Mary Magdalene. She was a woman from Magdala. We remember her as the woman that first preached Jesus risen from the dead but before that she was the woman who had seven devils…demons. All my life, I have only known seven devils associated with Mary yet…Sunday changed all that.
We were in Mngwangwa for church service with a team from Canada. On our way there we met a group of people whose van had broken down. They had an accordion (which I am still trying to get for Mr Nkhoma), a guitar, tambourines and drums. They were believers on their way to a church service in Kalimbira. We took our group to the service in Mngwangwa (under a tree) and James and I went back for the stranded group. When I returned, the service was in full swing with praises going up.
But, back to the seven devils; mid through worship I heard a sound that was a groan but eerie and demonic. I looked around and saw a lady that was on the ground with another lady laying hands on her. I walked over and was about to pray for her when I realized that the groans were coming from a woman standing. I took her by the hand and drew her away from the meeting, behind some hedges. I began to pray for it was demonic. Her eyes were dark and I felt like I was looking into the eyes of a demon for I could see evil in them. As I prayed, Sidwell Mwale and Mark Funsani came to join me and then after some time Gary (my American brother). Milanzi’s wife also joined us. Together as a team we prayed. I had no sense of time as we prayed and rebuked the demon. It spoke and named itself and we rebuked it and prayed all the more. As we prayed we discovered that as one left, we would begin to contend with another. In all, there were seven demons that left her. At one point she said they were all gone and so we asked her to declare that Jesus was Lord. The deep screeching would return and we would continue to pray. At some point I realized that the service was over because more and more people were passing by (we were on a path).
Eventually, her eyes changed and so did the groan. From the naked ear you would think she was still possessed but God told us that her groan was now of the pain in her heart. She revealed that her husband had found another woman and had a child with her and she was bitter because of it. We led her to Christ and into repentance over harbouring unforgiveness in her heart. As I walked away in the end the sheer exhaustion hit me. I could not even move my hands. We had a meeting that afternoon that I had to teach at but I knew that I would not be able to make it and so the guys agreed to cancel it. I could not believe what had just happened. Yes, I had prayed for the manifestation of the power of God to be seen but when it happens, it always overwhelms you. We had faced seven devils. I had stared into the depths of the dark world and seen evil residing in a person. It was surreal. I felt and still feel like the Holy Spirit had incubated me. How amazing that we can be a part of such incredible things! We can wrestle against principalities and powers, things unseen and in His Name, Jesus, exact the victory that He accomplished on Calvary. What a wonder He is and what a privilege that we can be cut from such an awesome Rock!
What has this left me with? It leaves me with an awe that is like this Presence that will not leave me. It leaves me with a fear that is good, a fear of God, that I ought to be aware of Who He is and the power He wields, that I ought not to get farmiliar with Him and always remember that He commands the oceans, the demons, the trees and man. What I am left with is extended pegs (expectation) and strengthened stakes (faith) to accommodate the infinite possibilities that God has.
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