount. Because of that random donation, all of us were able to get the discount and for the eleventh ticket, we were given a week extension to pay for it. So we have one more team member who needs $1300 for their ticket. PLEASE PRAY FOR ASHLEY! We have already seen one miracle, I KNOW we will have another!

We are at war. This world needs to wake up and open their eyes. Whether you believe in the devil or not, he exists. He loves the fact that you don’t believe him.