18 Apr Isaiah and Esther Win Jinja

The very first time I went to Africa I did three trainings, one a small impromptu training for about 20 people in the city of Mbale, Uganda. There I met a young man who could only come for one day of the two-day training. Thankfully, on that day, we covered Luke 10:1-11 where Jesus sends out His disciples two-by-two and gives them specific instructions on how to reach households and towns for His Kingdom. 

This man, Isaiah, got so excited he went and shared with his newly saved friend, Esther, what he had learned and Esther got excited. They both saw this as part of Jesus’ training program to train disciples so they are equipped to disciple nations. Within a couple of days, Esther received a strong impression from the Lord directing them to go to preach the gospel in Jinja. She shared this message from the Lord with Isaiah and he said, “We can’t go to Jinja because we don’t have any money for transportation.”

Now, Esther had grown up on the city streets of Kampala, Uganda. She had been abandoned on the streets by her grandmother as a five-year-old child. So you can imagine what kind of a tough survivor this sister is. So Esther replied to Isaiah, “If the Lord is directing us to go, then we need to go. And the Lord will provide whatever money we need.”

They immediately began walking to the bus station without money, food, or extra clothes and shoes (because that’s what Jesus had his disciples do in Luke 10). On the way to the bus station, one of their friends met them and said, “I was coming to find you because I feel like the Lord wants me to give you some money.”

The money the friend gave them was just enough to cover transportation to Jinja and buy one meal once they got there. They arrived at the bus station and purchased their tickets and had to wait a long time. You see, in this part of the world, buses don’t depart on a schedule, they depart once the bus is full.  At one point during the long wait, Isaiah was climbing off the bus to go use the restroom, and his shirt caught on the back of the seat which made the buttons come off of his shirt. So he collected the buttons and put them in his pocket but he was embarrassed now because his shirt was hanging open and he didn’t have an extra. He was also a little disheartened because he thought, “Now when I get to Jinja I will have to find a tailor to fix my shirt and I won’t have any money left for even one meal.”

Nearing sundown, the bus finally left and they arrived in Jinja after dark. Immediately,  they started asking around to find an open tailor shop. The first one that they went to was closed for the night but the second one was still open so they went inside.  The tailor was working so Isaiah asked him how much it would cost to put the buttons back on the shirt, the man replied with a very low price. It would be equivalent to about $0.35 USD. Isaiah was so happy with the price he said, “Praise God!” 

The tailor looked intently at Isaiah and Esther and asked, “You know God?”

They said, “We do; in fact, He sent us here to find someone and someone’s household that is looking for God.” 

The tailor replied and said, “I am looking for God.”  So Isaiah and Esther shared a little bit of the gospel with the man. 

He asked them, “Where are you staying?” They said they had not found a place to stay yet. 

The tailor said, “Well now you have a place to stay. You’ll stay with me and my family.”

The tailor then invited them into his home and introduced them to his family.

They shared the gospel with the tailor and his whole family and the entire family surrendered their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ! Praise the Lord!

The next day they went out into the market where people were gathered and began to share the gospel with the people they met there. But the people were not overly enthusiastic and were actually rejecting the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. In fact, Isaiah and Esther began to think they might have to wipe the dust off their feet as a testimony against them because that’s what Jesus told his followers to do in Luke 10. But the Holy Spirit reminded them that before they wipe the dust from their feet, they’re supposed to heal the sick who are there.  So they asked the people who were listening to them, “who among them was sick” and needed to be healed? Sick people began coming forward and as Isaiah and Esther laid their hands on them and commanded them to be healed in Jesus’ name, the Lord healed them. 

When the crowd saw that people were getting healed, someone said, “There is a woman in town who needs to be healed. The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with her. She just lost her ability to walk and her ability to speak about four months ago.”

This woman was very well known and well-liked in the city. And most people knew about her condition. So Isaiah and Esther were brought to the home of this woman and Esther went into her room and knelt down by the woman. Esther shared with her about Jesus and the salvation and eternal life that she can receive as a result of receiving Him as her Lord and Savior. She spoke to the woman and told her to be healed in the Almighty name of Jesus. She took her by the hand and lifted her up. At that very moment, the woman’s legs became strong and her tongue became loose and she began to speak and she began to walk. That woman began to walk around Jinja and told the whole city that Jesus had healed her.

The last time I was in Africa one of the Disciple Making Movement (DMM) leaders had traveled to Jinja to visit with the disciples there. He told me that they had grown to many thousands of disciples who are going, sharing the gospel, and multiplying in that region! May they continue to multiply to the ends of the earth until the return of Jesus.

If you would like to learn how to be a disciple who makes disciples and multiply more disciples in your part of the world the way God continues to multiply disciples in Jinja, please reach out to us and we will make plans to get you trained.