You're safer in the will of God, in a war zone or in an earthquake,
than out of the will of God in your own bed.
God is your refuge. You can look to him.
As long as you're doing the thing that he has told you to do, you are safe.
God promises in Joel 2, 28 to pour out his Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring.
Will we contend for that promised outpouring? Will we equip for that outpouring? So that we may engage
in that very outpouring. I'm Philip Bus. And I'm Sharon Bus. Welcome to the podcast today.
We are going to talk about something that is very, very important today. This is a subject that is
probably on a lot of people's hearts. Where do you run for refuge?
Thank you so much for joining us today on this podcast. This is going to be a very,
very important episode. But before we get started, we want to encourage you, if you haven't
already done so, that you would go to our website, globaloutpouring.net, and make sure that you have
signed up for our email lists so that we can still be able to be in contact with you. If something
should happen that would cause our Facebook feed to drop or our YouTube feed or something like that,
we can still be able to get ahold of you if we have your email address. And of course,
you can get ahold of us by emailing us at feedback at globaloutpouring.org. Or you can go to
globaloutpouring.net and fill out the feedback form that's there so that we can hear from you.
We'd love to hear from you, where you're listening from, what your thoughts are, something that you
want us to do a podcast on that we can take to the Holy Spirit and see what He gives us for you.
We just want to have an interaction with you. You are important to us. You, I'm talking to you.
Are you a listener? Yes, you are important to us. And it's important to us that we help you
in your contending for the greater things of God, for your equipping so that you are ready for
everything that comes along the way and so that you can be used by God in what He's doing in these
days and what He's about to do. There's amazing things that are about to happen. And I think
you're going to experience some shakings. So that's really what this podcast is about. Where do you
run for refuge? What are you going to do? There's all kinds of people out there that are prepping
and doing things that they think are important to do. And it's important for you to do certain
things, but you don't need to be doing them just because a friend is doing it or because somebody
on YouTube is telling you what to do or some other website on some other platform. You need to do
things because of your relationship with our Heavenly Father, with the Holy Spirit, because
you're walking with Him and you're listening to Him and you're doing the thing that He tells you
to do. Because I want to tell you, you are safer in a war zone in the will of God than out of the
will of God in your own bed. So it's about finding God as your refuge, making Him your refuge.
So when you start thinking about that, well, what scripture comes to mind?
Well, Psalm 46, one, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Yes. And well, let's go on and read a little bit more. Therefore, we will not fear. See,
when you have God as your refuge, you will have no reason to fear, even though the earth be removed
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. See, okay, so stop and think about that.
What? Like if you happen to be living in California or if you happen to be in Indonesia
or someplace where you're in an earthquake zone or, you know, where...
A volcanic zone.
Yeah, a volcanic zone. We're not that far from the New Madrid Fault Zone. We would feel a shake if
that thing went off. So, you know, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Where are
you going to run? There is a river, verse four, whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.
God shall help her just at the break of dawn. The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved.
He uttered his voice. The earth melted. Okay, that sounds like volcanic.
It sounds, yes. Yeah.
Sounds like what's happening in Iceland right now.
When the earth melts, it's usually volcanic.
Yeah. Hawaii.
Yeah.
Indonesia.
New Zealand.
New Zealand. Yeah. Iceland. All of these places have these volcanic activities going on.
Where are you going to go? What are you going to do? The Lord of hosts is with us, verse seven.
That's what it says in the Hebrew. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Okay. So we've got two different words for refuge in these verses.
In the first verse where it says, God is our refuge and strength, that word in Hebrew is machise.
And it means refuge like a shelter from rain or storm or danger. It can mean hope and trust.
And then in this last verse that we read is the word mizgav. And that is a high place,
a refuge, a secure height, a retreat, a stronghold, a refuge of God. It could be a cliff or other
lofty or inaccessible place. It could refer to altitude. In other words, get up above it.
There's a beautiful analogy of what happens when crows attack an eagle. I don't know why they do
it, but crows will attack an eagle. They'll even fly at it and pick at it and even land on top of
it. And the eagle just keeps going higher. It doesn't fight. It just keeps going higher until
it gets to an altitude that the crow can't handle and it falls off. That's amazing. Isn't that what
we need to do? I mean, that'll preach, won't it? Yeah. Just keep going higher. That's where our
God is. You know, the higher you go, the more things have to fall off. He's the high and lofty
one. He is the high and lofty one. And he is our retreat. He is our place of defense, our fort,
our tower, our refuge, our lofty place. He gives us shelter and security. So Psalm 46 going on with
verse 9, he makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two.
