Six hours by banana boat over open ocean and 90-minutes more up a flooded, crocodile-infested river lay the village of Jingada in Papua New Guinea. Recently, a 12 person Discipleship Training School (DTS) team from YWAM Ships Kona visited Jingada to deliver aid and ministry programs and were met by God.
Papua New Guinea’s history of violent displacement and eye-for-eye tribal justice has spawned a culture of fear, anger and resentment.
Is it any wonder that during a village-wide prayer session, the team was overwhelmed by requests for healing from anger? Not prayer for eye sight or joint pain, but anger; a mother asking for help with her son, a wife wanting to forgive her husband’s killer, and a village elder confessing his own struggles with rage in his home.
The Spirit of the Lord laid heavily upon the village that evening and at dawn, nine men appeared from the jungle at our breakfast fire; some bearing ancient weapons of war, including a stone axe, a club, and a sword. No one had called them to come; yet, each one of them, sub-clan chieftains, had independently responded to an inner conviction to visit the camp at that very moment.
Led by the Holy Spirit, one of the students by the fire addressed the men, recounting the prayers for peace from the day before, revealing the connection with their cultural past and calling the men to lay down their arms and repent before God.
To the student’s surprise and joy, the men obeyed!
Laying their weapons down, they dropped to their knees and with many in tears, called to the Lord for forgiveness and deliverance from the grip of fear, bitterness and anger that had dominated the tribe for generations.
It was the final day for the YWAM team in that village, yet in that moment, friendships were made that will never be forgotten as God was glorified in the hearts of us all.
Craig Pulsifer
Port YWAM Kona Communications Staff
https://rattlethebones.com
Click here to learn more about DTS with YWAM Ships Kona!
Interested in knowing more? Contact us. We’d love to chat!
[ess_grid alias=”bottom-blog-grid-news”]