In the dense jungles of the Amazon live tribes that have not been reached with the life-giving water of Jesus. One of these people groups – the Long Arrow tribe – worshipped wooden idols that could not help them. Their chief, a man named Marcos, was a disabled man, broken by many accidents and injuries. He prayed to the wooden idol for help, yet it did not reply. It did not heal him.
A visitor to the Long Arrow tribe
One day a man named Naapi came to see the Long Arrow people. Naapi was a follower of Jesus and a church leader among the people. So, when Marcos tearfully cried out to him for aid, Naapi sat to talk with him. He asked if Marcos had consulted the wooden idol that represented the Long Arrow tribal god. Marcos told Naapi the truth. He had, but nothing had come of it. Naapi knew the power of the God he served, so he spoke again to Marcos. He told him that the Waniwa people would pray for him and that God would heal him. With those words, he left Marcos.
The dream
That night as Marcos slept, he dreamed. A man appeared who lifted him from darkness into a place of light. Just beyond the light, a jaguar paced menacingly in the dark shadows. The man told the chief, “The jaguar wants to kill and devour you, but I won’t let him. You have been going down the wrong path in life. Now you must listen and obey Me.”
When Marcos awoke, he was completely healed. Along with other Long Arrow leaders, Marcos travelled to a Waniwa village to tell his story to the people who had prayed for his healing. But before he left to visit the Waniwa, he stood and told his own tribesmen, “Now I know the Waniwa’s God is true, and I am going to travel to their village to hear more about their God.”
Marcos has since become a believer in the Lord Jesus, and he is not alone in the Long Arrow tribe. He – along with others – has come forward to be recognised as a believer and be baptised in the name of the true God.
A God of power and protection
It is beautiful to see the Lord moving in the dreams of those who have not yet let Him into their lives. God still desires to love and protect them from the jaguar in the shadows. He uses His power to heal them of their wounds and free them from sin.
Source: Pioneers
