It’s 10:00PM and I’m just finishing up reading Love Does by Bob Goff. I turn off the lights and am about to fall asleep when….
I run into my teammates’ room where they’re plucking each other’s eyebrows and say, “I can’t sleep. They’re doing exorcisms outside my window. Can I hang out here for a while?” We turn on some music to drown out the noises coming from the front. After a few minutes, all the girls on the team are in the room talking about how this is completely normal in Africa. Just everyday demons on the front porch and the standard acts of casting them out. All we can talk about is how we’re going to blog about this in the morning.
A few months before the Race, I was completely unprepared to handle demons. When I heard the name, I immediately imagined a ghost or some image Hollywood put in my head. One day, my roommate came home from her class at church and they had been discussing casting out demons. She told me about it and I just got completely freaked out. A week later, I was talking with the deliverance pastor at my church and asking him questions. I wanted to be prepared for anything that came at me on the Race.
I read a few books, went to a few meetings, and prayed a lot.
I felt somewhat prepared, but nothing could have prepared me for the actual act of casting out demons. I first encountered and put my knowledge and faith to the test in India, where God used me to cast a demon out of a man.
That was 6 months ago.
5 days ago we went to church, and I was reminded of the intimidating reality that there is a spiritual battle going on. After some songs, a handful of testimonies, and a message, it was prayer time. Anyone who wanted prayer went to the front. There were people there asking for healing, lots of them asking for prosperity, and one who had a demon living inside her. She went to the pastor and the pastor’s wife. In a matter of seconds, she was on the ground writhing.
Of the actions that followed, I agreed with and disagreed with some. Yes, she needed to be delivered, but there was no reason to hit her with a Bible. She was already being spiritually abused, there was no need to physically cause her pain as well.
I know that in writing this, I’m either opening a whole can of worms or I’m losing credibility with you, but this is a real thing that’s going on in our world. People are tormented by demons. At the same time, people have problems physically and mentally, but not spiritually.
In America, we dismiss this idea of demons so quickly. If we’re reading the Bible in its totality we would run into Jesus casting out demons. We read about him doing miracles and raising the dead. All of these things are still real. And we, who have been born again in the blood of Jesus, have been given the power in Jesus’ name to do these things.
Being here in Uganda, I’m reminded of the spiritual reality that we pretend doesn’t exist. Angels are real. Demons are real. Heaven is real. Hell is real. All we have is this one life to choose how we’re going to live and what we’re going to live for.
Well, it’s 10:30. I’ve been told it’s over. I can go back to sleep now. I hope this blog makes sense. Please pray for the people of Uganda.
