As many of you may know, I travel all over the world as God tells me to. In this month of May, I travelled to Zambia and for the first time, I took people with me. Four gentlemen, one being my 40-year-old son, Leo. I love it when God sends me on these adventures. I never know what to expect. I always know that I will change the most and I never know who I will meet. I also always know that God is in control and He will direct my footsteps. So I am in safe hands and very expectant of where the Holy Spirit will lead and what the Father will be doing.
At the moment, Zambia has a terrible drought and there are a lot of people going hungry. And this is always very sad to see and always makes me feel like giving up because the need is so huge and you cannot help everyone. I always have to remind myself to do what my hand finds to do. Not worry about everybody, but attend to those God brings across my path. Help them. He will send others for the rest of the people. But I promise you, it is difficult to see real hunger.
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Often when I come back from such a trip, I need to watch myself so as not to judge people around me. And by that I mean, people who have an overflow. For instance, I stood next to a lady in one of our famous grocery stores and she was complaining that out of the five brands on display, her brand was not there. And I wanted to yell at her and tell her how lucky she is, but I knew that it would not help as she would not understand. How could she? She lives in a land of milk and honey. Does not know anything else. But when you visit a rural village anywhere in Africa where there is real hunger, everything changes for you. I have seen children and adults who have one meal a week and if they do have food, it is the same food day in and day out. Nsima (pap) with cassava leaves as relish. Do you know how bad this tastes? But to these people, they are soooo thankful for this meal and it fills their tummies.
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God was so good to the needy when He made maize and cassava. Casava grows anywhere and everywhere. In the mud, sand, clay, rocks — does not matter where you plant it, it grows. So they always have relish to go with the nsima. But imagine eating this meal day in and day out every single day of your life. And every now and again, you may add kapenta. Kapenta is a very small fish. Maybe 3-5cm long. It is dried out and you eat these little fish as is — eyes, tail, everything. Very salty because it is dehydrated. I do not like it at all. They are caught in mosquito nets because they are so small. But the day you have kapenta to add to your meal, is a good day.
So, when I come to a village where there is hunger and they feed me this same meal and I see that a cup of meat was cooked for the 10 pastors and myself, my heart wants to break. I know what it took to get this meat and to have it, but give it away to a Mzungu (white person), must be so hard to do. Yet, everywhere I go, I find this hospitality, giving me the best of the best. I always walk away, humbled by this experience. And so thankful for what I have back home.
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We did a lot of ministry and experienced God in so many ways. A lot of miracles took place. One was a boy who was carried on the hip by his grandmother. She has been doing this for eight years. He was unable to walk since the age of two and she has been carrying him around. When Jesus healed this boy and he started walking, the whole village was in awe of God. They know this boy. And here he was walking after a simple prayer in the name of Jesus. Everybody came for prayer after this.
Prayer challenge
I always experience certain God moments on these trips. There is such a lot happening and all are special, but then there are those moments with God. I had such a moment in the children’s ward at a hospital.
As we were going from bed to bed, each of us praying over different children with different illnesses, I came to a mother and daughter. After praying for them both, the mother asked if I would pray for her husband. I asked where he was and what to pray for. She said he was in jail, awaiting trial.
So, let me quickly explain about two of the men who accompanied me.They are both farmers from the south of Namibia. Sheep farmers. And they have lots and lots of challenges. Jackals, eagles, baboons all are tearing the sheep apart, but more than this, the biggest challenge, is the thieves who come to steal. They hate this. Absolutely hate it.
So this lady asks for prayer for her husband who is in jail awaiting trial.I asked what he is there for.She starts crying. He stole a goat because they had no food. I ask how long he will get if he is found guilty. Five years.
And immediately I know, I must ask Rian, one of these farmers from the south, to come and pray for this man. I call him over and share and all Rian get’s out is: “Eish!!” I see how his shoulders drop to the floor, how his stomach turns and in that moment I have an experience. I see how all of Heaven is waiting in anticipation on Rian’s reaction. Heaven is literally stopping everything for a moment in time to hear what Rian will decide. And I hold my breath too, as I realise how huge this is. Scripture says…pray for your enemies; bless your enemies. It is so easy to read, but when you have to do it, not so easy. And here was a man, serving God with all his heart, but he hates the wrong that is done to him. And here is a wife and a mother, asking God to help her husband who did exactly this because his family was hungry. And Rian sees the other side. And all he says is: “Five years?” And his head hangs. And Heaven waits. And then Rian prays from the depths of his soul for this man awaiting trial, and I listen to him and I listen to Heaven rejoicing at the same time and I cry and cry and cry. Because I saw a man change before my eyes and accept the love of God for his enemies. Right there in front of me!!! God’s love in action like you cannot imagine. And then the little girl reaches for Rian, and he is forever changed and so am I.
I have lots more to share, but I want to stop here. For God so loved the world that He gave His only son. What love is this? What love is this that can change your heart towards your enemies? What love is this?? Who can stand before this love??
I want to challenge you to ask God to show you this love. But be prepared to be broken down and humbled beyond anything, because this is what this love does. It humbles you. It brings gratitude. It brings about meekness. It is overwhelming.
May we all experience His love in ways we never thought possible. And Rian? He is asking God for ways to help the people in his area and to see how theft can be dealt with by ruling on his land and not hating. I know God will grant him wisdom. You cannot experience what he did and believe God is not part of the process.
My prayer for you is that each and every one will experience this love of God. A love which made Him turn away from His son, because He so loved us all. A love that has the ability to change humanity and save this world.
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