If you clicked this blog prepared to read a crazy story about demons, you've come to the right place.
This is not a tease title.
I walked into the counseling room today at 2 pm with my squadmate, Erica, and we were prepared for another day of counseling. We were met by the social worker, Emma, and she was ready to interpret for us. I was ready for tears, for sad stories, for nightmare stories, and then we would pray with the children, hug them, and send them back out to play.
Not today.
In walks Purity, a 10-year-old girl.
She begins to tell her a little bit of her story, and that she's been seeing people come at her, and that her dead sister comes to her in her dreams. So far this is normal. We hear this kind of stuff all the time. We tell her that when she's scared, she needs to pray in Jesus' name, and that we will pray for her. I asked her one last question before we prayed: Purity, do you love Jesus?
She answered 'yes.'
So we approach her, hold her hand, and begin to pray.
Prayer starts, and Purity shoves her chair back abruptly.
Erica describes my reaction as "lunging" toward Purity, screaming "In Jesus' Name!" (kind of funny, I was ready to pray this out)
And here starts the heavy stuff.
We are officially casting out demons.
Holy moly, this is my life?!
So Purity ends up coming off the chair, on the floor, thrashing. At this point I'm praying in tongues like nobody's business (yeah yeah yeah, I'm weird) we are holding her down, and she calms down a bit.
We got her back on the chair. Oh, and the rain starts POURING and the lights flickered and then the power went off. This is somewhat normal in Africa, but the timing was riiiiiidiculous.
'Purity? Purity talk to us.'
Her gaze is fixed at a point on the floor, I look where she's looking–nothing there– and then she points diagonally down, then she points over her shoulder. Lo and behold, there are shadows on the wall. I've seen that kind of stuff before, so my reaction was shaking my head and laughing. Erica goes "Is there someone in the office?! Can we check?" and the social worker, Emma, assured her that there is nobody in the office, and that what she saw was what she was thinking… yeah…
we saw demons fleeing in the name of Jesus.
So we keep praying, and we keep asking Purity to talk to us, but this time her response was different.
"This is not Purity."
Oh. My. God.
So we asked "who is it?" and it said it wouldn't tell us its name. It asked for the caretaker, Madam Beth, and said that if she came it'd tell us its name.
More thrashing on the floor, more prayer.
Come out! and she'd shake her head 'no'
Say the name of Jesus! and she'd shake her head 'no'
The demon couldn't say the name of Jesus.
"I'm not coming out. I won't come out. You're wasting your time."
I said "you're going back to hell where you came from!"
and the response I got was awful… "if I go back to hell, I'll come back when she's sleeping."
So we rebuked that, we did a lot of rebuking and commanding and casting out.
At one point, she started coughing — this is supposedly a sign of demons coming out.
But there was still something left.
About 2 hours into this deliverance, we got some backup aka most of the racers.
In comes the owner and director of Challenge Farm, Cheri, and she's praying with Purity, and Cheri says "Jesus loves you, Purity" and again, "this is not Purity" and Cheri said "Jesus loves Purity, and Purity loves Jesus" and she shakes her head 'no' and we sing "Jesus loves me" while the little girl is shaking her head and covering her ears. At one point, Cheri asked her about the sister, and she started crying.
It was heartbreaking to see.
Cheri had a really tender, loving way of speaking life into Purity. I learned a lot from watching her deal with it all. It was still authoritative, but really gentle.
We got Purity back, we got her talking again. She told us that she didn't remember anything after the "shadows on the wall" and that she went unconscious. She said she loved Jesus, she prayed, and we prayed that nothing could come against her again.
Her eyes were still not all the way back to normal, they still looked sideways a lot, and we could tell she wasn’t completely delivered. She was exhausted, and Cheri made the decision to go ahead and let her rest.
Tomorrow they will pray with her again, and make sure she’s completely okay. I won’t be there because I’m leaving in the morning to go to another city, Nakuru, to visit one of my best friends from another squad.
