This is a story about my dear Alliance friends in West Africa—Pastor S; his wife, N; and their son, Reuben—who received a miraculous answer to prayer.
In late April, Reuben and two friends were invited to work for a government project in an area with increased terrorist activity. Eager about the employment for which their university educations had prepared them, the three left with their parents’ prayers and blessings. But after the friends had been gone almost two weeks, word came that armed extremists had captured them. No one knew where they were or how they were doing.
When I received the message, I immediately began emailing a network of intercessors. Thousands of Alliance people began praying from across Africa, the Netherlands, and throughout the United States.
On Sunday, May 10, I received a shocking call from Pastor S—the three were home safe! The boys later reported that while at their work site, armed, masked men captured, blindfolded, and bound them in chains, locking them up in a remote location. The captors tried to force the young men, who are Christians, to learn verses from the men’s holy book and repeat their prayers. The three refused, saying they prayed to the Jesus revealed in the Bible.
After the group leader threatened to kill them if they didn’t comply, the young men began to loudly sing the Christian hymns they knew well. At some point after the singing began, the prison door opened; a girl entered and released the three from their chains. When they walked out, there were no masked men. Someone returned all their belongings, including their motorbikes, and pointed to the road safely out of the area.
Pastor S told me that after the boys arrived on Sunday, exhausted and tired, people came cheering and crying with joy to see these three lost sons who returned safely after 13 days in captivity. This experience has brought to life for me the Acts 16 story of Paul and Silas released from prison.
I share this story to also honor my friend N’s request. “Tell everybody what Jesus can do when you pray!”
adapted from a report by an Alliance worker from the Netherlands, serving in West Africa