Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Powerful Prayer and Victory In His Name

The day is long past gone and the night has settled in on us with a cool breeze from the mountains.  The heat of the day was a reminder of the warmth of the Son when He is at work all around us.  Today the Lord reminded me of His awesome power to transform and restore lives through prayer.  All of us who call ourselves Christians say we believe prayer works.  We all talk about prayer being the vital link between us and the God of heaven.  We all would recount stories, whether ours or others in our circle of friends, of God answering prayer with miraculous results.

Today I became a witness of the real authentic power of the prayer of a righteous man which brought about an awesome response of God!  In June of this year, just a short six weeks ago, I stood in Sajcavilla with a precious teacher form sector 3 school who was in need of surgery.  Marybelle shared with Pastor Morales, Greg Brown, Jason King and myself her struggles with a pain in her stomach that had been causing pain for quite some time.  The doctors had determined she needed surgery to correct a hernia that had developed high in her stomach and was affecting her breathing, and eating.  She was struggling with a great deal of pain.  She was also worried about the surgery and what would happen afterward.  The concerns of whether she could continue to teach or care for her own children was weighing heavy on her heart.

We gathered around Marybelle and lifted her up before the Lord all together.  Pastor Jason King from Grace Baptist Church in Oxford, AL was with us on this trip and prayed for Marybelle to be healed and the pain to go away whether through surgery or if the Lord wanted to simply remove it!  We all encouraged her and helped clean her classroom after we prayed over her.  She thanked us and went on to prepare for her class.

Pastor Morales visited the school last week, middle of July, to check on teachers and make arrangements for an upcoming visit by our team.  He saw Marybelle at a distance and spoke a greeting to her and she quickly responded with a warm hello and I'm doing fine and then went on quickly to her class.  Today, Marybelle came to Pastor Morales to share with him that she was sorry for not coming to speak with him last week but she had something wonderful to share with him.  She shared that following our visit in June she went to the doctor for the surgery and was sent home!  The doctor said you have no need for surgery, your hernia is completely gone!

As if this miraculous healing was not enough, Matybelle went on to share with Pastor Morales that today she was reading from James 5 and realized it was the prayer of a righteous pastor in June that had been used by God to bring healing in her body!  Amazingly she had been reading from James 5 because in June Pastor Jason King had brought Life Journals he had led his church to have printed in Spanish, which had been given to her by Pastor Morales earlier.  This Life Journal had been a resource she had been using to read the Bible and pray since God had healed her.  God used the passage for today's reading to show her that it was the power of prayer that He used to heal her!

It is sometimes the faithful acts of obedience that leads to the Lord answering prayers and healing lives in miraculous ways.  Yes, miracles still take place!  God is still healing people today!  Today we saw a healed healthy Marybelle full of life and light from the saving power of Jesus Name!  It is through the Name of Jesus that life transforming power impacts the desperate life seeking to trust and have faith.  Marybelle is a living example of His power of prayer and victory in His Name!  Rejoice with us today for the awesome power of the God of glory and His power over sin and sickness!  What an awesome God we serve.  God is good...all the time...all the time...God is good!