I never thought my life could change so drastically in 2 months. I never knew how hard it would be to abandon things I held onto so tightly to before. I never knew how much of a relationship I could have with Jesus. I never knew what I really signed up for.
I only knew one thing for sure before I left the United States.
I knew it was going to be hard. I just didn’t know the depth of how hard.
I want to let you in on some hard parts of the World Race. I want to let you in on some hard parts of what I faced in September. I want to let you in on the spiritual warfare I suffered through this month.
From the second I entered Ghana, the battle started. I didn’t recognize it at the time, but I was in a battle of light and darkness. The enemy saw me and said, “I want that one.” Oh how fast and how sneaky the bad thoughts came in.
Now let me tell you, in the Ivory Coast I felt happy. I felt loved, light, and full of joy. We crossed the Ivory Coast/Ghana border and BOOM, there was a complete and utter difference.
I thought I was going crazy. I thought I had lost my mind.
How can I do a complete 180 in the matter of seconds? How did this happen?
The town in Ghana where we were located for the month of September has a big prevalence of idol worship and witchcraft. We passed by idols and shrines every single day and dealt with darkness every single day. We saw children enslaved to shrines. We saw darkness engraved into the elders. We saw evil pouring it’s clever disguise on to people. Every. Single. Day.
The enemy chose Keta, Ghana as his playground. The evil chose Keta, Ghana as a place to do his evil works. The enemy chose Keta, Ghana as his.
We weren’t going to have that. Not at all.
We declared freedom over the town. We declared light to pull back the darkness that covers the beautiful beaches. We claimed Jesus to take back HIS territory.
Then it started happening.
When I went to sleep at night, words filled my head. Awful words. Terrible words. Words that should never be said to anyone.
I started to believe them. I believed I was unworthy. I believed I was depressed. I believed I was full of anger. I believed I would never amount to anything. I believed that I was not useful on my team. I believed that I would never be a good enough Christian. I believed that I had made a huge mistake leaving the US. I believed that my sins would never be forgiven.
I had entered a state of darkness. I entered into lies that I started to believe.
Some of my team members could feel evil spirits around them. That evil wanted each and every one of us. They wanted me to believe the lies filling my head. They wanted to claim me as theirs. They wanted me to feel disconnected from my team.
The evil almost won multiple times. Almost. But I serve a God that is bigger than darkness. I serve a God who is faithful to His servant. I serve a God that shines His light in the darkness. I serve a God that called me worthy to fight for. The enemy wanted me as his.
But Jesus wanted me more.
I wept. Long and hard. I hadn’t cried since I left the United States, but this cry definitely made up for lost time. I had snot running out of my nose. Yeah, it was that kind of cry.
I prayed to the Lord asking Him to help me. Asking Him to take away the darkness. Asking Him to free me of every bad thought running through my head.
Well, He showed up. Big.
As I was weeping I had a vision of Jesus nailed to the cross. He looked me right in the eyes and said, “Kelli, I died for you. I died for only you.”
I wept. Even harder this time.
For ME He went through all that pain. For ME He was tortured and killed. For ME He rose from the dead. Only for ME. Wow.
I wiped my eyes and fell asleep. I fell into a deep and peaceful sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I felt the Lord tell me to pray out loud for myself with my team. I am not used to praying out loud for myself, so I accepted the challenge.
We have team time every single day and that day just happened to be my day. On our day, we can do anything with the team that we choose. So I decided to listen to the Lord, and that day I chose to have everyone pray out loud. We went around the circle praying out loud. Only for ourselves, not for anyone else.
I started it off and prayed for myself. I prayed out loud and with conviction. I may have shed a couple more tears, but they weren’t sad tears. With every prayer I said, I felt the depression leave me. With every prayer, I felt my joy return.
Every time my soul asked Him for something, I felt His light come back to me. With every prayer my team members asked for, I felt our unity even more. We sat and prayed for ourselves for a long time, and every second that passed it was like my soul was lighting even more on fire.
It was in that moment that I felt I was on a path to victory on this battlefield. I listened to the Lord and He made sure the enemy started waving his white flag. That was when I realized something very powerful. I realized that every day we have a choice. We can choose to fight the good fight or we can choose to let the enemy rule.
Every single day I was front line on the battlefield. Every day I chose to fight the good fight. Saying that it was a hard month is a complete understatement. I fought long and hard to reclaim Keta, Ghana as the Lord’s. I made sure the enemy would not sneak his way back into my life.
I came on the World Race for month’s such as this past month. I didn’t know it when I signed up, but I came on this mission to jump kick Satan in the face. Each day that passes my jump kick becomes more like a ninja’s instead of a weak little girl. Every day I choose to walk in freedom, I am that much closer to taking him out for good.
I came on the World Race to bring more members into our family. I came on the World Race to eternally save people from death. I came on the World Race because the Lord knew I needed freedom in my life. I came on the World Race because the Lord had this planned out long before I was even born. I came on the World Race to fight every single day for freedom.
I have asked myself multiple times why this all happened. How did the enemy sneak so easily into my life? Why did God allow all of this to happen? Why have I, a complete sinner, get chosen to fight for His children?
Maybe the Lord was trying to humble me. Maybe He was trying to show me that He is good, all the time. Maybe He was trying to show me that prayer works. Maybe He was letting me in on the supernatural. Maybe He was showing me that my team is unified. Maybe He was trying to create freedom in places I have never felt freedom.
I am done giving credit to the enemy. I am giving the credit to the one who deserves it.
The Lord.
He claimed Kelli Lynn Reder as His Amazing Daughter and it is going to stay that way.
I think He wanted me to tell all of you this for a reason. The Lord wants you to know that He is fighting for you each and every day. He wants you to know that He will never ever ever give up on you. He wants you to know that only through Him can you experience the fullness of this life. He wants you to know that you are worth the good fight. He wants you to know that you are His child. He wants you to know that He will love you no matter what you have done. He wants you to know that He claims you as His. He wants you to know that you are loved beyond anything you can comprehend. He wants you to know that He is always there to shine His light.
On our last day in Keta, the Lord reminded me that He is always by my side. He reminded me of His promise. He reminded me that He is good. He reminded me that He is proud of me. He showed up in this rainbow.
I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Please join me in praying for this beautiful land on Ghana! Pray for the darkness to flee in Jesus’ name and for the light to take over the country! So much good is coming out of this region, but it our duty to pray for Jesus to reclaim this land!
P.S. I have arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal!! Woooooo Hooooooo!!
