“I have treasured Your Word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You. I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings and shall not be ashamed. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:11, 46, 105
Memorizing Scripture is not my greatest strength. I love the written Word of God. I love to read it. I love to study it. I love to pray the Word of God back to Him, but often I struggle with memorizing it. I have often wondered what I would do if I were ever sent to a place without my Bible. Well, one day, not too long ago, I got the chance to find out!
Asking What's on God's Agenda
I was preparing for a trip to Cambodia and arranging for all my flights when I was impressed to stop and pray about God’s agenda for my return flight home. As I prayed, the Holy Spirit impressed me that I should detour far out of my way to stop and visit a specific, closed country. He impressed me that if I would go to this closed country, He would show me what I must do.
April and I thought and prayed about this. Although it was very unusual to book a flight so far out of the way for my return flight, we agreed that it was God’s agenda. So that’s what I did.
I finished my work in Cambodia and headed home via this closed country. Providentially, I had previously met a couple from the closed country, followers of Jesus, whom I was planning to visit.
When I arrived, we met at a hotel. Before we even began to talk, I shared that the Holy Spirit had told me to go on this long, “out-of-the-way” route home so I could visit their country. I knew He had a specific purpose in bringing me there. We then prayed earnestly together that the Holy Spirit would lead in our conversation and that we would not miss anything that was on His heart. After our season of prayer, I asked the couple, “So, what’s on your heart?”
The man began to tell me about opportunities to serve that sounded very comfortable to me, ways I could resource believers in their country that would not ask any risk of me. I found myself breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing. However, as I listened, I prayed, “God help me to hear Your agenda while I am here!”
Then abruptly, the man paused. With a faraway look in his eyes, he began to share the concern God had given him for believers in a nearby country to theirs, a country that was even more difficult, as the authorities had banned the written Word of God and any Christian gatherings. He went on to share how it was forbidden for a believer to even own a hard copy of the Bible and that it was extremely dangerous for believers to gather for worship. The country was completely closed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Safe or Dangerous?
He told me about the danger believers had in sharing their faith and how desperately they needed to be encouraged in the Word, called to revival, and equipped to disciple their children. The more he talked, the stronger the Holy Spirit impressed me that God wanted me to go to that closed country. God had led me to meet with this couple on my way home so that I would hear of this great need.
“I believe that God is calling me to go there and to call the believers to a revival with Jesus,” I told the couple, as conviction overwhelmed me. “I believe God wants me to disciple them to be disciple makers of their children and their youth, and to equip them to call others for revival.”
“I would never ask you to go to such a place,” the man responded soberly. “It’s a very difficult place, a very dangerous place. You are a married man with a family. I would not ask you to take that risk. But if God does call you, tell me!”
After our conversation, I continued my journey back home to the safe country where I live. Once I got home, my wife and I prayed earnestly about this unique opportunity. As we prayed together, God impressed us together that He was indeed calling me to go to this closed country. As you can imagine, my wife and I were concerned about how I should prepare for this trip.
I asked God what I should do about the ban on Bibles. Everywhere I go on this planet I take the written Word of God with me in hard copy form. This is my mode of operation and main source of all my preaching and teaching globally. It is also my source of strength and courage. I felt like I would be going on this trip naked without God’s Word. So, I prayed about my predicament.
“God, You have all power and authority,” I told Him. “You have power to put Your hand over my Bible so that the authorities will not see it when I enter this closed country to the Gospel. I’ve heard other stories of this. I know You could do that for me if You wanted.”
How to Teach without My Bible
However, as I waited and prayed and sought God on this matter, I was impressed that I should not bring a copy of the Bible with me into the country.
I then asked God, “How am I going to preach and teach Your Word for two weeks in this country without a copy of Your written Word?”
That still, small voice of the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, “I will engrave the Word of God on your mind and on your heart.”
“How will You do that?” I asked. I knew I had only thirty days left before my flight to this country. I needed a plan to internalize God’s Word.
The Holy Spirit impressed me with a thirty-day plan in the Word. He spoke to my mind, “I want you to read the entire New Testament in the next 30 days. Take the following steps: Every morning kneel down and pray that the Holy Spirit will bless the Word and engrave what you read on your mind and your heart. And as you read, look for anything you can learn about Jesus Christ. When you are finished reading your portion of the New Testament for that day, then set the Bible aside and from memory, write out whatever you learned about Jesus—who He is, what He does, and what He will do for you. In this way, I will engrave the Word on your mind and on your heart.”
