These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.'” Matthew 10:5-8
In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus sends out His twelve disciples and, “gave then authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness,” (verse 1). Because of this given authority, and the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples then had the power to preform the same miracles that Jesus had been preforming. CRAZY. And because we are also disciples of Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we too are given the authority to preform the same miracles that Jesus did. EVEN CRAZIER.
Coming from a rather conservative background, healing was a fairy tale that only happened to Jesus, and quite honestly never even on my radar. Little did I know, the Lord was going to use my first month on the race to completely shatter my previous beliefs and rebuild my understanding of who my heavenly Father is. My second day in Guatemala, God so intentionally used my uncertain heart as a tool to heal three people of physical pain in front of a yellow Catholic church. This was my first experience wit healing, and at moments I couldn’t even fully grasp what was going on around me and how the Lord was moving. In the following weeks however, the Lord continued to transform my eyes and heart, and develop my spiritual gift as a “healer” and what that even means.
Weeks later after morning worship, our ministry contacts announced that our ministry plans for the next two days was to heal the sick in the hospital connected to the same yellow Catholic church I had been to before. Let me tell you, that is a lot easier said than done. The Lord stretched my faith drastically that first day while I prayed over patients, seemingly with no results and wondering God wasn’t showing up. But the truth was that the Lord didn’t have to show up because He was already there going before me and walking along side me, like the perfect Father He is. But the work was being done in my own heart. A work that taught me to remain faithful, and trusting the Lord’s will and not my own. The following afternoon my teammate and I met an amazing 8 year old, Lucas, who was the family of a patient on the hospital. Once he caught on to what we were doing in the hospital, he introduced us to six other people in the waiting room (including his aunt) who God graciously allowed healing from various physical ailments. Glory be to God! He is so good.
Healing is something I continue to walk in and process, but the journey has brought me into a deeper intimacy with the Lord as I grow in my faith and allow my human limitations to fall to the ground. My God is too big to be put in a box or restricted by my own fears or doubts. He is working in ways that seem unimaginable but the magic lies in the fact that He wants to include us no matter who we are or where we come from, and all we have to do is say yes to Him.
Thank you Jesus for your mercy and being the Healer we so desperately need!!
Prayer Request: Please pray for continued health among my team, and that we are able to daily surrender ourselves fully to the Lord and our ministry
