Madagascar was hands down the most intense ministry I have had on the race this far. Team Firebrand, as we were called at the time, had not yet had an opportunity to do evangelism as a ministry through the first two months on the race but this month in Madagascar our evangelism dreams came true. The seven people on our team, our SQL (squad leader) Kevin and our translator Michael had the opportunity to go to a village, close to 15 minutes away from our campsite, for two weeks straight to do ministry. As we soon found out, these weeks spent at this village were going to be up to us on what we wanted to do. We saw this as our opportunity.
The nights before our team found out what our ministry was going to be for the month our team prayed for God to give us an opportunity to let him move in ways we had never seen before. Katie, one of the girls on Firebrand, got each of us to write down on a sheet of paper what we wanted to see God do this month, no matter how big. Sometimes I am so painfully aware of my own limitations that I project those limitations on God. God is not limited by anything, least of all by my insufficiencies. He is the great I Am. So with that thought in mind I wrote down that I wanted to see God heal five different people this month.
And He did.
I am writing this blog because I want you to understand how great God is and to bring glory to him for all of these healings he allowed me to be apart of. It is easy to be a Christian and read all the incredible stories of miracles and healings in the bible and believe that he DID those things but it is hard to believe that he will DO those things now. I am just like you all. I am just a southern kid from the US trying to make an impact in the world. I grew up hearing all kinds of crazy stories of people being healed and miracles taking place but I never saw that for myself. I just thought that God uses those who are “more spiritual” than others or those who “have it all together”, as if that was something that could be accomplished, to do these incredible miracles but that is not the case. As we read in the bible we can see God use so many people who might be considered inadequate to bring his kingdom to earth. This blog is to show you that God used someone like me and others like me (team firebrand {now called Pomme Frites}) to do great things while being in Madagascar and he can use you just the same wherever you are at in the world right now.
The first healing I saw was actually my own. In Swaziland I did something really dumb: I ran a 10K. The reason that was dumb was for one, I am too out of shape to be running any kind of K, and secondly, I didn’t train at all. The dumbest part about this day was not the fact that I ran a 10K without any training but it was that afternoon I decided it was a good idea to play 2 hours of basketball, without stretching (you can stop judging me through your screens right now, I know it was dumb but I just didn’t think about it). Well through these series of unfortunate events I hurt my right knee pretty badly; so badly in fact that I wore a knee brace for like the next two weeks. Fast-forward three weeks and it was still bothering me when I was in Madagascar. I had finally grown tired of it so I humbled myself and asked my team to pray over my knee that it would quit hurting and that I could play basketball again (cause God knows I need that). My friend and teammate Katie prayed over my knee. The next morning I didn’t have any pain at all in that knee and to this day, 7 weeks later, still no pain. To God be the glory.
The second healing: Our translators, my team and I are walking down the streets of this village praying amongst ourselves asking the Holy Spirit to show us who to pray for. As we walked three elderly ladies called out to us from a hill where they were sitting. As we approached them they asked why we were here (this is not uncommon since we are foreigners). We told them that we are here spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and are praying for anyone who wants it. Two of the three ladies then asked us to pray for healing over their bodies. My friend and teammate Gabby prayed for this woman who was suffering from severe pains in her stomach and when she finished praying the woman said she didn’t feel anything at all. All the pain had left her that instant. To God be the glory.
The Third healing: I got the opportunity to pray for the other woman in the above story who asked for prayer on that hill. To give a little background, in Mozambique (our first month on the field) I met a two year old little girl named Xena whose feet were turned inward to the point where she could not stand and had to be carried or crawl everywhere she went. I felt so much compassion for her. I knew what the scriptures said and I knew that God would heal her if we prayed and believed he would so I asked a couple people on my team to help me pray for her. We fasted for a couple days leading up to that day and then we prayed for her…nothing happened. I was so upset with God. For the next three days I was literally mad at God, dumb I know but I thought I had the right to be. I threw scripture after scripture at God trying to remind him of all the promises and things he said he would do if we believed in him (as if he needed to be reminded of something he said). Then God threw a scripture at me: Job 38: 1-4, “Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.” (NLT) Then I realized how dumb I was acting. I made this healing of Xena to be more about me than it was about God. I was so set on seeing a healing that I forgot God is sovereign over it all. God taught me through that event that I needed to drop all expectations of him and what he was going to do and just be obedient and trust that everything happens in his timing. Fast-forward two months and here I am, on a hill, on a street in Madagascar, standing in front of this woman, realizing this is the first time I’ve prayed for healing over someone since God gave me that revelation. The woman had these large lumps on both of her arms that enabled her to not have much mobility in either arm at all. I prayed for this woman and nothing happened. Instantly the devil brought back the memory of Xena and he said, “Look, God didn’t heal again when you prayed. There must be something wrong with you. What have you been doing? What sin have you committed?” Before the devil could go any further I prayed to God and said, “God, if you heal this woman or not, that is up to you. All you asked me to do was be obedient and that is what I am doing.” After that I had peace about it all. Three days later the woman searched us out and found the church where we were doing ministry that day just to show me that God healed both of her arms. There were no lumps on her at all and she had full mobility in her arms. To God be the glory.
