The following is an excerpt from my journal…
November 1, 2015
Luke 9:1-2 When Jesus had called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases
Tonight, we were at church. Me and Courtney and Dylan joined Brooks’ team at Pastor Moses’ church. It was a youth worship event. During worship, I noticed a man sitting in the back row near the door. He was doubled over and appeared to be either asleep or praying. After about an hour of worship, Pastor Moses led the congregation in prayer. He was praying about the power of the cross and how when Jesus took up the cross, it was for us. The man began to sob and after a few seconds, he fell out of his chair. He fell face-first and busted his face open. Blood was pouring out of his face. He was sitting just three chairs down from me and no one was sitting in between us, so I watched the whole thing. My immediate reaction was to back up. I was scared. I took a few steps back and a squadmate came beside me and asked what happened. I told them I wasn’t sure. All I knew to do was pray. I sat in my chair and began praying. The pastor and another teammate come around the man and began praying over him. I immediately joined them. I laid my hand on the man’s shoulder. He was breathing heavily and by this time, the pastor had a blanket under his head soaking up the blood. He convulsed once or twice and was squirming around a bit. I didn’t know exactly what to pray. In that moment, I was shaking and I felt fear, but I also felt the power of God. I told God my fears and insecurities and prayed in the name of Jesus that anything in the man that was not of God had to leave. I told God I didn’t know what to pray, and found myself repeating the same prayers and quoting scripture because that’s all I knew to do. My prayer went something like:
“Anything in this man that is not of You must leave in the name of Jesus.”
“At Your name, Jesus, every tongue shall confess and every knee shall bow.”
“There is power in the blood of Jesus Christ.”
“Father, I am scared. I am weak. I have no words. But, hear my heart. Holy Spirit, intercede on my behalf.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me.
After a time of prayer, I have no idea how long, I looked around and everyone had stood up, I finished my prayer and stood up as well. Pastor Moses and two other men moved the guy over to where he could sit up. His eyes were open, but he seemed dazed and was unresponsive. He wasn’t answering any questions and no one knew who he was. A squadmate and I ran around the corner to a shop and got him a water. Pastor Moses’ team was attempting to clean his wounds, but to no avail. It was clear he needed medical attention. We all scrounged up enough money to get him medical care and two men helped him up the hill to the road to get to transportation to the hospital.
I left the church confused and in fear. There are a few possibilities of what happened tonight:
1. He was drunk and passed out and fell out of his chair (but I didn’t smell alcohol on him)
2. He is narcoleptic and fell asleep and fell out of his chair (this doesn’t match up with the sobbing and convulsing)
3. He was possessed by a demon and the Lord wanted to free him tonight
I believe it was the latter of the options, but I may never know. That’s part of the Race. I will likely never see that man again. I don’t even know his name. I just have to trust that the Lord heard my prayers and will hear my continued prayers. Whatever happened tonight, God was and IS in control.
2 Timothy 1:7 For gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
When I got home from church, I was in fear. I wasn’t sure what I had just experienced. I’ve seen a demon possession once before in my life, but I was pretty young. Too young to fully understand what was happening and too young to actually join in praying for that person. I began to externally process with my teammates what I had just experienced. We prayed together as a team and then I called leadership to have them pray with me. I fell asleep that night listening to worship music with the peace of God resting on me.
He has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power. He has given me authority. Where my feet walk, the enemy has no power because Christ goes before me and Christ is in me. So, I will continue to proclaim the word of God with boldness!
Update: Today, I got the opportunity to return to the church where I had experienced so much fear last night and lead a Bible study. It was an incredible opportunity from the Lord to return to a place that held fear and step out through that fear to boldly proclaim His word to His people.
