To sum up our time in Swaziland, I thought I’d share some of the last moments spent in rural Nsoko, Swaziland. There were good days, bad days, and slow days. But the last few were eventful and powerful so I’m going to share some stories. This will be a timeline of about a 30 hour span.
After a meeting, we walked from a building to our living space. Some people were outside praying healing over someone else’s legs. Over time peoples legs get a little uneven so we’d check to see if one leg was shorter than the other. Peoples legs would actually be anywhere from 1/4 of an inch to a whole inch shorter than the other. We would lay hands on people’s feet and pray something along the lines of “In Jesus’s name, right leg come out!” and we would literally watch the legs even out. Around 10 people were aligned. This sounds like a strange way for God to heal. I know there are skeptics that will read this. People who think this isn’t real, that there’s no way God would/could do that. But let this be a testimony to how powerful our God is. He didn’t stop at evening out a few legs.
A crowd was growing as people were getting healed. Pretty soon about 20 of us were outside praying over each other. We started praying over more than just uneven legs. I watched ankles that were pointed inward from alignment issues literally align back to normal. Josh had broken his pinkies so many times in football growing up that the joints literally couldn’t bend. People prayed over them and now he has full mobility in both of his pinkies. Josh broke his back a few years back and was about 12 inches away from being able to touch his toes. Girls literally pushed on his back and he couldn’t get his hands past mid calf. The same group prayed over his back and now he can put his palms on the ground. The Lord healed him. Sam had also broken his back a few years ago, and our ministry was doing landscape on a jungle gym, so we basically would swing a pick axe for 5 hours a day, 4 days a week. Sam’s back had gotten so stiff and tight he had to stay back and rest because the pain was too much. We had been praying throughout the week for his back, but this night we prayed for over an hour. Praying for everything in his body, we had him lay down, stand up, and lay hands on every part of his back. Over time, he felt his back get warm and tingly, and at the end the pain was completely gone. I’m a witness to all of this. Our father is so good that we got to witness Him literally heal people in front of us. He reminds us that He protects us. Our God reminded us so much of what is true about Him. I want these testimonies to be a way to encourage everyone, not to put myself above anyone.
The next day we took a trip to the Manzini market, where we ran into a group of World Racers from another 11n11 squad. There were 4 of them and 4 of us. Brandon from S squad called this small-world-coincidence as a divine appointment. There’s no way that there’s a coincidence we were led to that time spent together. I knew this to be true as we sat down and had coffee for a few hours; sharing stories, encouraging each other, and hearing about our lives.
When we got back to the compound, several people had a weird feeling. Nothing specific but at the same time nothing that didn’t get brought to light by the end of the night. Nonetheless, the night went on. We had no leaders this night, so it was 48 18-21 year olds living together with no one in charge. The 10 guys randomly decided to call a guys meeting. We just talked about our lives and how we’re all doing as men. We talked about accountability and what it means to be a man of God. We prayed together and shared about our lives. As one of us was sharing struggles about their home life, 2 of the guys noticed an evil presence in the room. 2 guys saw evil figures/shadows by our tents. Usually when something like this happens it’s easy to kind of curl up in fear and be quite. It’s easy to be timid. But the men of this group jumped into action, I have never been more proud to call this group of men my brothers. We circled up and prayed together. We prayed over the entire room, but we weren’t satisfied. We walked hand in hand around the perimeter of the compound, yelling at the devil, demanding that he leave in Jesus’s name. I watched in admiration as my brothers prayed at the top of their lungs not caring who heard. For some reason a group of 10 young men holding hands and praying attracted several others, and they joined in. As we walked and prayed, the atmosphere of the entire compound changed. I remember telling God: “Lord 5 minutes ago this place was filled with evil spirits but in 5 minutes it’s going to be overflowing with your perfect love”. And sometime within that 5 minutes, God answered. People started seeing white shadows, demons were cast out, and God’s loved poured over the compound. So we responded the only way we knew how to: with worship and praise. God was so good go rescue us from this, every promise He makes to us He keeps and it honestly blows my mind.
After worship I was walking and praying and talking with my close friend Will Davidson, and we heard the Swazi people worshipping down the road. We were so attracted to their sweet voices and as we drew near, I realized that God’s perfect love overflowed the compound, His love poured over to the neighboring houses. They must have heard us worshipping because they too were now worshipping in English. It was the sweetest sound knowing that that came from the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end a more crazy night. This sounds strange but i’m actually encouraged by the spiritual warfare because I know it drives the devil crazy that we’re doing God’s work. I know that he shutters in fear. And most importantly I know that God has protected us from evil every single time. I now walk in more confidence than ever.
