Thank you so much for your prayers for Mama Janet and her family. The saga has continued and is nowhere near a final resolution. Let me fill you in.
First, the praise. Mama Janet has been lame from birth, but was quite sick when she first accepted Christ. She was immediately healed from that sickness, but still lame. One of my prayers, and what I asked our prayer warriors to pray, was that she would be completely healed to the glory of God. Her walking has improved and she is no longer using a stick. I think that there is still a long way to go, but pray that God will choose to heal her so that His glory will be proclaimed in that place.
Mama Janet has truly tried to embrace the faith, but she has suffered for it. Several times spirits came in the night and trashed her living room. Pictures were off the walls, decorations were thrown around. Basically, it was a mess. We prayed through her two rooms and things did improve. After that there was just mild mischief in the bedroom during the night with a few clothes scattered around.
The pastor believes that this is happening because Janet, one of her children whom we prayed to be freed from nightmares, still has a spirit. The spirit cannot hurt Mama Janet, but it is not happy with her faith and can try to bother her. There is reason to believe that this theory is true. Janet will not allow anyone to pray for her and at church time she runs away so as not to attend. There is at least one other child in the home.
Maginga has not done well. His conversion was obviously not heartfelt because he quickly returned to Islam and witchcraft. His legs, which were improving, have worsened again and he can barely walk. He lives in the same building as the pastor but does not want to talk to him and will not allow him to pray for him..
From what I have learned, this is probably a generational spirit. It is a spirit that is attached to a particular family. Though it may be expelled from one member, it will move to another who is not a Christian. It will also persecute any Christian in the family.
All this talk of spirits can scare people. It can also make them think we are kooks. We truly are not and have been convinced of this reality through experience. We are encouraged to not be afraid and to not give too much attention to Satan by the casual way that our pastors accept this reality. When I write to you I may seem to dwell on the spiritual, but this is the crisis point of prayer sometimes. When our pastors visit people like Mama Janet they might talk a little about evil spirits, but mostly they focus on Christ and the Word. They teach the Bible and then just deal with the spirits as needed.
Please continue to pray for Mama Janet, Maginga, and their family. Pray that the Light of Christ will break through the darkness in this area. Pray that our little church will be on fire for evangelism and that the whole town will know them for their love and righteousness.
And pray that we will see hearts and souls and not outside appearances. Pray that we will be worthy servants.
Pray this for us and for our brothers and sisters in Christ:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f]to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9:14
We pray, right now, thanking God for you.
Blessings.
