Sometimes Jesus does something so powerful when we least expect it and all we can do is stand in awe and wonder at the work of His hand.
A few days ago I was ministering in the Katanga slums of Kampala with a couple friends translating from Light The World Church. As we started off, a man who was under the influence (probably in more than one way), said he wanted to sing a song to me. As he began rapping in Luganda, the local language, he grew increasingly aggressive as saliva was spraying from his mouth all over me. He said it was a worship song but after hearing “muzungu” (white person) multiple times, it confirmed for me that it was of a different spirit. We walked away from him and ventured deeper into the slums.
One of my translators, Ben
Here we shared about Jesus with a Muslim man named Abdullah, while a number of his friends looked on. He wanted time to ponder what we discussed. As we stood nearby, two men approached us and asked if we could pray for them. The first man, Yahiya, clearly had a damaged eye that was looking off to the side and covered with a cloudy glaze. He explained to my translators that he was in the military for the past year and that he had a loss of sight on the one side in a military accident. He also said he was suffering from a fever; something that is very common here with malaria and other common illnesses.
I laid my hands on him and began to pray to my God on High, Christ Jesus, The Lord! Suddenly he was looking around with a face of pure jubilation. I asked him how his eye was and he told the translator that his sight had been restored incredibly! He continued to look around with the greatest joy on his face as he spoke of how his vision had been restored. I asked about the fever, which I hadn’t prayed for yet and he said he still had it. So I laid my hand on him once more and prayed. This time he said the fever had been healed as well! As I explained that I have no power but Jesus has all power and it was Jesus who healed him, he immediately acknowledged that Jesus is the Lord and prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior. I later found out that Yahiya too was actually a Muslim and this whole event took place in front of Abdullah, that I had shared with earlier, and also his onlooking friends.
Luke 5:31-32 (NIV)
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The other man who had come with Yahiya was named John. As I turned to pray for him, there wasn’t much left to explain because he had witnessed everything. He too gave his life to Jesus on the spot! They wanted to know where we went to church so we shared the name of the church we represented and also connected them with a partner church located on the edge of the slum for easier access.
Standing with John after being born again!
Before we could leave there was a girl across the way that then asked us for prayer. She was having pains in her stomach. After praying a couple times, her stomach was healed and the pain gone! Her friends at the shop witnessed the power of Christ.
Kids play soccer in Katanga slums, Kampala
As we left the slums, my soul was speechless…
Sometimes Jesus does something so powerful when we least expect it and all we can do is stand in awe and wonder at the work of His hand!