Twice in the last two months, I’ve had the honor of presenting a wedding shower devotional for two lovely brides-to-be. I prefaced a brief excerpt from Tim Keller’s significant new book, “The Meaning of Marriage,” explaining the biblical picture of marriage, with an equally powerful comment our counselor shared when my husband and I were in premarital counseling.

Not only does the counselor’s statement reflect a Christian’s focus in marriage, but it also communicates a biblical worldview for the meaning of life: “This life is about holiness, not happiness. If you seek happiness, you’ll miss holiness. If you pursue holiness, you’ll find happiness.” Wouldn’t you agree?

For young and old alike, the search for the meaning of life engages humanity worldwide. To discover the only One who gives life meaning is a blessing indeed and a work of God’s grace. TWR is committed to proclaiming these God-given truths through its multimedia ministry. We are encouraged when we read letters like the one below from a teacher in Belarus:

Thank you for the cassette of the requested program and your letter. I was deeply touched, and you lifted up my soul. I used your recording, The Chain of Love, in one of my lessons with my pupils. My goal is to wake up my students [and] make them realize that, apart from material things, there are spiritual values in life. After introducing the subject of “the meaning of life,” I gave my 32 students three questions:

1. How do I see myself in 10 years time?
2. What is the meaning of my life?
3. How do I understand love?

[In response to how they see themselves] in 10 years, they wrote that they will be provided for, be happy, be educated, be loved, be rich, be healthy, be just ordinary, not married; others said they cannot imagine what [they] will be in 10 years.

They wrote that the meaning of their lives was their family, a significant other, their future career or in doing good.

Love, they wrote, is everything from a “chemical reaction” to trusting and caring. They wrote that love is everything, peace and happiness, a cure from problems, sexual attraction or nothing at all. Afterward, we listened to your cassette and will soon discuss it.

Please pray for the young people in Belarus and pray for the teacher that God may use him to help the kids understand the real value of life and the God who gives life meaning.

Source of letter: TWR-Europe Ministry Moments

Photo Credit: TWR-Europe

Joe Steiner

Having the opportunity to revisit the great spiritual milestones of yesteryear with a giant of the faith is rare indeed, but I had that privilege recently when I interviewed TWR semiretired missionary, Joseph “Joe” Steiner.

This month, Joe is attending a memorial service in Budapest, Hungary, for his paternal grandfather, who is being honored for his founding of the Baptist movement in that country. The legacy was passed on to Joe’s father, who became the editor of the Baptist paper in Hungary during the communist regime. Following in his father’s footsteps, Joe was honored recently during the 50^th anniversary of TWR’s Hungarian broadcast ministry from Monte Carlo, Monaco. Since 1961, Joe was the producer and “voice” of the Hungarian-language broadcasts, aired from the transmitter site in Monaco built by Hitler’s engineers during World War II.

“During our 50 years, some pastors were imprisoned; others lost their permission to preach; my father was caught and beaten by the political police; there was a shortage of Bibles; schools taught atheism, some churches were closed; and people had to worship in homes,” recalled Joe. “There was no television in Hungary at that time, and people eagerly listened to their radios for news from the West.”

Joe explained, “When we started the broadcast, it was three months before the first letter came, and it didn’t come from Hungary. It came from Croatia. The communist government was monitoring broadcasts and censoring letters.” A friend of Joe’s, aware of the security issues, made it possible for him to acquire a “radio name,” which listeners would hear and Joe could use to collect listeners’ mail from the post office box.

“In the beginning,” Joe said, “it was very difficult. The quality [of the radio programs] was not good. Everyone knew the difficulty of getting broadcast material from my home country behind the Iron Curtain.” In God’s providence, people put him in touch with Hungarian Christians in other countries to help prepare and record messages and church facilities were made available to serve as studios.

Joe said the listeners were very responsive to the programs: “Farmers returned from the fields in the early afternoon to hear the Word of God, while others set alarm clocks so they could hear the late programs. We received letters from people who were saved, some of whom Marge [Joe’s wife] and I were able to meet. Drunken fathers stopped drinking. Marriage problems were resolved. Communist party members learned about God. A prisoner accepted the Savior through the programs. Just before her attempt to kill herself by drinking poison, a young girl was saved.”

Can you put yourself in the Hungarians’ shoes, imagining what it would be like to have Joe’s “voice” of the gospel in your own heart language break through the silence and hopelessness that ensnared them? It took the “united efforts of many Christians” to make the mission a success, Joe said, and it continues to do so today as TWR reaches into countries still largely hostile to the Gospel.

How do you define the word “miracle”? Let me suggest that a miracle is an immediate, extraordinary work of God’s power, without the mediation of second causes. It’s supernatural. It’s unexplainable. In a brief moment, God chooses to intervene in his creation for his divine purpose and glory.

