Seeing what God had done, after returning with Taylor from West Africa, I decided that if I ever got to go on another such trip, I wanted to take my entire family. I wanted all of our faith to increase! Soon we were invited by a dear friend to visit Siberia (of all places). So during spring break, all five of us took a trip to Russia.
If you pray for God to build your faith, how does He answer? He puts you in positions where you have the opportunity to trust Him! Within minutes of leaving Atlanta, I discovered the friend accompanying us, who knew the language and had the money, did not get on the plane. He was flying stand-by, and the plane filled up at the last minute. For the first two hours of the flight I did anything but trust. How could God let such a thing happen? I worried; I fretted; I tried to figure out what to do. All I knew was that I was going to a foreign country with my wife, a 12 year old son, a 10 year old daughter, and a 5 year old daughter. We were to be met in Moscow by a Nigerian man named Israel, and we were to spend the night with an American missionary family named the Jacksons. I told God this was insufficient information.
Now for some this might not be such a test of faith, but I had to answer a fundamental question on that plane: Is God really in control? Peace is only found when we trust that He is. The Father wants His children to be confident in the truth, but sometimes such trust flies in the face of human logic. Israel met us in Moscow, our friend caught a later flight and joined us, and we had a great visit to Siberia.
The end of the trip presented another test, however. (Perhaps God wanted to see if a father on earth had learned anything.) Due to a long delay in Siberia, we were late getting to the Moscow airport to fly home. Israel met us again, and we all ran as fast as we could, pushing our two large carts of luggage. When we arrived at the terminal, a Russian official informed us we were too late. The plane had finished loading and was preparing to take off. I had been praying the whole time, but it looked like the answer was “Nyet”. (The word the Russian official kept repeating when we begged for mercy.) At this moment in life, I came to understand the meaning of “intercession”. Our Nigerian friend, Israel, started pleading in a way I had never seen and can hardly describe. He made fervent pleas while pointing to this forlorn American family. He spoke with passion and authority. He would not relent until finally the official picked up the phone and made a call to stop the plane. I knew one thing was certain: without Israel’s intercession we would have never boarded that flight.
If a Russian-speaking, Nigerian brother, who barely knew me, could get such a result from his pleading, what should I think about the One more powerful than Israel? He knows us perfectly and He knows the One to whom He prays. We not only have a God who is in control, but we have a Savior who lives to intercede for us. What confidence we should have!
“Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Romans 8:34 “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25