He burns the chariot and the fire. Be still and know that I am God. Now the Young's literal
translation says desist. In other words, stop it. Just stop. Just stop and get a hold of yourself.
Get a hold of who God is. Get a hold of the fact that he's your father and he cares about every
little detail of your life. You don't have to figure it out for yourself. You just run to him,
run to daddy. Isn't that what a child does? Daddy! Fall down. And then it goes on in verse 11,
the Lord or Yehovah, the Lord of hosts, Yehovah Tsavaoth is with us. The God of Jacob is our
refuge. There he is as our refuge, some place to run. He's the one that we run to. Now what's the
next scripture that you think of? That would be, yeah, Psalm 91, you know, verse one is he that
dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
And I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, my fortress, my God and him I will trust.
And verse four, he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge.
His truth shall be your shield and buckler. It's like the mama hen, you know, puts out her and all
the chicks just kind of run under her wings and it's full of feathers. Yeah. That reminds me of a
story we heard. This was a lady and she was in a storm and all of a sudden a gunman comes in,
you know, and he just starts, you know, threatening and just ordering people, OK, get your hands up,
you know, all this stuff. And he didn't see the lady, but she backed up into the clothes rack,
you know, and all of a sudden he started turning around and come in her direction.
And she's trying to think of Psalm 91, you know, to quote it, but all she could say is feathers,
feathers, feathers, feathers. And the guy stopped and looked at her and kind of confused and ran out
of the building. Hallelujah. What did he see? He saw more than feathers. I would think so. But,
you know, it's just like the protection of God. He saw something else. He might have saw an angel
with a sword. And that's what Balaam saw when he was on the donkey and the donkey tried to knock
him off and all that because he was slapping him. But there's this big angel there and he wouldn't
go there. And then the angel revealed himself to Balaam. And he, you know. Yeah. So there's lots of
things that are in the unseen that come into play when we're in trouble, when we're in a difficult
place. What do you do? Where do you run? You run to your father. So there's lots and lots of scriptures
that talk about God being our refuge. So let's just run through a few of them. Going on after Psalm 91,
you've got Psalm 9 verse 9, the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of
trouble. Psalm 28 verse 8, the Lord is their strength and he is a saving refuge of his anointed.
Psalm 31 verse 2, bow down your ear to me, deliver me speedily, be my rock of refuge,
a fortress of defense to save me. Then Psalm 48 verse 3, God is in her palaces. He is known as her
refuge. Psalm 57, 1, David is praying when he's fleeing from Saul and he's in a cave. He says,
be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me for my soul trusts in you and in the shadow of your
wings, I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. You have to be under his wings.
You have to be in relationship with him. Yeah. And the important thing is have that devotion time in
the morning. That's very important because if you can just give your first time of the day to God
and he has ways to prevent you from getting into a place where you're going to be in danger.
It's true. It's true. And you got to listen to that still small voice, that little prodding,
that little inclination. You might not hear something. You might not see something,
but you might have a little inclination to do something that you wouldn't ordinarily do. And
you just follow that and it could save your life. Yeah. And Psalm 59, 16, but I will sing of your
power. Yes, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning for you have been my defense and refuge in
the day of my trouble. Psalm 62, seven in God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength
and my refuge is in God. And Psalm 62, verse eight trust in him at all times. You people
pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Sila. Oh, pause and think about that.
Yeah, he's a refuge. Psalm 71, three, be my strong refuge to which I may resort continually.
You have given the commandment to save me. You are my rock and my fortress. You know,
this continually idea, it's really all about continually walking with him, continually
keeping him in your thoughts and realizing when you aren't thinking about him, oh,
I better go back there. Let me think about him. Let me just let him into whatever's going on at
this moment. You know, it's about that walk of going back and forth between the flesh and the spirit.
When we're walking in the flesh, we're more aware of our surroundings physically. And when we're
walking in the spirit, we're more aware of what's going on in the spirit around us in the unseen.
