“Now, Lord . . . enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29-30).
The Lord has heard our prayers and He is moving is Athens! This week our team joined with over 300 other YWAMers and volunteers to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Athens in an effort we are calling YWAM United. In our time so far we have witnessed the Lord work miracles and bring people to Him!
From Thursday to Saturday, YWAM United hosted six events for refugees where we welcomed them as our guests and shared the gospel with them. During the day, we presented the Jesus Film with tea and cookies, and a time of prayer ministry for people’s needs. In the evenings, we hosted a dinner and shared the gospel, followed by a time of testimonies and praying for healing.
Divine Appointments
A few days prior to the event, some on our team were in the metro station when they ran into a man we had met in the refugee camp in Lesvos! This man, A, was a refugee and translator in the camp there. Now he is in Athens, and God provided a divine appointment that we should meet him again here! We invited him to attend the event and he came the first night. During the ministry time at the end of the evening, the man prayed to receive salvation!
Remember the Afghani families we shared about in our last update? We’d been praying for them and about the next step God had for us in reaching out to them. Preparing for street evangelism, a few of our team members went with some students from another base to pick up a guitar at that team’s apartment. Walking down the street, they crossed paths with the Afghani families and were able to invite them to this weekend’s event! Some of us were able to sit and have dinner with the family at the event and further share with them, while at the same time the families could hear the gospel message and testimonies others told.
Just to think of the opportunities that could have been missed, had a metro train been later or earlier, had a different street been taken… Of course, the Lord knew exactly where these people He loves would be and directed our steps to them. “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord determines their steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
Testimonies of the Event
At the last night of the event, we met one refugee family of Iranian Christians. They had been Muslim before but had come to know Jesus in Iran. As we were praying for people, one woman in this family jumped onto the stage to share her testimony. She had seen Jesus in a dream and this had prompted her to seek to know Him. This woman encouraged the audience to seek to know Jesus too. By hosting this event, not only did we get to share our testimonies with people, but we created a place where refugees could share the hope of Jesus with other refugees!
Through these weekend events, we know of at least 15 people who accepted salvation through Jesus! Many also received prayer for pain or sickness and were healed! Words of knowledge were called out for people with tooth aches, digestive issues, hearing issues, and more, and people responded! As we prayed for them, we saw the Lord deliver people from their suffering of these issues.
We closed last night’s event in worship, and as we praised Jesus in song and dance, we noticed some of those we had prayed for dancing alongside us! People lingered in the presence of Jesus that we had the privilege of hosting and administering in the room.
The Lord spoke to us last week that the first week of YWAM United was to prepare us for even greater things that would follow. So much has happened in just this week, but God has even more in store than we can possibly imagine! We praise Him for the seeds He has planted and the privilege of sowing with Him.