When the Presence and Power of God Invaded Western North Carolina
I know that God can just show up and do mighty and miraculous deeds. But many times, God works through people to release His Kingdom power. That is what happened in my part of the world this last week.
After about 40 hours traveling home from a mission trip to Japan, including a short overnight layover in Houston and a delayed flight that caused us to miss one of our connections, we arrived home on Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 8:00 pm. On Monday, October 22 at 3:15 pm two cars pulled into the driveway of our home and unloaded 8 pastors and worship leaders from Gaba Community Church in Kampala, Uganda. The next day they were joined by two more pastors – Pastors Peter and Irene, also from Gaba.
They all left the following Monday for another city in a 15-passenger van packed full of luggage. During the week they stayed with us, the presence and power of God was released in the region, people were healed, a traditional Presbyterian church saw people lined up to receive prayer after a worship service, my home was filled with worship all during the week, exuberant worship filled the sanctuary and chapel of a very mainstream, traditional church; the Gospel was preached, and the Kingdom was released.
It was one of the best weeks of my life. It was a week of nonstop praise, prayer, joy, and worship. Even when we were all just sitting around talking, sharing, and laughing the presence of God was with us. My home will never be the same.
Here are some of the things we did during the week:
On Monday evening we hosted a tostada dinner (tostadas, rice, and beans) in our home. Later in the evening spontaneous worship broke out, including 2 African drums and guitar. After worship the Ugandans all knelt around a table in our living room and the Americans laid hands on them and prayed blessings over them. Then they began to sing about Yahweh, over and over. The singing released the power of God and all of us felt His presence. Kevin had a lot of pain in his back. That night his back was healed.
On Tuesday we all climbed a mountain near us that is bald on top (no trees, just a broad field) with a spectacular 270-degree view of the region. We spent 3 to 4 hours up there praying over the counties and towns we could see from up there. I call the mountain ‘prayer mountain’. That evening we hosted another dinner, more worship, and a lot of prayer. It was a powerful day.
On Monday I received an email from one of the intercessors in our region asking us to pray for a school in the town that ministers to men, women, and children with special needs. I was responding to the email telling her I couldn’t go because I was hosting Ugandans when God spoke to me saying, “I want the Ugandans to go there to pray and worship.” So that is what we did on Wednesday morning. They danced and sang worship songs for the ones being cared for in the house. What an amazing morning! So much joy and laughter. The men and women were raising their hands in worship and the staff were crying. Later we prayed for everyone. I wish you could have been there to see the power of God flow around the room like a tidal wave of love (ok, maybe the metaphor is a little over the top, but not by much). Almost a week later that director of the ministry is still amazed at the power that was released.
On Wednesday afternoon we drove up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, had lunch, and prayed over the region again. Many of our prayers were focused on pushing back the witchcraft in our area and taking back the territory from the enemy. On Wednesday night we had worship and some preaching at the Wednesday night dinner at the church.
Thursday we prayer-walked the downtown, stopping to pray for people. I was paired with one of the Ugandans named Joshua. The second person we stopped to pray for was sitting on a bench outside a sports bar. I asked him if we could pray for him. He said, “sure”. “What is your first name” I asked. “My name is Joshua” he said. My Joshua exclaimed, “that is also my name.” The other Joshua jumped up. The two Joshua’s hugged and the Ugandan Joshua prayed for the American Joshua.
A few doors down the street we met Kathy. She received prayer from Joshua and began to weep. The next day she came to our worship time at church and gave Joshua a cap that said, “God Is Good All the Time” on the front and “I Love Jesus” on the back. He wore that cap for the rest of the trip.
Later on Thursday all of the Ugandans led worship and prayer in our regular noon-time intercessory prayer meeting. Wow!! Most of the intercessors are from other churches in town. We were all amazed at the goodness of God.
On Thursday night we hosted another dinner at our home. This dinner was for the Sunday school class that I help teach. 6 couples came. It was a night of fellowship followed by more worship and prayer. None of them had ever experienced what they saw that night. As one of the guests was leaving I heard him say to another guest, “In all my life I have never seen anything like that!” I actually thought we had gone too far. But on Sunday all of the couples said they loved the evening.
On one of the days, Pastor Martin prayed for Dorothy who works in the church office. He held her right hand as he prayed. The next day her right hand was free from arthritis, but not her left hand. 6 days later her right hand was still arthritis free.
Friday it rained. That day we went to a local elementary school, broke the team into pairs, and visited 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms to share Ugandan culture. The teams played drums, sang, told the students about Uganda, and answered questions. They were not allowed to talk about God or Jesus. At least in English. In the class I attended, the pair sang a worship song in Lugandan, their native language. As they were leaving, a woman approached the team asking, “what is Jesu?” The Ugandan woman answered, “a name”. But the woman knew. She said, “It is Jesus, right?” Uh Oh, busted.
