I want to start by proclaiming that we don’t serve a natural God. We serve a supernatural God, who is all powerful, almighty, & reigns above every other name.
This is a story, from my time in Binga, Zimbabwe, about a 98 year old man named January.
We started our afternoon off, by piling into a van & driving down a long, red dirt road. Once we reached our destination, the middle of nowhere, my team split up between the translators. Kristine and I found ourselves back in the van, with a pastor named David, headed off road & further into the bush. After a twenty minute drive through what appeared to be a jungle, we arrived at David’s house, only to walk another ten minutes through the woods & corn fields. We finally reached our destination! There was nothing but corn fields surrounding us on every side, and right in the middle of it all were two huts, where January & his wife lived. We sat around on tiny stools and listened to January as he told us a little bit of his story.
He started crying as he explained to us that he had been a witch doctor for many, many years. He told us that the main reason people came to see him, was when they found out their spouse was seeing someone on the side while they were away working, & January would give them something from the spirits to kill the other person. He told us that other witch doctors keep coming to him & telling him to perform rituals, but he can’t because he is too old. He also told us that he had been having bad dreams, sleepless nights, & hallucinations where he was seeing butterflies.
Through tears, he told us he wanted to turn away from this life as a witch doctor, and he wanted to give his life to Jesus and follow him. He knew who Jesus was and he understood what it meant to be saved.
We got the opportunity to go a little bit deeper with him and share the full truth of the Gospel of Jesus, what exactly it means to be a born again believer, & about the Holy Spirit, how the very Spirit of God comes to dwell inside of us when we give our life to Jesus.
He was ready. To leave the darkness, & to step into the light. To go from being dead in sin, to alive in Jesus Christ. His wife also made the decision to give her life to Jesus! After explaining that it’s not my words & that it has to be a decision made in their heart, I led them both through a salvation prayer. I would say something, David would translate, & then him and his wife would repeat it together. January cried the entire time we prayed. Through so many tears of joy they surrendered the rest of their lives to Jesus.
We prayed over him & his wife, over his mind, over their hut where they sleep, & commanded every evil spirit to leave him in Jesus’ Name.
It was a beautiful day.
But the story doesn’t end there.
A few days later, January got in contact with David, and asked us to come back and burn all of the things he used for traditional healings & rituals! That’s the power of the Holy Spirit & a beautiful testimony of what it means to give your life to Jesus.
Sunday morning, we had the opportunity to go back to their hut. We had talked about him and his wife going to church with us, but had decided that he probably wouldn’t be able to trek through the jungle to get to the van. When we walked up to his hut, we found him dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a suit, tie, and hat. We stood and watched as he brought out bags and bags of things he used as a witch doctor. We put it all in a pile and watched him lite a match to set it on fire! It was incredible to witness. While it was all still burning, January turned and headed straight for the corn field. We asked him where he was going and he said, “I’m going to church!” We all just looked at each other, and then decided that he was determined to go to church, and we weren’t going to be the ones to stop him.
We made it to church about an hour and a half late, but again it made for a great example of how God leaves the 99 righteous to go after the one. January and his wife sat on the front row worshipping their Lord and savior.
At the end of the service, pastor David asked us world racers, to come to the front and told the congregation that whoever needed prayer could come. I had just got done praying healing over a ladies back, when I looked over to my right, and saw January on the ground being prayed over. A few seconds later, he fell out stiff on the floor, shaking uncontrollably, crying, and making noises. Wow. This was the first time I had ever witnessed a demon manifested like this one. I looked up at the pastor at the front and heard him say, “Someone start praying the demons away!” Fear washed over me for about .1 seconds, then the Lord reminded me of the authority I have through His Son Jesus Christ, and David and I laid hands on January and commanded the demons to come out of him in the Name of Jesus. We laid hands and prayed over him for a few minutes, then he sat up & had stopped shaking, but started crying again and told us he couldn’t see, so we prayed over his eyes. Then he told us he couldn’t hear, so we prayed over his ears. He started shaking and crying again, so we prayed and told Satan that he had no place there and commanded him to leave in Jesus Name.
A moment later, January was still, calm, stood up & sat back down on his stool. He was able to see and hear. That’s the power of the God that we get to serve, friends!!! A supernatural God who is still doing miracles today!
John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Jesus, who is the light of the world, is still shining. We as believers are not fighting FOR victory, we are fighting FROM victory. The battle has already been won. Light always defeats darkness.
But the story doesn’t end there either.
We got news last week, from our ministry host in Zimbabwe, that January & his wife were going to be getting baptized this past Sunday!!! Hallelujah!
There is no other name like the Name of Jesus! There is no greater love than the Love of Jesus!
As I was writing this story about January, the Lord reminded me of the song Reckless Love. The lyrics are powerful. I’ll leave you all with a few lines from the song:
“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, you give yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me”
Recklessly,
Madison
The day they received Jesus as the Lord of their life!
Burning everything he used for traditional healings & rituals.
January getting baptized!
His wife getting baptized!
The day we burned the stuff & they went to church with us! 🙂
