“For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) — Before this trip, that verse had always
been one that I had read and then kind of skimmed over. I had never fully
grasped its meaning. However, in the past months, I have learned what exactly
“the powers of this dark world,” and the “spiritual forces of evil” really
mean. When we moved onto our homestead, there was a girl around 20 who was
always sitting around. She had this blank stare in her eyes whenever you saw
her and she would rarely return a smile. The second night that we were here, we
were called into her house to pray for her. She was staring blankly and would
not respond to anything. Our entire team prayed over her for over 2 hours. We
worshiped God and cried out to him that he would cast out the demon that was
inside her. I was a scared because it was something that I had never seen or
experienced, but it was also a time where I vocally cried out to God more
passionately than I ever had before. After about 2 hours of praising God and
praying over the girl, she started to vomit and slowly started to interact with
us. We moved her to bed and prayed over her sleep. That night we found out that
her name was Colele, and her parents had been murdered in October by her
younger brother and that she had been the one to find them. From that moment,
she kept having these “spells.” For the next couple of weeks, she really
started to do more work around the homestead and would actually return both eye
contact and smiles.
One day,
after living here a few weeks, I offered her some of my pop. She kept chugging
cup after cup so that she could get it refilled. I began to see that she really
wanted to interact with us and decided to ask her if I could paint her nails,
to which she responded with a lit up face, “yes.” From that moment on, she was
addicted. If there was a tiny crack or chip, she would come running, “Cutex,
Cutex” (which is what Swazi’s call nail polish). We began to establish an
awesome relationship, which may actually revolve around her getting “sweeties”
(suckers) and “cutex” but it works for me. I have had some of the most
incredible moments with her. Last week, we decided to roast some marshmallows
over the fire. She immediate asked for “sweeties” and so we offered her a
marshmallow. She started to laugh when she saw us “roasting” it and laughed
even harder trying to eat it off of the stick.
It was so awesome to see the transformation that God has done in her. At
the beginning she glared at me, never returning my smile, and now she was laughing
and spending time with me.
Up until
last Friday, everything was going great! I asked her to come to a church
service on Friday night and she happily agreed. During the service, the guy
speaking asked if anyone needed prayer. Colele walked up there and I started to
feel really excited until she told the guy she just needed prayer for her “flu.”
When she sat back down though, I began to pray intensely for her. I prayed that
God would cast any demon that tried to enter her body away. I prayed that Satan
would not reign at all in the memories of the tragedy that happened with her
parents. I prayed that she would seek and find God. We walked home that night
and everything was great. A couple of hours later though, we heard screams
coming from GoGo’s house and went out to find Colele laying on the ground. For
the most part, the attack was over. A few girls from our team, as well as two
godly guys from church, and our leaders began to pray over Colele. One of the
guys from church, Musa, explained that the demonic attacks had been going on
since the deaths. We prayed over Colele, that God would break the spells, and
free Colele from Satan’s attacks.
Things were
back to normal the next day. On Wednesday, she went to a doctor for her mental
condition. When she got back, she would barely look at me. She would not laugh
with me and even smacked my hand when I tried to touch her. I fear that the
doctor she went to could have been a witchdoctor but I am not sure. I do know
that Satan was working in the situation to prevent her from allowing me to love
her. Allie and I prayed for the situation for about an hour, that God would
break whatever was happening. For the past few days, I have been trying to keep
on loving her and things have gotten better. Today we shared my iPod together
and she even smiled at me.
I have
learned so much about how “real” Satan is. He’s not just a character in the Bible.
He is out there, “prowling around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is
trying to do whatever he can to prevent Colele from receiving the love of
Christ through me. At times, I begin to feel scared thinking about the attacks
that have taken place and that might take place in the future. I start to worry
about how he is going to attack me to discourage me. But I have to remember to
“be strong in the Lord and in his mighty
power” (Eph 6:10-20). I know that God is just as powerful now as he was
when he used Paul to cast the demon out of the slave girl (Acts 16). I also
know that if I truly learn to “put on the full armor of God,” I can stand
against the devil’s schemes.
Even though it is less common to
see demonic attacks as frequently in America, Satan is still just as
real. Whether he is placing lies in your head, creating dissention in your
life, or discouraging you, he is prowling around, ready to devour. I am not
telling you this to create fear within you. I am telling you this so that you
can take advantage of all God has provided for us. God will empower us to fight
off anything that Satan will throw at us. Remember daily to dress yourself with
God’s armor.”Be alert and always keep on
praying” (Eph 6:18). Please continue to pray for the situation with
Colele. Pray that I too will remember to dress myself daily in the “armor of
God” and that Satan will have no power at all in Colele’s life. Pray that
Colele will “submit to God” and “resist the devil” so that “he will flee from
her” (James 4:7).
