The Lord Sustains

I am going to learn not to say “I can’t,” I believe.

I wouldn’t have believed that I could do an all day fast with no food or water at all day after day. I have joined our local church in fasting this week each day until 5, going to a prayer meeting from 5 to 6, and then eating one meal at 6:30 or 7. The first two days I had some water, because I had been many days with diarrhea, (which stopped completely). Since Tuesday I have endured the heat and all without water. I have been joyful, even soft! The prayer meetings have been special times. Tuesday night I was invited to lead, and I really enjoyed it. I know I was difficult to understand for some of the attendants, but pray the Holy Spirit was speaking. The way here is to flow in and out of songs and prayers, and I don’t know that many songs, but the congregation helped me. Although many in the congregation joined in fasting, there have been probably only 10 adults in the prayer meetings, and about 15 children. They meetings were widely varied, from soft and repentant to loud and authoritative. I was thinking about it today, and since we arrived on December 13^th, 29 days ago, we have attended church 16 days. We have been invited to join the church leadership. Devin has been invited to handle the finances, and I have been appointed over the children’s Sunday school. Pray that God will guide us!

Yesterday we went to the market at about 9 a.m. and returned home at 4:30, just in time to wash my face and walk over the 40 feet to the church and join in the prayer meeting/walk in continuance of the fast. We sang and prayed for about 20 minutes together and then broke into two teams. We walked to some nearby church members’ homes and prayed with them. It was wonderful to be welcomed as a friend into their evening chores and resting. One man, a successful police agent, has a home in the village. It is part of a complex, with 6 connected houses on each side of a covered corridor. Parked in the corridor, which was lighted only by the sun at each end, was a motorcycle, and several small children were playing around. He had a cloth over his entry and an actual wooden door. The inside was dark, as he had a thick cloth over the window and evening was approaching, but there was enough light to see. The four of us slipped off our shoes and entered the plastered, cinder block room, which was about 7 x 7. He had two couches and a very nice stereo. A flat plastic, not as thick as linoleum, covered the majority of the smooth cement floor. His sleeping mat was propped against one wall. He is recently married and has a new son. He graciously turned his stand fan toward us and welcomed us in with many “you are welcomes.” We chatted about the fast for a few minutes and our pastor told him he was missed, and then we prayed together. We prayed thanksgiving and blessings over the new year. Then we walked out together. He mentioned that now that he has a child, he is finding that his work is too much (he works every other 12 hours, 7 days a week, as a communications agent for the police force in Lokoja). He is loving being a daddy!

We prayed with a woman and her daughter. She explained that she had been involved in the fasting, but had been farming all day and couldn’t join the meetings. As we left her house, a Muslim woman who was sitting in the courtyard under a big cashew tree, sorting out rice, called US over to ASK for prayer. Wow. She knows Pastor John from the clinic and his role as administrator there. What a blessing! Pastor John prayed for her, and as he did, the Lord gave me a picture of her in my mind joyfully, but with difficulty, stacking big blocks. There was as sense that God was smiling on her work and that she was completing heavy tasks with joy. However, she kept building and the stacks would fall over. She wasn’t much affected, but she would begin again and again. I related this to her and she got a huge smile of recognition. I told her God wanted her to know she needs to start her good works on a solid foundation, and that is on Jesus Christ. Pastor John knelt down and explained the Holy Spirit, and that He had given me a word for her, since I am His child and we receive the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus. The look of recognition of truth was washing all over her face. She was so thankful to receive our prayers in Jesus’ name.

A few more stops, many more smiles and handshakes along the way, and we walked home by 6:45 to a wonderful meal prepared for us by Pastor Bassey. I tell you, a cup of cold water never tasted so good! Even without it, even before the thought of it, I was refreshed and sustained by the blessed power of Jesus in my life to bring light to others. I’ll admit a love for fasting. Perhaps because I tend to be strong willed and self focused, it is a necessary discipline for me ahead of some others. It makes me so much more aware of my weakness, my inability to accomplish valuable, lasting things on my own strength, and aware of the tip of the iceberg of the gifts available to us who would believe and call on the name of Jesus!