A CHRISTIAN WIDOW WHO FOUGHT A COBRA.

During one of my ministry trips to my home area, a widow and a sister- in- the Lord invited me to pray for her grandson; less than ten years old. I told her to wait until the day I felt going there. I did not know that the answer had a spiritual -war strategy behind it. This widow had acquired a place for a garden almost four villages away and to the north of our village. It is a predominantly Muslim community and she settled to the west of that village. She had her garden close to the lake, after a thick field of reeds. The were other gardens of other families as well. To cut the whole story short, I felt so strongly to go there on a particular day. I asked a brother-in-the- Lord to accompany me. He is a cook at St. Michael’s Girls Secondary School. One of the institutions of the Anglican missionaries. He is also a leader of a fellowship and prayer group there but most of the members are from the Anglican Church. He owned a bicycle- a Humber type. He knew the place and we used his bicycle. After cycling through a scattered field of reeds from the dusty main road, we finally arrived at her garden. To the west of her garden was that thick field of reeds- along the shoreline of the Lake of Stars- as described by the great missionary- Dr David Livingstone. There were some papaws and cassava. She had built a small and a temporary shelter there. I was sitting on a small sack and leaning over the northern wall of that small shelter.
Ladies and gentlemen, behind my back and inside that shelter was a snake they were staying with but did not know it. To avoid wasting much time against the aim of the trip, I told her that we should start the prayers.
MY JOURNEY FROM MUSIC TO MINISTRY WAS THROUGH FAITH, BOLDNESS AND COURAGE.
Although I was facing trials and other challenges but GOD was now showing Himself along the journey in marvelous ways.
The battle between that snake and her was set on the following day- after the prayers. The grandson who needed the prayers was relaxing on her grandmother’s legs. I moved to pray for the child but felt to pray for the woman as well.
So I prayed for the woman as well. While I laid my hand upon her heard, I felt the power of the Lord coming upon her but I did not feel the same on the child.
After that, I asked the brother that we should not take long but to be leaving back home. She persuaded us that we should take some fruits but I refused to take anything from her. We left the place and went home.
On the following day, she was alone. She went out of her shelter and tried to enter back. At that point, she confronted the snake face-to-face.
This time, her family members were not there, the pastor from the St. Martin’s Anglican congregation- where I was brought up at the beginning of my Christian walk- was not there. Her neighbors from the other gardens were not there; the villagers to her east were not there, the fishermen who used to pass behind that field of thick reeds on their fishery activities, were not there. Her fellow members of the Anglican women’s guild were not available. But GOD was there- our shield and stronghold in the time of trouble. He was in total control.
My brothers and sisters, when the world was empty of assistance around her, that was the time the cobra manifested in her smaller shelter. She called it ‘the beast’ and that beast manifested.
What a timely appearance and a timely battle? It was well calculated by the Enemy but more also, in advance, by the Lord- for he is the First and the Last- the Alpha and Omega. He is the Beginning and the End.
The battle began between a widow and a cobra along the beautiful shores of the Lake of Stars. It was near a thick field of reeds. A well set spiritual boxing ring between a Christian widow and a cobra- light versus darkness.
The woman faced this cobra all alone- without the hand of flesh but spiritually, GOD was with her.
We all were not there. But the GOD whom we called upon, on the previous day, was there to give are protection and a great victory. She picked on a burning wood outside her shelter and a panga blades, as the snake was still inside. The Enemy did not run away. She entered her small shelter again and the battle began. The snake managed to spit upon her face but her eyes did not get affected. She could still see and continue to fight the snake declaring that she was a child of GOD. This is a true story of a widow and a child of GOD I prayed for at that time. The Enemy had no mercy that she was a widow. Mercy belongs to our GOD.
The snake gave up and died. In her account, she said that, she experienced the following when that cobra was in her shelter. You should remember that she did not know that she was staying with that snake.
(a). If one of her grandchildren slept by that side, where the snake was, the child was found drawn towards her feet.
(b). The same child developed eye sickness within that period.
(c). She experienced body weaknesses or fatigue during that period.
When the snake died, the side effects they faced, vanished and the woman regained her daily strength. I believe there was something that we cannot know behind the snake- she called it- the beast.
It was by the help of GOD that she killed it. There was an interesting part of her testimony. She said that, at first, she was scared but later, she felt boldness. The Lord helped her to overcome fear and put on faith, boldness and courage. If she gave in to fear, she could not be able to fight and defeat it. But GOD helped her overcome that fear. When the snake spat over her, she confessed that she would not be affected because she was a child of GOD. This shows that she had faith in GOD. She replace fear with faith boldness and courage and she won her battle. The battle which even other men could not have win.
I believe some of the problems or challenges you may be facing cannot be compared to what this widow faced. She faced instant death. But yours is not about instant death.
GOD delivered her from that death, like David before the lion and bear; Daniel in the den of lions and apostle Paul when bitten by a snake, on the island of Malta. The same GOD will also fight for you and give you victory if you believe. Do not be afraid; do not give up your faith and hope. GOD does not change. He is the same.
Therefore, I believe that, if you put off fear and put on faith, boldness and courage, you will also have a supernatural victories over your mountains too.
Amen.