She hung to the back of the group of people as I laid hands on them and prayed for them one by one. Finally the others had wandered off and she came forward to 2 women friends. I easily put my hands on her head for she was very short, even for Indian women. A second later she started shaking and pulling back from me. Her friends expected this and held her upright but she soon collapsed to the floor anyway. She was moaning, shaking and holding her hands over her ears with more strength than he small body should have had. As we prayed for her full story came out.
She was named Naga Durga by her Hindu father. Naga is the Hindu snake god (one of the most powerful in this part of India) and Durga is a female goddess very similar to Dianna that the apostles challenged in Ephesus. Because she was named after 2 Hindu gods the demons had a strong claim on her. She had been coming to church and is a believer in Jesus, even removing the Hindu idols from her home. But her Hindu husband brought one back in and won’t let her remove it. She hasn’t grown to the point where she will stop wearing her bindi dot, for it was present on her face. She has been encouraged to take a public stand by being baptized and taking a Christian name but she is afraid of doing that without her husband’s approval. She wants to wait until he is baptized as well. His name, by the way, is Ravi Kumar.
Nancy, some of the women and I prayed for her, anointed her with oil several times, and kept interceding until finally she settled down. Then she would start up again. After several episodes of this she finally came back to her normal shy, gentle self. She said the demons hadn’t left for good but that the battle was over for now.
Pray for her. You can call her ‘Martha’ for when they asked me to give her a Christian name as an identity that is what God put in my mind. Call her what you will, God knows who you are talking about. Pray she would have the courage to be baptized and change her name. pray for her husband to be softened as well, and to come to the Lord. You can see her in the attached picture of “Church Women.” She is the 2nd from the right, holding the white bag.
James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 4:2 You do not have, because you do not ask God
Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
John 16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
On a scare of 1 to10, how much do you really believe in the power of prayer? Does the quality and quantity of your prayer life show that? This is an area where God has been convicting me and where I need to grow in the coming months. Pray I would. Pray you would as well.