Very good. Psalm 71, seven, I have become as a wonder to many, but you are my strong refuge.
Psalm 94, 22, but the Lord has been my defense and my God, the rock of my refuge.
Psalm 141, eight, but my eyes are upon you, oh God, the Lord. In you I take refuge. Do not
leave my soul destitute. That sounds like a Psalm of David. It sure does. Psalm 142, five, I have
cried out to you, oh Lord, oh Yehovah. I said, you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
And Psalm 144, two, my loving kindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my
shield and the one in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. You know, he's our
shield. You know, just last week we were heading down our highway seven. Which is a two lane highway.
And winds. It's windy and it doesn't have very much in the way of shoulders. Yeah. And the force a
lot of times comes close to the highway. Yeah, we were driving through the National Forest.
Yeah, we call it Dramamine Drive, you know, because it's curvy. You know, that's motion sickness
stuff if you haven't heard of Dramamine. So anyway, we're just kind of clipping along and a big deer
doe runs out ahead of us a ways. And normally when that happens, I slow down. I always just slow down,
but I didn't feel the slowdown because if there's one, there's a good chance there's more. You know,
so I didn't slow down. I kept my speed and all of a sudden another doe breaks out of the woods. It
wasn't as big and just in a gale. I mean, they were just, you know, they were just flying and I saw it
and it's like, has to be instant reaction, you know, and there wasn't anybody in the left lane.
And we have a big 15 passenger van. It's about 20 foot long. And I just jerked the van to the left,
which to the extent of what I knew was the safest. And I accelerated to try and get ahead of her.
And all of a sudden in the back, kaboom, you know, and I could feel, I thought my heart sank. I
thought, oh no, you know, 43 years I've been driving this road and in all my life, I have never
hit a deer. And one of our body shops in town near us, 50% of the work is deer hits. So that gives
you an idea. There's a lot of deer around here. Tell about that one night. Yeah. One night we came
back. I counted that I visibly counted over 75 deer. There was groups of them here and there,
but not one was on the road. You know, we always pray before we go on the road and all that.
So my heart just kind of sunk, you know, like, Lord, why did that happen? And I looked back in
the rear view mirror and I saw the deer was dead deer on the road, at least lying in the road.
I don't know if it was dead or not at the time. Yeah, I didn't hit the, well, the deer hit me,
you know, that's true. So we pulled over, we had a place to pull over and I'm expecting to see this
big major dent in the side of the van. And there wasn't a scratch on the van. There wasn't any
evidence that anything had even touched it. Not even any deer hair, no deer hair even. I thought,
thank you, Jesus, you're so good because that should have just smashed in the whole quarter panel
because that's not a big supported area on a vehicle like that. You know, it should have had
at least a little dent, but there was nothing. Nothing. It's just the angels there just, he hit
it, but it didn't do nothing. My shield. My shield. And the one in whom I take refuge. Yes. So he was
a shield for us. His angels were there for us. Should I tell that other story on the way to
Florida? I can do a nutshell. You can, go ahead. We're also in a big van, high tailing it to Orlando,
Florida, trying to drop off some of our recording equipment to have its service there. And they
closed at five o'clock. And we weren't there yet. And we weren't there. And this is days before
traffic was crazy in Florida. Right. But we have to gas. We don't have enough gas. You have to use
the restroom, pull in, you know, I gas it up, pay for it. And Sharon wasn't out with our daughter
yet. And I thought I'm going to move the van a little closer because I saw a spot that could just
save maybe 30 seconds even. And so I'm getting ready to put it in reverse. I check all my mirrors.
And all of a sudden I look and here comes a big pickup truck, dually, that pulling a big bulldozer.
So my eyes are on that as it goes by. And then he's gone. I look at my mirrors, I put it in reverse
and I take off and about 10 feet behind me, I run into something. And I thought, oh no, you know,
we're going to miss our window. Now we got an accident. I pull forward and our steel bumper
perfectly lined up with his plastic taillights on this turbo sob or turbo Porsche, whatever this
thing was. And it should have just crushed the whole back end because we had about 7,500 pounds
in motion, you know, and I just didn't even brush the dust off the bumper and the bumper had a dent
on one side, which was there when we bought it. The dust of Arkansas was still on the bumper.
You know, I just said, thank you, Jesus, you know. And so we had a couple of angels back there just,
and that was just God's protection because we honored him before we drove.