The fourth healing: On this day in Madagascar my team and I decided to walk throughout the village singing and praying for the area. As we went a woman approached our translator and told him about a woman, her neighbor I believe, who had been demon possessed and hadn’t been able to walk for the past 6 days. We walked to her house and as we got there we saw this woman outside lying beside a tree with people gathered around her. Michael, our translator, began to speak to her while the rest of our team prayed and worshiped God behind him. Praise and worship is one of the most powerful weapons of spiritual warfare. The Spirit of God will infuse you with his power, strength, peace, and joy as you worship him. Michael then asked us to gather around her and pray. After we prayed the woman stood up on her own, walked to the house and walked back. Remember, this woman couldn’t stand up, let alone walk on her own and she did it right before our eyes. A week later we came back to this house to check on the lady and we couldn’t find her; she was too busy walking throughout the village. To God be the glory.
The fifth healing: Every morning before our team went out into the village to minster we met at a local church to pray and worship. As we got there one Thursday morning a woman was waiting on us with her son. She told us that she had waited for us to come to the village on Tuesday and Wednesday but we never came (we had a situation that caused us to miss ministry for two days). She said that if we didn’t come to the village today she was going to take her son to the campsite we were at just to get us to pray for him because she knew God was going to heal him. Her faith really impacted me. Her son was born without a left ear so he obviously couldn’t hear from that side. This woman wanted us to pray that he would be able to hear just like the other 7 year old boys his age. Our team gathered around and started to pray, believing together that God was going to heal him. A few moments later, Michael starts to talk to this boy and asks him questions to see if he would answer. Then we pray again. The second time, Michael plugs the little boy’s right ear and whispers to his left side where his ear would normally be and the boy responds. Michael then starts whispering lower and lower to the little boy random questions in his left ear and the boy continues to respond like there was never a problem with him. God didn’t grow an ear back, which if he did at this point I would not be surprised, but he did restore the hearing back to this little boys left ear. To God be the glory.
The sixth healing: I know that I mentioned I wanted God to show me five healings this month but he showed me six instead. It just goes to show that God will always give us more than we can imagine if we just believe and trust in him. The last week we were in the village, a woman with a brain problem (we think she had a tumor of some sort) asked us to pray for her because she was going in for a scan that week and wanted the results to come back with a clear sign that there was nothing wrong with her any more. We prayed in Jesus name, asking for this incredible miracle and he provided it. A couple days later this woman came back with a good diagnosis from the doctors. They told her that what happened to her was incredible and it had to have been God. Not only did God heal this woman but through this the doctors were also ministered to. To God be the glory.
If you are still reading this I want to encourage you to step out in faith and ask God to show you some incredible things. There is absolutely nothing special about me. God didn’t do these healings and miracles through my team and I because we each decided to take a yearlong mission trip. We are not more spiritual than you all and God knows we do not have it all together. The reason God did this was because we went out in faith to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus says in the Bible that when we go out and make disciples he will be with us.
When you find hope in the Lord, you cannot just keep it to yourself. You have to share it with others. Don’t be afraid to pray for others because you are concerned that your prayers might not be answered. It’s your job to pray and God’s job to answer. You just have to do your job and let God do his. When the opportunity arises to minster the love and hope of God to someone, the Holy Spirit will enable you to do it in a way that will make a lasting impact on that person’s life. And it will glorify God in the most effective and powerful way. It won’t be your power or your words that will bring life to people; it will be the power of the Holy Spirit anointing the words God leads you to say. So the pressure is not on you to deliver, all you have to do is come humbly before the Lord and invite the Holy Spirit to work through you to touch the lives of others. When God opens the door, don’t worry about what to say, just be God’s love extended.
To God be the glory.
Please Subscribe to read more incredible stories like this and to see how God has been working in each country we are in.
Also DONATE! I am still a couple thousand dollars short of my final deadline so please pray about it and come along side me to make a difference here in Indonesia and the next countries I will be in.
