“Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.” Psalm 96:3 NASB

Nearly 4 decades ago I drove to the Pittsburgh Airport in the middle of the morning to catch a flight to the other side of the world. That plane might as well have been a space ship, for truly I felt as if I had landed on a completely different planet! NOTHING was the same, sights, sounds, clothing, smells, foods, people. I was, indeed, the proverbial fish out of water.

I was blessed to land in the heart of a large and loving Indian family, with Pastor Philip and his wonderful wife, Lily. They took me in like a daughter and cared for me with such love and kindness. I felt overwhelmed and COMPLETELY underprepared for having any sort of effective outreach and ministry in this place. I was an alien in a space suit trying to share words of life.

Finally came my first opportunity to preach in an open air crusade in a village setting. The crowd would be filled with people of all backgrounds that night, perhaps thousands coming out to hear us. Pastor Philip gently took me aside and gave me my most useful and trusted piece of advice that I have kept hidden in my heart to this very day:

He said, “Sister, when you preach tonight, there is no need to preach against anything or anyone. You do not have to come against idolatry or their religious beliefs. Just remember that Jesus is FOR the Hindus. He is FOR the Muslims. He is FOR the Buddhists and the Sikhs. Jesus loves them very much and He died for them all. The only thing we need to do is lift up Jesus so they can see and hear and understand Him and His great love for them. Jesus will do the rest.”

He was so right! And we saw great spiritual hunger in those many meetings and literally hundreds and hundreds of souls of all backgrounds came for prayer. Some for healing of sickness and injury. Some for the healing of broken hearts. Some to find faith in this wonderful loving Savior.

Years ago, before each Sunday morning service our worship team would gather to pray. Before we picked up our instruments, we prayed, “Lord, we know You have a desire for this service for these people today. Help us to stay out of Your way!”

Christ came for all. He is FOR all. Jesus made the promise that if He be lifted up He would draw ALL men to Himself. The best thing we can do for our lost and hurting world is, best we can, stay out of His way. And lift Him up!

~ Debbie Ecker