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Today’s challenge included prayerwalking. We had originally thought about walking in the neighborhood of one of the parks in our community, but God had other plans, as it started to rain. He had assembled a team: our friend, my husband, my two step-children, and myself. We walked out our door and headed on foot wherever the Lord led us.

We stopped to pray for the future residents of a home that was for sale for a long time, but now it’s “pending.” May the future residents of the home come to a relationship with Christ, if they haven’t done so already. May their children, if they have any, be brought up in the Lord’s ways. May the home be full of Jesus’ love and laughter.

Around the corner we saw an elderly couple cleaning up a yard and asked how we could pray. The gentleman said his mom, that used to live in the home, passed away a year and a half ago. They’ve been blessed with finding a ton of neat memories. His parents were married in March 1941, and his dad was enlisted into the service in February 1942. There are 300-400 letters back and forth between his parents, and you could tell by the letters how much they genuinely missed each other. He went into detail about one of the letters his mom wrote to his dad. It stated that she had three hamburgers in a frying pan. The pan got bumped, the burgers fell to the floor, and the dogs ate them. Those three hamburgers were all of their ration of meat for the week!  What an amazing lesson, especially to our children, about just how blessed we are to be living in the day and age we do, as difficult as they may seem to us some days.

We walked toward a house that legend has it was a witch’s house. It has an upside down cross laid in the bricks. It seems like everyone that moves into the home doesn’t stay long, and the house is for sale again. We observed the very interesting house, and rebuked any demonic strongmen that may be tormenting any who live there.

As we continued to walk, we saw an elderly man sitting on his porch across the road from us. We waved and smiled. As we continued to walk, he looked curious as to what we were doing, so we went to talk to him.  At times like these, I fall in love with my husband all over again! He walked right up and started talking to him. The man invited my husband to sit down and visit for awhile. He proceeded to tell us that he was having a tough time with some things. He had been involved in a car accident, and it messed up his back. We asked if we could pray for his back, and he allowed us to do so. When we went to pray for him, something came to my attention: an occultic secret society symbol on his ring. After we prayed for him, I noticed that he was getting teary-eyed. We believe he was already feeling better. 🙂 I also noticed a big plaque on his house with the same symbol as the ring.  I have to be honest…it made me uncomfortable. My husband asked him if he knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and he reminded him that time is short before Jesus’ return. The man said he knew Jesus, but you could tell he had fallen away from that close relationship. A remorseful continence came over him. We were probably visiting with him for an hour. He attempted to keep us there as long as he could. He just had to show us his ’48 Chevy. I wonder if he ever talks to Jesus about his loneliness. How sad it must be to feel so alone. I pray the Lord gives him renewed hope today and draws him closer to Him. We certainly plan to go back to visit with him soon.

As we walked home, I was still feeling a little uneasy about us associating with someone that is part of that secret society, even if he was just a member for the social interaction.

I asked the Lord, “What do You want me to know about this?”

The Lord replied, “I came to seek and save the lost….and the deceived. Joni, you can’t be offended by those that practice the occult. I want a relationship with them, too.”

“…for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 NKJV

Oh, man. Of course, He was right…AGAIN. I keep telling the Lord that where He leads me, I will follow; where He goes, I’ll go. He reminded me that sometimes that means being uncomfortable. Those that need to know His love and goodness are often those that are involved in other religions and practices.

Lord, I truly want to go where You lead me. Please help me to remember that no evil can harm me, so that I can be used by You each and every day, the way You see fit. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Joni Zabel

Author Joni Zabel

I'm a wife, mother, step-mother, but most of all, I'm a friend of Jesus Christ. He's recently called me to leave my full-time job to be His disciple and be available for whatever it is He has for me to do. I've stepped out of the boat in faith. My husband and I, as well as several of our friends, know that there is so much MORE the Lord wants from us than to be confined to ministering in a church building, and I'm very excited to see what He has in store for the future!

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  • Nicole says:

    Wow! What an incredible testimony of what God did through you!! I’m praying for those people right now as well!! Thanks for sharing!