"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it."
John 1:5
Tonight a bunch of people from my squad including myself had an amazing opportunity to go to the African Cup semi final match between Burkina Faso and Ghana. The Futbol match took place here in Nelspruit, South Africa and we purchased nose bleed tickets which were only $100 Rand(roughly $12 US dollars). Little did I know God had a few divine appointments planned including one that I'll never forget.
The scene was chaos. If you've ever been to a Futbol game you know exactly what I am talking about. The stadium is beautiful and it's brand new, it was built to hold the finals of the World Cup in 2010. Although the stadium wasn't as full as it was for the World Cup finals it was amazing just to have an opportunity to be there.
The first divine appointment that God set up happened before the game even started. I met a lady named Susanne who worked at one of the food vendors in the stadium. After talking with her briefly and telling her how much God loved her I asked if she had any pain in her body, she did. She had lower back pain and after asking her if it was alright if we prayed, a few squad mates and I found ourselves behind the vendor counter praying and commanding her back to be completely healed in the name of Jesus. It was completely restored, pain completely gone! God is good.
Throughout the next few hours I walked around loving on people and God began healing all sorts of people. He healed a few headaches and some backs, but one of the coolest healings of the night was another lady vendor had a lot of shoulder pain. She was working the counter with her twenty something year old daughter, and rather than going behind the counter and laying my hands on the woman, I just had her daughter do it. I prayed and her daughter repeated the words after me. After the first prayer there was significant change, after the second prayer her shoulders were completely restored! No more pain. God is good.
By this time the game was raging, the score was tied up at 1 to 1 and it was nearing the end of regular time. It was most likely going to go into overtime. Both teams has devoted fans, with large drums, these weird and loud plastic horns, and the are constantly shouting. Much like any competitive fan base, there is a fan section. As I looked down at the Burkina Faso fan section and listened to the drums I realized that I wanted to get closer. Little did I know God was setting up something huge.
The game went into overtime, and two other teammates and I worked our way down to the edge of the field to get a closer view. We were standing on the lowest set of steps before getting on the field. It was as close as we could get, but we kept getting yelled at for being on the steps, so miraculously there were 3 open seats right next to us on the second row. We squeezed into the Burkina Faso fan section and started watching the game. I glanced over and noticed a shirtless man who was pointing at me and trying to get my attention. He'd been dancing for hours and from how he was motioning to me I figured he wanted me to come to where he was and dance with him right next to the drums. The only problem is that I figured out a few things when we got into the fan section. The drums weren't just to make noise, there was a dark presence there and I realized there were two witch doctors there. The drums were beating in worship to the devil. Not wanting to dance and worship anything other than the One and only God Jesus, I looked away. The shirtless man wouldn't have it, he step on and over the seats and grabbed my arm and motioned me over to his spot next to the drums. God you have to have set this up, so I'm going.
As I went over and begin to move back and forth pretending to dance, I realized what God was doing. He had positioned me behind enemy lines, and I was there right in front of their faces set in a position to pray, and they had no clue who I was. We've been talking about spiritual warfare the last 2 days here at debrief due to last months constant battle with spiritual warfare in Mozambique. Todays topic was taking back land the enemy had stolen and what the speaker John Caa said is that God would strategically place us in an area to take back the land and fight off the demonic realm.
So there I was. In Nelspruit, South Africa at the African Cup semi final match surrounded by a few hundred screaming and chanting Burkina Faso fans and I was roughly 6 feet away from their famous witch doctor(INSERT LINK). I had been placed strategically by my Father to carry the light and duke it out with the darkness in the middle of a futbol game! So awesome!!
I've always been crazy, but recently I've crossed into a place where I tend to pray ridiculously crazy prayers and fully believe God will answer them. So I asked for what any son of God would ask for in a situation like this. I said, "Father, let me lay my hands on this witch doctor and pray for him. Just give me a chance Daddy." It didn't take long. In a stunning upset, Burkina Faso ended up winning the game in a shootout and the fans went crazy. We needed to leave and meet back up with our squad in the nosebleeds so my two squad mates and I decided to escape from the chaos. I had my chance. I decided to leave in the direction of the witch doctor and as I passed by behind Him God answered my prayer. As I laid my hand on the with doctor I don't remember exactly what I prayed, but it included the name of Jesus. I continued praying for him and the rest of the fans as we left the stadium. God is good.
(Myself with shirtless guy, Witch doctor behind me. I'll post more pictures when internet permits)
As I sit here at the hostel writing this blog I can't help but think how amazing God is and how willing He is to use normal people who are willing to position themselves in a place of humility where they can honor their Father in heaven. To top that off, I leave for a day long African Safari in about 3 hours. I'm hoping to so more seeds in the guides there. So, was the witch doctor completely transformed by the power of God after I touched him. Probably not yet, but He will be. Why? Because I sowed a seed, and my bible reminds me that I sow seeds and and it is God who produces the increase(1 Corinthians 3:6). I suspect one day in heaven this former witch doctor will approach me and thank me for daring to believe in a God who has the power to make anything happen and will give His children opportunities to bring glory to His Name. Jesus, You are amazing and I love you.
