I don’t know how to put into words what God has done in me and in those around me, but I’ll try!
We spent all of last week in a town called San Pedro, this town is well known for miracles but also for its witchcraft, and we sure did see both!
I pray that the Holy Spirit can intervene as you read this and truly show you how powerful our God is! I write this knowing that I may be hard to take in and may be hard to wrap your head around it but I’m trusting the Spirit to work inside you regardless.
Our first night in San Pedro, after walking around and allowing to be led by the Holy Spirit (which has become one of my favorite things to do! He moves you just have to walk with Him) we went back to the church where we were staying for the next 5 days. This family who we met about an hour before came into the church, we thought we were just going to be praying over them and didn’t really know what was going to happen, which is a pretty common thing around here.
Pastor William asked us to share our testimonies a little and then to speak what the Spirit is leading us to share with this family. This was his way of testing us to see if we really had the Holy Spirit in us, he knew this family well and didn’t tell us anything about us on purpose, I’m very glad he didn’t. As we begin to speak words over them we could tell from their reaction the Spirit was accurate in all that He was speaking through us.
Pastor then directs us to have the family set their chairs in a circle and we would be on the outside of them. We thought we were just closing them out in prayer that they would be good to go, the Spirit had a different idea.
As pastor starts to pray we are hand in hand around them, this guy starts to experience a ton of pain in his chest, like a burning sensation. I went over to touch him but pastor told us to stay where we were surrounding them with the Holy Spirit with unity. Then as he continued to pray this other girl starts throwing up, others are sobbing, and some are twitching pretty heavily. Pastor directs us to go to who we feel led to go to, I went to this girl, about my age, in front of me. As I was praying I felt led to cover her ears, as soon as I cover them and pray over them this girl across from us starts screaming bloody murder, like something I had never heard before. I continue to pray even though my legs were shaking like no other. The woman that was screaming was being hugged by my teammate, she was pouring God’s love on her and the demon inside couldn’t survive, so it was literally burning up inside of her and it is very painful.
The woman I worked with the most was the mom. Pastor called me over to started praying over her, it was very light in the beginning, not knowing what to say. But then Pastor motioned to me to speak with authority, from the gut. I started to let the Spirit speak through me and He had a lot to say! I looked into her eyes and I don’t see her but I see the demon inside of her. I cast out the fear that I felt for a second and then continued to pray in the Spirit. Her head snapped to the right and almost looked like she broke her neck. I raised her hands as an act of surrender because she just didn’t want to let go. She was free of some but I don’t believe she was free of all, she wouldn’t let go fully and I couldn’t make her.
I took it pretty hard that she wasn’t free and the enemy used that to attack me. I felt my chest tightening and felt something wrong. I had my team pray over me and I just wept. I was the most drained I have ever felt spiritually, physically, and emotionally. After a much needed hug from my teammate I felt a rest and peace that could only come from God.
It was a spiritual battle that I have never seen before. Each one of my teammates were used in a specific way. The family we were praying over was about 15 people and we had about 10 people praying over them. It went on for an hour or so, most of them set free!!
We had a session with Pastor later that night to answer questions and to give a biblical background to what was going on. I’m so thankful for the wisdom Pastor William has and his willingness to share it with us. He talked about what I was experiencing and he pointed us to Ephesians 6: 12-17. He talked about how the enemy cannot touch us because we have the Holy Spirit, but he can send ‘flaming arrows’ to try and distract us and to scary us away from what God is doing. That’s why it says ‘Above all, taking the shield of faith’ Eph 6:16, because the enemy will try and fight back with anything he can get a hold of.
Every day in San Pedro wasn’t as intense as this but we still experienced so much more, and I wish I could tell you all about them! We definitely experienced demonic presents, but above all we experienced miracles and the most loving people out there! We were there for 5 short days and they made it feel like home. When we prayed over peoples hurting bodies we literally felt God reposition their bones and realign their backs! In about 3 days we saw God heal about 10 people from their pain!! How cool is that!? As my Pastor back home would say, ‘come on somebody!’
I’ve always read stories of the authority God gives us and thought it would be nice if one day I would have that. I just never knew it was possible to have that authority right now and to be able to use it without fully understanding what all is going on. It’s put a whole new meaning to trusting in God because we just show up and let God do the rest, then later try to comprehend what the heck just happened. Each time we step out in faith we see God show up in different ways and learn more for the next time so we are more prepared.
GOD IS SOO GOOD!!! I can’t get over it and I pray you can’t either!
Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on this. Please keep us in your prayers as we get ready to leave this wonderful place, pray that we can grieve well and transition well to our next ministry. We will be having debrief with the whole squad starting Saturday! Excited to see everyone and process through this month! Thank you everyone that read this and that is praying. Let me know if you need any prayer request!!
