It's probably close to 10pm or so, it's dark, humid, hot, insects the size of my palm are flying around our heads. Sean and I had to have been praying for at least 3 hours, Sean's drenched in sweat, I have beads of sweat pooling up on my brow.
Children are running around, the other missionaries are talking among each other, speaking a language I don't understand.
This is the Philippines, in all it's night-life glory, at least for the village we're in, it smells like wet dirt and diesel exhaust.
Some men had come up to us, asking if we could pray for their elderly friend, of course we agreed, we were on a mission. He waited patiently at the end of the line, he waited for hours while we prayed for hundreds of people, short 3 minutes prayers, the translations (from Tagalog to English) of their illnesses and ailments taking longer than the prayer and healing itself.
It was his turn.
Two men standing beside him lifted him from his chair, they let go of him wearily, he stood before us waiting. You never could tell what the people were thinking, they had an expression of complete indifference, and I'll explain why later.
Our translator explained that he was having pain and problems with his legs, nothing more, nothing less. We prayed, pouring every ounce of faith we had into our God, the God of Abraham and Moses, the God of King David, the God of Adam and Eve, the God embodied by Jesus Christ, the God who lives in us as The Holy Spirit, we prayed to God.
Here I am, kneeling on the ground, my hands over this man's knees, he might be as uncomfortable as I am, but I'm obedient to the one who created both of us, so I'll pray what I need to pray, I'll stutter when I'm not sure of the words, I'll get on my knees and place my hands on your dirty feet if I need to, I want to be used by the God of the universe.
We prayed for minutes, a minuscule amount of time, but what's time to faith? What's time to two men who have nothing but the lives God gave us to lose? What's time to two men whose God exists outside of time he created himself?
Faith is the key here, faith is and has always been the key. Knowing that you, as flesh and bone, as sensory data traveling around your brain, can do absolutely nothing special. You, me, Sean, we don't have super powers, we're not super natural, we are human, limited and incapable of measuring up to anything close to being as powerful and awesome as God himself, but damned if I don't know he can use anything and anyone to work in this world.
So God use me, in this moment, use my faith and the faith of those around me to make this man well again, I know with all my heart and everything I am that you have the power to restore anything to the way you created it to be, I ask you do that in this moment now.
We're done praying.
"how do you feel? ask him how he feels."
The man is still standing, he's bending his knees back and forth, hopping a little to test his legs. He shakes our hands, smiles, picks up his plastic lawn chair and walks away.
I don't know what that means, Sean doesn't know either. Does he feel better? People around us are clapping, why? They're crying out Hallelujah, yeah but why?
"Pastor Sean, Pastor Sean! That man there, he was unable to walk before."
"unable to walk?"
"Barely able to stand, Praise God Pastor Sean!"
Hit us like a ton of bricks
"whoah dude! that guy couldn't walk before!"
"I know! and then he just picked up his chair and walked away!"
Was it my faith? Maybe it was Sean's?
Maybe, but more than that, it was the faith of that man. I noticed a trending expression during my time in the Philippines, people would approach us for prayer, for healing, they would stand there blankly as we prayed, and when they were healed they would nonchalantly thank us and walk away. Why?
Do you freak out and thank a grocery store cashier every time you buy your groceries? No. People came to us with an expectation that we would intercede on their behalf, that God would work through us to heal them. They didn't come to us thinking "it would be so cool if God healed me right now, I hope he does." No, everything in their spirit was saying "These guys are going to pray for me, and God will heal me." Done.
Faith first, blessings later. We have faith because God is trustworthy. Because since the Earth has been created his word is the only thing that has remained true and timeless. We don't have faith to receive blessings, and we aren't blessed only to receive more faith. Blessings are the icing on the cake that is Christ, faith is the fork with which you eat your cake, faith is the glue that holds you to God's will.
Deuces.
