We are in Goma, a city in eastern Congo that has seen so much war during the last 15 years that it has become as much a military camp as a bustling city. There is little infrastructure here because of the constant instability. You can feel it in the air, like a dust that hangs over everyone and smothers freedom and peace. Even the US Embassy has issued warnings to stay out of North Kivu, which is the area we are in.
But this is where the need is, and this is where God has sent us. I wondered what message I could possibly bring to such a war-torn place that is steeped in such suffering. In the face of such desolation, what do you tell people? Since I really did not know what to say, I decided not to try and figure it out. If God had truly sent us, then surely He had a message for them, and if He was big enough to create the Universe, then He can surely speak out of my mouth. So I let Him preach.
About two hundred pastors had come from hundreds of miles around. I think most of them expected the same old soft “Jesus loves you” message that they usually get from American evangelists, but that is not what the Lord gave me. Instead, I challenged them not to fall back on their pain and suffering as an excuse, but to use it instead as a springboard that would propel them to bring the Gospel to the lost. I took it from John chapter 5, the Pool of Bethesda, where the cripple responded to the call from Jesus with his weak excuses of why he couldn’t get into the pool to be healed. Thirty-eight years lying beside the Living Waters making excuses for why he couldn’t be healed was just like the Church here, wallowing in their self-pity for thirty-eight years since the last move of God had run through this area. Instead of leaning on excuses, I charged them to overcome and have the courage to believe God for victory.
Of course, you can’t just tell everybody to rise up, take up your bed, and walk. You have to show them how, and that’s what the three days was all about. Once they caught the vision and could see in concrete terms that, yes, they can do this, it was “Katie, get up and bar the door!” They were as excited as a bunch of kids ready to charge out back to their churches and spread the message. They were on fire! It was really something to see.
We start again on Monday in another town nearby. I expect to see the same thing again. Leaders of this organization of almost 1,000 churches throughout the Congo have come to hear the message and have opened up their entire organization to me. They believe this is the message that is needed to stand the Church back on her feet.
A broken, whimpering, weak Church that has been defeated by adversity can never overcome the powers of darkness that run rampant in this land. Only a Church that is made up of warriors who will take the fight to the enemy and charge into the battle, knowing that the Lord of Hosts is going before them will ever be able to break the demonic hold that Satan has on this people.
We are here to fight. This is a dangerous place, made more so by the fact that I am driving a spear right into the heart of Satan’s stronghold. He has not been challenged like these pastors are about to challenge him. He knows that the fury of the Lord is about to break over the spiritual barriers that have oppressed and destroyed this area, and I am sure he will fight back, tooth and nail.
Well, I’m from Jersey, and I love a good fight! Especially when I know who is going to win.
Keep praying.