Amen. He is our shield and our refuge.
Yes.
And I love what Proverbs 14, 26 says, in the fear of the Lord of Yehovah is strong confidence
and his children shall have a place of refuge. So we can learn from that, that when we fear the Lord,
even our children come under that protection. And even when they're wandering, our prayers can bring
protection over them. We plead the blood of Jesus Christ over them. And he is their refuge as well
when we are praying for them. So our loved ones, whoever you're praying for, the Lord will watch
over them, especially because they are heirs of salvation, even if they've walked away for a
temporary...
Temporary, yeah.
...a temporary visit to the world. They are coming back and they are going to serve the Lord
because it's in their DNA.
Yes. Amen.
In their spiritual DNA. Even if you're the first one in your family to come into the kingdom of God,
your connection with God extends some kind of a refuge over you and all the ones that you're
praying for. I'm sure if you are the only one in your family that has come to the Lord, you are
probably praying for the rest of your family. So as you're praying for them, it extends that shield
over them. You can ask the Lord to forgive them of their sins and draw them in so that they can
bring their own repentance when they have come under conviction of sin.
Beautiful.
So, you know, just know that the refuge that you have is good for your family as well.
Yes. Amen.
So there's lots and lots and lots of stories of God being our refuge. I remember hearing a story
of a child that was out in the yard playing when an earthquake happened and the earth was heaving
and splitting and the child was just sitting there like riding a ride at the carnival,
just riding it out. And the piece of ground that that child was sitting on was lifted up
and things happened all around it. But the child was unharmed because God had his hand on that
child. That's beautiful. You're safer in the will of God in a war zone or in an earthquake
than out of the will of God in your own bed. God is your refuge. You can look to him as long as
you're doing the thing that he has told you to do. You are safe. Yes. Amen. And when you're not doing
the thing that he's told you to do, repent quickly. Get back. Get back because, you know,
you can put yourself in a position of calamity or a position of getting under a curse when you
are in disobedience to the Lord. So keep your obedience. You know, if you make a mistake,
repent quickly and come back because he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. You know, we just have to confess to him what we've done and ask
for his forgiveness and he will be faithful to forgive. And you are back in a position of
reconciliation with him and it's like he wipes it out. He forgets it. Let's move on. Let's leave
that behind and let's move on. Come on. That's amazing grace. It is. And you know, there's lots
and lots of stories in the scripture that are stories of God's miraculous intervention. You
just read your Bible and you'll find story after story. You know, what happened with the children
of Israel escaping from Egypt and the Red Sea is in front of them and the Egyptian armies behind
them, God is their refuge. He does something nobody could ever have thought would happen.
Who in their mind could imagine that God would open up the Red Sea and let them go through on
dry ground? And people, you know, debunk that. They said, ah, but I remember archaeologists that
were diving in areas there and they found chariot wheels and all kinds of stuff like that. You know,
this is where that happened. It's like on one of the tongues of the Red Sea, you know, where it
goes up, Agatha, Aqaba, and then there's the other one next to the Sinai up there.
Yeah. It's the two tongues of the Red Sea that make the Sinai Peninsula,
which isn't really where Sinai was, but that's another story for another podcast.
So then you have Joshua where he and the elders of Israel, the princes of Israel, in spite of the
fact that they were kind of looking sideways at these people that came, the Gibeonites that came
and they said, oh, we've come from so far away and look at this moldy bread that we have and look how
our clothes have worn out. And they made covenant with them and then found out they're just from
down the road. But they made covenant and God recognizes covenant. It's important to him.
So they get attacked for having made covenant with the children of Israel. They get attacked by some
of these other kings and Joshua goes after them with the children of Israel, the armies of Israel
and is protecting the Gibeonites because they've made covenant with them. And what happens? God
makes the son stand still. Come on. That doesn't happen. But he does miracles. He will do miracles
to take care of people who have made covenant with his people. Very, very important.
Because it's amazing. We have a big eclipse coming up. I mean, you think about the timing. They knew
about this years ago. Well, what happened if everything just stopped and then all of a sudden
it threw all the calendars and all the time clocks, all the everything off and that scratched their heads?
Yeah. Well, it certainly gave Joshua and the armies of Israel the opportunity to finish the job
and do what God sent them to do in the first place, which was to deal with all of the Canaanites.
