Some of you may
be wondering what my team and I are actually DOING in ministry this month in Uganda. Well, I will tell you!
We are working
with a young church. They have been established
for about a year now. Here is some background information to help understand
what we are doing now:
Prior to the
church being established, there was another church that was in their location, broke up because of false
prophecy being practiced. The pastor used
to line people up in three separate lines, costing $10k, $20k and $30k.
Depending on how much you paid dictated the type of prophecy that would be
spoken over you. To add to that, the surrounding neighborhood is full of people
who practice witch craft. The spirit realm was thick and messy.
As story goes,
there is a tree and a huge boulder next to the church. The past church cut own
the tree 15 years ago and made it into
a stump so that they could build
on the land that it was inhabiting. After cutting it down, the next
morning, they saw that the entire
tree had grown back completely due to witchcraft
spells that were put on it. To this day,
there is a mark all around the base of the tree where it had grown back from
that I have seen with my own eyes.
Next to the tree
there is a huge boulder that they
wanted to move so they could build on the plot of land it is resting upon. When
they tried to move it the boulder would turn into snakes due to a witchcraft spell put on it. So, they left
the boulder. This was about a year ago. Since then the church we are
ministering with now and many others have broken with craft on it. But still,
how crazy is that?!
As you can tell
by now, Witchcraft is extremely prevalent in the city we are ministering. This is very new for a lot of us. Thankfully we
are covered by the blood of Jesus!!! God
is giving us a learning place to gain more authority in Him and has given us a
space to understand more of the battle that takes place in the spirit realm.
Coming into this
ministry we didn’t know all of this. All we knew is that we felt extremely
uncomfortable in the church, in the neighborhoods and around the people we were
working with, especially at night time. Truthfully, most of the time we were in
the church our we all wanted to jump out of our skin and run away
Hmmm….this is
not typical of us, I thought. There must be something more!!
So we asked
questions, heard these witchcraft stories and we quickly realized what was
happening! We are the first missionary team to partner with this church that
used to be enslaved to witchcraft. We are the first missionary team to walk
throughout a village enslaved to witchcraft currently and who are bound by
religion rather than a relationship with God. Up the road is a Craft Shop where
witch doctors stock up on their necessities. Plus, the church is next to the
huge tree and boulder that were manifesting a demonic presence. NO WONDER WE
WANTED TO CRAWL OUT OF OUR SKIN!!!
What did we
do with this?
Anointed the
church with SUNSCREEN (because there
wasn’t any oil present) in the name of Jesus Christ, prayed incessantly in and
out of the spirit, sang worship songs, spoke to the pastors about what we were
discerning, suited ourselves in the armor of God and waged war in the spirit
for FREEDOM to reign in the church, in the village, in the pastors, in us, etc.
Honestly, it
felt like a literal BATTLE!! I can hardly put into words what we have been
experiencing. But, God is moving our entire team into more discernment,
authority, UNITY with each other and awareness.
My team and I
don’t necessarily agree on everything nor were we raised with the same
religious background, but when we felt and discerned what was happening we
immediately came together to fight as one. Talk about POWERFUL!!!
This is still an
ongoing presence but a lot of FREEDOM and PEACE has been released over the
church, over us and over the people of the village. The KINGDOM IS COMING!!! I
can feel it in the spirit realm, HUGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We spend our
days doing door to door evangelism in the surrounding villages. It is far different than I thought it would be. I
believe the Lord has brought our team here to call upon his name for FREEDOM and to teach the church and the people the
importance of a lifestyle of DISCIPLESHIP rather than seeking NUMBERS of souls saved like most African churches pursue.
PRAISE GOD FROM
WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!
