The biggest lesson I learned today was one of persistence.
Ministry the first week was rough. Honestly, our team was just feeling discouraged. Yes, we were seeing miracles, but we were struggling with comparing ourselves with the other teams. They were getting miracle after miracle and an innumerable amount of healings. We were praising Jesus for the couple of healings that we saw, but just felt like we were doing something wrong.
As Americans, we are used to having a solution to everything. Stomach pain? Take an advil or some tums. Headache? Take some advil. Hurt ankle? Get an x-ray. But here, faith is all that some people have. They don’t have the means to get to a store and buy what might heal them. They only have God. We have solutions, so we don’t necessarily need God. That sounds awful, but if you really think about it, we have control over our pains and sicknesses to a certain extent.
We realized that what we were doing wrong was that we didn’t have persistence. We would pray once for a person. We would say in Jesus Name, Amen. Then, we would smile and look to the next person.
Today, we didn’t stop. We went to the first village. As usual, we had our service where we sang and preached. Then, when prayer started, we persisted. The first woman that asked me for prayer had a headache and leg pain. I prayed, and then asked her how she felt. She said it was a little better, but not fully healed. So I prayed again, with more boldness and more confidence. When I finished, she had a huge smile on her face. She grabbed my hands and put them on her face. Rebekah was right next to me and translated to tell me that she was healed. I continued to pray for three other women. All were healed of their sicknesses or pain. It is so amazing what listening and persistence can do. God completely blew me and my team away. Everyone was seeing God heal at this village.
We had to leave soon after because there was another village that Pastor wanted us to go to. It was about 10 minutes away.
When we got to the next village, Pastor asked that we sing some songs with the guitar first. Then, we preached. After a short service, we started praying. The first lady I prayed for had side pain. I prayed for her three times, and then she left right away. When I asked Rebekah to translate what she was saying, Rebekah told me that she was going home to get her family. She had been healed and wanted to share it with her family. I then prayed for a woman who works in the field. Her arm was swollen and was causing her pain when she went to work. I prayed for her twice and she was healed. Jesus is SO good!! After a couple more healings, the woman with the side pain came back, and brought a young woman. She looked to be about 20. No translators were around, so I listened to God to tell me how to pray. I really don’t know what I said, because the Holy Spirit took over, but when I completed, she had tears on her face and I could tell that she wanted me to tell her something. Rebekah told me that she was saying that she wants to follow Jesus. Thank you Lord!!! I saw her a few times the rest of the night and every time, she had a huge smile on her face.
During the time I was praying for another woman, it started pouring. We moved under a thatched roof and continued to pray. Then, there was a lady with knee pain. A few of us laid hands and prayed for her. Pastor said that as we were praying, she was shaking and moving her head. He could tell when she was healed. I believe in miracles!!
I learned how to pray today. You don’t pray once, you don’t pray twice, but you pray until the work is completed. Don’t Stop. Insist on persistence.
My God’s not dead. He’s truly alive and He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion!!
