During my third week of ministry in Madagascar my team spent our time near the village of Bakaro. It’s a village a few hours away from the capital, Antananarivo, in what we would call “the bush” of Madagascar. This area of Madagascar was full of truly beautiful landscapes of rolling hills and valleys that went as far as the eye could see. It was like something from a fairytale story, no joke! And scattered all throughout these hills and valleys were several small villages, Bakaro being what would seem to be the largest and central to them all.
My team was blessed to stay in the home of the parents of one of our translators, whose name is Olivia. Her parents’ house was only a little way outside of Bakaro within walking distance. They blessed us with their kindness and hospitality providing us rooms and beds, and preparing meals for us in the morning and evenings. Each day during that week my team Deep Wells split up into three teams of two with there being six of us, and each group went to a different village near Bakaro to work with a local church in each of those villages for the week.
It was my friend Katy Michael who was with me for the week and we were sent to work with a church in the village of Ambodaven. This village was about an hour to an hour and a half walk from where we were staying, which we had to walk everyday there and back. It may seem like that would be a hassle to have to do for ministry but after seeing everything God would lead us into each day every step taken to get there was well worth it.
Katy and I partnered with the church in Ambodaven to help evangelize to the many people who lived in and around that area. After meeting the church leaders and congregation on Sunday at the beginning of the week, we spent the following days ministering to some of the people who lived in Ambodaven and some who lived in the other nearby villages.
There were a couple of days that we spent time with the youths of Ambodaven in the morning playing games and sharing our testimonies of how God has worked in our lives. However, most of our time that week was spent going out and sharing the gospel with as many people as God would bring us to.
The best way I can describe it is that it was like how the disciples followed Jesus when they walked with Him from city to city during His life on earth. He would lead them to different places where large groups of people would gather to hear Him speak the truth and love of God’s kingdom and would pray for and heal those who came to Him believing He was the long-awaited Messiah and Savior of mankind. And He would tell His disciples to go out and do the same thing (check out Matthew 10 and Luke 10). It was much like that for us except the presence of God with us that we were following was the Holy Spirit, and He did some amazing things that week.
In fact, some of these many amazing things that God did that week was heal several people in miraculous ways. It’s these stories that I want to share with you now that you may know that Jesus is still the Lord that heals His people.
Healing 1: The Eyes of the Woman
One of the first people that God healed was a woman who heard my friend Katy share some of her testimony and then the gospel. She had come to me and said that she believed in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and wanted me to pray for her that God would heal her eyes because she believed He could do it. She could see to some extent but not very well.
When she asked me this I felt the Holy Spirit pressing on my heart to do it and had a strong impression from Him that He was going to heal her sight. So, I prayed for her and when I had finished I asked her if she could see any better. She said her sight was better than it was before I prayed for her but that she still probably wasn’t about to see the words in a book well enough to read. She told me that she never even bothered owning a Bible because she could never read it with her poor vision, and that she could never read the Bible whenever she went to church.
At that point, I guessed that she must have been very farsighted so she had trouble seeing things up close. I then asked another woman nearby who had a Bible with her if I could borrow it and had the woman I prayed for try to read some of its text. She was barely able to make out words in the titles of passages that were written in large, bold printed letters which she said she couldn’t even do before. I then realized that the Lord had healed her vision to the point where she could see everything up close more clearly but not well enough to where she could read the text in a book clearly. But God had a reason for this.
The Holy Spirit then told me to tell her that God wants to heal her vision completely but He wanted her to know that He wants to do it so that she would know His heart more. God told me to tell her that He wants to heal her vision completely because He wants her to be able to read the Bible because the only way to know His heart more is by knowing His Word more. God wanted me to tell her all of this and that the reason He wants her to know His heart more is because He loves her so much and His heart is for her. After I shared this with her I asked her if she believed that God wanted to do this and she said yes. So, I asked if I could pray for her sight to be healed one more time and again she said yes.
After I prayed for her I asked her to try and read the Bible that was there again. This time when she started looking at the words in the Bible she could read every single word she saw. Both her and I were astounded and I told her that it was Jesus who healed her and to remember that He did it because He loves her and wants her to know His heart more intimately. And we were both praising the Lord.
