A Healing in Andranavory!

"Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away." (Mt. 19:13-15)

Jesus SO loved little children. And he LOVED to pray for little children. Perhaps it was because of their innocence. Or their truly childlike faith. He loved them like a father, like His Heavenly Father. What did Jesus pray for them? Was it a blessing? Was it for healing? Did he speak words of life into their spirits? Whatever he prayed, his prayers were certainly perfect - exactly perfect. 

On Friday and Saturday we were blessed to be able to minister to many beautiful Malagasy children. Abigail shared wonderfully in our last blog post about our time ministering to 200 children this past Saturday morning and a bit about our ministry the night before. So I figured I'd share today about two amazing experiences that happened while praying for children on both days. 

On Friday evening, we held a healing service in Andranavory followed by a showing of the Jesus Film. We had two teams praying at the service. One had Shay, Abigail and Bishop Todd, and the other had me, Avery, and Victor (a deacon/evangelist). A young boy came to my team for prayer. His head was hanging low and he was holding his hand. He showed us his hand and said (via Victor translating) that he was in lots of pain. The pain was clearly evident from the strained expression on his face. On his middle finger was a wound of some kind. It was swollen and clearly very infected. It wasn't clear what the cause of the wound might be. It might have been a cut or abrasion that became infected with bacteria. Or perhaps he had gotten a fungal or viral infection that resulted in the wound. Whatever the source, the wound and infection had somehow caused his ring and pinkie fingers to curl up to his palm. He was unable to straighten them out, and any attempt to do so was extremely painful for him. The ultimate effect of the wound/infection was to make his hand un-usable. 

After asking the Holy Spirit to guide our prayers, we began to pray for him. I struggled with an internal dilemma over whether or not to touch the boy's hand. Was it contageous? But God put on my heart (and Avery's as well, I later learned) the account of Jesus touching the leper. So I placed my hand on his, and we prayed for healing. Then an amazing thing began to happen. As we prayed the healing love of Jesus into his hand, I felt his curled fingers slowly begin to loosen. As we continued to pray, the fingers began to straighten. Avery and I could both feel the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through us. I lifted my hands off the boy's hand, and his fingers had straightened about half way back to normal. He could move his fingers more freely and without pain. We prayed again, and once again the fingers began to loosen and straighten. When I removed my hand, the boy's fingers were straight! He stared at his hand looking completely dumbfounded. He had no pain, and was able to move his fingers freely. We all stood there amazed and then praised God. Praise be to thee, Jesus the healer! 

On Saturday here in Andranomena, I was blessed to be able to pray personally for each of the 200 kids who were present (and also most of the adults). There were supposed to have been several prayer teams to share the load, but there was some kind of miscommunication. So there was only one prayer team and only one person was on it - me. When the reality of this overwhelming fact hit me, all I could do was pray that desperate (yet effective) prayer "help me Jesus!"  As it turned out, it took over an hour and a half to pray for everyone. I was completely exhausted by the end, and felt both humbled and blessed. Was I feeling what Jesus felt after he prayed for the multitudes? I can still remember so many of the adorable faces of the children as they came up for prayer. One boy was particularly memorable. He was very small, and dressed a bit better than some of the others. As he stepped forward, he closed his eyes and had a look of expectation and peace on his face. As I placed my hands on his head and prayed a blessing over him, his eyelids began to flutter and he began to sway. The Holy Spirit was clearly coming upon him powerfully at that moment. My prayer was brief, and as I finished he jerked as as if he was startled. His eyes flew open, and it seemed as if he had awoken. From a vision perhaps? He smiled a big, beaming smile, turned and walked off. I haven't seen him since. I can say with certainty, though, that that little boy came to Jesus for prayer (not to me), and Jesus blessed him. How humbling it is that Jesus chose to work through me to bless that little boy. Praise be to God! 

After a bit of a break today, our ministry continues tomorrow. During the next four days, we will be teaching on healing and conducting healing missions in local villages. That's it for now....

-Bruce