Friday night was worship night at our church. Powerful. Peter spoke about the Holy Spirit, we broke up into groups and prayed and then people came forward to receive prayer from the Ugandan men and women. It was a crazy night with people on the floor, a lot of laughter and joy, and once again – God showed up. Sadly, most of the people attending the worship came from other churches. Only a few were from our church.
On Saturday the whole team drove to the house of a friend who travels around the country with his family singing about Jesus. He has recording equipment so we sat in his house for 3 hours singing some of his worship songs with the Ugandans who backed him up like a choir, Ugandan worship songs, and recording the whole morning. He posted the session on Facebook Live. We also got a chance to pray for a young veteran who was paralyzed from the waist down in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Having 10 Ugandans praying for 30 minutes over you for healing is truly an amazing experience. These people can pray!
Saturday night was another worship evening at a local church. This was the most intense worship of all. It is difficult to capture in words what we experienced that night. Like every other day, the power and presence of God filled the room and our hearts. Only, on Saturday night God manifested His love for us in physical healing, prophecy, and joy at a level we had not seen during the week.
On Sunday Pastor Peter preached two services, Martin preached and the Ugandan worship team led worship at our contemporary service. My town is not that large, so by Sunday word was out about the Ugandans. The contemporary worship service was full and people came forward for prayer.
Peter preached in our traditional worship service in the big sanctuary. The crowd for this service has an average age of 75 or higher. But when the worship service was over about 20 people lined up to receive prayer from Peter. Amazing.
On Sunday afternoon we rested. Then Sunday evening we went to a small group meeting, dinner and fellowship where we had more music, singing, praying and dancing. There was focused prayer for the children, the future leaders of our country, for the parents and grandparents, for the Ugandans and their mission.
The team left for the next city on their tour on Monday morning. Judy and I were sad to see them go. We were blessed by them. They were blessed by our hospitality, the hospitality of Bill and Sherri who housed Martin, and the warm reception they received at church on Sunday. But for the most part, with the exception of a few people like our Pastor and his wife, Bill and Sherri, Pat, Louis and Priscilla, and Andy and Laura, the church did not really take advantage of their presence. Too bad. But the Holy Spirit was released over the congregation of our church, throughout the church building, and over the property. These seeds will grow and new spiritual life will begin to be manifested. When the Ugandans come back they will receive an even warmer welcome.
What is so special about the Ugandans? Why do they carry around with them the power and presence of God in their hearts? Why are their prayers so amazing and powerful? Why does their worship get people dancing and laughing for joy? Why do they make people like me want to be filled with even more of the Holy Spirit?
Really, I am not sure. But I had one thought while they were with us. I have been to Uganda and Gaba Community Church 3 times. I noticed that Ugandans in general don’t have many material possessions. In America we would say they were very poor. Many on the prayer team that visited us were orphans or were raised by single moms in very poor conditions. Some didn’t know where their next meal would come from. When you live like this, you are desperate. Desperate people seek Jesus and He tells us if we seek Him, we will find Him.
In an environment like this, if you know Jesus, you must trust Him for everything. If you walk everyday trusting Him, having faith that He will provide, He shows up. Over and over again, sometimes several times a day, Jesus answers prayers. When you trust Jesus and Jesus provides, faith rises. They have learned to trust Jesus for everything; they have learned that He is totally dependable and sufficient. While they do not have material comfort and wealth, they are rich in the Holy Spirit and in the power of God. They were all filled with overflowing joy and a passion for Christ.
In my spirit I am not sure that the environment they grew up in is the only reason they are so filled with the joy of the Lord. I sense that there is something more to their love for Jesus. Maybe it is something about Uganda. But I don’t know.
On the other hand, many of us in America do not need to trust God like they do. Most of us have everything we need. God is more abstract for us. We find God in doctrine and our religion. His presence is more remote and His power is hardly ever manifested. We know about Jesus; we don’t know Jesus the way they do. But we can!
Trust, faith, and power are what the Ugandans brought to us in western North Carolina. When they prayed and worshiped all over our region, they released the power and presence of God – the Kingdom of God. Through them, God changed the spiritual atmosphere and softened hearts that had been hardened by decades of ‘religion’ – a type of Christian life without power; which is not the type of life that Christ died to give us. Paul tells us that “The Kingdom of God is not about words, but about power”. I saw that power, that life, exhibited every day last week. And that is why it was one of the best weeks of my life.
I think Gaba Community Church is being called to share this life throughout the world. On Saturday night I sensed that Peter and his team had walked through a door into a new destiny. I can’t wait to see what God will do in the years ahead.
Be blessed today,
John