There are more than one million villages where people are still living in darkness, never having heard about a loving God and His Son Jesus Christ. In Aaron Shust's song, God of Brilliant Lights, he says, "The God of brilliant lights is shining down over us. Breaking through the darkness covering all the earth." This story demonstrates this eternal truth about our loving God.

Until the God of Brilliant Lights came to the Jehai people all they had known was darkness. They had lived deep in the Belum Forest in one of the oldest rainforests on earth.  They were nomadic and were rarely ever seen before the year 2000.

The River of Life Church in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia felt impressed that God wanted them to share the Gospel with these hidden and forgotten people. These Jehai people were unreached by the Gospel so the church began to pray that somehow they would be able to go find these illusive people of the jungle. What these believers didn't know was that these Jehai people were being desimated by the darkness of disease and deprivation. The infant death rate among these people was 100 times higher than the rest of the Malaysian population. 

The church prayed that God would prepare the way for them and prepare the tribe somehow for their arrival. The church team traveled for hours to get to the edge of the rainforest. They would then need to board boats to take them out onto a lake where they might be able to spot some of the Jehai. They had brought some supplies along. They brought a few booklets along hoping to be able to somehow communicate with the Jehai in a related language.  They knew it was a primitive tribe so they also brought along some simple children's materials.

After about an hour on the lake, they spotted a thatched roof village near the shore of the lake. Their excitement grew as they saw some people moving around. "They're not Jehai." said the local boatman, "They are Temier! We may not find the Jehai at all near the shore." But the team wanted to stop and see if these people knew where the Jehai might be.

As the delegation made its way up from the lake, they prayed again that God would help them find the Jehai. As they spoke to the people who greeted them, they soon found out that a group of Jehai had come out of the jungle and had been staying in their village already for a few months! They asked to speak to someone from among the Jehai. Then Jehai tribal chief, Penghulu, came and stood before the strangers to represent his people.

They spoke to each other in broken Bahasa and after only a brief conversation it was discovered that the chief had seen something in a dream that was troubling him. He was wondering if these strangers could interpret his dream for him. "What did you see?" they asked. "I saw brilliant colors." he said. "I saw brilliant white, red, green and gold."

One of the team members pulled out the wordless book from the children's materials. "Are these the colors?" they asked. "Yes! Yes!" he exclaimed! "Can you explain the meaning of the colors to me?" They shared the love of God with the chief and began to explain His plan of salvation for mankind. The chief proclaimed, "I know you have been sent by God to me and my people". That very day he, his wife and son put their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

The River of Life Church made regular trips into the Jehai and soon there were 175 baptized believers. Medical personnel from the church donated time and supplies to set up clinics and treat the Jehai. Their health improved dramatically through prayer and genuine care.

The God of brillant lights revealed himself to Penghulu through brilliant colors in a dream. But the dream alone was not enough. God chose to complete His message through the obedient, prayerful and determined people of the River of Life Church. The chief's journey began through a dream with brilliant colored lights and his journey was continued through the shining witness of simple believers who shared salvation through the gospel to the Jehai chief and his people. 

Thank God for those who cared enough to reach a village where the Jehai people were waiting. The God of brilliant lights shined on them through a dream given to a chief and a burden given to a group of believers in a church in Kuala Lumpur.

Now listen to the song and take time to pray for the remaining unreached people groups and the 1,000,000 unreached villages as you see the words.  Let His brilliant light shine on you! Pray that He will continue to shine His presence on unreached villages preparing them for the coming of the Gospel. If you want to help reach a village like the one in this story contact us.