As I stepped off the bus in La Kennedy, I didn’t sense the darkness that awaited me.
Lilliana's house on the corner of La Kennedy
Lilliana, Carlos, Fernando, and Christopher
(Carlos & Fernando now live with Tony at Zion's Gate where we stayed all month)
Trash covered the ground, and the smell of paint thinner was giving me a headache.
All the men had these dirty rags in their hands to get high on paint thinner
We met a man named Ricardo. He is 25 but looks 35. He’s had a rough life
. His parents both died when he was in third grade so he dropped out of school. He has brothers and sisters but they want nothing to do with him. No job. No home. No family. No food. No hope. All day he gets high on paint thinner. He told us that he had gone to church for a 9-month period in the past but hasn’t gone in a while. We prayed for him and spoke truth into his life. It broke my heart to see him raise a dirty rag soaked in paint thinner to his nose as we walked away. The spirit of addiction overtook him.
Me and Ricardo
“Boy you better turn that cross upside down.” These are the words I heard coming out of Katie’s mouth as she told us that the boy was wearing a necklace with an upside down cross. Denise noticed he had the words “IN LEAGUE WITH SATAN” written on his bag along with an upside down star, which is a satanic symbol. Before I could comprehend what was going on, we turned around to walk towards him. Katie gave him a cookie, and that’s where the battle began.
His name is Arnie, and he is eighteen. Katie began sharing Jesus with him. His friend kept trying to get him to leave, but Arnie’s eyes remained fixed on Katie. Jesus had captured his attention.
Katie touched the upside down cross around his neck and asked, “Do you believe in God? Who is your God? Are you your own God? Do you worship Satan?” The boy just smirked as he looked down at his feet not willing to give a clear answer. Then she asked a bold question that the Lord had laid on her heart. “Do you have a brain? Are you really going to chose to do life alone?”
Arnie’s eyes remained locked on Katie’s as Denise and I interceded in prayer. Then we noticed his friend lurking around down the street, just waiting to crush what Jesus was doing. Just like the enemy. Denise said, “That’s how the enemy works.” Which led to a personal drama that God used to get his attention. Denise took one arm while Katie took the other. One spoke the lies of the enemy while the other spoke the truths of Jesus.
We had been talking to him for about 20 minutes, and then Katie said, “Today can be your day. Do you want today to be your day?” He took a few moments to ponder the question. “I cannot pray it for you. You have to do it yourself. But today can be your day.”
He nodded his head yes.
Katie led him in the salvation prayer in Spanish. My heart was exploding with joy. Inside I was dancing with the angels in Heaven.
Through those 30 minutes of conversation and prayer Arnie still had the cookie in his hand. So we did what anyone would do. After explaining the significance to Arnie, we took communion with the cookie and my red water bottle. It was a sweet moment.
Then Katie told him to turn his cross right side up to represent the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Arnie took off his necklace and put the cross in its rightful place. HALLELUJAH!
The Lord impressed on my heart to attempt again to find out if he was previously worshipping Satan. Agreements could have been made that needed to be broken.
Katie asked, “Did you make any agreements with Satan?” This time Arnie said yes. We assured him everything was ok. We shared Luke 10:18-19 with him and told him about the power and authority he now has because of Jesus. I wanted him to know that Satan no longer had power over him. We prayed to break any agreements with the enemy and spoke a lot of truths over him.
As we were hugging goodbye he had a huge smile on his face.
In 45 minutes Arnie went from death to life. The power of the enemy demolished with 45 minutes of the power of Jesus!
Please pray that God will place people in his life that love the Lord. Pray that he will get plugged into a church!
