It’s NOT About The Demons
When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house UNOCCUPIED, SWEPT CLEAN AND PUT IN ORDER.” -Matthew 12:43-44
On the morning of July 13th, while India slept in, my prayers probably sounded something like, “Umm Hey God, Story Leader here, still don’t have a story, if you could deliver on that, YES PLEASE, and THANK YOU!.” I should have gone with, Psalm 5:3 “In the morning Oh Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my lay my requests before you, and wait expectantly,” but I knew God heard my sloppy pathetic plea. He does mess well and He gets me.
It was wifi Friday and I was responding to the comments on my “Boggle Me India” blog. I asked MC’s mom to join me in praying that God would show me whose story to tell. On the morning of the 14th, the hour came for team time and I could just sense that Team Undivided was spent, depleted, and beyond groggy. We didn’t have eyes to see the agenda at hand. We had no idea how God would MORE than deliver, just a few hours later. It was Michelle’s day to lead and we were doing a little popcorn prayer. At the end of our time together, I said, “And God blow us away with the energy you have reserved for us, because we are exhausted.” At the time, some of the women disagreed, saying they were feeling great. That would soon change.
We climbed into our tuk tuk and headed to minister to a nearby village. Nearby is relative as we are clueless to this whole kilometers thing, and pretty much live on our wonder bench of a vehicle. Seat belts are not an option and anything goes when it comes to traffic. Though we would often catch each other staring into space, we were no less excited to see the kids. We were a half hour early so we went to the beach for a bit, and returned to find the kids doing their homework. I cozied up to a little girl named Akshaya. She was practicing her sentence writing, and I had her read them to me. The young man next to her, Labaan, was doing anything but work, and talking into a purple plastic phone instead. He would find his place to shine, minutes later as he led the entire class in two songs with hand motions.
We said our goodbyes to the kids, hearing, “Bye Akka,” and received many thank yous as we deliberated on whether or not we would visit the villages, because there was miscommunication and it sounded like it was far away and our time with the kids would be cut short. We would miss out on the meal the amazing staff and/or family works hard to prepare for us each night. As soon as I found out that the families were expecting us I was up for missing out on dinner to honor them. We ended up not missing anything at all. We visited a few homes before landing at the place God would truly for the first time unite Team Undivided fighting for a woman as ONE.
Walking in I could sense something was off, like the spiritual warfare feeling I get in Haiti. We came across this gorgeous woman in a beautiful orange sari. She began to tell us how she was unable to pray but needed prayer, and how something was wrong with her heart, causing her to struggle to breathe. So we did what we knew to do. We covered our heads and began to pray. At the moment we began to pray the woman, we’ll call her Suji, fell forward into Lacey, and I was now forced to somehow support the weight of both of them, and didn’t struggle to do so, because it wasn’t in my own strength. We began praying for healing, and no evidence of healing came. Her family brought out oil and Lacey was familiar with the practice, so she anointed. God was using our past experiences to set the stage for amazing miracles. Her body went limp and all 7 of us helped get her to the ground. She lay still for a moment and then began writhing as we claimed promises and demanded the demon leave her body. We thanked God for who He is and believed He would heal her and deliver her from this bondage. She was violent towards us, because it wasn’t her fighting us. She batted her hands at us, and I was able to grab hold of her left hand. I looked down at my sweat dripping from that hand and smiled, because I knew there was NO way I could in my own strength still be holding on and not losing grip. It was something out a movie and yet totally happening in our presence. NONE of us felt fear, ill-equipped, or hesitated to pray. We called on the Holy Spirit and took a back seat while in the front row.
It’s not about the demons. It’s about Jesus and God’s love for Suji. With that at the forefront of our minds, we pressed on. She was writhing, growling, and I am shocked her flesh didn’t meet mine taking out a chunk out of my hand. I looked down at her eyes at one point and they were milky and not her own. Then I saw pupils but they were frozen. Lacey began to sing, “There is Power In the Blood Of Jesus,” and we joined in. There was a short intermission as her body calmed down and the demon thought he could claim our mind as his playground, but we knew better. Our translator told Holley to ask her her name, but she was unable to say her name, as we soon learned why.
The demon began yelling at her family. He was saying he was 104 years old, and how he had manifested within her for the past 9 years. He told of all the wrongs done to him in his past as her family yelled back because he had been haunting their family for 20 years. Our translator was very familiar with calling demons out, so he just sat there and had a conversation with him. Confused at times, he just remained calm and told us what it was saying. The intensity at which her family cried out fighting for their daughter was breathtakingly beautiful.
We grabbed her hands, wrists, etc. and laid her back down. We knew this was going to be at least a half hour process, as it felt like an intermission to a very long and draining movie. Remember how we arrived exhausted, that too was the enemy. We quickly regained our strength by with the Holy Spirit at hand. At one point I remember my right hand holding her left, and my left hand shaking over her body. Rachel remembers feeling electric shocks. I also recall a time at which I said out loud, “It is gone! It is finished,” and repeated that because I knew it was true. Her body had calmed down, and for the first time, she motioned with her hands that she wanted to sit up, we asked her her name and this time she knew it. She was smiling, and not only that but her breathing was normal and she had received healing on top of deliverance.
When it was all over I asked the women on my team what they remember. I knew I didn’t want to tell this story without hearing what they felt upon entering the house, what they experienced during the battle, and how it impacted them reflecting on that night.
Michelle said she was clueless walking in, but her swaying brought clarity letting her know what we were up against. She had little background in this, and she said she knew to keep praying and thought about truths she could pray over her.
Lacey was shaking and trembling with the Spirit. She spoke tongues over her and depended on God for words and guidance. She said, “It was heavenly being in communication with God and not disturbed by it.” She was astounded by God’s goodness and unable to express it. While awestruck and dumbfounded, she thought about how amazing it was to see things you read about in the Word actually happen before your very eyes.
Anna had been praying to witness a miracle. She had never experienced anything to that extent. She also knew with Suji’s sway. She said, “It was cool to get everyone channeling the Spirit so deeply.” Words flowed freely through the Spirit and she was thankful looking back that God had used us as a unit to bring freedom. She hopes we are encouraged as a team and a squad to tap into the power within us.
Rachel said, “It was just one of those encouraging moments where you read in scripture that we have been handed the power and when you actually get the opportunity to do it then you believe it.”
Erin had chills all over her body and her right hand tingled, as Rachel too had chills. She said, “It was a beautiful thing getting to watch her towards the end when you could see the relief in her. It reminded me of our team how God has put us together uniquely matching our gifts and talents to be able to do big things. Without each other it wouldn’t be possible. Crazy cool.”
Holley let me know that her first thought upon hearing it was a demon was that someone else can handle this. It wasn’t until the demon spoke that she began praying for Suji, because before then she was praying for all of us women knowing the demon would need a place to go. While she had been skeptical in the past in this kind thing, she said it was very real and yet she had no fear. I value greatly Holley’s encouragement afterward reminding us that this experience served as proof that we need to be ready in and out of season.
It’s NOT about the demons. It’s about Jesus! It’s about Suji! …and it’s about what God can do with the hands of Team Undivided on His daughter with her family echoing His relentless love and willingness to fight for her. God loves His children, and we are to call on ONE Father. At the name of Jesus, every knee will indeed bow. That night we got a glimpse of it as Suji described the demon burning in fire and after 9 years she was free. The true test was when we began to pray for her family, she covered her head, and while before she was unable to pray…this ray of sunshine prayed alongside us as her sisters who had traveled oceans for THIS. It’s NOT about the demons!
