“Now, knowing what Jesus did and knowing what the Blood of Jesus has done for you and all that it can do for you, do you want to accept Jesus as your Savior and follow Him with your life?”
Before this question was asked to the two women who accepted Jesus that day, there was a lot leading up to that point. Lots of questions concerning if they actually knew Jesus or if their idea of salvation was going to church, being baptized, or simply just being a good person. They had both experienced loss; one woman lost her husband and mother within months of each other and the other, a 16-year-old girl, had recently lost her father. They both voiced the need for financial provision and the girl was being attacked spiritually. It hurt me to hear what they had walked through and what they were currently enduring, but I knew, as followers of Jesus, we had the answer they needed.
Days prior, our team had started evangelizing in the community of Livingstone, Zambia. We split up into smaller teams and went our separate ways. While I have evangelized before, it was always in larger groups and usually the more experienced people in the group would take over and I would listen and join in prayer at the end. But here, there are two, maybe three, in a group and the pastor or translator is there to do just that; translate. This gave me anxiety at first. It wasn’t that I didn’t know the Word or didn’t know why I believed what I believed, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to present Jesus in a way that would truly have people hungry for the truth and wanting Him as their own. Satan is a liar and I don’t know about you, but that last sentence doesn’t sound like the voice of Holy Spirit to me.
I’m currently reading The Blood and the Glory by Billye Brim and WOW! This book could not have come into my hands at a better time. Right as we began evangelism, I started reading this book and was reminded of everything the Blood of Jesus did for us and everything it can do for us. My anxiety left as Holy Spirit comforted me, “This. This is how you’ll present the truth of Jesus.”
For sake of confidentiality, I’m going to change the 16-year-old girl’s name to Sarah. Sarah’s father died recently and as heart-breaking as that is, a young girl absent of the opportunity to experience the love of her earthly father, that was not the most distressing thing in her life. After her father’s death she said she started having dreams. In her dreams, Satan-worshippers would come to her and tell her to join them. She always refused. Then, one of the girls she had been seeing in her dreams, started showing up in her daily life. Sarah would be at school and this girl would walk up to her desk and ask to borrow a pencil. The same girl would go up to the front of the classroom and stand in front of the board, waving her hands, so Sarah couldn’t take notes. When Sarah would see the girl she would tell the teacher. The teacher never could see the girl.
After she shared these reoccurring experiences with the people at her school and church, they started calling her names. Satan-worshipper. Devil. Murderer. They told her she caused her father’s death and she was the one soley to blame for the loss that her family had incurred. Her mother, who came to sit with us halfway through our visit, confirmed that all her daughter had said was true. Sarah said she felt that God hated her. I couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. If everyone around me, including people at my church, people who are supposed to act as my family and godly community, were telling me these things and I didn’t know who I was in Christ (let alone know Christ at all), I would believe them too.
Insert Holy Spirit.
Not only were we given the opportunity to share with this beautiful, young woman everything the Blood of Jesus could bring her out of (shame, darkness, feelings of worthlessness and insecurity), but we were able to share with her what she would get to walk in if she accepted Jesus as her Savior! We went all the way back to Adam and Eve and explained how God loved man, desired fellowship with man and even walked with him in the garden. Then, we explained that God essentially gave Adam and Eve a lease to the world, but then they, through their disobedience in biting the apple, gave that lease over to Satan and it became his world. We went on to explain sin, the point of animal sacrifices, and all the steps and rituals that God’s people had to take part in to connect with Him and receive forgiveness for their sins. And this wasn’t because God hated them, but because God’s glory was (is) so great that He and the sin within man could not reside in the same place or man would be destroyed. Hence, God making a plan before the foundations of the earth were even set in place in order to regain that fellowship with His beloved creation. (1 Peter 1:18-20)
Enter Jesus.
After hearing about what people in the Old Testament had to go through before the cross, the importance of what Jesus did for her on the cross made so much more sense to Sarah. But her face really lit up when we told her the power and authority that is made ours when we accept Jesus. “You don’t have to remain powerless and be subject to these dreams and visions. Simply by saying the name of Jesus and pleading the Blood, those things have to flee.” And it’s not the mere sound of those two syllables that commands Satan, but the authority from God that lies behind them. (Mark 1:25-27) Telling her that because of Jesus and His Blood that was poured out for her she had victory over the enemy… (Luke 10:19) That. That was it for her. That was her turning point and reason to want Him. After we prayed the prayer of salvation, we got to tell her how God saw her. We got to tell this young woman who had been called a devil, accused of murder, and thought God hated her that she could now call herself His daughter. That she was no longer fatherless and all of Heaven was celebrating because she said “yes” to Jesus.
After having this experience, I asked myself, “What things am I making a priority over others’ eternities and relationships with Christ? Is their eternity not far more important than other things I busy myself with?” Be encouraged to ask yourself those same questions. What does it mean to bring others closer to Jesus, and ultimately closer to the Father?
To me it means…
Sewing seed by speaking truth into others’ lives on a regular basis.
Praying with unwavering faith.
Loving others when it’s not convenient.
Both being mentored and being a mentor to someone within my community.
Not being scared to mention Him in conversation.
Sharing my faith and why I choose Jesus daily.
Focusing on my comfort in this life less and being more eternally-minded and Kingdom-focused.
Shout out to all of my subscribers and supporters.
This was able to happen because of YOUR support both in prayer and finances.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
With all my love,
Alyx
