“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
These are the words of Jesus to us. GO and MAKE disciples, and TEACH them.
I thought I had an idea of what that meant, but now I am realizing I had a very vague idea.
I have been living in a safe for a little over a month now. I was brought on staff as the house manager. The children in this safe house are all victims of sexual violence, putting them at risk of more sexual assault or worse, being trafficked. The mission and vision of those of us working here is that these children would heal from their past trauma by finding wholeness in Christ and then carry that wholeness back to their homes with them in order to spread the gospel of Christ.
They in fact, are the littlest disciples I have ever had.
And as I am standing in church today during worship, feeling somewhat tired and fidgety. I notice the children are seated also looking tired and fidgeting, not quite able to sit still or focus or sing from their hearts. I begin praying for my own heart at first and then for their little hearts as well. As I pray the Lord begins to silence me so that my attention is fully on Him, and He speaks.
“These are your disciples. They will do and say as they see you do and say. They will act as they see you act. With gentleness and patience, passion and ferver. Or with tiredness, frustration, impatience etc.
They will learn to love me and know me personally as they witness your love and personally relationship with me or they will learn rigid religion and half-hearted efforts to obtain holiness . . . Seize every opportunity to teach them, I have taught you and to show them as you have been shown.”
In this moment of reality coupled with inadequacy weighing in, I breathe out the only prayer I can muster . . . “Jesus. Help.”
As I open my eyes I turn my head and there on the ground is a woman who has just collapsed in church. There are two Khmer people tending to her, one rubbing tiger balm on her chest and the other fanning her. At first I think she is laid out in the Spirit, but then a concerned look crosses the face of the girl fanning her and I decide I should probably get up and go check her pulse.
It’s faint at best. I can’t get a good feel for it competing with the rhythmic motions of the Tiger Balm Lady. Her limbs are cold and it is hard to tell if she is breathing in the position that she is in, so myself and another Khmer guy hoist her up, take her out of the church and into another room where we lay her flat. Her husband and mother follow us. She is breathing, her pulses are slow but not dangerously. After a few more minutes of Tiger Balm Lady and myself relentlessly checking her pulses, she opens her eyes.
When she is capable of speaking I take a short history from her. Before she collapsed she felt pressure in her chest as if someone was sitting on it, her limbs were tingling and then she was down. She knows she has a heart problem and has fainted a couple times this week already. Among other things she has AIDS, and had tuberculosis recently. She is going back to the doctor this week. Feeling somewhat helpless, having no medicine and really, no sure idea of what just happened due my limited knowledge of Khmer . . . I feel in my heart the only thing I can do for sure is pray. So we lay hands on her and ask the Holy Spirit to come and to heal.
She then lays down again to rest. As I walk outside I am met by the children. I have missed the Sunday service entirely and they are filled with questions. Is she okay? What happened?
One child even says that she wants to pray forher. I remember the Lord’s words to me: Seize every opportunity to teach them . . . So I gather all the children together. Quietly we go into the room where she is laying. I explain to them very simply:
She has a sickness in her heart. It makes her very tired and weak. So we need to pray and ask Jesus to heal her heart. When Jesus was here on earth he only touched people and said, “be healed” and they were healed. And because we believe in Jesus, we can pray for sick people and Jesus will heal them even today. Do you believe Jesus will heal her?
. . . A resounding YES!
Okay then, let’s pray.
All at once, me and these very sweet 5 little girls lay hands on the woman sleeping in front of us. And at the same time we all lifted our voices asking Jesus to heal her . . . believing that he can and he will.
Go and Make
disciples of all nations.
Teaching them everything
I have commanded you.
