Things I’ve done in my first week in Africa:
- Tried a local dish called “fufu” (not as bad as
it sounds) - Eaten with my hands (customary local tradition)
- Attended a 6 hour worship service (fell asleep
at one point) - Ran 3 miles (fufu made me feel fat)
- Prayed for and witnessed to a drunk man (will be
in a different blog) - Held hands with African men while walking down
the street (sign of friendship here…) - Went to my first Evangelism Crusade
I want to tell you more about the crusade than anything. It
was an amazing experience that I won’t soon forget and I thank God for allowing
us to be a part of it. On the UCC (University of Cape Coast) campus they had a
decent sized crusade in the middle of a field close to the dorm rooms. Since we
are working with Campus Crusade we were obligated to attend and make our
presence known at this venue. When we were walking up we noticed that there
were no lights on and a large group of people were in the center of the field
praying. As we got closer we could hear the intensity of their prayers and that
they weren’t praying in English or the local language, they were praying in
tongues! We all got instantly excited and curious as to what they were praying
about. A large man emerged from the center of the crowd and invited all believers
to join the crowd in prayer for the lights to function so the event can go on
without any more hindrances. So a few of us went up and began praying with them
and it was sooo awesome!! I’ve never heard such intense prayer before, some
people were yelling at the top of their lungs fervently asking the Lord for
favor in this area. The same man emerged again and asked everyone to pray for a
variety of things like: the lights to come on, non-believers to show up,
believers to show up and be encouraged, God to show up, God to begin to change
their country for Him, God to change Africa for Him, etc.
I don’t know if all of my readers have ever heard someone
pray in tongues before, if you haven’t it will probably freak you out a bit.
Before the race I never believed in it, I always thought people did stuff like
that to show off in front of their peers. But since being on the race and
seeing people I respect and honor pray in tongues I began to re-examine its
validity. I read 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 which Paul informs the
church in Corinth about the Spiritual Gifts. These two chapters completely
changed my view on Tongues and Prophesy, and ever since Guatemala I have
earnestly desired the Gifts especially Tongues. I’ve travelled all around the world
and heard people in every country I’ve been to speak in tongues and prophesy.
It is really encouraging that Africa is all about the Spiritual side of
Christianity; so many people are actively desiring and using the Spiritual
Gifts. It says in 1 Corinthians 14:1-2 “Pursue Love, earnestly desire the
spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a
tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters
mysteries in the Spirit.” I don’t know about you but I desire to speak to God!
I want to utter mysteries in the Spirit. I know it sounds weird but according
to scripture it’s weird if a Christian doesn’t want anything to do with this
stuff. So my challenge to my readers is to read the chapter I listed and earnestly
ask God to reveal truth to you through His Word. If you find this to be true
then ask God for the Gifts, ask the Spirit to manifest in that way. I’ve been
asking for 7 months now and still have not YET received Tongues, but I have
prophesied to people on our team before so I thank the Holy Spirit for using me
in that way.
I made a video to show you how Ghana prays and worships the
Lord at crusades! I will post it tomorrow, it is a little late right now. Please leave a comment about this blog even if it’s just to
say Hi J
