This week my team has ventured out into the streets to preach the Gospel, pray for people, visit homes, pray for healing, and everything else the Lord decided to put in our path as opportunities. Lucas, Jeremy, myself, and our translator Sylvia spent two days in a row asking the Lord where to go, who to pray for…and we saw a lot of things.
A blue tarp hangs over the road attached to a metal, broken down home. Family gathers around to celebrate and mourn the lost life of a loved one. My heart practically ceases in my chest wondering if the woman who just passed is still in the home…could this be the moment we pray and by faith see someone raised from the dead? The woman is no longer there…but we pray blessings over the family, their home, and that God received glory through this situation.
A man hobbles down a muddy ally-way as we make our way to the main road. His face lights up in wonder and hope as he sees us. “I am sick. My leg is broken. Can you help me?” he asks in Spanish. Asking to see the leg, he rolls up his pant leg and we recognize immediately it is/was broken and has been fused back together completely out of alignment. We ask to lay hands on him and to pray. He agrees…and by faith we ask that God restore and realign this man’s leg. We finish praying and he expresses his thanks and that he feels better. He asks for medicine and I remind him “We are not doctors, and we have nothing to give you – but the healing power of God and we believe the LORD is going to restore your leg. So the moment he does, give Him glory for it, because it’s nothing we’ve done, but it’s God touching and healing your life.” We parted ways…and I refused to look back as the Lord challenged me to “walk by faith and not by sight”. My teammate however, happened to look back and noticed the man already walking better than he originally was.
A man named Jose stands in the entryway of his house. Cane in hand, glasses perched on the brim of his nose – he smiles as me as I walk toward his door. A Mennonite man, religious to his faith, we speak briefly enough for him to bless and thank me for the missionary work I’ve chosen into. I ask to pray for his house and ask the Lord to bless this man, and encounter him with truth and love. Jose asks me to come and visit again and thanks me for taking time to speak with him.
A gathering of neighborhood men flock around their bikes as I watch my brothers Jeremy and Lucas approach them. We all begin to speak to these men about family, work, and their lives. We encourage them to explore the idea of going to church – and to at least send their kids to VBS where we have an absolute blast with the kids. Walls are broken down little by little as these men allow us to pray for health and wellness in their lives and homes. A fairly safe prayer request, we believe for the greater things which have yet to come – greater things that are still to be done in this community — in these men — one day they will pray dangerous prayers — one day they will rise up as mighty men of faith and lead their women, children, and community out of the consuming covering of poverty and helplessness they’ve lived under for a long time.
A man named Victor-Reyes “victorious king” – a watchmen for the local cemetery approaches us asking for a Bible and prayer for healing of hemorrhoids — which eventually leads us to a man named Antonio and his entire household. Salvation and freedom are brought on this beautiful day!
(Read: blow my mind for a more in depth look at this particular story!)
Walking the streets sometimes makes my heart ache, but it’s the little moments like this that make every step and pang of reality worth it. There is power in prayer – there is power in the Kingdom – and as children of God, daughters and sons of the Light we carry the Kingdom wherever we go. We bring light and salvation, healing, hope, and promise into even the darkest and most destitute of places. Wherever Jesus went health, healing, and new life broke out – we believe the Lord wants to release the same wherever we go because Christ dwells in us. These are brief glimpses and moments — but there is so much more to come. To God be the glory great things He has done…is doing, and will continue to do!