So then you have King Jehoshaphat when he gets word that the armies of Moab, Ammon and Edom
were on their way and Jehoshaphat calls for a fast. Come on, we got to seek the Lord people.
Let's seek the Lord. And then God sent a word through a prophet and said, you don't have to do
anything. The Lord is going to fight this battle for you. You just send out the praisers ahead of
your armies and I'll take care of the rest. Send Judah first. Right. So send the praise.
And so they were out there singing for the Lord is good and his mercy endures forever.
And Jehovah is good and his mercy endures forever. Well, here they were and they were coming up this
ravine that would cause tremendous echoing down there. And they all turned on each other and killed
each other. They never even got to the armies of Israel. We looked down there, that ravine.
That ravine did it. That was amazing. Yes, but Tekoa. And then you have Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
You know, they're in a pickle. They're not going to disobey God and obey the king. They said,
you know, it doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what you do. You can kill us
if you want to, but we're not going to bow. And that made Nebuchadnezzar so angry and he
commanded them to turn the fire up and threw the guys in. And all it did was burn off their bonds
and kill the ones that threw them in because it was so hot. Yeah. Yeah. And the Son of God was in
there with them. Yeah. You know, you're safer in a war zone or in a fire in the will of God than out
of the will of God in your own bed. Stay in the will of God. It's your refuge. And then there's
Daniel in the lion's den. Yeah. Because even though the decree went for not praying to God,
you know, he still got in front of his window like he always did and prayed, you know, and then he
was thrown in the lion's den. What happened then? I think he made friends with the lion.
So the angel of the Lord shut their mouths. The angel shut their mouths. Yeah. But then the morning
when the king took him out and threw those in that had accused him, the angel did not
refrain from closing the mouths of the lions. And they said they tore them in pieces before they
even hit the floor. That's amazing because there was a lot of people, you know, so it's not like
they threw them all in at one time. I think there's a large number, you know, that they fed the lions,
all those that came against him with their families and their wives and children. They got rid of the
whole line that did that. So obeying God is your safety place. Obey the Lord, obey the Holy Spirit.
Here's another thought about where you have safety is in the loving kindness of God. That's the word
chesed in Hebrew. And it's a very, very strong word. I won't take time to teach on it now,
but it has to do with loving kindness, but it also has to do with covenant and how he is bound by his
covenant to be kind and to take care of people and to love people and do the things that he's
promised to do. So Psalm 36 verse 7 says, how excellent is your loving kindness, O God,
therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings.
Putting our trust in his loving kindness, we can trust him. And then Psalm 40 verse 11 says,
withhold not your tender mercies from me, O Lord, O Jehovah, let your loving kindness and your truth
continually preserve me. It's his loving kindness and his truth that is a place of preservation.
Yes. Amen. And Psalm 143, 8 to 10 says, cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning,
for in you do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul
unto you. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me. Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God. Your spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness. This is about
walking with God. You know, when you walk with him, he is your refuge. Yeah. And I like 2nd Chronicles
16, 9, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong
on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. Beautiful. Beautiful. So there's some key elements
to receiving God's protection. First of all, you need to repent. Yes. And the amazing thing is that
if his hand is on you, if his call is on you, and even when you're running, he will preserve your
life over and over and over. But there comes a time when he'll say, okay, that's enough. I've been
taking care of you over and over again. Are you going to serve me or aren't you? It's called the
end of the leash. That's a good way to put it. You come to the end of the leash. God says,
no more rebellion. Either you make it right now or you're done. Yeah. I'm sure you've seen that
before the dog's running and all of a sudden the end of the leash and just jerks them. That's what
God does sometimes. He just lets you go so far. Yeah. I remember your stories of how you were
ready to go someplace and you said, if I died out there, I know where I'm going. And it wasn't
heaven. Yeah. And I wouldn't go. Yeah. And I think God just preserved me from an accident or something
out there. Yeah. So our father is waiting for us to repent. So if we're running the other way,
if we're disobeying, it's time to repent. And it's time to repent right now. If God has told you to
do something, stop, cease, desist, and know that he is God and surrender. It's time to surrender.
