A Heart for this Place

During this last week we have been learning and developing a heart for this culture as we have innterracted with it and the people. Today we walked around two universities and in pairs we prayed for different things that came to mind. Most of us have had the college experience so it was cool to pray for students we feel detached from due to the different culture but connected on similar experiences.
We prayed for the hearts of the Lithuanian men, that they could rise up as leaders in the nation and hopefully take over in years to come as Agape leaders as well. We also prayed for the teachers, that they would come to know the truth about God and pass it along to their students, who tend to hold fast to the opinions and wisdom of their professors. We asked God for revival among the upcoming generation, that He would bring the country back to Him.
We have found that although we don't just automatically have a heart for the people.... it develops as you begin to pray and think upon and plan as if you did have one. We are thankful for what Christ has done in our lives and we know that he wants the same sort of new life for those in Lithuania. Thank God that He uses us despite our disconnection to the culture.
It's really neat to have the Gospel at the forefront of our minds because it begins to really transform the way you interact with those around you. One thing that is always present as we walk around is the influence of Communist and even Nazi control.
Just across the river from where we are staying is one of nine forts the Lithuanians built to protect the city/country. It is now a memorial because 50,000 Lithuanians (and others brought in by the Nazis) were killed here. It was very sobering to stand just a few feet from the wall where they were lined up week after week and shot. Many were tortured severely before they died. There is a spirit of evil that was and in some cases, still is, here. There is a long history of pagan worship and many of the university buildings have statues of pagan gods as their symbols. They just use it as a clever symbol from their past, but the enemy loves to use things like that to keep a foothold. All that to say there needs to be a strong recognition by Lithuanian Christians of this influence and a confessions the sins of the past. There needs to be a unity of the remnant of believers that are here from all denominations and then a united prayer effort to break the bonds of the enemy. Please pray for the Christians here to unite and join in reaching out.