How the Holy Spirit transforms the most unlikely converts
When we started reaching the unreached, we wondered whether they would ever believe in the Gospel because of their hostilities and resistance. There was no unreached community that we have visited that did not threaten us.
Our efforts were usually met with stiff opposition and most times, we felt like yielding to their threats. But one thing that we never stopped doing was to continuously ask the Holy Spirit to touch them and make their hearts fertile for the Gospel.
We had several amazing experiences where there were manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit. In a particular community, we were driven out of the village with swords, sticks and stones. The attack was masterminded by a woman (wife of the chief priest). She mobilized the entire community against our team and made it clear that they do not want the God of the Christians. Every effort to spend a night in their community proved impossible. The hostility was too much.
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We left this village frustrated, dejected and famished since we had no opportunity to prepare meal after about 10 hours on the road. We rode on bike through the night to the nearest town where we spent the remaining part of the night. When we returned to our base, we decided not to return to this community for the fear of being killed, but we continued to pray for the Holy Spirit to touch their hearts, and especially the heart of the wife of the chief priest of Maijero Idol.
After about two months, the Holy Spirit convicted me to return to this community. I resisted the prompting, but one fateful day I made up my mind and informed my team that we were going back. When we got there, we met the wife of the chief priest. She demanded to know why we returned despite all warnings.
I took time to explain to her that it was love for the people of the community that made us to return and that we were sent by the God who created them and who made Heaven and Earth. I hurriedly preached Christ to her and notified her that Christ is coming to live among them and rule over the community. I noticed a change in her countenance, and she made a surprising remark: "The way that you are talking about this Jesus, it seems that He is a rich man. Please tell Him not to come to this village because we do not have good house for Him to live, good food for Him to eat and no clean water for Him to drink."
I then had the opportunity to reference "The unknown God" whom Paul preached in Athens (Acts 17:23). She finally bowed to the saving power of Christ. She gave us a hut to sleep in and told us to sneak out of the village very early in the morning, to avoid the villagers. She promised that she was going to talk to every member of the community and meet with us again soon.
When we returned, she mobilized the entire village, and we preached a short sermon to everyone. The entire community repented and accepted Christ. The only person who resisted was the husband of this woman, who upon hearing her preach Christ to him, also surrendered his life to Jesus.
In our next visit, we saw people from other villages. As they were approaching, they were shouting "we want to become Christians." We were surprised and asked how they came to know about Christianity. They said that the wife of the chief priest had told them all about how Jesus has transformed her life.
When we asked her what motivated her to move from place to place to tell people about Jesus, she said, "I can't keep quite after Jesus forgave me my sins and saved me. I can't keep quiet. I must tell others about the goodness of the God of the Christians."
This was the work of the Holy Spirit. It is amazing that the same woman who masterminded an attack against us later became our best friend and co-laborer for the Gospel. Alleluia!
We uploaded a video of this amazing woman on the Mission Impact Stories' page of our website. She is a veritable instrument in the mandate of the Great Commission. Her husband has gone to be with the Lord, so let us prayerfully uphold her regularly. She is a source of inspiration and has given us the reason to continue to reach the unreached no matter the challenges
We shall remain eternally grateful to the Holy Spirit who brings salvation to all peoples. All praise be to God.
Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.
