Alpha or Omega ?

I know Sunday is supposed to be the beginning of a new week, but in many ways today seems like the culmination of of a lot of things.

Worship this morning was incredible!

Ricky gave a wonderful message complete with a powerful demonstration of the suffering Jesus endured on the cross as He paid the price for our salvation. We were blessed by his preaching all week, but even before that as Rusty introduced the team and shared a few words the Lord had put on his heart, things were jumping!

While Rusty was speaking a woman jumped up and ran around the side of the building. I heard loud, wretching sounds that sounded as if she had become sick at her stomach. A few of the church leaders ran to offer some help. I handed off the baby I was holding and peeked around the corner to see if I could offer any assistance.

Then I saw that she was not wretching as I thought, but convulsing & writhing. The men were holding her and trying to help her. I asked one of the women if she was having a seizure, but her answer was "Pray". I asked again, " I have medicine for seizures. Do you need it?" But then she told me it was not a seizure, but rather a fit caused by a Voudou spirit. She said this woman had been suffering from the spirits of voudou for many years. Her answer again,"Just pray". We did.

We prayed and she writhed. The men tried to carry her inside the building and out of the dirt and rocks, but she fought and kicked mightily. It took 6 very strong men to pick her up and move her. One minute she was stiff as a board, the next as twisted as a contortionist, all the time moaning. And still we prayed. We prayed for the power of Jesus to come down and take control, for a covering of the blood of Jesus to save, for the light of Jesus to overcome the darkness, for the prison chains of Satan and demons and voudou to be loosed and for the evil to depart.

As we prayed the convulsions lessened and she passed out. The men layed her down and we laid hands on her all around as we continued to pray. I saw sweat pouring off of Wilfrid's forehead as he was spent from struggling with this woman and the evil within her. The church began to sing hymns. They sang hymns of victory, hymns of thankfulness, and hymns proclaiming the power of God. We were able to release the lady and help her sit on a bench as the church sang "How Great Thou Art." Her clothing was filthy and torn from her ordeal. I sat with her and continued to pray over her as Pastor Nathan and Pastor Ricky led the congregation in Praise & Worship. Nick brought her one of his own clean shirts as the service continued.

I know today is the beginning of a new week, but this morning it seemed like the culmination of a week of toil and love and prayer. I'll write more later about all of the amazing things that were accomplished this week and how this wonderful team loved on us all week long, but I didn't want to wait to write this story down. I wanted it to come to you fresh from me, as God poured out freshly on me this morning. The lady with an evil spirit is named Blandia. Please keep her in your prayers.