That's one thing about the passion translation, that very first scripture that we read in Psalm
46, where it says, be still and know that I'm God, it uses the word surrender. Surrender. Just
surrender. Let go, give yourself to God so that he will be your refuge. And then you not only get
forgiven, but he gives you the grace to forgive others. Because if you don't forgive, you won't
be forgiven. Very, very critical that you understand that you've got to forgive others when they have
hurt you. Because Jesus prayed from the cross, Father forgive them. They know not what they do.
And most of the time, people who have hurt you don't even realize they've hurt you. Or maybe
they're too proud to admit that they've hurt you. Or maybe they were just being demonized at the
moment and they were doing it under the power of a demon. So you have to let God give you that grace,
because if you've asked Jesus to live inside of you, he is the great forgiver. And he'll give you
the grace to forgive. He'll give you the grace to say, Father forgive them, even if they knew what
they were doing. And when you start praying for God to forgive them, it gives you the grace to
forgive as well. It's an amazing thing. So you want to not give the devil any kind of a place.
Because if you've given the devil a place, then there's a place for a curse to land.
Or the door is open. The door is open. The curse causeless shall not land.
And if you haven't forgiven, or if you're in sin, or if you're just in rebellion in some way,
and you're not obeying God, it gives an open door to get you out from under the umbrella of
God's protection. I love what Jude 1 21 says about keeping yourself in the love of God.
It says, keep yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
unto eternal life. When we keep ourselves in the love of God, we are in his refuge place.
And it gives you what you need to be able to minister to others who also need that kind of
forgiveness. So, you know, we talk in this podcast a lot about walking in the spirit
and not in the flesh. Because if you walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the
flesh, whatever those desires might be. You know, it's not always sexual. It could be all kinds of
things that you're desiring that your flesh wants, or just letting your emotions get out of control.
If we walk in the spirit, it'll quell all of that. And that is the place of refuge is walking in the
spirit. So, I just want to talk about a few stories of people that we know that have been in that kind
of a situation where they're in danger, okay? Sometimes we wind up being in a dangerous place,
but we're there in the will of God. And when you're there in the will of God, you are safe.
So, I remember our founder, Gwen Shaw, talking about how when she was a missionary in China
in, I think it was 1949. Yeah, it was 1949. It was 1949. And the communist takeover was
in full swing. And she was working in a Bible school in central China. And the magistrate of
the city came and said that the communists have broken through the Guangmingdong lines, which is
the nationalist armies, and they will be here in 24 hours. He said, there's not much that I can do
to help you once they get here, but you can use my card. And as long as they're not here yet,
it should give you some extra help to get out of here. You need to leave right away.
So, it was at the end of the school year, they only had one more day, and they were supposed to
have their graduation on the next day. So, they gathered them that evening, and they had a quick
graduation ceremony for everyone. And the teachers, including Sister Gwen, were able to... Oh,
wait a minute. Before that, she said, Lord, I'm willing to stay. I'm willing to lay down my life
here. It's not necessary for us to leave. If you want us to stay, we'll stay. And she went to her
Bible, and she opened her Bible, and she came to the scripture, Isaiah 52, 11. And of course,
it was King James that she was reading in those days. And it went like this, depart ye, depart ye,
go ye out from fence. So, that was a clue. Okay, it's time to leave. And they managed to get out.
I won't tell the whole long story. It's a very long story, but we have her life story video on
our YouTube channel. And you can listen to that story and many, many other stories. She was an
amazing lady. In that process, while they were escaping, there was a time when the vehicle that
they were in broke down. They called it a bus, but it was more like a truck. Some seats in the back.
Yeah. And so, she wandered away from the truck while they were getting it fixed. And she was
by a little stream, and there were some bushes there, and she heard marching. And she just was
still, and she saw the boots of the communist army marching past her, but she was covered under the
feathers. And under his wings, she was trusting. And of course, they got out and long story short,
went on to do other things for the Lord, many, many other things. So, you'll enjoy listening to
her life story on our YouTube channel. And when I first met her, she was a Bible smuggler. She and
her assistant, Siggy Oblender, story after story that they would tell. Yeah. That's what scared me
about, you know, joining this ministry. I didn't want to go to jail somewhere. Yeah. You know,
there were many, many times that they smuggled Bibles and they were not caught. And one time,
they were caught. But they found out later, all of their Bibles and tracts that they had smuggled in,
that they were smuggling in in their vehicle, they were a very unique tract that had especially been
printed for that. They found out later that they had gotten out onto the black market.
