by Penelope Sonnen, IMB missionary in Southeast Asia
EDITOR’S NOTE: Download the January PrayerPoints featuring daily prayer requests for Deaf peoples around the world. Each month will focus on a different theme or one of IMB’s eight affinity groups.
When I first got here as a missionary, I learned that people wouldn’t whistle because they fear that might summon a demon. They wouldn’t clean their homes at night because they believe that might upset demons. They live terrified of evil spirits. For my Deaf friends, terror often visited them in their dreams. My friend, Naiyana, is 21, and she feels that she has been haunted by a spirit her whole life. She was always aware of it, especially when she tried to sleep.
Years ago, she saw a movie about Jesus born in Bethlehem to save the world from sin. Throughout her life, Naiyana learned more stories about Jesus. When she got to college, some friends invited her to come to our group and see stories about Jesus signed in her language.
We told her about when Jesus set a man free from two thousand demons by the power of His words. When Naiyana gave her life to Jesus and chose to follow Him, she experienced peace, and the evil spirit she felt had haunted her through her whole life was gone. She told us that she still gets scared sometimes. But when she does, she can cry out to Jesus in prayer. And she knows now that He can protect her.
Thank the Lord for rescuing Naiyana from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Thank Him for redeeming her and several other Deaf Christians who gather in her city each week as a church. Pray for God to unify them and work through them to be His witnesses in their community and to the ends of the earth. Ask God to send more missionaries to reach the Deaf in Southeast Asia and around the world.