This an amazing blog from Ashlee Burt of team Uganda. If you have ever wondered what spiritual warfare looks and feels like or just need some encouragement when fear comes upon you, then you really, really need to read this post. It will change your life.
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"Spiritual Warfare" by Ashlee Burt
Jesus is always with us, and there are many different ways of experiencing the Holy Spirit. The darkness does not stand a chance against the blood of Christ but the enemy tries to attack where ever it can try to sneak in. In Africa, the contrast between light and dark is very evident. This is something that living in America usually blinds me from. I don’t see or feel the spiritual activity that takes place in other parts of the world. However, in just a few weeks the Holy Spirit has truly exposed how real this spiritual battle is.
When we were in the hospitals last week, we went to the women’s ward to pray for healing. The sicknesses ranged from malaria, to tuberculosis, to paralyzed limbs. I had been praying for different women for about an hour and I could really feel the Holy Spirit upon me. We were getting ready to leave, but there was one woman in the corner that the Lord told me to go pray for, so I grabbed Lacey and Shae to come with me. I was talking to the woman’s sister who could understand English a little bit, but she could not really explain what was wrong with her sister. Before I started praying for this sick woman, I could see that she could not speak, her eyes were dilated and her hands seemed stiff and stuck in an upright position. So I grabbed her hand and let the Holy Spirit take over.
It felt like something very dark was upon her, but also that something stronger and more powerful than the darkness was present. While I was praying she grabbed onto my hand really tight and also tried to grab my head as well. Every time I rebuked the evilness inside of her and declared life, she would let out this really uncomfortable soft scream. Even when I was done praying she did not want to let go of my hand. She muttered something in Swahili. When I asked her sister what she said, her sister translated, “I’m going home.” After discussing with my teammates, many felt there was something really dark within her. Usually, people with this type of symptoms have been cursed or associated with witchcraft in some kind of way. She had demons inside her, operating her body.
The other day we were doing house to house evangelism near the church. We met with a mother and her thirteen year old son. This boy has suffered from seizures so frequently that he cannot attend school anymore. However it’s not just epilepsy because during his fits he gets on the floor and crawls and screams. The reality is that this child has a demon. In the United States, we would label it something and then prescribe medicine. Everything is diagnosed as a medical problem because that is the world’s easiest way of dealing with these things. Demons are real; I have seen them work in people firsthand. But Christ can easily conquer all of these evils.
We live in a fallen world, but Christ promises us that we are to be free of any disease or sickness because we are covered by His blood. Sickness is just another way the enemy tries to have a stronghold in our lives. He has no place in our bodies because Christ declares that we are made whole in Him.
We also visited the children’s ward one day and prayed for all the children who were there. The next day that we went in so many of the beds that we had prayed over were cleared out. Praise Jesus! When we are relieved of sickness or disease, like these children, Christ is the one who deserves all the glory. He is the one who performs the miracles. He is the great physician. It’s nothing that we ourselves do, but because we are used as His vessels through prayer, He works through us. He is the beginning and He is the end. We need to stop looking at how we can solve medical or any kind of problems by human means because Jesus is the only answer, and He is the only way.
