To say I was a skeptic of healings at the start of my race would have been an understatement. I’ve prayed for the steady hands of a doctor about to perform surgery, and even prayed for sick friends and family. Prayer is powerful and I’ve always known that.
I strongly believe that God has given people wisdom in the areas of science in order to develop medications, surgical practices, and even cure diseases. In a sense this has always made believing in healings easy. However I would say that through this I was desensitized to the ways in which God can heal. In a way I was putting limitations on Him without even knowing it. Sure we hear of people miraculously going in for a cancer check up and unexpectedly the disease is gone, but how often have we truly realized that God healed that person through our prayers. Yes, it’s easy to look to God in those situations as the source of healing, but there has been a disconnect in my head between our faith and their health. Answered prayers of that sort have always been chalked up to God’s will rather than our faith. The truth is it’s a combination of both, and in three short months God has allowed me to see how easy it can be for my faith to move mountains.
Between Australia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka I have prayed for many people. I would be lying if I said I was not uncomfortable in a lot of the situations. I mean, it’s an uncomfortable thing. Your prayer for these people could be the only way in which Jesus might ever be revealed to them. In my head I was imagining that a lack of faith in the miraculous could mean they go into the next life having never known the Father. (I was wrong in this thought, God will reveal himself through testimony and our works just as much as he will through healing if not even more so.)
Despite being uncomfortable I have continually seen Jesus reveal himself through healing people right in front of my eyes. Not only was he revealing himself to those people, but he was also revealing Himself to me. Our God is a God of power, and He is one that has such love for his creation that it exceeds our wildest imagination. So yeah, he does heal and he does it through our faith and because it is his will. No, he does not heal every time.. at least not in the way we may be expecting him to heal.
One of my favorite moments so far on the race was in Indonesia. We were at a bible study where both Muslims and Christians had gathered to do a study over the prophets. At the end of the study my team and I got to pray for a Muslim woman who had a lot of knee pain. The pain was so bad that she had been missing her prayers for the last few weeks, which is a big deal in this community. Y’all, Jesus healed her knee pain almost instantly. Following this the other Muslim women began asking for prayer, not about physical healings but about personal matters. Jesus had revealed himself in that moment as a God which answers his children and these Muslim women saw that. They wanted that, and they began asking for it. No, none of them were saved that day, but we got to pray for their broken hearts, broken families, and tough situations. I got to see Jesus lift some heavy burdens that day. God is good y’all.
Another favorite moment happened this month in Sri Lanka. I was a on a dirt bike safari in the middle of jungle lands with another squad mate and some locals we had been hanging out with. We stopped next to a beautiful lake to look for some crocodiles. In the process, we came across a deaf man. He looked to be about our age and thankfully the locals we were with knew a bit of sign language. We felt called to pray for him, and after some rough translation the guy was opened to it, so my friend just went for it. No question is too big of an ask for our God, right? After praying for this man, my friend snapped his finger next to his ear to test it out. Y’all, this guy’s face lit up instantly and he started laughing because his ear had been opened. He heard nothing in his other ear, so my friend prayed again and he heard the snap in the other ear this time. All the time our Muslim friends are witnessing this and have amazed looks on their faces. We of course made sure to point them towards Jesus in this moment and made it clear that what had happened was nothing of us. Being Muslim, they at least knew of Jesus and they knew who we, as Christians, know him to be. (To be clear, I’m in no way saying that this guys can now hear 100% because I just don’t know, or if he continued hearing after that moment. Truth is I will never know, but that’s no reason not to have faith that God could have.)
If you think about it, it’s as foolish as it seems. 1st Corinthians 1: 24-25 says, “24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.” I believe in the midst of being a skeptic God chose to heal my spiritual ears. No, God is not speaking to me in a direct audible voice. Rather through all he has allowed me to witness it’s like I can hear him saying, “John David, don’t you see my love for these people? I want them to know me in the same way that you do. I will do whatever it takes, and I will use your faith to do it if I choose.” To experience God in this way has been nothing short of amazing.
Beautiful Sri Lankan sunset painted by the creator! Please pray for safe travels as my squad and I head to India tomorrow morning.
