ccm Cross 0158
Friday February 2, 2018

EPWC Church
Evangelical Praise and Worship Center Church
Mjejane, South Africa
ccm Cross 0158

GPS/DMS 25°26’41.4″S 31°42’29.9″E

Additional photos after Testimony

4536 cdd Intercessory Combat
Cyber Daily Devotion
Volume 19 Number 045

Today’s Author: Pastor Bill

Scripture: Acts 7:60
“Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” NKJV

Hello, my name is Pastor Moagi Padi from Evangelical Praise and Worship Center Church (EPWC) in Mjejane, South Africa. Everyone calls me Pastor Moagi. This is my Cross Testimony of my journey to become an intercessor for the Lord and how Satan has 3 times tried to snuff out my life.

I grew up in the Alexandria Township North of Johannesburg, South Africa. I was the second born of nine children. My dad worked as a furniture salesman and mom worked in the clothing industry. We never went to church.

A friend of mine invited me to church when I was twelve years old. I attended sporadically over the years. When I was 16 years old I attended a youth rally where the preacher was speaking on Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It was just for me. It was my time. I received Jesus Christ as Lord of my life. I thought the battle was over, but it has just begun.

Before receiving Christ, I was shy and kept to myself. When I received Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit empowered me, and I became outgoing and over flowed with the word of God. I was in high school preaching Jesus.

This was at the same time the African National Conference (ANC) was recruiting high school students to join the liberation army fight against apartheid. I joined up and was sent to Botswana for training. I was there for three months and saw things I can never forget and learned things I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to undo. There was no Jesus. After three months I left. It was not for me. I returned to South Africa and re-dedicated my life to Jesus and entered Bible college. I graduated Bible college and my life as an intercessor for Jesus had begun.

I moved around from church to church and met my wife Cynthia. We married and have two boys. We had a traumatic relationship which ended ten years later. I thought she was the Lord’s answer for my life and when it failed I was devastated. I took poison on a Thursday night in desperation to rid myself of the pain. I woke up Sunday in the hospital. My attempt at suicide was thwarted. When I was in the depths of that four-day experience I found myself all alone on a chair. To one side was a pit of darkness and on the other side was a light shining up a mountain. I sat on the chair holding my head. Looking straight down and not knowing which way to go. Finally, in desperation I lunged toward the light. That’s when I awoke in the hospital. They kept me there for one week and then released me.

The first thing I did when I left the hospital was go to my two boys and tell them I loved them. I told them I would always be there for them.

My life then turned toward the Lord. Satan had tried to destroy me, but it was not to be. I joined with a Pastor friend and worked in church with him for a few years. Then I met Harriet. We married and moved near Krueger Park where we cared for her mom.

We joined a church that was all white — except for us. This was the beginning of my intercessory prayer in earnest.

There have been many healings and deliverances through intercessory prayer over the years but the one that stands out most for me was a friend’s mother. She had been diagnosed in 1999 with cancer and given only three months to live. She was told to put her personal things in order. There was no use in trying to eradicate the cancer because it was just too wide spread throughout her whole body.

We prayed and fasted. The Lord answered. The next set of tests revealed all the cancer was gone. It just vanished. The lady lived until last year.

Then I was driving with Harriet and we were traveling at top speed on the highway when our front tire blew. We skidded off the highway, through a bridge, tumbling over and over six or seven times, until we landed in a dry river bed. We landed on  our tires! We walked out of the car bruised and bashed but healthy. To God be all the Glory. Satan failed again to take my life.

New Year’s Eve a few years back I was in the back seat of my friend’s car returning from The Mayflower Revival. We were traveling at a high speed when our car left the road, overturned and slid into a tree. We all walked away with only cuts and bruises. Had not the tree been there we would have fallen off a steep mountainside to instant death. Satan failed a third time to destroy me.

For me the Cross symbolizes two roads. The first is straight to God in the upright beam. And the Cross beam is what Jesus did personally for me when He died on the Cross and resurrected for my eternal life. It gives me hope and inspires me to pray for people and intercede on their behalf.

When people in our neighborhood see this large Cross, they will know we are the church. We want to go beyond and tell them when they inquire that we are a family. Salvation is here for them.

My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:8-9: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” NKJV

As a Pastor I enjoy praying for my people. On my knees interceding for them before the God of the Universe — holding them up before the throne of the All Mighty.

Prayer: Father thank you for Holy Spirit wisdom, endurance and strength in the intercessory combat for souls. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!