Crammed with Heaven is a monthly column in which Jenni Pretorius Hill shares stories of hope which bring Heaven’s perspective to Earth
We recently celebrated Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples after Jesus’ ascension. A friend of ours, Amanda, an American who has moved to South Africa to serve in ministry and social development, shared a remarkable story about what happened two days after our Pentecost service.
Amanda was invited to attend an outreach event in Duncan Village — a township just outside East London. About 10 minutes into the minister’s sermon, a friend from a local church offered to translate for her. Feeling awkward about imposing, she politely declined.
Forty minutes later, however, she regretted it. She desperately wanted to understand what the preacher was saying. So she prayed and asked God to translate for her.
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Immediately, she felt prompted to turn to the passage about Moses in the wilderness and the bronze serpent lifted on a pole. While the preacher continued speaking in a language she could not understand, the Lord began unpacking the story for her. As the sermon drew to a close, the preacher became especially animated. She sensed he was speaking about Christ’s crucifixion and, in particular, how He had snatched back the keys of death.
After the meeting, she caught up with some friends at their car and told them what she believed she had understood from the sermon. They stared at her in stunned silence. What she had “heard” was exactly what the minister had been preaching about, right down to the very word he had used: snatched.
The following day, she shared the story with the friend who had originally offered to translate. He told her that when she declined his help, he had considered insisting. Instead, he prayed and asked the Holy Spirit what to do, and felt a clear instruction not to.
Amanda also shared her experience with the preacher. It was then she learned that he had been speaking Zulu, not isiXhosa as she had assumed. The preacher had a similar story. When he noticed her in the crowd, he considered including a few comments in English, but he too felt the Lord clearly tell him not to.
When Amanda told me this story, I immediately thought of the original Pentecost account, where people from many nations heard Peter preaching in their own languages. God had done it again, and for a reason that extended beyond simply blessing her.
A week later, Amanda flew to Puerto Rico to join a youth group, she had previously led in the United States, on an outreach trip. Before she left, she learned that their greatest anxiety was the language barrier. None of them felt capable of sharing the Gospel in Spanish. How, then, would they be effective in ministry?
Amanda suddenly understood why God had done what He did in Duncan Village. He had shut down every opportunity for natural translation so that she could experience His supernatural intervention, and then carry that testimony to the other side of the world to encourage a group of nervous teenagers.
Recently returned to South Africa, she told us how she felt the weighty presence of God on the morning she was due to minister to the teens and share her story. During worship, she became aware of a tangible angelic presence and felt led to ask the Lord to dispatch angels to encourage and strengthen the group. When she did so, she saw one of the leaders, Connor, drop to his knees. He told her afterwards he knelt because he felt he was in the throne room of Heaven, and he sensed a crowd of “people” pressing in around him. Usually very anxious in crowds, he looked to see what was happening; his spiritual eyes opened too, and he saw rank upon rank of angels. He felt absolute peace and heard the Lord tell him — this is what it feels like in heaven!
Connor was not the only one to feel Heaven so tangibly that morning; apparently everyone experienced God in a deeply personal way — and for most of them it was the first time they heard Him speak personally to them. Amanda said there was much weeping, shaking, and power encounters with the Holy Spirit.
I was deeply encouraged by this story, and I have yet to hear the full report from her trip. But let me encourage you too: God prepares and enables us for the assignments He gives us.
For too long, too many of us have relied on our natural gifts. We can become so confident in what we know about God — or in our history with Him — that we drift into a kind of ministry devoid of present power. Others are crippled by an awareness of what they lack, focusing on what they cannot do, and so they hold back. But God wants to add His “super” to our “natural”. He’s wanting to empower you and work wonders on your behalf; all He needs is your YES!
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