Recently, we received the testimony below from a TWR listener in Uzbekistan that reads much like a portion of one of the Apostle Paul’s Epistles. In his providence, God poured out his Spirit on behalf of a sister in Christ. I pray our own faith will be strengthened through this report:

A sister, who had only recently become a Christian, got into a small bus with a copy of the Ingil (New Testament) in her hand and sat down next to a woman.

The woman saw the Ingil and said, “Oh! That’s the Ingil! I have been looking for that book for a long time. Please give it to me to read.”

The sister said, “It’s my only book,” but the woman would not quit begging. Eventually, the sister gave in and let her have the book with the condition that she return it once she had finished reading it.

A young man, who was a police officer, was also sitting in the bus and overheard their conversation. He turned around to the woman and in a scolding tone said, “This book [Ingil] is pure propaganda and it’s forbidden in Uzbekistan to have a copy.” He became more adamant and told her she had to go with him to the police station to give a written statement.

The woman became afraid and gave the book back to the sister, but the young man ordered the driver to take them to the police station anyway. The officer placed handcuffs on the sister’s wrists, led her into the station and locked her in a cell.

This sister, a young believer, became very upset about this sudden turn of events and began to pray to God: “God, I just became a Christian. I have just begun to read your Word. What is happening? Please help me to get out of this situation.”

That’s when a miracle happened! God opened the door of the cell before her eyes. The officer was filled with fear when he saw this happen and screamed at her: “Get out of here right now and take your book with you!”

God is at work through his Holy Spirit, building his church and spreading the gospel through the means he chooses to use. In many Central Asian countries and elsewhere, the challenges for Christians are many.

An Uzbek pastor shared with us, “Radio is very important for the Uzbek people! This is especially true today because it is forbidden to do public evangelization. A person caught carrying a Bible, Christian book or disk with messages about God will be instantly fined. People in some regions are afraid to read in the Bible, so the spiritual food via the radio is absolutely necessary for them.” Please join us in prayer for the safety, spiritual growth and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Photo Credit: Susanne Wunderlich

Are you a mother? Then you know that our children are bombarded by many unyielding voices as they go about their daily lives, and not all those messages are edifying. Not only is this true in U.S. culture, but it’s also a reality worldwide. As moms, we want our children to flourish, and we seek to provide the resources that will enable them to establish a healthy foundation.

TWR shares your heart’s burden. Reaching children and youth with the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ is part of TWR’s Global Strategic Plan. TWR’s global teams produce creative biblically based programming for children and youth to offer them a healthy alternative to the lies, enticements and false teaching to which they’re exposed.

Pedrito Rally

In Latin America, for example, a tremendous asset is introducing children to Jesus Christ: a little octopus puppet named Little Peter, or Pedrito. Imagine the sight of hundreds of elementary school-age children giggling at the antics of Little Peter and his cohorts while listening to stories from the Bible.

TWR-Venezuela produces Little Peter the Octopus (Pedrito el Pulpo), a radio program for Spanish-speaking children ages 5 to 13. The programs include dramatized stories with biblical and ethical applications. The programs are so popular that Little Peter and his puppet friends travel throughout Venezuela performing at children’s rallies.

Thousands of children in Venezuela, Cuba, Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and other parts of Central America, the Caribbean and U.S. are growing up with Pedrito. The programs are aired from TWR-Bonaire and more than 200 local Spanish radio stations throughout the Americas. It’s thrilling to receive responses from young listeners like the one below in Cuba:

“I’m writing to tell you that I listen to your program whenever I can. I’m 12 years old, and for me, it’s a pleasure to write to you. Your program is of great importance to my life and that of other children. Each story is a great help, because they teach us to obey our parents, to be kind, to be kind to animals and care for nature. I wish you success in your ministry and many blessings from the Lord.”

Aren’t you encouraged as a mother to know that there are other Christians who desire to partner with you to plant the seeds of the gospel in your child’s life? It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?

Today is the National Day of Prayer in the United States. At TWR, we had our monthly Project Hannah prayer luncheon and prayed for the needs of women worldwide. Is there a conflict of interest? Absolutely not! We serve a great God who is intimately involved in the lives of his people wherever they reside and whatever the need.

To pray for those whom God has placed in authority over us is a privilege and one not to be taken lightly (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Such prayer for God-honoring governance in this country or in any nation pleases God, benefits his world and proves to be a positive influence.

Whether it’s for the deep spiritual needs of the U.S. or for God’s wholistic, redemptive work on behalf of women globally, God’s purposes are accomplished through the faith-filled, persevering prayers of his people. Jesus reminds us that God “gives justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night” (Luke 18:6-8).

Have you ever cried out as the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk did, “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help? Why do you make me see iniquity?” Do you ask, “When will the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD?” Have you ever pleaded before Almighty God, “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:14; 3:1-2)?

Hear what the omnipotent God said to Habakkuk, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Habakkuk 1:5). The King of the universe will fulfill his promises and accomplish his purposes. This world is God’s world and he will have the last word!

My brothers and sisters in Christ, please join me in prayer: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations” (Psalm 67:1-2 ESV).

Photo Credit: TWR-Cambodia