So, my friend, that’s what I did for the next thirty days. I read a portion of the New Testament each day after praying for the Holy Spirit’s help, and I searched for Jesus as if I had not met Him before. Then I set the Bible aside and wrote out, as fast, clearly, and comprehensively as I could, everything I remembered about what I had just learned about Jesus from the Word of God.
But then another complication arose. I had turned in my request for a visa to the embassy of that country but hadn’t heard anything back until just ten days before departure. My visa did finally arrive; however, my name was spelled completely wrong and was almost unrecognizable. I was very disappointed and alarmed. I thought about going back to the embassy in person to ask them to redo it, but there wasn’t enough time.
God's Plan for Me
I went out into the forest to pray. “God, I can’t even enter my own country where I’m a citizen with paperwork that misspells my name, much less a country closed to the gospel that may or may not be so happy to have me come as an American. How am I going to enter this country with a visa that doesn’t even match the name on my passport?”
But God wasn’t very worried. Again, His still, small voice spoke to my heart. “Do not think that your visa is going to get you into the country. I, the Lord God alone, am the One who will get you into that country!”
Oh, how my heart soared! I was excited and so happy. As I got ready to go, I put that visa in with my passport, and I told the Lord that I didn’t know how He was going to do it, but that I was excited to see what He would do.
The day came for me to go. I hugged and kissed my wife and held her tight for a long time, knowing that if I made a false step, if I were caught sharing the gospel in this country, I might not return. I said goodbye to our children at home and held them close. Then off I went on this long faith journey to the other side of the planet.
I remember how my heart was pounding as I flew into that city. I knew that within moments, they would see the disparity between my passport and visa, and they could easily take issue with this. They would have good reason to be suspicious of me. They would wonder who I really was. I could be taken to a side room and questioned and interrogated or worse, and they could find out that I am a passionate follower of Jesus Christ, who loves to teach of Him and preach of Him everywhere I go. I knew that without God’s intervention, I was in trouble.
With much prayer, I came to the man behind the desk at passport control. Sure enough, the man said, “Passport, please. Visa, please.” I gave them to him. He held the passport up to the left of my face and the visa to the right of my face. And he looked at the three, those two documents with my face in between. I could see he was comparing. He saw that my face matched, but did he notice that my names did not match at all? He paused and searched my face deeply. I prayed and waited. Then with a big grin on his face, he said, “Welcome to our country. I hope you have a wonderful time.”
“I’m sure I will,” I responded, as I walked into the adventure of my lifetime.
Asking God for Help
I waited for my contact person near baggage claim, but he did not come. It got later and later in the night, and still my contact person didn’t come. I had been expressly warned that if I were to catch a ride with a wrong taxi, and they were to find out that I was a follower of Jesus, I could be found many days later with my throat slit and dropped off along the road somewhere. I did not want to drive with anybody, or ride with anybody except for my contact person, who was a follower of Jesus. But the follower of Jesus never showed up.
Crying out to God, I asked, “What should I do? I need to get to my hotel where I’m supposed to meet with and equip these followers of Jesus.” God brought a promise back to my mind that He had engraved on my memory: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). I then asked God again for this wisdom and trusted that He would lead me.
That still, small voice of God instructed me that I was supposed to go to a certain kiosk and there I was to get a ride. I went to that kiosk, gave them the address of my hotel, and asked them if they could take me there. They were happy to oblige. Less than an hour later, I was at my hotel.
Upon entering the lobby of my hotel, I went up to the front desk and gave the man behind the desk a big smile. “My name is Don MacLafferty, and I have a reservation.”
He grumpily asked, “Did you already pay for the room?”
“Yes, sir, I did. I paid online,” I answered.
He looked and said, “I can see that you booked a room, but the payment did not go through.” Now, I only had a small amount of cash with me, and I was concerned about using my credit card for that hotel, but I didn’t want to use up my little bit of cash either. So, I pulled out my credit card to use it, and he swiped it through.
