Following is a testimony of Elizabeth, one of the attendees.
A NATION ARISES FROM THE DUST. 22 April 2017.
The question is asked? Can a nation be born in a day? Isaiah 66:8.
The early morning light reflects in the haze of dusts as motors and busses crawl along the gravel farmroad, carrying families, friends, groups, entire churches - all of them hoping and praying for one thing - for God to meet with us!
As we near the cleared fields we see the 3 crosses on the hill, then the speaker towers, and the stage where a few thousand early risers already gathered together. Some drove through the night. From the far corners of our nation they came.
The hearts of people, like these bare grasslands, are prepared to receive some seed of hope from the Lord.
Then people started walking. We walked and walked through the dust, at first a bit uncertain, then with steady tred, our eyes fixed on that stage in the distance, about 3 km away! We felt like the Israelites staggering out of Egypt, on our way to meet with God. People were laden with chairs, blankets and even coolers with food on trolleys! They stumbled over grass tufts and ploughed ditches, past red 'king's hire' chemical toilets, to places near the speaker towers with their big tv screens. The sound of worship music was thundering over the grasslands from these massive speakers. I wondered for a moment what kind of speakers Moses and Aaron had?
And still the people came, like ants. They kept coming for the next 7 hours! Families and groups huddled together on their chairs like at a picnic, expectancy like static electricity in the air. Jovial greetings when they re-unite with friends or family. Almost like gathering for 'nagmaal' in the olden days of the church in South Africa. As the crowds grew, the expectancy grew.
People sat in the dust. They sun beat down on us. We sat. Determined to meet with God. Not knowing what to expect. But our hearts were ready to pick up the faintest move of the Spirit of God, or the slightest whisper of His voice. During the pre-worship there suddenly came a few holy moments when the music and worship created a cathedral for the entrance of His Majesty. People spontaneously knelt in the dust or threw their hands in the air.
Still we waited,and still the people came. 12 o'clock came and went. We waited. We waited for a father that God had given our nation. Uncle Angus who, like a mid-wife, over-saw the spiritual births of thousands of men and women in this nation. A father, with a weather-beaten face, cowboy hat and a vouce like thunder: AMEN!
He guided us like an anointed evangelist should, to the moment of public confession of faith. Then 1 million expectant believers knelt in the dust, bare-headed in the sun. We clutched at each other, knowing that this was a holy moment. Young and old, sick and healthy. We knelt before our holy God. We acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord, we surrendered ourselves to Him as our Supreme God. We confessed our sins. We proclaimed with one voice: we will have no other gods! We bowed and humbled ourselves. THAT MOMENT A NATION WAS BORN. When we stood to pray ourselves, for South Africa, for healing and deliverance, we were filled with a NEW HOPE. A NEW NATION stood up out of that dust, tears were streaming down our faces, some shoulders were shaking. People embraced one another.
We were rooted in that dusty fields as a whirlwind danced in front of the stage. A single small sign of God's presence. We waited for the fatherly blessing coming from the shepherd that Gid had given us for this IT'S TIME gathering. With faces lifted up, hands stretched out to heaven we received God's blessing.
Then, reluctantly people gathered their chairs, food-coolers and began walking through the dust clouds to their vehicles and busses. It took another 5 hours for people to exit the farm.
The question in everyone's heart: Did God hear our prayers? But I felt it. I heard it all around as we walked back. People's eyes were bright. There was a joy inside of them. There was something new. A seed of hope. God called a meeting by saying: IT'S TIME! We came. We met with Him. He placed something holy inside of us. It will grow and time will show what God can do with a nation whose hearts are undividedly fixed on Him.
Let us believe and take hold of God. He will not let us go. A NATION WAS BORN OUT OF THE DUST TODAY. A new nation that God can use to establish and advance His Kingdom in South Africa.
Father, not our will, but let Your will be done!
AMEN!
Elizabeth J.
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