Every week I found myself becoming more frustrated reading the bible with our Teens. Some had no bibles, some brought translations they didn’t understand, and it seemed that the very word which I hoped would set them free, was instead creating confusion and hindering our time together.
One day it struck me that we needed bibles – the same bibles in a translation the Teens could understand. Just as I was wondering if the Lord would put it on someone’s heart to provide bibles for our Teens, I received an email from a prayer partner asking for our ministry address. She wanted to send something for our Teens! I wrote back thanking her, and asking her to pray for someone who would help provide bibles. Her responding email told me she and her husband had purchased bibles and they were being shipped that day!
We didn’t know which address the bibles had been sent to and two weeks later the bibles had still not arrived I was concerned they may be lost. In our weekly prayer meeting the bibles came to my mind. I prayed they would be delivered directly to our office that same day, in time for our Teen meeting that evening! It was a pretty outlandish prayer but I specifically told the Lord we needed the NIV bibles desperately to break the religious spirit binding some of the teens who were carrying King James Version yet didn’t understand it! Please know, I have nothing against King James – I love my New King James, but King James is very hard for a 12 year old in today’s culture to translate to her language.
We had a new woman in our prayer group that week who was struggling with “faith”. As we prayed for her she confessed that she had been convicted during my prayer for our bibles about having a religious spirit. She had brought her son up reading King James Version only and now he hated reading the bible as he doesn’t understand it!
As we prayed for her freedom – a knock came at the door. It was our landlord holding a large box. “Anyone here want some bibles?” he asked. We all burst out laughing and then started praising God! The woman we were praying with was in shock. She was witnessing an immediate answer to prayer, in more ways than one! God was rebuilding her faith and meeting our need at the same time.
Opening the box was like opening a treasure cask! I was so excited to see so many shiny new bibles….I had the impression they would be old used bibles. But these were beautiful and new! I thank the Lord and my friend, for making my dream come true – for impacting the lives of our Teens – for “giving” hearts who help us make sure these young women and many other women, receive the TRUTH that sets them free!
Liz