Kickstarted into bold discipleship for Jesus

Although Dwayne Duvenhage had already been a Christian for 10 years, it was only when he attended “The Last Reformation” Kickstart seminar two weeks ago that he finally understood for how little of that time he had been a disciple of Christ or a Christian who actively carries out Jesus’ great commission and walks in His example.

“I used to go out partying, drinking and sleeping around, but still called myself a Christian and still prayed once-in-a-while.

“Only in the last year has God shaken me out of compromising with the world’s ways,” says Dwayne.

God’s hand at work
He believes his attendance at the Kickstart seminar was a result of God’s hand at work.

“A week prior to the Kickstart seminar I asked God, ‘Where do I go to from here?’ because I felt there is so much more to Christianity compared to what I had learned in Church,” says Dwayne.

“However, it was as if God said, ‘Relax, things will work out as they should’, and then I saw a video on You Tube, Rise on Fire, about keeping the commandments of God, the faith of Jesus and walking in His ways, which was posted by PD van der Westhuizen from Johannesburg.

“Watching Rise on Fire, I was excited, because PD was saying all the things that I had been thinking. I had a strong urge to contact him, so I sent a message to which he replied the next morning.

“For some reason I asked PD if he was coming to Cape Town soon. He said yes, he was coming that weekend to attend The Last Reformation Kickstart seminar, which he encouraged me to attend.

“I went to The Last Reformation website and watched The Last Reformation film. I immediately felt it was what I was looking for and knew I had to attend the seminar.

“Although it ended-up that PD couldn’t attend the Kickstart seminar, I believe God used him to guide me there.

Something big is going to happen
“It’s really quite amazing, because two weeks prior I had told my wife, Coreen, that something big was going to happen, but I didn’t know what it was.”

Dwayne and Coreen both took time off from work to attend the Kickstart seminar.

“It was such an amazing experience being shown how to pray for people, cast out demons and heal the sick in the authority of Jesus.

“Torben took us out into the streets and encouraged us to pray for people. He said, ‘Keep it simple, keep it short and have confidence, remember you are filled with the Holy Spirit and God does the healing’.

“We met a person in the street who said he had so much pain in his finger that he could barely touch it and couldn’t bend it, and it had been like that for months.

“After we prayed for him he looked at me … he looked at his finger, he bent it, pressed it … and said, ‘There’s no pain’!

“At first I found it hard to believe, but immediately there was another person who complained of severe headaches. I placed my hands on him, prayed and he said, ‘The pain has gone away’.”

Watch a clip of some of Dwayne’s experiences at Kickstart below:

Dwayne says going out into the streets and practicing what he had learned helped him overcome the fear of approaching people and praying for them.

He says being prayed for at the Kickstart seminar was also a blessing.

“Torben prayed for the Holy Spirit’s anointing for me, which was wonderful, because about four weeks prior to the Kickstart seminar I had this sensation in my mouth as if it was vibrating and I heard the Lord saying you are going to speak in tongues, but I denied it as I was sitting next to a colleague at work and felt embarrassed.

“When Torben prayed for me I got that same sensation, my mouth felt as if it was vibrating, I broke down in tears and started speaking in tongues. I just knew that God wanted it for me.”

Significance of baptism in water
Dwayne says another blessing was to be taught the significance of baptism in water and then being baptised anew in the awareness of the relationship between baptism and repentance, forgiveness of sins, dying to the world and rising again into a new life and putting on the risen Jesus Christ in faith.

“My mindset when I was baptised previously wasn’t right. I thought that I had to be baptised simply so that my soul could be saved, but there was no recognition of repentance and rebirth in Christ.

“I also had the opportunity to baptise my wife at the Kickstart seminar, which was beautiful, because she was previously baptised when she was very young without an understanding of its importance — it was special to be able to baptise Coreen.

“After baptising my wife, I baptised a young boy, who immediately started speaking in tongues, and a lady who was set free from things she said the devil had been holding onto in her life. Then while we were praying for her she burst out speaking in tongues and was so joyful, it was really beautiful.”

One of the most important developments to come out of the Kickstart seminar for Dwayne and Coreen was their marriage.

When they attended the seminar they were unmarried, although they were living together. However, at the seminar they became convicted of being married immediately, even though they planned to be married within two months.

They were married three days after the seminar.

Boldness for the Lord
Another development since the Kickstart seminar is Dwayne’s boldness for the Lord.

“For example, at work one day a lady serving tea came in and the Holy Spirit said to me, ‘Pray for her’. Although I started having doubts, I went ahead before the doubts could grow and asked if she had any problems or sickness.

“She looked at me weirdly, so I said, ‘I know that‘s a strange question, but do you have any physical problems’.

“She said, ‘Yes, I have lower back problems and the doctor said I have problems with my kidneys, which give me much pain’.

“I asked whether I could pray for her and she said, ‘Sure’. I laid hands on her and I prayed briefly, ‘In the name of Jesus, pain be gone, kidneys be healed, back be healed’.

“She looked at me … felt her back and said, ‘Wow, it feels much better’, so I said, ‘OK, let’s pray again’.

“After the second prayer she exclaimed, ‘Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, the pain’s gone’. I told her this is all Jesus, not me. She said, ‘I believe Jesus’.

“The next day I asked her how she was feeling and she told me all the pain was gone, her back was fine and her kidneys were fine.

A praying frenzy
“Because of that experience I went on a praying frenzy. I went into Kraaifontein where I met a person who looked like a gang member, because he had gang-style tattoos.

“He said he had been shot through the leg. I prayed for him and he said the pains were gone. Then he said his ribs were busted, so we prayed for his ribs and again he said they were healed.

“I tried to talk to him about the gospel, but, unfortunately, he didn’t want to turn his life away from sin. However, he did ask for prayer for his family.

“After that I went to a petrol station where I spoke to a petrol attendant who told me he had lower back pain. I prayed for him and he immediately shouted out to another petrol attendant, ‘My back is right, my back is healed’.

“He asked me to pray for his workmate whom he knew also suffered from the same problem. I prayed for him and his back was also healed.

“When I got home I thought I should pray for my wife who has also suffered from back problems: she could not even get out of bed properly in the morning, she had to sort-of slide out of bed, and she couldn’t bend forward.

“I prayed for her back and nothing happened, but something told me to check her leg. I checked her leg and one leg was shorter than the other.

“I prayed for her legs to be the same length and within a few seconds her leg started pushing out in front of my eyes. Coreen said, ‘it feels like someone’s pulling my leg’.

“She stood up and the pain in her back was gone, which was about a week-and-a-half ago, and she has had no back problems since.

Keep focused on Jesus
“From then I have just been praying for people all over. However, there was one person who was blind in one eye whom my prayers did not help, but I know the problem was that I made it about me. I thought to myself, ‘Will I be able to pray and his eye be healed’?

“I made it about me, which both interfered with my faith and took the focus off Jesus,” says Dwayne.

Looking back at the Kickstart seminar, he says what impacted him most was the practical experience and training with other disciples, which helped develop the boldness to minister in the power of God.

Dwayne says what also made a deep impression on him was learning how effective it is to evangelise in the streets; that evangelism does not have to be a special occasion, but should be part of your everyday, normal life.