So I had an amazing idea for what I wanted to share in this blog. But I’m lost for words right now. I’m pasting a blog from my teammate Caroline into my own blog. She has beaten me to writing this blog on ferverent prayer and so I’ll let her tell the story……….
Words of Caroline…….
Community has been transformed for me since embarking on this whole world race deal. I don’t know if I ever can settle for less having tasted the goodness of what community is designed to be. It’s glorious. painful. And incomparable to anything I have experienced before.
A week ago I was sitting in the middle of the rain forest in Bolivia and asked the question to a teammate about what it means for a guy to really fight for a girl. The term is thrown around so much in conversations about relationships and I was curious what that really looks like.
Fast forward now to three days ago when my ear began pounding with pain. We just returned from the rain forest where we had community shower time every evening in the nearby river. Probably as a result of all the river water, my ear was aching as it had never hurt before. I mean, it hurt. Throbbing pain as if someone was stabbing the inside of my ear with a knife. I went to the doctor and was given an antibiotic to take. After two days of taking some prescribed medicine, there was no improvement whatsoever.
Last night I came home and my ear was hurting the worst it had yet. My teammate Matt Snyder came up to me and said he wanted to pray for it. Then Robby joined. And Matt Peters. And so the three of them came around me, laid hands on my ear, and begin praying for healing. After five minutes of it, they stopped with no improvement. yet. I told them that as weird as it sounded, that the Lord spoke they were going to fight for me on it. It was instantly confirmed by Matt S. who said that every thirty minutes for the rest of the night they were going to come around me and pray for healing.
For the next thirty minutes I sat outside by myself with tears falling from my eyes. I cried because my ear hurt like crazy. And I cried because I didn’t understand why it wasn’t getting better. I decided I would submit to the Lord and His plan over this even if it meant using the pain to show me something. And so in the midst of tears falling from my eyes I praised Him for He is good. He is faithful. He is glorious. Yet the throbbing remained.
7:00 pm. They came around me and again prayed for healing. Robby prayed that the Lord’s finger would go inside my ear, stop the throbbing pain and inflamation, and begin healing it. I wonder if Jesus had been there in physical form, what He would have done. I’m guessing it’s similar to what happened next. Before I knew it, Robby’s finger was inside my ear and he was praying for all the pain and heat to leave my ear and enter his finger.
7:30. Still not much improvement. Again the guys pulled me aside and prayed for me. They asked for direction. Claimed freedom. Asked for wisdom and discernment. For the Lord’s power to intervene. They were passionately, and with full authority, claiming the Lord’s healing power over my ear.
8:00. The throbbing pain had stopped. The pressure was still really intense though and it felt at times like my ear drum was going to explode. More prayer happened.
8:30. Squad family game night time. We were all in the middle of playing fun games together when Matt stopped the squad and everyone began to intercede. The room was filled with the noise of 26 people all speaking prayers of healing over my ear at once. It was overwhelming beautiful to hear.
Squad game night was stopped twice more on the half hour for everyone to pray for my healing. The guys were consistent in stopping every thirty minutes throughout the night to pray. They never forgot. Never got distracted. Never quit.
11:00 pm. The final prayer of the night before bed. The pain was gone but the pressure remained. The Lord’s healing was claimed again. By morning I would be better we all prayed. The Lord had heard the persistent knocking of His children. And we were all praying I was going to wake up pain free and healed.
Right now it’s 6:00 pm on the following day and It’s been over 14 hours since my last dose of pain medicine. Not a single ounce of pain has hit my ear since I woke up this morning. Healing came. Jesus healed my ear. And He healed it through showing the glory of His name in the hands of His sons. These three guys persistently knocked on behalf of me all night long. They claimed healing over my ear. They fought for me. That is what it means to fight for each other in the body of Christ. My brothers fought for me and won the battle for healing. And the most beautiful part of it? To them, it was as it should be. This is what we do as the body of Christ.
Now that is the Kingdom of Heaven manifesting itself on earth.
This original artivle can be found on Caroline’s blog.
