Warfare

Our time here continues to be amazing, daily people are coming to the Lord or moving closer. They have such an understanding of the spritual realms and power it is totally a shift from trying to get people to even look to GOd!!! 

I love proclaiming who Jesus is and speaking truth and life to people, then power of simply loving them sees things change. This is all because of Jesus in us, and not by our own power.  We pray for people in the streets and in their homes. One lady even came up to us in the street because she had heard about us wanted to be free from additction, thats Gospel, people always came to Jesus or the disciples as they heard of great signs and wonders and them seeking truth and freedom!

However the warfare is intense and satan has attacked our teams, many have had sickness and diarrhea two of the guys who had drug addictions seemed to have succombed again to it which is sad. One is on my team and he has been on fire evangilising and making friends in the township he is transforming lives with the power of the Gospel and being the kingdom of God: Satan is bothered for sure. He is so integral to our team dynamic. I know God will use this for his glory!! When we call on the name of jesus the enemy has to flee, but we need to know where we are being attacked. It can be subtle ...... with food, sleep or the more obvious. 

I am having an amazing time in my walk with the Lord and everyday seeking intimacy with him, we so need to know his love.  No wonder I used to feel frazzled. The intimacy with God is key, seek him with all u have. As we see more of him we want to understand him and know him more. We will never have enough of God or understand him fully but discovering and dwelling in his love is an ever increasing circle. 

I just need more of JEsus. God has really been speaking through scriptures which is just so exciting to me as this is the way I will really cement my knowledge and understanding of the word when he speaks  into my everyday with it holds meaning and value. He brings revelation upon revelation.  Its really wonderful. 

I leave for Maputo tomorrow and as we travel I felt the GOd give me a picture of the land, that he has prepared the soil for us and we are to sow seeds as we go. That he will honor what we sow and spring up shoots that will become Oaks of Righteousness for a display his splendor. Isaiah 61..... he will give the people a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. So I am excited about this journey. It will be tough on a bus for 5 days and we have not been able to book anything ahead of time so please pray that we have favor. I also felt the Lord say that praise must be in our souls as well as our mouths as we travel as the people hear us they will also rejoice, its not enough just to say words but be complaining in our hearts. Psalm  34 v1-2.

Bless you all. 

Cape town - Masiphumalele S

The lord has really blessed our time here in Masi. We live just outside the township in a huge house with 25 adults and 4 children, its crazy, loud and alot of fun. 


Everyday we head into the township. The population  is about 40,000 which is considered a small one. Poverty is evident here, most houses are made of wood frame, corrugated iron roof. There are also some government built flats and some brick houses. There is an  area called the wetlands which has a river that sewage runs into and this area is packed tight with many houses. We have seen how the fire devastated a large proportion of this area and there has been some from our team helping to rebuild the shacks. It is really tough this reality that your house can burn down at any moment. There seems to be acceptance about this situation amongst the people, they loose everything they own and have to start again. I cannot comprehend how this must feel.


The community here have welcomed us in such a way that humbles me. They really live out true community looking out for one another and stopping to say hi and ask how u are even us who clearly stick out as visitors there are no white people in Masi. We have to be with a local when we walk too. Generally we are accepted but they have known muggings so they make this a rule.


There are a team that lead the children's ministry, they do education as well as sports, games, acting out bible stories etc. Also some guys have assisted local services with adult education. Also we have teams helping in the creches and at the clinic then other teams doing street ministry which is what I have been doing. We move around at a slow pace with intention of stopping to talk to people which takes a bit of adjustment from me as we are so used to walking   at a pace that says I have to be  somewhere! Spirituality is very much a part of life here, they all profess to know Jesus but there is a conflict as many also are serving other Gods/idols by being involved in witchcraft and ancestral worship.  People are really open to prayer and discussion about who Jesus is which has been blessed. After only two weeks we have people to call in on to visit, pray for and friends to greet as we walk around. Poor Health is a real issue here as a high number have HIV and AIDS, TB is secondary to this so we often meet people in this desperate situation and are able to love them and express that they are not to walk in shame. 


Family is also an area under attack in Masi with few marriages existing, so many children have absent fathers and many half siblings.  I have learned that there is a complicated near on impossible dowry system so many men cannot marry because of this which is so sad. 




