Getting his house in order
A Yembiyembi Bible teacher in Papua New Guinea stepped down from his teaching position because he wanted to address needs in his own family.
“It was powerful for him to admit publicly that he was wrong,” wrote missionary Tim Shontere. “He hasn’t taught for three months, but since he stepped down, some powerful stuff has happened.”
His wife ran away in fear, frightened at what he might do and he continued to struggle with feelings of anger.
One of the believers came to Tim and said, “Tim, I think it is time we have a talk with him. We need to follow God’s Book about how to straighten out another believer.”
Tim consulted with other teachers and prayed before approaching the Bible teacher. As he openly shared concerning his anger against his wife and listened to Tim’s counsel, his anger began to abate and he realized that beating his wife was not the answer to their problems.
“I just want her to come to the teaching and let God’s Word teach her so that she becomes a child of God and then together we can serve God,” said the Bible teacher.
Despite the fact that his wife had been against the church, her husband and family, last week she showed up at the teaching.
The teacher testified, “I did what you said: I asked God Spirit to diminish my anger. I wanted to hit her, but I didn’t. I just told her that I want her to come to this teaching. And she is coming with her body. We need to keep praying. I know she is scared of her dead dad who said she would be cursed if she came. But at least she is starting to listen to me at home. I also need to be that God-following man and show Christ’s character to her. It is only through God Spirit’s strength and guidance that my family will be restored and He alone can open’s my wife’s eyes to the true talk of the Bridge Man, Jesus.”
When he resumed his teaching, the Yembiyembi man reviewed the Gospel lesson with his wife and family listening. This has been a huge testimony to the other believers of how God works in individual lives
Pray that Yembiyembi believers will learn to love one another and that their family relationships will grow and blossom as they know God better. Pray that the wife of the Bible teacher will understand and believe the Gospel message.