Spiritual warfare is real.
…I found that out firsthand the other night. After dinner our pastor told us there was a lady from the church who was having “spiritual problems” and he wanted a few of us to go with his wife and pray.
Sure, I’ll go. I headed out with 3 other girls and our pastors wife, Angelica, to pray for this woman. I had a feeling I should prepare myself for what was to come and I’m glad I did because what happened in the next 2 hours was the kind of thing you need to be spiritually prepared for.
We walked about 5 minutes down the dirt road we live on and came to a small house tucked away beside 2 others. We entered and were greeted by a lovely woman, probably in her thirties, and were guided to her living room to sit. She introduced herself and attempted to tell us what was going on.
Since she was either speaking Portuguese or the native language Changana, we really didn’t understand much. Although I didn’t understand her words I felt the spiritual darkness that I’m sure she was speaking of and wondered if there were any dark spiritual practices going on.
We stood and started singing some praise songs when all of a sudden the woman gasped and started convulsing. It startled me because my eyes were closed but thankfully Angelica took the lead and grabbed the woman’s hand and brought her to the center of the circle and said simply in English, “Pray…demon.”
So we prayed. We prayed hard…and after 30 minutes of some crazy demonic spiritual manifestations Angelica called for backup. In just a few minutes there were 6-8 men from the church who arrived and the craziness increased.
I had to laugh at one point as I opened my eyes, looked around and took in the scene…there were at least 10 Africans surrounding us praying, singing and yelling passionately for the demon to come out of this woman. I smiled as I closed my eyes again…yep this is real life.
One of the things that made me smile other than just the ridiculous chaos that was ensuing, was seeing the body of Christ come together with such urgency and passion in order to fight for their sister. This is what the body of Christ looks like.
At some points things would calm down and I thought it was over. Then we would worship again and the spirit would begin to manifest again and physically revolt in her body. We would begin to fervently pray again. After about 2 hours of this the pastor showed up and prayed over her as well and she began to look calm again. He decided it was time for us to leave and for the first time someone explained to us in English what was truly going on in her.
This woman’s mother was a witch doctor and had recently passed away about 2 months ago. Her mom’s witch doctor hut was right outside the house and the church was in the process of destroying it. She also used to practice witchcraft and being her mother’s only daughter, she was supposed to take over the “family business”. Ever since her mother passed away she has been sporadically attacked by the enemy. That night she had seen 2 demons in her house and called the church for help.
…Keep in mind this was our second night in Mozambique and I didn’t know yet what to expect but I knew enough from other missionary stories from Africa to surmise that “spiritual problems” might be code for something crazy.
Turns out it was…but I was ready for crazy, expecting crazy. Coming into Mozambique I had prayed for big things, God-sized things, to happen in this month and I think this night was just the beginning.
The Lord taught me a lot that night about the power of things we “welcome in” or “invite into” our lives. The enemy had a strong hold of this woman because for years she had invited him in.
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:11-13
As I read through the pieces of armor I am to put on, I wonder what that night would have looked like if I was fully prepared for what was to come.
I long to be a woman of God who is always ready to stand firm in what I believe, to be able to stand in boldness and confidence knowing that He who is in me is so much greater than he who is in the world. And that with full faith I would “fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel…and declare it fearlessly as I should.” Ephesians 6:19,20
I do know firsthand now that spiritual warfare is real. It’s real and it’s a battle we are each called to fight in. Thankfully we’re not called to fight it alone.
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
He who is in us gives us power to demolish the strongholds of the enemy.
Often all we have to do is show up in full faith that He will come through…then step back and watch the craziness that ensues.
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today…The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13,14
