CONTACT

We walked into a large meeting hall at a nursing technological university in Huancayo at about 3:30 p.m. on March 28^th. I was asked to give a concert. Mentally I questioned the value of singing songs in English to a group of Spanish-speaking students. Yet this was our last day of ministry in Peru and clearly some effort and expense had gone into making arrangements for me to sing.

About 200 people filled the room. We did not have time to translate the songs and put them on transparencies to project on an overhead. So I asked Viki, my friend and translator, to sit on the stage with me and explain the songs to the audience before I sung them. Without the benefit of an accompanying band and sound system I played on a borrowed classical guitar and sang. Something quite amazing happened. The Holy Spirit began moving marvelously on the hearts of that audience. Over sixty people responded with a firm commitment to follow Christ. So far as we could tell, these were not students saying "yes" to God to be polite to me. Nor were they responding to some emotional moment. These were people hungry to know the Savior and it showed in they way they sought help afterwards.

I've always believed that God-glorifying music bypasses the brain to massage the heart. Perhaps it's because I've rarely had someone come up to me six months or more after preaching and say, "You know that message you spoke is really ministering to me." Yet, countless times people have shared how a song sung long ago continues to bring encouragement. The Holy Spirit often seems to profoundly move upon hearts through the medium of worship. Whether it be through music, message, or by godly conduct, when we live so as to glorify God, He uses us to bring those in search of truth into contact with Himself.

Meditation

Psalm 96:2—Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.

Jesus said, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). In a crowded hall many Peruvians met for the first time the King of kings and Lord of lords. Will you pray that they would hold to Jesus' teaching and really be His disciples? Please pray for Pastor Enrique and his church for effective follow-up as they reach out to their new brothers and sisters high in the Peruvian Andes. Let us pray for each other that our first cause would always be to love God.

Inspiration

Personal contact with Jesus alters everything. He meets our sins, our sorrows, and our difficulties with the one word—“Come.”—Oswald Chambers in As He Walked