“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says
to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his
heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask
for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” – Mark
11:22-24
Walking through Jesus’ hometown
interceding for the deceived, disoriented, and dying souls residing under a
shroud of heavy spiritual darkness was a distressing and exhausting experience,
though not without its glimmer of hope.
We traced the streets of Nazareth, simultaneously waging war against the
sinister principalities and powers temporarily presiding over the various
neighborhoods. We marched into
highly religious and idolatrous and unbiblical Orthodox and Catholic churches
with over-elaborate statues and paintings and sculptures of a kind of
Goddess-like Mary erected all over the place. We saw priests and other ‘enlightened’ sages with hats and robes
looking very ‘official’ and strutting their stuff and flexing their spiritual
muscles. We saw deceived pilgrims
mistakenly believing in a type of salvation achieved through pilgrimage,
saintly rituals, and works.
We passed near several Mosques with
immense banners hanging outside proclaiming judgment on all non-Muslims. We, in turn, proclaimed the exclusive
Lordship of Jesus even in spite of the haunting, echoing and noisy Muslim call
to prayer resounding in the background and seemingly threatening to drown out
our voices.
We passed through economically
depressed neighborhoods where shops are closed, a kind of hopelessness is
prevalent, and the Gospel has scarcely been communicated.
Afterward we made our way up a hill
to a viewpoint overlooking the city and the surrounding areas. This is allegedly the Biblical site
where the inhabitants of Nazareth attempted to throw Jesus off a cliff when He
incited their unbelief and anger subsequent to His Messiah claims in the
synagogue. What is particularly
devastating to me is the reality that many people today are still rejecting Jesus, either openly and undeniably, or
else sadly unknowingly. Whatever
the case, contemporary Nazareth is much the same as it was in Jesus’ time and
it’s still evident that ‘no prophet
is accepted in his hometown.’
Even so, Jesus also still reigns supreme over all the earth, including Israel,
including Nazareth. He is still building His church and the gates of hell will never prevail against it. Knowing the outcome of the Story then, it was a privilege
and even a joy to affect the Heavenly realms through prayer in a battle against
the dominion of darkness in this place.
I pray that in future more Christians will come to join with the believers
here in Nazareth to shatter the darkness through prayer and the power of the
Gospel. Who knows what God will do
through a few individuals who are willing to step out in radical obedience to
Christ? Together, by faith,
through prayer and supplication, we can move mountains!
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