Friday
Aug052011
The Real Meaning of "Cosmic Powers": Thoughts from Leadership Camp
Bernie Anderson
It was a meeting that almost didn’t happen. The entire group of church leaders wanted to do the morning session outside, which was fine when the decision was made. It was warm and the sun was shining. But this is Mongolia. The session began, the wind turned cold and, while everyone insisted they were “okay” it was clear that at least most were more than a tad uncomfortable.
Every year the C&MA church leaders in Mongolia gather at beautiful location high in the mountains between the northern city of Darhan and the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. In Mongolian it’s considered a resort or a “vacation spot”. To the outside eye, it’s rustic campground in a village with more cows than people. The village doesn’t even have what most would consider a proper name. It’s simply known as “84”. However, no one is coming to that village to visit the gift shops and tourists traps (in fact there are no stores there), but to get away from the busy-ness of the city and enjoy the most beautiful thing Mongolia has to offer anyone: her countryside. The beauty of the countryside was the primary reason the group elected to hold this session out doors. The view was breathtaking. As was the relentless wind that sprung up from the north.
The outside session was finishing up. Our team leader and field director Dennis Maves was teaching on a Biblical understanding of healing. We had big plans for this session. A specific time of prayer for healing was the intent. We were to practice the James 5 command. The oil was ready. But it had turned cold enough that our hosts felt sorry for us sitting outside and brought everyone hot water and instant “3 in 1” coffee. While the attendees were happy to warm up, we thought we’d lost the meeting, as people began to disperse seeking warmer shelter, coffee in hand.
The Mongolian church is twenty years old this year. The Mongolian C&MA is just shy of the double decade mark. I think of her as an adolescent church. I suppose in the grand scheme of history she’s really still a toddler. I Corinthians comes to mind, a lot. When Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth, that church had just risen out of paganism approximately twenty years before. The issues in the church at Corinth and the church in Mongolia have an uncanny similarity. Division, a shallow understanding of Biblical application, struggles with impurity, the need for a deeper understanding of doctrine. I am personally convinced that the greatest need of the church in Mongolia is Biblically trained servant leaders who will lead the church in power, grace and humility. That’s why we have camps like this. Of course, one camp isn’t the solution. But it’s a step in the right direction. And what happened after coffee was served on this day, was a profound step, indeed.
Everyone reconvened. It was almost lunch. It would be easy to call it a morning. But it’s one thing to teach the Bible. It’s another to teach the Bible and put teaching immediately into practice. This is a value and a practice in our training philosophy. So, with under an hour to lunch, everyone gathered back inside, where the bodily comfort level increased a small amount, and we invited the group to come forward for prayer. We specifically wanted to make the application of prayer for healing, but we did open the door for general prayer, and (what proved to be the key for the morning) prayer for healing in the churches.
The Spirit moved. One after another came forward. By far, the most common prayer request went something like this:
Shamanism has had an influential resurgence in post-Soviet Mongolia. It’s a very tangible force that keeps many in a place of fear and bondage.
The meeting took a turn when one church leader from a new church recently started in a mining community in the Gobi Dessert came forward and asked the group to pray for the healing of her church, and against the very powerful Shaman who had been working against the planting of a church there. We invited the other leaders to gather around her, and at that moment the entire room came forward, laid hands on the dear woman and prayed. I don’t believe I’ve ever a group of leaders pray like this before, in Mongolia or anywhere else. They prayed fervently. As fervently as I’ve ever heard. They worked hard at prayer. They prayed against the powers of darkness that work against God’s Kingdom and the reign of Christ. It was moving. It was powerful. Most importantly, it was real.
They prayed like this for almost two hours. It was alive. It was real, spiritual work.
And we were late for lunch.
Through this, I’m reminded again of the true identity of the real enemy of the church. The enemy is not a particular Shaman. It’s not a Government. It’s not unbelievers. It’s not (contrary to the belief and practice of some) another brother in Christ. It’s not any man.
The Mongolian church understood something that morning which many of us from the “mature” and sophisticated world of the West forget (or refuse to believe). The real world is not the things we can touch and taste. It doesn’t consist of money or possessions. It definitely isn’t about the banality of an MTV “reality” show. We hear words like “cosmic powers” and immediately jump to science fiction and nerdy 35 year old boys dressed up like Stormtroopers playing in a World of Warcraft tournament at ComicCon.
Spiritual darkness is real. Spiritual light is real. The warfare which exists between the two is real. Those of you who support our work in Mongolia, or any Kingdom venture anywhere, should remember that giving money is not enough. While appreciated, being on the ground and helping to construct a building is not going to prove all that helpful in the long run. The building will fall. The money will run out. I hope and pray some of you will join these emerging church leaders in Mongolia in real Kingdom work. In the spiritual realm, authentic work and warfare take place when God’s people pray. These Mongolians leaders taught me that lesson again ... in a meeting that almost wasn’t. I’m very happy we were late for lunch.
