RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

A few years ago, a colleague and I were in Los Angeles. On Saturday evening, we visited an ethnic pastor who had come from a Middle Eastern country. After discussing plans to reach that nation with the gospel of Christ, the pastor said, “I think we really need to pray for Sammy. If God is going to use him in our nation, then Satan will surely attack him.” The small group of believers gathered around me and prayed.
My friend and I left his home at about 10 p.m. and headed for our hotel. While driving, we heard what sounded like five or six gunshots. The pickup truck in front of us quickly stopped. We stopped behind him. We didn’t know what was going on, so we just sat there. Suddenly the truck turned and sped away. We were still stopped, and a couple of other cars behind us were also stopped. One car passed us. When he got about fifty yards ahead of us, gang members ran into the street with guns. We immediately turned around and sped off.
All I could think about on the way to our hotel was how close we had come to being shot. We were only ten to fifteen seconds away from being in the middle of gang shootings. Then I thought about the pastor who said, just a few minutes before the incident, “I think we really need to pray for Sammy. If God is going to use him in our nation, then Satan will surely attack him.”
God has given me a special burden to go to the world’s difficult areas. I call them difficult because those who stand for Christ and who share the gospel in those communities and nations experience many difficulties. But I have been doing this long enough to know that God is our protector. He is our first and last line of defense. We don’t have to be afraid. Satan may be “a roaring lion,” but he’s toothless. Psalm 91 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture because it gives a complete description of our victory.
The psalmist wrote, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you make the Most High your dwelling — even the Lord, who is my refuge — then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation” (Psalm 91).
I have watched God fulfill that promise in numerous countries. I’ve walked into a revolution, the aftermath of an attempted genocide, and preached a major crusade in a war-torn nation. I’ve been shot at, threatened, and run out of town for preaching the gospel. I’ve been arrested three times in nations that are hostile to Christianity. But every time, God has been faithful. Great is His faithfulness!