A milk truck in Russia

     May Day in Russia was a Christian mission opportunity where Youth With A Mission young men and women would be smuggling Bibles into Russia.  Not an easy task for anyone as it's illegal (at that time) to possess Bibles.  The church in Russia composed of the underground houses that faced the fear of discovery every day.  The secret meetings were of those who really had committed their lives to Jesus.  One church home in particular had at one time had one Bible amongst them.  They tore the Bible into sections and each person was responsible for memorizing their part of the Bible as well as helping someone else memorize their passage and thus pass on the oral tradition.  On this particular May Day in 1972 the believers (including me) were gathered in the YWAM castle in Hurlach, Germany.  It was West Germany at the time.  We had sent off missionaries to go to Russia with a load of Bibles for the believers there.  Now we were in the midst of intercessory prayer for those missionaries as well as the believers which were the intended recipients of the Bibles.  We broke into groups and sat quietly waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell us what to pray for.  One group reported back to the assembly that they had been led to pray for a milk truck. At first everyone thought it was funny.  But we prayed anyway for the milk truck and everything around it and the people.
     We need to understand that smuggling Bibles into Russia was a very serious crime punishable with imprisonment in the Russian prison system.  Not a very nice place to be.  Regardless, God never takes us where he can't keep us.  Look what he did for Paul in Rome.  We didn't know what the missionaries were up against.  Thus the praying for what the Holy Spirit wanted us to pray for.  He always knows what's going on and is ready to mobilize the armies of God to carry out our prayers in advancement of the Gospel.  So, we prayed for a week for a milk truck not knowing the significance of that particular request.  The week ended with the return of the missionaries rejoicing at all that God had done.  An assembly was announced and everyone dropped what they were doing in order to listen and worship and give glory to God.  That's what the first church believers did.  It was and is an aroma pleasing to the presence of God.  We tarry in doing this so often.  In many churches there is so much formality that the Holy Spirit isn't able to speak with the attendees much less direct their lives.  But that shouldn't deter us from doing that as individual Christians.  We left legalism behind when we chose freedom in Christ.
     As the missionaries mounted the platform to share in the second floor school room in the castle I, along with others, sat and prepared for the event to come.  The first missionary to speak told of how they had progressed to a place just before the border.  They were loaded down with Bibles.  They asked God what to do and waited and listened.  That's the essential part of prayer.  Ejaculated prayer is short lived and usually projects the praying person as not really believing what they pray for.  Praying for what God wants is much different.  It requires approaching the throne of God boldly asking for him to do his will through us.  It requires listening to that still small voice of God as he passes by.  Ignoring the tempest and howling winds outside and remaining in the peace of God.  The place and time was right.  God was there amongst us.  We listened to the missionary tell us of how God assured them that he was sending help.  Just then a man with a milk truck was coming by who just happened to be a believer!  He had a fake floor in the milk truck which he opened up and stored the Bibles.  Putting back in his load he took the missionaries to the border where they were checked out, the truck was checked out and the eyes of the guards didn't even look at the inside of the milk truck bed!  All because a group of Christians believed that God said what he meant, arranged what he needed and provided the instructions on any number of fronts so that those without a Bible in Russia could have one.
     This was and is all true.  I was there.  It was my choice and privilege to share in this event.  All because called me to pray for a milk truck.  Remember, it's always your choice.