Just got this letter from a World Racer
whom I challenged to consider if she was supposed to fast. She is a
picture and archetype of her generation and its potential in devotion
to the Lord. What an honor it is to get to disciple these young people!
Hey Gary,
I just wanted to update you on what’s been happening since our one-on-one debrief in Alabanza:
I know why I’m fasting! I was prayer-walking the night of my fourth day of
fasting (our first travel day to Botswana), and God told me to go look
up fasting in my Bible and I would find a story that explained my fast.
I came across the book of Joel. As I read, I realized that this was
God’s word about Swaziland. The people’s nourishment has been taken
from them.
Their land is dry and desolate. The rain has ceased so they can no
longer grow crops and have no drinking water. The Lord is calling the
people back to him. It is in their desperation that they will cry out.
God is calling all people to fast, weep and pray, from the youngest
babies to the oldest citizens. God has called the priests to declare a
holy fast and gather the people of the nation together for a special
meeting where they will all fast, weep and pray for the country.
I believe this is what God wants from Swaziland. He wants his people to
prostrate themselves, repent and declare him the one true God. He is
even calling me to fast, weep and pray for them.
Once God sees and
hears the people, he will have mercy on them. The fasting will end, and
people will eat their fill. He will repay everything that the “locusts”
have taken. Not only will He pour out physical blessings of food and
water but he will also pour out his Spirit to the people. They will
prophesy, have dreams and visions. He will show wonders in the heavens
and on earth.
The Day of Judgment is coming soon. All nations will be called into the
valley of decision and the godless nations will be repaid for the evil
they’ve done. God is calling Swaziland back to him before that day
comes so they will be judged a righteous and holy nation.
That night, Elizabeth dreamt that she desperately wanted to feed me.
She wanted to stop me from fasting, but as much as she struggled, she
wasn’t able to make me eat. God was telling her, “NO. She cannot eat,
because I’m doing something with her.” She kept fighting to feed me, and
it would wake her up. She would pray for me to have strength to fast
and then go back to sleep. She kept having this dream over and over
through the night. Each time, she woke up and prayed for me.
The next night (fasting day five) we arrived to our camp at Love Botswana.
Everyone was gathering for dinner, and I went to my tent to pray. I was
so exhausted from all the traveling and carrying bags that when I got
to my tent, I sat down and cried. I completely broke down and told God
that I couldn’t do it, that I was too weak to do it on my own. I
couldn’t move; I couldn’t even pray.
So I asked God to send someone to pray for me, someone who would
intercede to him on my behalf. A minute later, Elizabeth came over and
asked if I was all right. I said something incoherent and she said she
had come to pray for me. She sat next to me in my tent and cried out to
God to give me strength to endure until the end. I slept 11 hours last
night.
Read part two tomorrow…