Healing 2: The Head of the Man
Another person that God healed was back in the village of Ambodaven. We were led to share the gospel with some of the villagers there after going to some other places. One of the people who had received the Lord that day was a man named Charles.
Charles had a very sad look about him, even after he asked the Lord to come into his life. He came to us and asked if we could pray for God to heal his head. I asked him what was wrong with his head and he informed me that whenever he stands or sits for long periods of time he becomes really dizzy and gets a bad headache and that it happens every day. I asked him when it started and he told me it had been happening for about 3 months. I asked if he knew what might have caused it, such as an accident or hitting his head on something, but he said that nothing like that had happened. After hearing this I suspected it was some sort of spiritual warfare, such as involvement with voodoo (a.k.a. witchcraft).
I then felt that the Holy Spirit wanted me to pray for him to be healed so I asked if I could lay my hands on his head. He said yes, so I laid my hands on his head and asked Jesus to heal him by removing any dark spirits that may have been attached to him and causing these dizzy spells and headaches. We spent some time talking with him after I prayed and then said goodbye.
On one of the following days when we were walking home from another village after ministry and passed through Ambodaven, I saw him sitting on the side of the road and happiness was radiating from his face. He looked like a new man. I wanted to go talk to Charles to see how he was doing. He told me he was doing good with the biggest smile on his face. I then asked him if any of the dizzy spells or headaches had reoccurred since we prayed for him and he happily told me that they hadn’t returned. We rejoiced and were thanking Jesus.
Healing 3: The Legs of the Woman
One of the last people that I saw God heal that week in the bush of Madagascar was an elderly woman. It was the last day that we would be walking through the villages near Ambodaven to share the gospel. Katy had shared an overview of the gospel from creation to Christ’s coming and finishing His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead to bring salvation to mankind. She was full of the Holy Spirit and powerfully spoke forth the word of God (probably one of the best presentations of the gospel I had heard put into words).
After she shared the gospel she invited anyone who wanted to receive the Lord into their lives to stand up with her and to pray with her that God would save them. Several people from the crowd stood up and came forward to receive Christ into their hearts. After Katy lead them in prayer, she told the group that whenever even one person is saved and becomes a child of God that the angels in heaven rejoice before the Lord and that there is a great celebration with God in heaven. She then said that we should be celebrating with the angels that these people have received Jesus. She asked the new believers to stand up together in front of the rest of the crowd so we could all celebrate their new life.
As this was happening I noticed an elderly woman who I saw ask Jesus into her heart but was still sitting on the ground. I could tell she wanted so badly to stand up with the rest of them but she was unable to. Everyone clapped to celebrate but when we finished I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to approach the woman. I asked her if she received Jesus into her heart and she told me yes. I felt I was supposed to tell her that if it was true, then God wants her to stand with the rest of them. So, I told her to stand up, in the name of Jesus, because God is going to give you strength back in your legs. She tried to stand on her own but I could tell she was still fearful.
Katy and Olivia, our translator, then helped her up. I suggested we pray for God to give her strength in her legs because they still seemed a little weak. I knew God wanted to show this woman how much He loved her and that He wanted her to be able to celebrate too. Katy and I laid hands on her and prayed for her and we told her to stand with the rest of the crowd, but she still seemed scared. We then helped guide her over.
After this God had placed a few more things on my heart to share with the rest of the crowd before we left so I shared it with them. When we were finished spending our time there we were walking back to Ambodaven and the people who were following us back there saw the woman walking behind them down the hillside and were astonished. They were all saying to each other “look how the old woman is walking on her own!” She had never been able to walk up and down the hills and on the roads by herself, but would always need someone to help her. When I turned around I saw her pacing down the hill at a steady pace with no shakiness or weakness. She was confidently walking. Katy and I were both in amazement along with the rest of the people walking with us and were praising God.
Those are just a few of the times I have seen God heal people during my time on The World Race. The reason I wanted to share these select stories is because I want people to know that God still heals people miraculously today like He did in the stories you read from the Old Testament and the stories you read about in the New Testament from Jesus’ life. Whether people are healed from whatever ailments they suffer through modern day medicine, their bodies natural ability to heal itself, or miraculously by the Holy Spirit, it is God who is the source of all these healings. But as it is written, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). God is still willing and able to extend His hand to miraculously heal those who come to Him in faith in the name of His son Jesus Christ.
