A monthly column in which Jenni Pretorius Hill shares stories of hope which bring Heaven’s perspective to Earth
Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom message with tangible displays of power. Wherever He went, people got healed, delivered, and raised from the dead.
For a long time, I didn’t even consider that it was possible for me to see similar miracles. It seems crazy now, but I rarely prayed for sick people in person, and when I did, I had no expectation for an actual healing.
The first time it did happen was more a shock for me than for my injured friend! We were hiking with heavy backpacks, in the middle of nowhere; there were kilometres to go before we reached our overnight hut. Her knee had started to hurt, getting progressively worse, until, in tears, she didn’t feel she could continue. It was out of character for me, but I suppose I was desperate, so I laid my hand on her knee and asked Jesus to heal it. And he did, instantly. The pain left and we continued the hike, and she never experienced any trouble after that.
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Another surprising miracle
Many years later, I witnessed another surprising miracle. My husband and I had just started to embrace the idea that the supernatural should be natural for believing Christians, so we started looking for opportunities to demonstrate the miraculous. I had befriended a neighbour in our townhouse complex, and after I had shared the Gospel with her, she had given her heart to Jesus and had allowed us to pray for healing for her deafness. She wore hearing aids, and had to lip read as well.
She left our house, excited and full of joy in her salvation, but still unable to hear. Very early the next morning, there was a frantic thumping on our front door. Michéle stood on our doorstep beaming. She had awoken in the night to the sound of the wind! She then rushed to her son’s room and shook the little boy awake so he would speak to her – she had never heard his voice – and now she could!
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Healing breaks out
We were so inspired by this testimony, we looked for more people to pray for. The opportunity came after we ministered to our domestic worker. She was so impacted that she broadcast her testimony to other ladies working in our complex, and invited them to our house for prayer. Every Tuesday afternoon we would pack our small lounge with women seeking healing for physical and emotional issues. It wasn’t long before we ran out of space, so we took our prayer outreach to the bus stop, where domestic workers would queue every day for their transport home. I can state, without question, that we experienced 100 per cent success for physical pain issues. There was not a woman who went home with pain in her body after prayer.
These precious women were on their feet all day, some of them had cleaned houses their entire lives and were well into old-age; they had aching backs, feet, knees and necks. Jesus touched their pain without fail. We prayed for heartaches, and estranged children, joblessness and alcoholism, abusive spouses and exploitative employers. I learned just how much God cares for the people we so easily dismiss; the humblest of servants, widows and bread-winners, so many rejected and abused by husbands, fathers, and employers … but how He loves them! And He was just looking for people who would consider them, and pray for them, so He could work his wonders.
We have a young friend who is a passionate, and powerful evangelist. He shares his faith wherever he goes, and sees remarkable miracles when he prays for people. One of my favourite stories is the encounter he had with a grumpy man on crutches in a Spar. The man was standing in a queue, and Paul, much to his dismay, felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for him; he did not look approachable, and he did not respond positively when Paul asked him.
But our friend was persistent, telling him that the worst that could happen, should he pray for him, was nothing! The man had lived with agonising pain for about 15 years. Reluctantly, however, he agreed to allow Paul to lay hands on him and ask Jesus for healing. Nothing happened, so Paul prayed again, and then asked him if he felt any different. The man, increasingly irritable, said there was no change whatsoever. Paul didn’t want to quit, so he quickly reached out and prayed one final time before blessing him and leaving, feeling discouraged and exposed.
Life altered forever
But four months later, he received a call from the stranger in the queue – the man had tracked him down! Ever since their meeting, he had tried to find Paul, even putting an advertisement in the newspaper. The morning after Paul had prayed, he had woken up, completely healed! The pain had left, and never returned, and he was able to walk unassisted. The man’s life was altered forever – he met a loving God and was set free from terrible pain – all because a believing young man cared enough to deny his own comfort, and take a risk.
I love how God is so attentive: a sore knee that could have ruined a hike; a deaf woman who wanted to hear her son’s voice; a servant with backache, and a man in constant pain; none of these stories are life and death scenarios involving famous or influential people, and the situations are all fairly mundane. In our every day, ordinary lives, God loves to show up – He’s just needing available people to show up through. It costs us very little: we don’t have to do much besides plucking up a bit of courage and asserting whatever faith we might have. He does it, or rather He did it by conquering death and inviting us to sit alongside Him in His righteousness, power and glory. As He is, so are we: supernatural.
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