Hombres Para Dios

Justin here... Yesterday was a day I will remember for a long time. Before I say any more, it seems like I am being stalked by a mosquito that is making a stealth attempt to enjoy some Gringo breakfast. I must look silly typing and waving my hands around me at the same time!

Oh well... between pigeons cooing, roosters crowing and flying

insects, I will attempt to share a few things with you.

Yesterday we held a conference for pastors, leaders and men at the orphanage and the Lord surprised me with how stro

ngly He showed up. It is clear that His heart is mightily prevailing upon the men here to engage in a righteous battle against the sexual sin in this culture. Keep in mind that this is a place where this sort of issue i

s simply left alone and not dealt with - even in the Church.

When Chris Yates, who did one of the sessions, asked how Nicaraguan culture defines manhood, a translator of ours named Marlon gave some poignant answers.

A few of the things he said were that, in Nicaragua manhood is in part defined by:

• How many women you have
• Your ability to exercise manipulation and control over women
• Your ability to make enough money so that you can buy your woman everything she wants and keep her indebted to you and controlled by you

While this may not be the culture in the Church, it certainly has created a culture rife w

ith sexual sin in this country. So, our time together was incredibly important. In the morning I shared truth about lust, what it is, what it looks like and how it manifests itself in our lives and how to overcome it. I could see the Lord breaking open these men´s hearts and preparing to sow precious seed.

Chris shared a great word about being a father and ministering truth to his sons in this area. He is a first generation Christian and came from a family that had porn around all the time. he knows what it takes to break that generational cycle of sin and is committed to raising his sons to be young men who honor God and women. Incidentally, his boys (10 and 13) are on the trip.

After lunch I sensed i should share my testimony, which I did not do in the morning, and this is really where the Lord surprised me. I´ve done this probably 125 plus times in my life, but rarely has the Lord moved as He did yesterday. Some of the men were literally groaning in pain at times as I shared how devastating the consequences of my sin was - they´re just a tad more demonstrative here! It was like I was reliving meeting Jesus all over again. Suddenlñy I could feel what it was like when I finally laid my entire life down at His feet in the light of His love for me and the reality of the Cross. Things I´ve never shared began to pour out of me as if my words were the contents of a glass of water that the Lord had just spilled over.

In the end I passionately began to plead with the men to rise up as David and wage war on this Goliath in their land. The Lord has been showing me that there is an army present here that is arrayed for battle just as

the Israelites were when they encountered Goliath. But no one has been willing to step onto the battle field. I truly believe that God has his David´s hidden away in this land that He is preparing to raise up. He has his Elijahs and His Gideos who will tear down the altars of sexual idolatry. I was calling them forth. i think it was something prophetic, and the men responded tremendously. We had a time of ministry and prayer. There was repentance, surrender, confession, tears, cryiong out to Jesus...

We ended with Chuck sharing some words for specific men and with a few exhortations from pastor Carlos and others.

As part of the day, each man received a copy of Steve Gallagher´s book "At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry" in Spanish. This was made possible by a generous donor who believes in the power and necessity of resourcing the Church in this nation. I told the pastors that, if they needed more

books for other pastors who could not be here that they could come to me and ask. The response surpsied me. Books were leaving in fours, threes, even sixes. I eventually had to stop for fear of running out before our second pastor´s conference tonight. We ended up making a list of pastors who need more books and will be attempting to send more in July. if anyone is willling to help underwrite this cost, let me know. Each book costs us about $4 to get here. One pastor told me about 70 pastors he is in touch with in the mountains who could not come. The need seems endless!

Praise the Lord! God is moving my friends. He is answering our prayers. let us hold faith that our labor is not in vain but that He is winning the battle! I love all of you!

Justin