And so they were distributed anyway. And probably got to people that they would never have been able
to get them to. So God had a way of working it together for good. And that's another story
that's probably on that YouTube video. But anyway, just amazing stories of God's leading and God's
guiding in dangerous, risky places. He'll be your refuge if you'll just obey him. Yeah. And I just
heard a story recently that was of a family that lived in that area around Gaza, one of the kibbutzim
around Gaza. And their kibbutz was also attacked and a lot of people were hurt. But these were
believers and they were there because they knew God wanted them to be there. And even though she
was unwilling to stay, God gave her the grace. After some things happened in 2014, they were
ready to leave. And then God gave them the grace to stay there and be like watchmen on the wall
in that area and be light in that kibbutz. And so when October 7th happened, she tells the story of
how they could see on the cameras in their house how these two terrorists came in and the things
that they were doing. They sat down on the couch. They got into the refrigerator. They saw how they
came in through the window. And apparently they broke the glass to get in and they must have
gotten cut because there was blood all over the place. And they could see they had two safe rooms
and one of them, their son was in and the other mom and dad were in. And you could see how the
blood drips came up to the doors and they did not force their way in. They just turned around. They
had opened every other door, but not those doors because God was their refuge. And we'll put a
link to that story in the show notes as well. And there's one more story I want to tell.
I'm just going to read a little excerpt from Peter Snyder's book, Let's Keep Moving. Now,
we've had Pete on our podcast talking about his experience living and working in communist China.
So he's been through all kinds of things, but he tells the story of his aunt Myrtle,
who was a missionary in Hong Kong and before that in China. So this is a little excerpt from his
book just to give you another picture of the refuge that our God is in a time of trouble.
Hong Kong, 1941, 18 days of murder and rape. Finally, on Christmas Day, 1941, the governor
surrendered the British crown colony of Hong Kong to the Japanese. Then all hell broke loose.
Many missionaries were cloistered away in their little apartments, waiting to see what might
happen next with no way of escape. Rumors were spreading like wildfire. The lone missionary woman,
unsure of what might happen to her school children and orphans, gave the word at last,
and the children ran out of the schoolyard in all directions like screaming locusts.
Even the Japanese wouldn't shoot the children, would they? Where would the children go? Many
just hid and became street children again. They knew the ropes from before. The kind missionary
lady had taken them in for free room and board over the years. At last, it was quiet on the
compound. There was no flag ceremony on that ominous day and only a quick prayer before the
children had been cut loose. Myrtle Bailey stood in the quiet courtyard all alone. It was too quiet,
like the still before the storm. She went back into the building to pray. What else could she do?
Where could she go? Lord Jesus, help, she cried. About two hours later, the glass in the window
frames began to shake and crack. The watchman ran into Auntie Bailey's room, something he had
never done before, and screamed in Cantonese, the Japanese have swarmed Kowloon and are coming up
north on Nathan Road this very instant. Get out of here. Get out now. All the other missionaries
had left weeks before this terrible invasion, and Myrtle looked out on the window onto that ominously
still compound. It seemed as if the heavens were brass and the earth beneath was groaning in horror.
Myrtle Bailey was ten thousand miles from home. Instead of replying to the watchman, she whispered,
All I have is thee, O Lord. Here, come with me, the watchman cried. You can hide in my shack until
those foreign devils leave. Then the watchman reflected on what he said and corrected himself
quickly. Those Japanese foreign devils, I mean. They'll kill you if they see you.
Myrtle looked at him and smiled faintly. I'm ready to go if it's the Lord's timing for all of this.
You go on home way. I'll be all right. The watchman, not moving, trembled and just stood there.
Go, Myrtle demanded at last. The watchman bowed, scraped backwards a few paces, then turned and ran
out of the gate like lightning. Myrtle lifted her head, forced a resolute smile, and went inside to
her foot locker. Reaching inside, she pulled out her meeting dress, the one with the red flowers
printed on it. It was the nicest dress she had seen in the missionary box in years. The old wash lady
came rushing in from the back side of the compound and screamed into the house, Auntie, come this way.
