After church on Sunday I was at home with my family preparing lunch and the doorbell rang. It can be really frustrating and inconvenient when you are about to slide a sandwich onto a plate and there is someone at the door asking if you have anything for them to eat. It kind of changes the excitement you were building about having lunch.
I spent some time listening to him and to be honest, I was struggling with his story a bit, facts were mixed up and I could not understand how he ended up on the streets when he had been destined for a Christian hostel. His left hand was lame and his left leg was stiff and dragged on the ground as he walked. He needed money to get home and he was running low on epilepsy medication; he was desperate for the nightmare he was in to end. This man Jeremy just wanted to go home to his family.
The feeling I had was one of confusion. How do you know who to help and who is taking you for a ride ? I said to the LORD that I was not sure what to do. I then got a sense in my spirit that it was not my job to judge this man and that I had the means to assist him; all I needed was to be obedient and act in the Name of Jesus.
During the drive to the station, where he had a seat part-paid on a local transport bus, I started to pray for him. I felt the LORD’s presence very strongly and started to pray for his epilepsy. I commanded the illness to leave his body in the Name of Jesus ... he looked at me, evidently touched by the Holy Spirit, and said that his body was going hot inside.
In my heart I said “ Yes LORD, this is happening”, so I pulled the car over and not aware where I was stopping, I jumped out of the car and told him to do the same.
I had my back to the road and I carried on praying. I knew that Jesus was reaching to him and I could see his face soften as the stress he was carrying inside left him. The power of the LORD was upon him and he then said that he could feel his hand and that the ‘pins-and-needles’ were completely gone; he kept scratching his forearm and saying that he could feel his skin ...
I held his hands and prayed for the LORD to heal his leg. His hip suddenly started to ease up; I instructed him to ‘walk it out’ and he paced back and forth ... I could see his hip moving forward and his stride strengthened, he began to lift his left leg off the ground ... he looked at me and laughed, he said he had never walked like this, his ankle began to loosen and although his hand was still very tight and crumpled, he was able to extend his fingers open which he said was something he had not done in years.
Psalm 146: 7-8
“ He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous. “
Thank Jesus for His mercy and grace. He is so limitless.
It was then that I turned around to see a bunch of people standing right behind me. Their eyes wide open. I noticed that I had actually parked my car in front of an entrance for taxis; I guess they had been standing there the whole time we had been praying – the LORD knows how to get people’s attention !
There was a man on crutches who had broken his ankle a week or so before and we prayed for him. His toes began to wiggle without pain and he said his ankle was suddenly very hot inside the plaster cast and the pain had gone. Praise the LORD !
We were all amazed at what the LORD had done. Many just stared when I drove off, some waved, but the lasting vision I have in my mind is Jeremy grinning as he waved and shouted “Jesus has healed me, I will never be the same again ...”
Zephaniah 3: 17
“ The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. “
I drove off and repented for having such a hard heart toward Jeremy when he first arrived at my home. I felt completely humbled by the LORD.
CHRIS