This month in Malawi and last month in Zambia, our ministry has been very similar – door to do evangelism, preaching, and teaching in schools. Doing evangelism in capital cities has been a blessing and we’ve seen many people come to The Lord or strengthen their faith. But today we got off the beaten path, and that was a whole different ball game.
As we go through villages and meet people, we start conversations with them and ask them if they know Jesus or have given their lives to Him. We meet so many people who have, and are living for him and we celebrate and encourage them. But today we went to a new, remote village. Our driver Bernard took us out in the bush, where the roads got smaller and smaller and harder to manage. After having to stop and reroute twice because the roads were impassable, we finally got out and walked to the village. We went with our interpreters and pastors to the chief’s house to ask permission to evangelize in the village, as the custom requires. He welcomed us kindly and as we had a crowd already following us as we walked, we stopped and preached and worshipped with them. After lunch, we went door to door to meet people. But when asked if they knew Jesus or had heard of him, the answers we received at every house was “No.” Our interpreters said witchcraft was rampant in this village, that people went to witch doctors and herbalists when they had a problem. They believe in many gods and worship and pray to them through ritualistic dancing. It broke my heart to hear and see it In their eyes. At the first house, I shared with a man on Ezekiel ch. 37. God gave Ezekiel a vision of him standing in a valley full of dry bones. God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones, and with a loud rattling, the bones began to fit together to form skeletons, and then muscles and sinew and flesh came over them and they became whole again. But though they had the appearance of life, they were still dead. Until God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the breath.
“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to to the breath, ‘Thus says The Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain so they may live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.” – Ezekiel 37:9-10
As I sat and shared with them, I told them that there are people everywhere that look alive on the outside but are missing something – the spiritual breath of God. Without that, we’re just dry bones. But Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He came to offer us true life with Him. He came to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and raise the dead back to Life. No herb bought from a witch doctor can bring us to this True Life. No prayer uttered to these tribal gods can bring fulfillment and resolution. Jesus is it! He’s everything!
Ephesians 2 says we were dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked and we were by nature children of wrath. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace In kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:4-7
We were once dead! Totally separated from a loving God and deserving His just wrath. But Jesus, out of a wild and furious and radical love for us, chose to bear our sins and take our shame, and His final breath on the cross breathed life into a world of dry bones.
The man I shared with accepted Jesus into his heart today, he and his family, as did others my teammates shared with afterwards. They felt the dryness of their bones, and they saw clearly the one who brings life. All we are is dry bones without Jesus – desert souls. But today, bones came together and the dead were raised to life. The broken became whole! Praise God!
God is so good! But there is still so much need. This village is one of the most impoverished I have seen. The children were in tattered clothes with bloated bellies. But they smiled and chased after the “Azungus” (Chichewa for “white people”) with joy and laughter. My heart broke for one little toddler named Alice, whose older brother William had followed us from house to house listening to us speak, and then asked if we would pray with him to accept Christ at the last house. Alice had a cut on her finger from broken glass that was wrapped with a dirty, blood soaked scrap of fabric. She had blood on her arms and face from the oozing cut. Her wound was crawling with flies that she has become used to, and she looked at me with the most beautiful, steady eyes I’ve ever seen. My heart broke into a million pieces. I knew infection was so likely from the cut not being cleaned or treated properly and the flies feasting on it. We took her and William back to our meeting place and borrowed a teammates first aid kit (that, by the way, she hasn’t carried in her bag this whole time, but this morning just felt like she should bring it) and I washed her wounds. I cleaned her cut with alcohol while blood and dirt dripped down my hands, then covered it with antibiotic ointment and a fresh bandage. She was such a trooper and didn’t cry once. Even though she doesn’t understand English (and was probably too young to understand much Chichewa for that matter) I told her that she was beautiful and brave, that Jesus loves her so much and He cleans and heals our wounds like this medicine does. The whole time, those eyes were locked on mine, trusting me fully. We gave bandaids and ointment to her brother with instructions to clean and change them every day and prayed over her before we left.
So many sicknesses and fatalities in these countries result from totally treatable issues or from poverty, and it can be overwhelming to realize you can’t help them all. There are so many physical needs in this place, needs that Jesus blesses us with opportunities to be His hands and feet with. But there is a much more urgent spiritual need in this place that breaks me even more. This village, and many others, is desperate for Jesus Christ. But every day I get to go out speaking the truth and freedom and hope of the gospel. Africa needs your prayers, friends – for physical help and for spiritual awakening in these far off places. Will you join me in lifting these beautiful people up to God, praying for provision and peace, and for The Lord to continue letting His resurrection sing over this place, while we’re here and long after we leave?
I love you, friends and family. A little over 4 months left on this journey. Pray I make the most of every single breath God has given me!
