USGN Article - September 2005
Written by BARBI FRANKLIN

Thank God for Shoes!

Southern Siberia was hot this past July! That’s why we cracked the door open at night with Terry’s shoe in our tiny hotel room in Ulan-Ude (a city in the far eastern region of Russia, just north of Mongolia). God sent us there to minister His love through music and teaching.

As the wind blew in through the window at night, the shoe allowed the air to circulate, keeping the temperature at a “cool” 82 degrees. Thank God for shoes!

But one night, about 3 days into the trip, I awoke to the sound of a loud, angry whisper right outside our door in the hallway. As the Buddhist chants echoed across the city outside our hotel room windows, this voice that sounded like a half-devil, half-man in the corridor was speaking curses right through our doorway.

As I got out of bed, tired of the battles we had faced already, I didn’t even look outside the door. Accustomed to the enemy’s attempts to frighten Terry and I and our boys, as well as our team of 30, I pulled Terry’s shoe out of the crack in the door to let it close, claiming Isaiah 54:17,

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me," says the LORD.

The next morning God confirmed these prayers through the night by several other ministers that were claiming this same scripture. Yes, the enemy really didn’t want us there! We were intruding on his territory in the spirit realm!

Terry and I have been in dozens of countries in over 20 years of full-time ministry, and we’ve never had opposition like we did during this outreach. But in this spiritually barren region, steeped in Buddhism, Communism, and witchcraft, we were seeing a record number of decisions for Christ.

Even later, when the militia confiscated our passports and threatened us with deportation and limited mobility, we didn’t let anything hinder our plans to boldly proclaim the Gospel… and well over 1200 adults and young people eagerly received Christ as Savior during this outreach! As we contacted our prayer warriors by email across the USA, thousands began to pray for our safety and this city. God used our plight to intensify prayers for this needy area.

For more details, events, and pictures of our recent trip to Siberia and the many victories that were won, check out our web site at: www.heartfortheworld.com.
 

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