Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Jesus said, "Raise the Dead" PART 2

If you haven’t already read Part 1 Please do so first here.

After meeting with the father of the child this past weekend there are a few things I would like to add about this whole experience.

To start, it turns out that this little girl – was actually a 2 year old boy who just had really long hair (as is common here in Samoa). The family is a Christian one who as the father said, could be walking more with the Lord. In his perspective they were at the market just as any other day and at one point weren’t paying attention to the baby. When they checked in on him they realized he was dead – the entire market also telling them it was dead. The mother rushed the baby to the back where she and a few others were trying to revive it – but as the father told us, the entire market were telling him that his son was dead. When he saw a group of palangi’s (foreigners) going back and praying it gave him hope and faith that his son would live. After God raised the child from the dead and the mother left was when He knew that it was God who saved his son – we went to him and confirmed it yet again.

On Saturday when we were meeting with him again he said that the doctors still don’t know what is going on with the child, but that it still has a fever. In this we all felt that the little boy will be fine, and so we’re just praying that Sio (his name) gets healthy soon.

My co-leader, Rachel, was praying and seeking more into the experience this weekend and she also came had another realization. When we went to the back where they were trying to revive the dead boy, they weren’t doing CPR. They were slapping his head and splashing water on the baby... nothing they were doing would have, in any situation, brought life back into the child. In realizing this again later it just further encourages and confirms that it HAD to be GOD who raised the child from the dead and that if we hadn’t been there the baby really would have died.

When we returned this weekend to the market it was apparent that the entire market was talking about us. A Samoan who was with us shared with me as we were ministering to the father again that all the people were saying, “they have been here before,” and asking “what religion are they?” “weren’t they the ones who prayed for him?” As our time continued in the market many people came up to us asking questions, mainly: who are you? what religion are you? what are you doing? and several thanking us for what we had and were doing. Several people asked about YWAM, one young man came to us and said, “I want to come and do what you do. How do I come?” Another older man stepped in front of us as we were moving through the market and, sticking out his hand, thanked us each individually for doing good work and for coming. This would seem normal to those of us from a Western nation, but in speaking to a Samoan later we found that his action of shaking our hands (being an older Samoan man) was one of the highest displays of honor.


It is so clear that the miracle of the baby being brought back to life is only the begin of many testimonies to happen in that market. The doors of their hearts and minds are coming open and we are seeing incredible fruit in the follow-up. While we are continuously praising God for the miracle of life, even more-so I am praising Him for giving us the influence and opportunities to share the truth of His love and power for all of humanity.  The people of that market are clearly opening their ears to what we have to say and are wanting to know more. As a team we are determined to return to the market at least once a week to talk and pray with people.

Samoa is such a tiny nation and it's all villages. Here they joke about the way you get in trouble on the other side of the nation and even your neighbor's kid will know about it before you get home. Word travels like wildfire here with any good or bad thing is grapevined through the nation in such speed that it honestly shocks us sometimes. I know that as this become more and more a reality in the hearts and minds of the marketplace workers that God's fame will spark such curiosity in the nation. One ripple will turn into a mighty wave of revival! Pray with us as we hope to see this picture into a reality. That hearts would be revived, that the mediocre Christianity that has taken hold will fan into the flames of radical Christ-followers, and that the Truth of Jesus would permeate through the lies of the false religions that are trying to take over this nation (mainly being Mormonism and Jehovah Witness). We want to see His Glory proclaimed across this nation and the hope of our God who is living and who cares for each individual to change this country forever! It's not only a hope, but a legitimately possibility! Join us in prayer and lets see this nation radically changed!

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