God of Wonders
While this is a very simple concept, I’ve realized that I have not been as obedient as I’ve thought. I regularly read various stories in the bible, different verses, different commands, and unfortunately it often does not go much further than this.
For Example, the Book of Matthew 9:35 says, “ Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.� This verse is not talked about or preached on very often, but it is in the bible. In addition, the Book of Ephesians 5:1 says that we are to be, “be imitators of God.� Putting these two verses together we can see that, as believers, we are not only supposed to preach the gospel, but we are supposed to heal EVERY sickness and EVERY disease. How can we believe God for one and not expect the other?
Me and the boys
Since coming to Africa, my beliefs have been stretched and challenged in new ways. Each day the 7 of us, along with our ministry contacts, walk through the villages of Elderot, Kenya, sharing the gospel from house to hut, answering questions, and always praying for people.
Talking with the locals as they did their laundry
One day while walking through a village, we were asked to come into a man’s house to pray for his wife, Irene. Two weeks prior to this, Irene’s child had died while she was giving birth. Irene was now in intense pain, both physically and emotionally since the child died. Something in her hip had either broken or was severely damaged, which kept her from being able to move her leg, walk, or even sleep at night.
My new friend
As the 7 of us gathered around her, we laid hands on her and asked the God of the universe to touch Irene. We declared her body to be healed and restored in the name of Jesus! When we finished praying for her, we looked at her face to see what had happened. A smile came over her face and she said she was ALL BETTER! We asked her to check herself out and she proceeded to stand up, move her leg, walk, and squat up and down.
The 7 of us with Irene, to the right of me!
It was a special moment for all of us, realizing that Jesus had just healed this woman! We gathered around her again to pray that God would continue to heal her heart and take away the pain from the loss of her child. We walked back home that late afternoon with our faith grown and in awe of Jehovah Raffa, the God Who Heals!
To be perfectly honest, more often than not, I do not see people healed when praying for them. What does this mean? Do miracles just sometimes happen or are they something we need to contend for until we see breakthrough?
When reading the gospels, we see that Jesus healed ALL who came to Him. Jesus was the exact image of God and came to reveal the Will of God to the world! Just maybe it is God’s will that ALL are healed, both physically and mentally and the problem lies on our end…are we contending for breakthrough or have we become content with the status quo?
