Thursday, August 15, 2013

Jesus said, "Raise the Dead" PART 1

Every week we have half the DTS students go into town to practice evangelism and hearing God’s voice in the form of something we call “treasure hunts.” I was one of the staff leaders for the afternoon evangelism team this Wednesday.  In the morning I woke up with such a strong desire to “know Jesus” more.  It was such a strong feeling and as I was having my quiet time with God the final word I was left with was Him saying, "all I needed to do in order to see Jesus, and receive the “7-fold blessings” that God the Father promises.  I heard God tell me to Love me with your whole heart. To know me and make me known. Let me love you too. Watch how I show you my love – how I lavish my love upon you...”

As the day went by and time grew closer to evangelism time I was feeling pretty uninspired, discouraged and just struggling to find joy in going out.  Upon arriving in town we split up into groups and I ended up co-leading a group of 7 (Desiree, Nathan, Jake, Tammy, Rachel and Kamuta). We prayed to start, asking God for directions on where to go, or who to speak to that afternoon. We call it a “treasure hunt” because God will often give pictures, words or names that we will come across during our time. Following the words received from the Lord, we began to walk around town, talking and praying with people as we went while sharing about God’s love for them. After a while we hit a rut with no direction, low energy, and discouragement in not seeing any fruit that afternoon. In attempts to restart, we decided to pause by the fruit market to purchase some hospitality items and snacks to boost our energy.

Walking into the market the team split up. One which I was apart of went to buy fruit for our speaker, while the other group went to the very back to a small food court. Walking in I recall noticing a dad, holding a baby girl, and in my spirit I felt that something was wrong.  However, I kept going and we went on browsing the fruit stands. The other group were buying pork-buns in the back food court of the market when one of the team, Tammy, saw a “clues” and went to explore it with the others. Not long after she’d gone off something shifted in the market and there was a sudden odd panic/heaviness that came upon the entire market place.  Looking back to where the team at the food court was, I noticed Tammy running over to the group (who were sitting with their juice/food) and all of them immediately run towards the back corner.  Catching my eye, Tammy urgently motioned for me to come.  As I began walking towards them an intense sense of urgency came over me and I turned to the two girls with me saying with much seriousness to “come, now!” Rachel, my co-leader literally dropped the fruit she had in her hands as they both ran after me; not even looking back.  Making our way back into the crowd that had by this time gathered in the back corner, I saw three women crouched over a sink clearly wailing and panicking.  As I drew closer I saw that one of the women was holding a baby in the sink.  The women were slapping the baby, splashing water on it, and squeezing at it’s lifeless limbs.  The whole market was uneasy, concerned and filled with despair and confusion.  A Samoan nearby, who spoke English, came to us and said, “the baby is dead,” looking on at the situation with so much defeat.  At that point, I kid you not, all of us looked to one another declaring “pray” and seamlessly moved in closer.  Just behind the woman at the sink we pressed in and began praying some of the boldest prayers I’ve ever heard. While some started by praying in tongues, others began boldly claiming life over the child; calling for life to refill the body, and for Jesus to show Himself through the life of the child.

I’d like to pause for just a minute to explain that when I initially saw the baby it had been at least 8-10 minutes since the mom declared the baby dead. The child was past the point of just looking “blue-ish” but was pale, limp, the veins in her head were sticking out from the absence of oxygen and no pulse to be seen/felt. And the desperate women's attempt to save it was in splashing water and slapping it's face. 

Back to the story and we’re all standing behind the family of the baby praying and claiming life to come back into the girl.  We’d been praying for some time when Nathan leaned over to me whispering, “look!.... her hand is moving!”  A minute later as we all looked on, still praying, the baby’s body began convulsing, riveting with spasms as oxygen began filling the muscles again. We looked on – still praying with fervency and confidence.  Several minutes later the baby’s eyes opened but were dull.  We kept praying, (even more excitedly than before if it was possible) noticing color coming back into the body.  Then the child's eyes slowly moved to latch on to the people around her and began crying loudly! [Selah]

At the sound of her cry we stopped praying in joyful and confident awe.  It was done! The baby was alive!

