The trinity: the Holy Spirit!

What has God called you to?

One of my favorite things about the persecuted Church is the amazing people we get to meet along the way, out in the field. Nowhere else do you see such examples of faithfulness, extreme devotion, and sacrifice for the faith.  

Pastor Argelio (pseudonym) is one such man whom I met in Cuba.

Boyhood Church Closed

Argelio was just a boy when the communists started locking up and torturing pastors. As a result, his little boyhood church scattered; it simply ceased to exist.

He doubted the church would ever grow there again, but he had this recurring feeling that one day, he would worship there again. So years later, as an adult, he felt God’s call to start a church back in his hometown.

A Fleece

So he laid out a fleece. He said, “God, if I can find one believer who attended my old church 24 years ago, I will start up the church again.” 

While visiting his boyhood home, as he’s walking down the street, he over­heard a woman talking openly about God.

He stopped and asked her if she had attended the Pentecostal church in town two decades prior. She nodded and said that she was the only believer left in the area who had attended that church. 

He began to pray fervently for the birth of a church there and prayed non-stop for the next seven years. 

The New Church Birthed

While he waited, he started several other churches in various places. The government would close them and he would start them up again. Finally, though, he started the church in his hometown. 

As the church began to grow, pressure from the secret police intensified. They wouldn’t let him build a church and constantly threat­ened to imprison him. The communists eventually closed the church. The doors of the church were locked and sealed. Anybody who broke the seal would immediately go to prison.

His flock of 60 scattered and two weeks later, he only had eight people left. That included him and his wife!

Argelio simply moved the remaining congregation to a new location. Then, the secret police closed down his church for the second time. 

“You Have Sacrificed Enough”

In despair, he met with the president of his denomination, who told him, “Argelio, you have sacrificed enough. Don’t sacrifice any­more. I will give you another church.”

Although the leader’s words were meant to comfort him, they didn’t. 

He felt that God had clearly called him to this church. He could only trust that this crossroad was a part of the plan. He rejected the offer to go to another church, regardless of the cost. He decided to press on with the work God had given him.

From Small Beginnings…

Argelio’s relentlessness and determination eventually caused the government to realize that he wouldn’t give up. After many years of persecution, they finally left him alone, and his church was left to grow.

After 16 years, when I met him, Argelio’s church had 700 members. The one church he started grew into 22 others, with a total membership of 3,000 believers. All of this hap­pened over decades of constant harassment and pressure from the secret police.

Looking back on his life, Argelio told me, “When you are faithful in the midst of adversities of life, God will be faithful to you and will bless you more. We were middle-class citizens before we started the ministry, but we forsook all the comforts of life for the glory of God. We must obey the Lord, even in difficult circumstances.”

What Has God Called You To?

Think about Argelio’s words and think about the parallel in your own life. What has God called you to? 

Whatever your calling is, you need to realize that it must be opposed by the evil one. That’s what he does!

Look at David, Abraham, and so many others. There is the calling, and then there is the struggle. 

Tooth and Nail

You will suffer struggle, setbacks, and pain. It is inevitable. But if the Lord has given you a calling, it will come to fruition despite all the setbacks and struggles you currently face. 

So even if you don’t trust yourself, trust God’s character and remember Argelio’s words: “We must obey the Lord, even in difficult circumstances.”

If you would like to help us as we support and train underground pastors and ministry workers, consider giving today.

Be Blessed,

Jeff King

President of International Christian Concern

Author of Islam Uncensored and The Last Words of the Martyrs

Host of Into the Deep Podcast

Why the fleece? Here is where it comes from in the Bible!

Faith and Fleeces

Judges 6:38-40 

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised--look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." 

And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew--a bowlful of water.

 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." 

That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Who was Gideon? find out!...

When God rescued his family from a nation called Midian, he did it through a guy named Gideon. At first, Gideon didn’t think he was strong enough to lead God’s people, but God gave him the strength and help he needed.
Gideon Defeats the Midianites

7 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

14 His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” 16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”

So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. 25 They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

I am the least in my family!

In the Old Testament, Judges 6 show us that in the middle of disasters, the Lord is still among us and He hears our cries. Moreover He is not insensitive to our plea!

This passage takes place