Your little girl Faith has just come in through the back gate. Myrtle dropped her bag quickly and
ran to the back of the schoolhouse. At that very moment, the Japanese stormed through the front
gate and marched into the compound. It was too late. There was nowhere to go. Faith came running
up to her Auntie Myrtle, grabbing her by the legs. Faith, where have you been? Myrtle cried out, then
scolded her. You run out the back door and climb over the back wall just as fast as you can go.
Do you understand me? Run to Sister Water's apartment and stay quietly until I get over to
take you with me later. If she's not there, go hide at the hotel near her house. Faith just seemed to
freeze. And again Myrtle cried, do you understand me? Myrtle seemed to freeze for a moment too,
just for a moment. And then she pushed the little girl out the back door. Her Cantonese was shaky
at this moment as she watched little Faith scamper away. Then Myrtle quickly ran up the steps.
She knew that there was no escape at this point, but her little orphan girl,
could certainly get away. Aunt Myrtle only got a glimpse of the soldiers that had invaded Hong
Kong through the upstairs window. They were horrible to see, like the description of the
army of the Book of Joel, the horrible ones. She had heard what they did to the women before
hanging them. She had heard as well what they had done to the young British soldiers they would
capture. In her bedroom, Myrtle heard the boots were resounding on the staircase. They were coming
up after her. Tears came to her eyes and they were streaming down her face as she began to pray,
Oh Jesus, oh Jesus help me. She began praying in tongues. Then she ran into the closet,
shutting the door behind her, shaking in the dark. Where was the peace that passes all understanding
now? Quickly the Japanese hammered their way down the hall toward her room and broke open the door
to the bedroom where she was hiding, throwing things around and overturning tables. When finally
they yanked the door open to the closet where Myrtle was trembling, they froze. As Aunt Myrtle
told the story later on in her life, her blue eyes were filled with tears. She said they were
feathers floating down from heaven. They twinkled as they descended over me. I shivered and quaked
inside, but the feathers covered me so completely that when the Japanese flew open the door to the
closet and looked right straight at me, they never saw me. Finally they just slammed the door and
pounded their way into the next room, then to the next, then to the next until they finally left.
Aunt Myrtle rarely told the story to anyone. Even I had never heard it firsthand, only from my mother
and others, but she did tell me what the Bible said about it. Hallelujah, it was Psalm 91.
Hallelujah, it was Psalm 91. How does that go? I asked her when she was 86 years old.
You read it to me. I was just a little boy and it was hard for me to read, but that was my job in
life to help take care of Aunt Myrtle. She had been a missionary to China from 1917 to 1950,
first in the mainland China and then in Hong Kong. Ah, here it is, I laughed when I found that famous
Psalm. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noise and pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust.
That was in Findlay, Ohio in 1962. Aunt Myrtle looked like an angel. She glowed. To me, a seven
year old, she looked just like Jesus. Go to bed now. I'll tell you some other stories later.
She started to laugh. Someday you'll have your own missionary stories to tell.
Boy, does he too. Aunt Myrtle never said it to me and I would never have guessed that I would end
up being a missionary to China for over 30 years, just like her. Beloved, we are telling you
that you can trust God. Yeah, even Peter being in China 30 years under the communists,
how he functioned. Oh my, what stories he has. And he wrote them in this book and this is,
I think it's like the beginning of the book that he tells this story. And he tells many,
many stories. He was also a missionary in Haiti. And there's some harrowing things that can happen
to missionaries, but when you're in the will of God, God will take care of you. And even when you
go through some awful things, he turns those things into something good. Sometimes we won't
even see it until eternity, but it's true and we can trust him. If you're interested in getting
this book from Peter, we'll put the information in the show notes below so that you can get the
book from him. Philip, would you pray for our listeners? Well, Father, we just pray that these
words that were spoken will touch the hearts of those out there, Lord, that they're longing for
that deep love and for God's plan and purpose in their life. And Lord, we know you don't call every
person to be a missionary and not maybe going out of the country, but you are where you are,
where you are planted. We are your faithful witness. So we pray, Lord, for encouragement
and for your people listening to know that you are God of refuge and that you protect us as we
walk in your will, listening to your voice, that you take care of us. In your name, Lord Jesus.
Hallelujah. Amen. Amen.
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this is Sharon Buss and I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with this overwhelming loving presence.