This was the first time I’ve ever encountered somebody who was demon possessed, much less pray it out. There were over 15 people who witnessed it when it was all said and done. This isn’t silly stuff you read about in the Bible from way back in the day. It’s still happening today. I hope this testimony encourages your faith and reinforces the importance of walking in our God-given authority.
Heal the sick,
raise the dead,
cleanse those who have leprosy,
drive out demons.
Freely you have received, freely give. –Matthew 10:8
Lord lavish your love all OVER Purity and your children who are walking her towards YOU. You will always relentlessly pursue your children and light always chases out darkness. Bless and strengthen Helena as she continues to take light where there is darkness. Imelda is right. LOVE NEVER FAILS.
Woah Lena Li, this is awesome! Can’t believe I’m just reading it… The power of Jesus name! Be ready for some more crazy stuff this month in Tanzaina! Love and miss ya already!
whoa. chills. i cannot wait to see you tomorrow in nakuru and hear more about it. i love you so much and im so in awe of the ways daddy is using you.
manda
That’s right, sister. Preach it! Power in the name of Jesus. All the glory to God almighty. He will not relent and the Light always wins!
Jesus, You are amazing! I’m praying protection over you, Helena. And I am praying for deliverance for Purity.
Romans 8:28
Love never fails.
I’m Praising God for the Victory we have in Jesus. The name above all names. That every tongue would confess and every knee will bow @ that name, Jesus! Thank you so much for sharing what God is doing! Lifting up Purity and E-Squad in prayer.
glad yall got to experience sumthin like this. remember to not focus on the “gifts”, but simply the Love of Abba. it can create problems if you don’t…but yall already know that right? 🙂 keep it up. red-hot heart and an ice-cold brain.
Way to go! So proud of you all. I’ve had experience with deliverance, but nothing as involved as that. Wish I could do what u are doing. Keep it up.
You will come away changed! God is amazing!
Dear Helena,
Thank you for sharing your adventure. As I prepare for my up coming race in January I am very encouraged by your post. I know the Lord has called me to be a part of this ministry and teaching me everyday new things to equip me with. Reading your story has not only brought to life some of the fears I need to get over but also shown me that our God is bigger no matter how much the enemy tries to scare us. I would love to hear more of your encounters like this anytime… [email protected]
Love you sister in Christ,
Heather
God is using you all so powerfully in Kenya right now! AH! Amazing. Keep covering yourselves in prayer and walking in empowerment and identity- powerful DAUGHTER OF GOD! love you long time!
I get a bit intimidated when I think about the possibility that I’ll be doing this. But then I remember what Jesus said & that He didn’t tell them HOW to do it, He just said to do it! So I’m guessing that as long as we are glorifying Him & trying to be like Him, it’ll all work out.
You’re a really good Jesus, Helena 🙂
Love you missy!
Carlie
Wow! God really showed up! ThankGod for your obedience! That’s an awesome story, it shows just how powerful the name of Jesus is! I start my race in 1 1/2 weeks on k squad sept route 3. I am so encouraged by this thanks for sharing!
FREEDOM! amen amen!!
Im always encouraged when I read your post. Barely know you but I claim you as my ‘sister on another squad.’ keep sharing this freedom and truth!!
Praise the Lord! Will continue to pray for Cheri to be free of the demons and filled with the Holy Spirit so the demons can’t come back.
Thank you for sharing Helena. Love you and your work.
Oops! Got messed up on the names. I’m glad God knows who I mean. I’ll be praying for Purity.
I had chills the whole time i was reading this. We are in a war, and it’s being fought whether we understand or not. Thank you for writing about this and making these kind of things known.
Hey you,
you’re awesome. i love you. and I’m glad we’re in this things together.
Also, I’m glad I got to help out with this one at the end.
You are amazing, loved, beautiful, and so special to me and the Father.
So glad to have these two days with you 🙂
So proud of you!!!
Greater is HE that is in YOU!! Amen???
Love you girl!!
Mama C