On February 10th, my team walked 30 minutes through the mountains of Lesotho — without a path, over rocks, to Mokhotlong Prison. Only one locked gate separated these men from their freedom, though they resided in the depths of a valley. Six American women stood before fifty African men.
We sang a couple of worship songs, and my teammate Nicole shared her testimony. Another teammate Allison shared about her father getting saved in prison and the apostle Paul getting a new identity and transformed life from God. We had prepared cardboard testimonies, and we all shared in succession — using keywords to highlight aspects of our lives the Lord has redeemed. Upon finishing, I stood up to share Ephesians 2:1-10, offer prayer, and close. The Pastor steps in front of the translator, approaches me and says,
“Are you preaching?”
I recognize my options:
1 – say no.
2 – say yes and just do what I had planned.
3 – say yes, and the the Lord take it.
I chose the 3rd, and hesitantly nodded. He said, “OK, walk around, be free.”
The Holy Spirit fulfilled the promise of Jesus: “Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” — Matthew 10:19-20
I stepped forward, read the passage, and talked about grace. How Satan has tried to tell us that our lives get stuck on the lies and brokenness and sin. How Jesus died for us even when we were dead in our sins. We don’t have to get it all together and become clean before Jesus will accept us. I said that He loves us just the way we are, and all we have to do to get to our new identity and healing is to accept God’s love.
I then offered prayer…for situations, health, families. As I turned to the Pastor to ask how to go about that, he said, “First, give the invitation for those who don’t know Jesus.”
Gulp. So I did. I was legitimately nervous, actually wondering what would happen if no one stepped forward. It was that infamous moment of faith: stepping out and sitting in the uncomfortable silence. That necessary element of going beyond what you can control, and giving God center stage, room to work.
So we waited. Men started making their way down to us. First one, then five, then ten. Finally the flow ebbed, and I stood there and counted FOURTEEN men standing in front of me. Prisoners, thieves, murderers, humans that wanted to accept the most incomprehensible, mysterious gift in the universe. That were ready to depend on the power of God Almighty to get to the next page: their new identity.
So we prayed. These men raised their hands to heaven and I wish I had a picture to solidify the mental picture I have of these men with their heads bowed and hands raised in humility and surrender.
So God used ME, my mouth, to guide them through a salvation prayer. I spoke, the Pastor translated, they repeated. After we said Amen, I looked into their eyes and told them a real change has taken place in the spiritual realm, in their spirits today. I was amazed, humbled, and excited — to say the least.
Once we dismissed, the Pastor came up beaming. “Wow, guys, we are truly blessed today.”
Yes, yes we were.
This Pastor runs the Prison ministry, and is able to follow up with these 14 men, and the 3 more that accepted Christ the next week!
Praise the Lord for real change happening in every corner of the world!
Our time in Africa is coming to a close. On March 1st, we are leaving for ASIA! The first stop: the Philippines! Please pray for my team as we work to help build a new ministry called Go! Philippines.
In His Hands,
Anna