Every year the C&MA church leaders in Mongolia gather at beautiful location high in the mountains between the northern city of Darhan and the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. In Mongolian it’s considered a resort or a “vacation spot”. To the outside eye, it’s rustic campground in a village with more cows than people. The village doesn’t even have what most would consider a proper name. It’s simply known as “84”. However, no one is coming to that village to visit the gift shops and tourists traps (in fact there are no stores there), but to get away from the busy-ness of the city and enjoy the most beautiful thing Mongolia has to offer anyone: her countryside. The beauty of the countryside was the primary reason the group elected to hold this session out doors. The view was breathtaking. As was the relentless wind that sprung up from the north.The outside session was finishing up. Our team leader and field director Dennis Maves was teaching on a Biblical understanding of healing. We had big plans for this session. A specific time of prayer for healing was the intent. We were to practice the James 5 command. The oil was ready. But it had turned cold enough that our hosts felt sorry for us sitting outside and brought everyone hot water and instant “3 in 1” coffee. While the attendees were happy to warm up, we thought we’d lost the meeting, as people began to disperse seeking warmer shelter, coffee in hand.
The Mongolian church is twenty years old this year. The Mongolian C&MA is just shy of the double decade mark. I think of her as an adolescent church. I suppose in the grand scheme of history she’s really still a toddler. I Corinthians comes to mind, a lot. When Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth, that church had just risen out of paganism approximately twenty years before. The issues in the church at Corinth and the church in Mongolia have an uncanny similarity. Division, a shallow understanding of Biblical application, struggles with impurity, the need for a deeper understanding of doctrine. I am personally convinced that the greatest need of the church in Mongolia is Biblically trained servant leaders who will lead the church in power, grace and humility. That’s why we have camps like this. Of course, one camp isn’t the solution. But it’s a step in the right direction. And what happened after coffee was served on this day, was a profound step, indeed.
Everyone reconvened. It was almost lunch. It would be easy to call it a morning. But it’s one thing to teach the Bible. It’s another to teach the Bible and put teaching immediately into practice. This is a value and a practice in our training philosophy. So, with under an hour to lunch, everyone gathered back inside, where the bodily comfort level increased a small amount, and we invited the group to come forward for prayer. We specifically wanted to make the application of prayer for healing, but we did open the door for general prayer, and (what proved to be the key for the morning) prayer for healing in the churches.
The Spirit moved. One after another came forward. By far, the most common prayer request went something like this:
“There is a powerful Shaman in my family (near my church, in my building, etc.). He (or she) is causing trouble in my life (or in my church life). Please pray for us”
Shamanism has had an influential resurgence in post-Soviet Mongolia. It’s a very tangible force that keeps many in a place of fear and bondage.
The meeting took a turn when one church leader from a new church recently started in a mining community in the Gobi Dessert came forward and asked the group to pray for the healing of her church, and against the very powerful Shaman who had been working against the planting of a church there. We invited the other leaders to gather around her, and at that moment the entire room came forward, laid hands on the dear woman and prayed. I don’t believe I’ve ever a group of leaders pray like this before, in Mongolia or anywhere else. They prayed fervently. As fervently as I’ve ever heard. They worked hard at prayer. They prayed against the powers of darkness that work against God’s Kingdom and the reign of Christ. It was moving. It was powerful. Most importantly, it was real.
They prayed like this for almost two hours. It was alive. It was real, spiritual work.
And we were late for lunch.
Through this, I’m reminded again of the true identity of the real enemy of the church. The enemy is not a particular Shaman. It’s not a Government. It’s not unbelievers. It’s not (contrary to the belief and practice of some) another brother in Christ. It’s not any man.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 5:12
The Mongolian church understood something that morning which many of us from the “mature” and sophisticated world of the West forget (or refuse to believe). The real world is not the things we can touch and taste. It doesn’t consist of money or possessions. It definitely isn’t about the banality of an MTV “reality” show. We hear words like “cosmic powers” and immediately jump to science fiction and nerdy 35 year old boys dressed up like Stormtroopers playing in a World of Warcraft tournament at ComicCon.
Spiritual darkness is real. Spiritual light is real. The warfare which exists between the two is real. Those of you who support our work in Mongolia, or any Kingdom venture anywhere, should remember that giving money is not enough. While appreciated, being on the ground and helping to construct a building is not going to prove all that helpful in the long run. The building will fall. The money will run out. I hope and pray some of you will join these emerging church leaders in Mongolia in real Kingdom work. In the spiritual realm, authentic work and warfare take place when God’s people pray. These Mongolians leaders taught me that lesson again ... in a meeting that almost wasn’t. I’m very happy we were late for lunch.
I have seen many men work without praying, though I have never seen any good come out of it; but I have never seen a man pray without working.
James Hudson Taylor
Reader Comments (7)
Thanks for posting...Amen.
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Thanks for sharing this Bernie. Always good, and today especially, to be reminded about the battle and how we can best fight. Take care and thanks also for the call to prayer for Mongolia.
Thanks for sharing this. This account brings major conviction on me as a Christian in the materialistic Western culture. Praying intensely for 2 hrs. is unheard of here. When a request is mentioned, we might pray 5 minutes. It's wonderful to read of the work of the Holy Spirit in a way I've read about in historical accounts of revival. Thank God for what He's doing there. I will be joined in prayer with you.
That was so cool. Only once have I felt the Spirit move like that during prayer. You could feel it and it was so cool. Praise God. Thanks for sharing.
thank you for sharing--what a clear call to prayer and sobering to those of us in the land of comic- con to remember the true message of the gospel that has come to us.
God is always a prayer answering God. Praise the Lord for victory. I just would like to let you know that Mongolia is in our prayers and i am happy to see all of you working hard and laboring for the kingdom of God despite the cold weather. God bless all of you.