An onlooker ran to grab a towel that was wrapped around the baby’s body as the mother clutched the baby to her chest.  They took the baby out of the market, in shock as the baby wailed, to a taxi to take them to the hospital.  Once she left with the baby (that was ALIVE), our team stood, looking at one another in shock. Not shocked that the baby was alive, but at the entirety of what just happened.  “What just happened? The baby was dead right? God just raised the girl from the dead! We just saw a person raised from the dead! We just prayed and saw God raise the baby from the dead!!” Looking up from our group we realized that most of the people in the market were just staring at us.  Some were clearly trying to understand what had just happened, while others seemed utterly confused at our response.  The oldest of the the women that had been with the mother looked and as I made eye contact with her, could tell that the reality of what just happened was sinking in. Tears streamed down her face as the initial shock passed.  We, also still in shock, aimlessly went back to the table that had the team's untouched, half-eaten food and sat down.  The crowed starred and while some looked on, others returned to their stands.  As a few of the team finished the pork-buns and juice, we went through the details, a number of people crowed around, joining us as we debrief what has just transpired.  The baby girl was dead, with great faith we went, prayed over the baby, and saw life literally return into the baby.  As we took a minute to praise God for what just happened, we realized we should go find the family to talk to them.  One vendor hovering over us, who had originally told us the baby was dead, led us to where the father’s booth was. As we went up to the man who was sitting in a chair, clearly in shock, my heart stopped.  It was the man who I had seen holding the baby and whom I’d walked passed earlier!  One of the students (Kamuta) translated for Rachel as she explained and encouraged the father in what the Lord just did in bringing to life back into his daughter.  The emotion in his eyes was nearly overwhelming as he cried and asked us to return to speak more to him and his family once his wife & child returned.  We couldn’t stay as it was getting late, but promised to return Saturday to check-in on the baby, talk with them, and pray over the family.  In all of this it seemed that the entire marketplace’s eyes were on us.  (Looking back, I wonder why we didn't just give the Gospel message and do an alter call, but it wasn't on our radar.)

As we walked on our way to the bus stop to return to the YWAM Campus, we tried to continue on in ministry but kept finding ourselves stopping every block or two to go over what happened.  None of us had a set time on the events, though some guessed it to be 30 mins- 1 hour from when we first heard that the child was dead to the time the mother picked up the crying baby.  We would go through the details, share revelation we had about the whole thing, and praise God for raising the child from the dead and for using us!

One thing that we talked we all agree was that when heard "the child is dead" - even though we knew with our minds that the child was dead, not one of us had a thought/concern/feeling of doubt that the baby wasn’t going to be alive when we walked away.  This was one of the moments that so clearly exampled the gift of "faith” and "working of miracles" mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11.

                                      ______________________________________

I have prayed for the crippled, sick, deaf, and blind; I have prayed over dead people. Sometimes people are be healed, and other times they are not. Up to today I had heard stories of people praying and seeing people raise from the dead, for years.  Every time I heard one such story, praying and asking God that some day I would have the faith to believe and see something like that.

I have never felt so overwhelmingly humbled as seeing this amazing miracle - when a young girl died and then was resurrected as I prayed over her.  This will forever mark my heart as I praise God for His power, His compassion and mercy.


I could go on to tell of all the revelation and awe we as a team have gained since the moment that baby was raised from the dead (for it is expansive and only growing by the day), but I will end with this: MY GOD IS ALIVE!!!  He cares for every person, and walking with Him is better than a life of comfort, luxury and social norms.  I am so thankful and honored that God has called me to missions. For I count it a joy when facing the trials, hardships, sicknesses and pain of living this lifestyle for the opportunity to actively participant in seeing the dead rise, blind are see, deaf hear, sick healed, the lost come to Christ.

READ ABOUT THE FOLLOW-UP MEETING WITH THE FAMILY HERE IN Jesus Said, "Raise the Dead" Part 2

3 comments:

  1. So proud of you guys boldness and prayers! the fulfillment of the commandment is Real! God has been using you guys! Glory to God!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agh!!! That is so cool! I'm SO excited for what God is doing through y'all. Always Praying for you, Marisa!! Love you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You Rock!! And God Rocks Even More!!! that is so cool!! Curt

    ReplyDelete