Somebody Died For You

 

In the previous Podcast I talked about how God drafted me onto this team in the first place. It has been a life changer for sure, but looking back I thought I was already on the team. I was. I just spent my time on the sidelines safe in my nice house and nice neighborhood while my community suffered.

In many of the stories you will hear about God putting us in the right place at the right time. Sometimes I will physically see God show up. I know His hand of protection is upon us. But it is really cool when we see it in action.

For instance when we first were starting out we knocked on a screen door in the summer. Frequently we will hear dogs bark. Right away I can tell if I need to be nervous.

Bark bark, vs. WOOF WOOF. It’s the WOOFS that make me nervous.

Immediately after we knocked on the screen door we hear a VERY LOUD WOOF. I looked inside and saw a HUGE white pit-bull turn while barking. The owner yelled Hey and tried to grab the pit bull. He missed. This pitbull ran full steam ahead and hit the screen door like a battering ram. It flew open and banged against the other side of the wrought iron. It was if God’s hand all of a sudden came in to stop it from us. This huge pit bull made of muscle stopped at the edge of the top stair and started bouncing on his front paws and barked. It bounced and barked. Our group was frozen. The owner arrived and grabbed his pit bull. He said, “I thought you guys were gonners.” I don’t know why he just stopped all of a sudden.
We snapped out of our frozen state long enough to say we know why. That was a great encounter!

This night was a story and a sight of God’s hand I will never forget. The Lord set this up and The Holy Spirit wave hit this man.

I’m excited to share this story of the Love of Jesus with you!

I picked up Noah and drove to the church to meet up with the group. We were late, but I didn’t care. I was on ministry time at the school with Jack anyway. We walked inside the church and I asked Todd where we were going tonight and he said, “I thought we would go to Reihl Street.” He said that God told him Reihl Street but he didn’t know if there was a street with that name. I told him that I have been waiting to go there too. He said, “Great, Confirmation.” “Let’s Go!” We gathered together to pray. While we were praying I felt like there would be some work the Holy Spirit was doing some preparing in the recent weeks, days, and hours. It seemed like there would be a culmination of different things coming together.

I won’t forget this next house for a long time.

As we were walking up to this house I realized that we were in the same spot of a recent altercation between a police officer and and 16 year old African American Male. Waterloo already suffers from enough division. This act has deepened it and added fuel to the fire. As that knowledge came to my mind I prayed for protection. A week before the devil was using this ground to divide Waterloo. A week later Christ was about to perform a great miracle and demonstrate his Love for All.

A block earlier we ran out of groceries. Noah looked at me and said, “We have to go home now”. I said, “Why?” He replied, “We are out of groceries.” I said, “We are giving more away than groceries.” He laughed and said, “What are we gonna say? We are here to pray?” I said, “Absolutely.” He starred at me for a moment and said, “Ok. Do you mind if I knock and talk?” I said, “Sure!” We walked up to the front door of the next house and Noah knocked on it. After a long pause we hear someone running toward the door.

A tall African American man SLAMMED Open the door and YELLED, “WHAT THE FU#@ DO YOU WANT!!!!” Noah’s face snapped up at him and then snapped over to me. His jaw dropped and his face was red.

This man was ready for a physical battle/confrontation. What he didn’t know was that he was in a battle but it wasn’t a physical one. He stood tall with his chest out and his shoulders back. He was very angry. The Holy Spirit landed the first and last blow. I literally saw this guys body whip back. This is difficult to explain on paper. It was like a wave of Love slammed into him. I literally saw his head and shoulders go back like one might see from a wave or a blast. In that split second his whole body language, tone, posture, changed. It went from an angry ready to fight to a guy who had just been totally wrecked by Love. I said that we were going through the neighborhood to pray for people. I asked him if he could use some prayer. He dropped his head down and his shoulders slumped along with his body. I still can’t believe the dramatic change in the matter of 5 seconds. With his head bowed down and his hands on his knees he nodded his head up and down without saying a word. Tears started hitting the floor. The bat that he was holding behind his back dropped and bounced on the floor. He lived in the upper part of a house. He asked if we would step inside the entry way.

I asked him how we could pray for him. He said through tears that his wife was ready to leave him. He said, “You guys are really here to pray for us?” “Why are you really here?” We said, “Yes we are here to pray for you.” He asked the same question several more times. He said, “Let me make sure it is ok with my wife.” He tried to whisper but he couldn’t. He said, “Honey there are a few people at the front door.” She said, “Well what do they want?” He could barely compose words he was weeping so much. He said, “They are here to pray for us.” She yelled, “LET THEM IN!” He asked us to come up the stairs to where he lived.

