The Deliverance
part 2, seeing the Lord move on outreach
Holy Mole! I have been so excited to share this story with my beloved newsletter readers because it is juicy!!! So get comfortable, prepare your heart, and let’s dive on in to this spooky true story! The Lord has a full-on field day with this one.
This story takes place in a town called Teopisca in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It’s a relatively small town without a lot of modern conveniences. We were blessed for the week we were there to be accompanied by Nery of YWAM Morelia and the pastor of the local church and his precious family. Thank God because I don’t know if we would have been quite as successful during this encounter without their spiritual guidance and quick delegation and decision-making.
So we were doing home visits. On this particular evening we planned to visit three families. We were given a brief summary on what each family was going through so we could prepare accordingly.
First, the family of an elderly missionary man who suffered great persecution. Second, a young family with some health issues. Third, a woman and her two young sons …who believe they are cursed. Oh, alrighty then.
The first and second home visits were so special and so smooth respectively. I strongly believe the Lord gave us the home visits in this order to first encourage us spiritually and then to prepare us physically for the third. The first man we met with was an elderly missionary and he told us his incredible stories of persecution. We got to honor him and wash his feet and just be so uplifted by his courageous walk with God and his faith. The second home visit was just smooth and they fed us dinner unexpectedly, so we were not hungry for the 5+ hour ordeal we would face on our last home visit.
We walked through the dark streets of Teopisca on our way to the final house. The woman, a mother of two boys, was fairly young but she kept her head down low as she gathered enough chairs for our group. My teammate started the conversation with her as we all listened. She never made eye contact. She just stared at the floor dead ahead with her hands in her pockets.
Her two sons - one about 10 and the other closer to 5 years old - sat next to her. She described that her husband had passed away and that she thought his family had put a curse on her for some reason. She said there was a horrible smell in the house that followed them everywhere. She wanted to know if we could smell it. We were all a little baffled but did our best to show her the love of the Lord and assure her that if she was in Christ, she had absolutely nothing to fear.
I felt the Lord tap me to ask her if she had any lingering unforgiveness in her heart over the fact that her husband was gone. She opened up a little more about her feelings. But Nery got the big nudge from the Lord when he asked her this…
“Have you done anything in your desperation to try and change what you believe is happening to your family?”
She deflected the question and told us she was seeing dark figures outside of the house at night too. She told her oldest son to confirm what she said and he did.
Nery said, “I don’t want to know what Satan is doing. I am asking what you did.”
He asked the older son directly, “Has your mom done anything to try and help your situation that you think you should tell us about.”
He hesitated for a long time and then asked his mom if he could let us in on their little secret…
“Well I have explained the situation and consulted with and maybe used the services of… of a local witch,” she finally confessed.
It felt like time hastened and slowed to a crawl at the same time. My heart started beating fast. Nery must have got an instant download from the Holy Spirit because he knew exactly what to do. He explained that the Lord loved her and was going to help her out of this mess tonight but first he needed to know something very important…
“Is there anything in this house right now that you have used to engage in witchcraft?”
The younger boy started running around the house, looking under the bed and in different drawers. He legit looked so disturbed.
The woman started to say what was in the house, “Well, do you see the red ribbons…”
Our eyes scanned around the room and we noticed little red ribbons tied to the leaves of each one of her house plants. They were tied to the blades and paddles of different aloes and cacti by each entry way.
Nery looked at her and then at us and said, “Remove it all. Put everything you find that could be related to witchcraft here in a pile. We’re going to get rid of it.”
She nodded and we sprung into action as we realized we were surrounded on enemy territory. You could hear our voices lift in prayer as we went around to untie and collect every red ribbon, bulb of garlic, every strange talisman, and whole frying pans charred with burnt offerings to dark idols.
The pile grew and grew, especially as her younger son ran around and revealed more and more to us. Sadly, his spiritual possession became all the more clear to us as he helped us with the task.
We were taking back ground for the Lord and just praying we would be able to save their souls.
When we finished gathering everything, Nery explained the process the Lord was going to walk us through that night to deliver her and her sons from the dark forces she had unknowingly made agreements with and to cleanse her home as well.
Because the darkness had been invited in, first we all needed to purify our hearts and seek the Lord. We prayed on our knees for God’s mercy and sanctification. All of us. She wasn’t alone in fighting her demons and with the Lord, we were not afraid in the least.
The Lord orchestrated this night like a beautiful dance through Nery who swiftly delegated us to different roles. He asked for those of us who played instruments to play and worship. And then for some of us to pray for the woman while others prayed over the children and comforted them through the battle. It was full-on spiritual warfare.
The pastor came late and when he walked in the house he had his usual smile but I remember his face when he saw the pile of occult tools. He just immediately burst into prayer to help us.
I remember at one point the woman was sitting in the center of the room in a chair. The Lord spoke into my heart that I should pray for her and her deliverance with boldness and acknowledgement to the precious and powerful blood of Christ. I took a deep breath and laid both of my hands on her head. I prayed with such deep gratitude and knowing that Jesus would save her soul like He had mine. I shouted the truth of her identity in Christ as my hands shook and the demons fled!
My teammates continued praying for her and delivering her. I went into the backyard and found several more charred frying pans to heap onto the pile and when I came back in she was falling backwards gently onto the floor.
It was almost over. Jesus was winning what He had already won!
The women of our team spoke life back into her and told her not to be ashamed. The Lord being so thorough to remove all evil from her life was a blessing to delight in not to be embarrassed about. The younger boy was prayed over and tucked into bed. The older boy was prayed over by the men on our team and also encouraged in his faith.
We wrapped up when we were confident she was delivered from demonic forces. She recommitted to Christ and this time she understood that He was all she needed. We connected her with the pastor and invited her to church and fellowship times with us. Actually we told her we were there until Monday and if another battle came up and she needed us to fight with her, she could call any time of day or night.
It was an extraordinary experience and as someone who also once made deals with the devil through witchcraft, I can say I have never been so grateful to know the Lord and to serve him.
Lord, it’s all for your glory. Thank you for loving us so thoroughly and having mercy on our souls.