When Ryan and Bethany met Natasha, she was no stranger to the power of evil. Born into a Muslim home in a formerly Soviet country, she came to faith in Jesus as a young woman. As a result, her father plotted to murder her. However, on the very day she was to be killed, the Almighty miraculously provided a way of escape. Eventually, she married Sergei, a fellow believer, and they now have four small children.
Ryan and Bethany left the comforts of suburban American life to serve on a Church-Based Team (CBT), living among Muslims in the poverty and harsh climate of Natasha’s homeland. They are gentle, unassuming people on the outside, lions of faith and prayer on the inside. With their sending church’s encouragement, they’ve been able to stay in the country even after their teammates needed to return to the US.
Both couples find mutual joy in the close friendship they’ve forged. Ryan and Bethany work tirelessly to bring Muslims to faith in Jesus and to empower local believers like Natasha and Sergei to lead and serve their people. Because the Frontiers couple has adopted the local culture and learned the language, they are uniquely positioned to give greater depth of encouragement. Without it, their leadership and immediate prayer support to these beloved people would not be possible any other way.
Natasha’s background gave her a clear understanding that even when evil is rampant; God is still Lord of all. Recently, a local pastor enlisted her help. He’d been trying to aid Anja, a 14-year-old girl who exhibited the bizarre and frightening behaviors described in the Bible as demonization. Irina, her mother who openly practiced the occult, raised her on her own. Whenever the girl went into fits and demon-induced “sickness,” no one could help her, not even the pastor, and he’d grown depressed trying.
Natasha knew the Word of God. When the disciples could not help occult victims, Jesus said, “ This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Before ministering to the girl, she and Sergei enlisted prayer and fasting support from Ryan and Bethany. “Pray for Anja,” they entreated. “And pray for her mom, too! Pray that Irina’s eyes will be opened to see good and evil and to choose Jesus.”
Ryan and Bethany embraced this bold prayer – fasting, praying and asking their sending church to join the spiritual battle.
The next day, when Natasha and Sergei arrived at Anja’s house, her extended family and friends were all assembled, waiting to see if God would show up. Only the pastor was absent – too defeated to come. “It was a heartbreaking scene,” Natasha reported later. “They all looked so hopeless and worried.”
Irina declared loudly, “If praying to Jesus does not work, I’ll take my daughter to the local fortune-tellers – the best in town! If Jesus does not heal her, they will.”
Natasha and Sergei had planned to pray with Anja immediately, but God directed them to focus on her mother first. Instead of treating her like an enemy, they sat with her quietly and asked her sympathetic questions. Her combative demeanor softened. They listened as she poured out her heart, describing the cruelties of her life as a single mom raising five children in an oppressive Muslim culture.
As they talked, Irina realized that by continually choosing the occult, she’d invited evil spirits to torment her children. She was completely broken. She cried and cried in repentance. Bowing her head, she asked Jesus to be her Savior. Looking up through tears, she proclaimed, “I place my entire household under the ownership of the Lord!”
Her family and friends were astonished.
After this major event, there was still much spiritual work to be done, especially in Anja’s life. Luke 11:24-26 teaches us that cleansing our hearts from evil is only the first step. If we do not invite God’s Holy Spirit to fill us, we can open ourselves up to even more of the demonic than before.
Before leaving, Natasha and Sergei invited the girl to live with them for a short season. That way they could pray with her daily, equip her with spiritual truths, and teach her how to gain release from the bondage of evil and live in the freedom of Jesus.
They returned home and shared the news with Ryan and Bethany, who resisted the temptation to jump in and take the lead. Instead, they supported and encouraged their local friends to hear from God directly and do whatever He called them to do.
This Frontiers couple has a unique gift for weaving Scripture into prayer and enlisting others to pray, even when things seem impossible. Emails flew between them and friends halfway across the planet who gathered in prayer for Anja, her family, and Natasha’s family.
That night, Natasha and Sergei sat down with their four small children and prepared them, as best they could, to open their cramped home to a traumatized teenager who suffered from violent fits and spiritual attacks. They knew it would be hard on them, but they believed that God is omniscient and that He would protect them. The little ones responded in child-like faith. “We’ll be prayer warriors for Anja!” they vowed.
Anja arrived the next day, and the family helped her settle in. Natasha’s life had never been easy, raising little children in a Muslim enclave under crushing financial and social conditions. Taking on the additional burden of caring for a teenager who’d lived her whole life in the occult exhausted Natasha nearly to the breaking point.
Once again, she enlisted the help of her Frontiers friends. Ryan and Bethany took turns with other families to care for Natasha’s four children each day so she could spend hours teaching Anja how to live in Christ. Miraculously, the whole time she lived in their home, she did not suffer a single attack!
Little by little, Anja began to spend more time with her own family. Learning to work through her pain, she forgave those who had hurt her, fought against the evil one, and let God heal her. While she was home, she had two spiritual attacks. However, she was able to overcome them without major hurts or trauma because of what she’d learned – and with her mother now praying to God, instead of Satan.
Anja and Irina began to share the story of how God helped them triumph over unseen spiritual forces. The mature believers God placed in their lives continue to mentor them. Anja and her mother grow stronger in the Lord daily.
Ryan and Bethany are encouraged to see Natasha and Sergei discipling others. However, there is still much work to do to help Muslims in this country live in the freedom of Christ. In spite of the hardships of living among nearly forgotten people, these Frontiers workers have devoted their lives to helping establish a Jesus movement in their corner of the world.
Original article: www.godofall.org/leading-from-behind
