On the Road to Gaza
God’s timing is always perfect, his way are better than our ways. There are some things that can only be orchestrated by Him alone. For example, the story of Philip a disciple of Jesus, walking on the road to Gaza and encountering the Ethiopian Eunuch.
On the morning of May 31st, I was at my first Jesus Festival with SOS Adventure. I had woken up that morning to the loud sound of the call to prayer. Every morning at 4:55am the Islamic mosques echoed the same Arabic chant, Muslims from all over Dar Es Salaam were going to worship Allah. At this moment I opened my bible to Acts 8:26-40 and read:
“As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
I contemplated what it would be like to meet someone in such a divine way like Philip. What are the odds that he would stumble upon an Ethiopian man reading the prophecy of Jesus the Messiah. What a powerful moment to see someone receive salvation in this way. I prayed to the Lord that he would do the same in Dar Es Salaam. That I would have a divine encounter with someone and that it would be so out of the ordinary that there was no other way except by the Holy Spirit.
My team of Americans went out on the streets to share the Good News from market to market and street corner to street corner. As the Holy Spirit directed, we stopped to preach on the side of the road next to a bus stop. We danced and gathered a crowd along the road. A 16 year old boy was given the microphone to preach the gospel. He told the story of the prodigal son and how God the Father sent his son Jesus to die the death that we deserved and through him we can receive salvation, redemption and grace. Many people stopped to listen, many people raised their hands to come forward and receive salvation. 20 precious souls were saved on this road side that day, thank you Jesus.
One woman in particular, the one in the picture above with the green dress and white hijab, prayed the a prayer to give her life to Jesus. Afterwards she moved to the side and I watched as tears rolled down her face. They didn’t seem like happy tears so with my translator I went her. She explained to me that today was the day she was going to share the news with her boyfriend that she was pregnant. She took the bus to his house and when she told him, he said that he didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby. He told her to get out and that he didn't want to see her again. She left with her heart broken and crushed. As you can imagine she probably was terrified that now she would have to raise this baby alone, not to mention the fear of what others would think.
Then, the strangest thing happened as the bus got closer to her stop. Instead of slowing down the driver kept on driving as if there was not usually a stop there. Confused, and now frustrated that she needs to find a new route home, she gets off at the next stop. As she got off the bus she immediately was in the middle of our outreach. She heard the hope of Jesus. I got to encourage her in this new life with Jesus she was going to be embark on, and how he would make her a good mother and that he would always be with her. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon her and I watched as he poured out his love on her. She followed with words I won’t forget. With tears in her eyes she said, “All I wanted was peace, and now I have it.”
Only God could have weaved together such a divine moment like this. He answered my prayer and dropped off a heartbroken woman in desperate need of Savior on the road. I had an out of the ordinary “on the road to Gaza” moment with this woman, and like the Ethiopian man she was forever changed.
Most things with God are unnatural, really they are supernatural. There are people everywhere waiting for salvation to come to them, longing for hope. Ask Him for a divine encounter, to meet the “one” today. The Holy Spirit is moving all of the time, will you join in?