He was wailing as we walked up the stairs. He led us into his room and we sat down on the edge of his bed. I asked him if he believed he would go to heaven if he died tomorrow. He said, “I think so.” I asked him why he believed that. He said that he felt like he was a good person. I asked him if I could share some scriptures from the Bible with him and he said, “Sure.” He started telling us his life story. He said that he can’t believe we are here to talk to him about God. He was crying through every word he spoke. He went and grabbed his wife. He told her that he wanted her with us while we talked and prayed. His name was Donald. His wife’s name was Jineane. She looked like a gem of a lady. She pulled up a chair.

He said that his Father and Mother were the best parents. His Father was a gospel singer who traveled all over the United States and Canada singing. His Mother also sang. His father was a great influence in his life.

He always told him about God, but Donald said that he didn’t follow it or live it. He said that he always wanted to be a pimp and a thug. He ran with gangs on the streets of Milwaukee. Donald was in his early fifties. He said that he was on the streets carrying a chopper at the age of 10. I had to look up what a chopper was when I got home. It didn’t sound good though. It is an AK-47 (fully automatic gun). He told me that he would have killed me for $10 and not thought twice about it.

During this conversation he looked at me and drew his head back like he saw something. His eyebrows lifted in fear. He said, “Right now I am scared of you though!” He repeated it again. I wonder what he was seeing.

I told him that God loves him and sent us. He told us that today was his Fathers birthday. His Father passed away several years ago. His mother died one year after his father passed. He spent many years doing all kinds of drugs and alcohol. He also said that he was a seven time felon. He was a crack addict for many, many years. He said that God took the addiction to crack from him because of his wife’s prayers.

He pointed at her and said that she was the exact opposite of him. She hasn’t stepped one foot in a bar, hates alcohol, and has never touched drugs. He kept talking over and over about how it was his Father’s birthday and here we are. He was broken hearted at how his life turned out.
I started sharing the Gospel with him. He said that he didn’t have a Bible.

Just then his wife Jineane jumped in and said, “How did you know to come to this house, and why do you do this?” I told her about how we started a year ago and that God directs our path each night. She said, “This is why I asked.” I had a dream last night. I saw YOU in my dream. I saw us in this room praying together. I heard your voice. When you were talking at the bottom of the stairs, I knew that this was God sending you guys here from my dream. She started weeping loudly. She said that she has been praying for him for years. When he was out at the bars, in jail, or doing drugs she was at home praying. They were both wailing with tears and thankfulness toward God for sending us. He stood up and said, “Please don’t take offense, but I would have never opened my door to a bunch of white folks!” “Never, Never, Never, Never!” He said, “Something Made me open the door!” He was weeping while he was explaining this story. He said Jineane just told me two minutes before you knocked on my door that God is going to reach out to me. He yelled, “JUST TWO MINUTES!” Jineane said that their neighborhood has been in an uproar since the officer shot the young man. He stood up and said, “When I think of all my best thug buddies, and all the guys that said they were my friends, I choose You!” He kept saying over and over again with tears, “I choose You!” He gave me the biggest tightest hug ever.

I asked him if he would like to pray to receive Jesus Christ and he couldn’t say yes fast enough. He said Yes before I finished my question. We all prayed with him. It was So Powerful.

We prayed for each of them. Talk about a powerful moment. That sentence doesn’t even come close to describe what happened. Jineane thanked God for finally answering her prayers that she had been praying about for so many years.

I gave them a Bible. Jineane asked if I could give her my number in case she needed someone to talk to. I smiled and wrote my number in the Bible. She prayed that every person that we knock on their door would open them to us. They also told us to stop bye every time we are in their neighborhood. We all hugged each other again.

The Holy Spirit hit a Home Run that time!!!

I seriously still can’t believe when the Holy Spirit hit Donald. One second he wanted to harm us. The next second he was so desiring us to pray for him. He was also petrified of me part way through our visit. The power of Almighty God was fully on display that night. I believe God was honoring the prayers of Donald’s parents and Jineane this night. We were also under the protective covering of God during that visit. I don’t think I will ever forget this one. I can just see his body wave as the Spirit washed over him.

Dear Papa,
Thank You for loving us so much You Acted on that love by sending us Jesus. Help us to follow Your example of love. I pray that you heal hearts of those that are listening who have been hurt abused and labeled. Raise up an army of love that will bring Your light into dark areas. In Jesus Name, Amen

Please call 319-435-1758 to leave a message of a prayer request, praise report or a specific area in your community that needs the love and light of Jesus Christ to break through.

See you next time on the Somebody Died For You Podcast.