News: Jesus is STILL Healing!
Jessica, Jonathan, Jennifer, Koku (our friend from church
and translator), and I were in one of the nearby villages going door to door ministry when we came to one hut in which the mother
invited us in because her child was sick. We walked in and she was holding him in her
arms on the couch in the one room home.
Jonathan immediately
recognized the boy.
The past few nights we had come to this same village which
is where he saw the boy playing with his friends. Honestly, when I pictured our time in Africa,
I imagined a small gathering in the middle of a village of huts with women, men
and children dancing and singing for the Lord…let me tell you, that’s exactly
what we walked into. Man, was that a
good time. I’ve said it before, and I’ll
say it again, African’s know how to worship!
The boy, Laxon, was
now in a completely different state.
His mother said he had developed a fever out of nowhere but
didn’t understand where it came from. Laxon was completely unresponsive.
His limbs were limp. You could
lift up his hands and arms and they would drop without hesitation back to his
lap. Laxon was also drooling
uncontrollably. His eyes were rolling to
the back of his head and he wouldn’t react at all when you said his name. Jonathan ran his fingers along the bottom of
his foot at one point to see if his foot would react, but nothing happened. We lifted
him up to see if he could stand or walk, but his legs were limp so we sat him
back down. He basically seemed brain
dead on all accounts.
Koku explained that she had seen this before and the cause
was witchcraft. We felt his head and he
had no fever. When we walked into their
home, we felt a strong heaviness in the atmosphere so we began praying to
ourselves immediately.
His mother said that the witch doctor in the area was on his
way over. Praise God we arrived
first! The mother and grandmother were
very apprehensive to have us pray over him, but eventually gave us the okay.
So, we prayed…
And prayed…
And prayed…
As we prayed, the
atmosphere changed. We felt peace. We felt God’s presence fill the room.
While we were praying, Laxon’s eyebrows began moving up and
down at a rapid pace. You could tell
something was happening. We continued
praying fervently over him.
Koku talked to his mom about Jesus and explained that He is
the ultimate healer and no other spiritual power has authority over the Holy
Spirit – which is far from the common belief here. Jonathan and I were going to preach in the
village later that afternoon so we planned to come back to their house with the
Pastor afterwards. Before we left, Laxon’s mother told Koku that she wasn’t going to have the witchdoctor
see Laxon anymore. Praise God,
again! Koku explained that Sumbawanga is a region that people in
Tanzania stay away from because of the extreme
use and belief in witchcraft and
worshiping of other gods. She went
on to tell us that the village we have been spending our time is the worst of
the worst. People had only recently
began to hear of the gospel and the salvation that comes from Jesus, but have
stayed loyal to their gods. She then
began to tell me that since we showed up to church on Sunday, the atmosphere in
the area changed.
Which brings me to another topic at hand..
Rachelle had a vision in Ireland about our team walking
through a market and we were surrounded by a dark cloud with extreme lightness
all around the cloud. 2 Samuel 22, which
the Lord brought to me at the same time, reads:
*He parted
the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under His feet.
He mounted
the cherubim and flew;
he soared on
the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his canopy around him;
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness
of his presence
Bolts of lightning
blazed forth.
The Lord
thundered from heaven:
the voice of the Most High Resounded.
-2 Samuel 22: 10-14
Here’s another verse that shines some light on what we’ve
been getting (get it, shines some light?? Ooh man, that’s good stuff),
*If I say,
“Surely the darkness will hide me
and the
light become night around me,”
Even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139: 11-12
As a team, we’ve been praying into what all of this meant,
when it would take place and what it may look like. I think now’s the time. Walking through the market the other day,
Rachelle said it looked exactly like it did in her vision. A few of us have felt an extreme sense of
peace with us as we’ve been walking around town and meeting people in the
community. I’ve felt that we’ve been
surrounded by God’s presence the whole time we’ve been here. Sumbawanga is a place of extreme spiritual
warfare, yet God has kept His promise to protect us from all harm. We’re praying God uses us as His vessels to
change this city and bring peace and salvation to His people.
As we were walking back to our house for lunch, Jennifer
felt the Lord was putting two verses on her heart for this boy:
*And I will do
whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I
will do it. – John 14: 13-14
* But this kind does
not go out except by prayer and fasting. – Matthew 14: 21, Matthew 14: 17-21 talks
about Jesus healing a demon possessed boy. (in 7/8 of our bibles, this verse is actually only included in the
footnotes which we found very interesting)
Coincidence? I think
not.
When the Lord speaks, we’ve
learned to listen.
We arrived back at the boy’s house with the pastor and the
mob of children that follows us everywhere to find the mother standing
outside. We asked where the boy was and
she pointed to the small, half built brick building next to their hut.
against the building looking up at us completely awake and aware.
He shook our hands and looked around at
us shyly.
Man, I will forget seeing him that day.
His mother said that it was during the time after we left,
and before the other half of our team went out to the village that he started improving. That was the exact time that we were praying for him as a team.
Man oh man. God’s
been teaching me a lot about praying for people and keeping my faith strong
whether or not I see God move in that moment. Our God only brings good, and when we pray He hears us and answers our
prayers as long as it is according to His will (which is good, pleasing and
perfect – Romans 12:2).
God healed one of his
children yesterday. He used us as
His vessels to bring Him glory. He gave
us the gift of seeing the fruit of our efforts.
We’re hoping the word will spread of what God did in that
village and it will begin to transform the village and hearts of all who live
there.
We’re going to visit Laxon and his mom over the next 2
weeks. Please pray that their hearts
would be open to what the Lord is doing in their family and that it would be
the beginning of a deep, dependent relationship on the Lord.
God is good, all the time.
All the time, God is good.
