Fighting the Real Enemy

FSM team helps young man find his worth in Christ
By Keith Ellerd

This summer I had an amazing opportunity to help lead a group of 19 high school students on a trip to Peru. The highlight for me had to be meeting Enrique. He spoke some English and told me that he had seen me earlier that day when we performed a drama skit at his school. I asked him what he thought, and he said, “The skit was about Jesus. I used to be a Christian, but now I give glory to Satan.” I said, “In the skit that you saw this morning, Jesus died for those who are lost. Do you realize that was for you? Do you believe that you are that important to Him?” He shook his head no. I was able to talk with him for the next twenty minutes or so about God, Satan, redemption, love, prayer and religion. He said that he didn’t like religion and was real surprised when I told him that I didn’t like religion either. We were able to talk about relationship with Jesus as opposed to just living under religious rules and traditions.

I asked him to go home and ask God that if He were real, his heart would be made tender to who God is. For the next two days our team consistently prayed for Enrique.

On Saturday, Enrique and I continued our conversation and I asked him if he had prayed about God making his heart tender. He said that he did. I told him that the whole team had been praying for him for the last two days. He was happy when he heard that. I asked him what Satan offered him, and he couldn’t give me an answer. I told him that Satan was defeated, is the author of lies, and was deceiving him now. He listened intently and processed what I was telling him. I told him that God had a plan for his life. I told him that he was a natural leader, that his peers followed his leading. Rather than leading them down the wrong path, God was going to use his life to lead people towards Him.

He talked about being disappointed by Christians in his life—calling them hypocrites. That led to a great conversation on elevating people in your life to places they have no business being elevated to—that God is the only one who will never let us down. I asked him if I could pray for him, and he asked me if he had to close his eyes. I told him he didn’t. When we finished praying he committed to following Jesus.

The conference for the evening was just finishing up. Enrique and I walked over to where the band was playing. Though he was still a bit hesitant, it was so great to watch the students and other leaders embrace him. They loved him really well that night. It was an incredible privilege to be God’s hands and feet in Enrique’s life.