So much has happened since we arrived, everyday there are people coming to know the lord, being set free from things that have bound them and healing taking place. I will share this one particular story with you... It is the most profound ministry experience I have ever witnessed. God totally brought it about naturally out of this lady's raw desire for Jesus. We were just instruments of truth and for the holy spirit and it has built my faith and showed me the power of God over evil.

We were walking the streets we bumped into three sisters, Irene, Sylvia, and Veronica. We walked into their home and Irene began preaching to us about God! it turns out that she is a passionate lover of Jesus but as we got into deeper conversations about God, Veronica stood up said, "I am a Sangoma and I believe in Jesus," and left the house. I had no idea what a Sangoma was, but found out after that a Sangoma was a witch doctor. 


The next day we went back to their house to find just Veronica sitting on the couch as Irene was cooking lunch. for a while we were just hanging out, the children did an African dance for us which was so fun. We began talking about God and this time Veronica didn't leave, but began to passionately ask questions. She asked questions that would never be asked in the western world, questions that took me off guard. She wanted to know if all creatures under the ocean were evil because sharks attacked people and the sea was dark and mysterious. We responded by saying only God can create things and so all water creatures were good. Then she said that a strange man said that he was Jesus and would prove it by calling all the whales out to a certain area of the ocean the next day. She said that what he said would happen came true. She was very confused because she didn't know what to believe in anymore. She claimed that she believed in Jesus, but obeyed her ancestors and believed they had power, she said she thought she had two souls one good and one evil. She said that she knew a man who had died after being hit by a car, but saw him walking into a store a couple days later. she asked us, "did the man really die?" she said that babies would die, but their moms would be haunted by their cries at night. She wanted to know if the babies hadn't really died, but were being kept by the devil, only taken out to haunt their mothers. Now pretty worked up, she told us about how her ancestors came to her in her dreams and told her she had to do certain things if she didn't want to die. She said that they sometimes also gave her answers and directions, ones that turned out to be true. She said that sometimes they would haunt her in her dreams telling her they were going to kill her that night. At those moments she would cry out to Jesus and wake up to find herself alive. She was so confused because deep down she knew that Jesus was the one who saved her, but she believed her ancestors had power and was afraid to anger them. She burst out crying in frustration and confusion. We ran to her side to comfort her and immediately asked her if we could pray for her. She said that she was done with being confused and wanted to choose Jesus. She accepted Jesus into her heart. We then asked Jesus to break off all the witch craft off of her that it would no longer hold her. It was really emotional as she renounced witchcraft and now knowing the true source of power is Jesus.


We then said could we pray for her baby as we did we felt that he had been handed over to witchcraft. He had anklets and bracelets on that she believed protected him and they could not just be pulled off as we continued to pray we knew they had to come off to break the tie with witchcraft. It was a defining moment as she allowed us to cut them off him. She said that if he didn't wear the sangoma bracelets he cried when they went to sangoma ceremonies because their ancestors would haunt him but she believed us when we told her that only Jesus could protect her baby and protect her in her dreams. We were all in tears as he was set free. She was literally different after.


We returned on Monday to find that she and her baby had slept soundly Friday night and all weekend! Her face was full of peace and joy. She lit up when we handed her a bible dedicated just to her and told us that she saw the words genesis 27 in a dream months ago when she was pregnant. God had been preparing her for us even before we had ever met her. This passage about Esau's blessing given to Jacob was connected to the blessings God meant for veronica and how it would not be stolen from her. She understood what we were saying and what the bible was saying on such a deep level that I was surprised she had never owned a bible before. We prayed for her and the blessings that were meant for her, including being a healer. That as a Songoma she liked to do things to make sick people well although she now realised that she had been using the powers of darkness but she could now use this gift of healing, her original design from God for his glory. We have visited a few times since then and done bible discovery with her and we all have had revelation!


SOOOOO GOOOOD to have been part of this. There were 5 of us there that day and God used each of us to play a part in Veronica's transformation. This past 2 weeks has been incredible we have met, prayed, ministered to so many people. God has been so gracious to use us here.  The people do not have much materially but they understand the spiritual warfare that goes on around us all so well,the also appreciate the simplicity of love and community. They are so open to love that I have been undone. My walk with God sometimes is me still trying to grasp how much he loves me when all he says is receive my love. They know it!


So excited for the next weeks ahead..off to Mozambique in 4 days....