“This card does not work,” he told me. He was quite unhappy that I had given him a card that did not work.
“I am so sorry,” I responded, “Please try it again.”
“I’ve already tried it. It does not work,” he said with irritation.
“Please try it,” I asked. He tried it the second time, and with even greater disgust, he said, “See? It does not work!” I was silently pleading with God to intervene. He told me what to do.
“Please, sir, try it one more time.” I was praying because I knew that if that card didn’t work, then I had no other way to pay for my lodging. The two weeks that God had set aside for me to be in this country would be in jeopardy.
“I don’t need to run your card again. I’ve already done it two times,” he told me. It was obvious he wanted me out the door.
“Sir, I am asking you one last time, would you please try it one more time?”
He tried my card the third time, and my card went through. I was so happy. I could have hugged the man, but I knew he would not appreciate it at all.
I was so excited to have a room, so excited to have made it safely into this country, so excited that they did not turn me back when they saw my visa with the wrong name on it. Once I got to my room I knelt down and thanked God for getting me there safely.
My Plans vs. God's Plans
Joyfully I got up and left my room to explore the hotel. As I walked down the hotel halls, I started thinking that if I were super careful only to pray with believers and to disciple and equip them, I could serve God well and actually get back home safely to be with my wife and family.
As those thoughts were going in my mind, the Spirit of God gave me urgent instructions, “Don, go back to your room immediately!” There was such an urgency in His message. I headed back to my room, closed the door, got on my knees, and I said, “Lord, what is it?”
The Spirit of God then rebuked me. He told me firmly, “I did not call you to this country to be safe. I have called you to resource believers in Christ on how to call believers to revival and how to disciple the new generations to Christ. But I also called you here to pray with anybody I call you to pray with, not just believers in Christ.”
“But, Lord,” I said, “For Christians to pray with the people of other faiths in this country is against the law. A follower of Jesus is not ever to pray with the faith group of the people who live here.”
God challenged me deeper. “I did not call you here to be safe. I called you here to be faithful to Me. And whoever I impress you to pray with, you must pray with. You are here to be a light in the night.”
I confessed my sin before God. I confessed my desire to be safe. And instead, I pleaded with God to help me to be faithful, not just safe. I headed back down into the lobby. Moments later, I met the manager of the hotel. And the Spirit of God told me, “Go pray with that manager.”
“Already, Lord?” I asked. “I haven’t even met the believers yet.” Then, I paused. “Yes, Lord. I will pray with him. Just go with me.”
I walked up to the manager and complimented him on his staff and the cleanliness of the hotel. I told him I loved to pray with people around the world and then I asked if I could pray with him. He looked at me sharply. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “Are you of our faith?”
“No sir, I am not. I am a follower of Jesus.”
He did not waste a second. His answer was immediate. “Follow me!” he said crisply, and he walked straight into the middle of the spacious lobby. I followed. He sat down in a plush chair and motioned for me to sit near him. We were surrounded with businesspeople doing business or having some refreshments. “Go ahead. You can pray for me.”
My eyes widened. “Right here?” I questioned him. He nodded. I knew that the businesspeople surrounding us were of another faith, not friendly to Christianity. I could easily be in trouble. I wondered if this was a trap, but God told me to pray for him.
So, I bowed my head and prayed for this manager, for his family, and for his leadership to be blessed in the hotel. When I finished, I could tell that the manager was very touched and encouraged by the prayer. He quietly thanked me and quickly left the area.
Call to Action: Trust the Holy Spirit to Lead You
I met with twelve believers that evening and found that the Holy Spirit gave me every portion of the Word that I needed for the revival that night. Again and again throughout the following two weeks the Holy Spirit gave me what I needed in the Word, exactly when I needed it. I found myself being in awe of the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God in a fresh new way, for He had engraved it on my heart and mind as He never had before. While I didn’t have my Bible with me, I had Jesus, the Living Word, and that was enough.
God’s promises and His Word also continued to give me the courage to seek faithfulness over safety. That hotel manager whom I prayed with the first day came up to me again the next day and quietly confided, “Yesterday after you prayed with me, I had the best day I have had in a long time! Would you pray with me again?”
“Oh yes!” I smiled. We prayed together, again and again over those two unforgettable weeks.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman \ Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
