Usually, I take my bath immediately after the General Intercessory Prayers (GIP) which is held in the hostel. This time around, I felt a sudden wave of sleep come over me after the prayers, and I decided to close my eyes for a bit. When I woke up, I was about to shower when I heard girls shouting. As the hall representative, I needed to know what the cause of the shouting was. I went into the room where the noise was coming from, and heard people around shouting “give her space, carry her outside…”
I went in and saw a girl on the floor, shaking slightly and breathing hard. She was losing consciousness. Glory and I, who had entered the room, hurried to carry her out with the help of one or two other girls. The hostel porter had come out at this point and told us to put her on a bench by the porter’s lodge. I held her upright in my arms, laid hands on her chest and began to pray in the spirit. I had to tell Glory, and Esther to take over while I hurried to take a bath as I continued praying in the spirit. By the time I was done bathing, they had taken her to the health centre and we met together to pray about what had just happened.
Summarily, the girl had been telling her roommates the dream she had that morning, about how she was attacked and was about to be killed. It was not too long after the dream that she had that experience. One of her roommates suspected that it wasn’t a physical issue, but a spiritual one. We shared the different words we had gotten while praying in our different spaces, and it all pointed to the same thing – that she was being attacked, and a spirit of death was present, having a right. We also recalled the illustration Pastor gave during one of the church meetings, about the spirit of death jumping on someone.
The porter and hall’s Vice President returned after rushing her to the health centre, but the VP was going back again because someone needed to be with her. Glory, Esther and I had a discussion on who will go to see the girl also because it wasn’t just a physical issue. Eventually, Esther and I decided to go.
When we arrived at the health centre, the girl was in a semi-conscious state. She had been saying a lot of things about people surrounding her, someone stabbing her sides and the likes. Her roommate, who was there, was already playing a message, and had kept her Bible by her side. At some point, the girl was breathing hard again, constantly trying to lift herself up.
Different tests had been conducted since she arrived at the clinic and nothing wrong was found. She seemed to be physically fine. By now, even the porter had agreed it was a spiritual issue.
Esther and I immediately went into war mode as we entered the ward. We had already been praying in the spirit while on our way, inquiring and asking for a covering. We played GLH songs as I laid hands on her while we prayed. She began to respond; she calmed down and began breathing gently. Then she kept down her hand that had been on her chest like someone giving up. It was as though she fell into a deep sleep. I read Lamentations 3:22-24 aloud, a scripture we had received as a prayer point.
Shortly after, the nurses informed us that we had to take her to the University’s clinic in the permanent site so we all got into an ambulance. Esther and I were beside her; I was still playing our songs, while Esther was reaching out to our sisters in the hostel to pray.
We got to the clinic and she was taken in with a stretcher. She couldn’t talk much, but she was no longer breathing hard and having those experiences. I was still playing the songs and praying in the spirit. They took her blood for more tests, and asked questions which her roommate responded to. I had to call her name at some point and she faintly responded, describing how she was feeling. It was all spiritual.
Eventually, we had to leave, and one person was to stay back. The others left with the ambulance that brought us. I was going to stay back, for reasons I did not know at the time [except for the spiritual aspect, maybe a covering]. This was not part of my job description as the hall representative, but like Glory said, I was there for the spiritual part of the whole thing. So I used my position as a cover to do ministry. She didn’t have any attacks all through the night, but she was weak and needed to sleep.
When she woke up the next morning, I spoke with her, and she said a lot. She knew this wasn’t a physical issue and the whole hospital thing wasn’t necessary, as she had faced attacks like that before, even to near death experiences. She explained that she knew something was coming, based on the dream. She usually intercedes for people, prays against beings in heavenly places, etc.
I asked her about the things she saw while unconscious or subconscious. She said she saw herself in the midst of people who said they were not going to let her go this time, they wanted to ‘finish’ her [kill her] there and then. But it was as though there was confusion in their midst, and a covering over her. Interestingly when we were praying at the health centre before she was moved, we had asked for a covering for her. She also said that the piercing she felt on her side was the spot she was to be stabbed on.
I spoke to her about the dangers of praying against principalities and powers when you have not been sent, how to pray according to God’s will, and the importance of praying in the spirit more, especially when you don’t know what to pray about [she’s born again and baptised in the Holy Spirit], etc. We talked for a good while, then I led her to repent and talk to God about praying against things. Not too long afterwards, she slept off.
She had already spoken to her mum, who was crying and pleading with her to stay strong and not pass away. I was waiting for her roommates who had left the previous night to come around in the morning with her food, so that I could leave for the hostel and do what I had to do. I heard their voices down the hallway, and although they were unclear, I heard ‘hall rep’, ‘Pastor’, ‘ehya’… So it seemed they were commenting on my staying back, and possibly doing a Pastor’s work. When the roommates came in, they were all very thankful for everything, especially the ones that were around when Esther and I prayed. By this time, she was already awake and was a lot better. She was no longer in pain and everything was fine. I got her number as she sat up to eat and invited her to come for a church meeting.
– Sis Ed.E
2nd Feb 2024
© God’s Lighthouse
