1996: VIETNAM
The meeting had gone on longer than usual, but the group of believers didn’t mind. There had been no reason to suspect any trouble from the authorities this evening. No one seemed to be watching them.
The little meeting house was nestled among a cluster of palm trees and low shrubs, like an island in a sea of sand dunes. In the distance, waves could be heard as they broke across the miles of uninhabited sandy beaches. That night, Tran’s younger brother, Nguyen had just publicly committed his life to service and obedience to Jesus Christ. Tran and his close friends, Huynh and Dang, were overjoyed by Nguyen’s changed life.
It all started suddenly a week earlier when, Nguyen, the youngest of the three, fell seriously ill while looking for work in Ho Chi Minh City. In the hospital, he struggled for each painful breath of air as he held on to his young life. When word reached Dang of Nguyen’s situation, he immediately quit his job, and along with Huynh, made the two-day journey to the city. Then the two of them rushed to the hospital to pray for Nguyen, who was now indeed very close to death.
All eyes were now on Dang and Huynh in the open hospital ward as they cried out to the Lord to heal Nguyen. In Vietnam, most people have no knowledge about Jesus, much less seen anyone praying to this invisible God. As the curious onlookers watched, suddenly a bright beam of light appeared, shining directly on Nguyen’s chest. The healing was immediate! The living God had heard! The living God had answered! Everybody in the room saw it!
Before the three young men left to return to their hometown, they prayed for each person in the hospital room. Altogether, six more people received immediate healing!
A week later while in his first church meeting, Nguyen took his stand for Jesus publicly. God was so good! He had shown His love to them in such a powerful way! Their faith was stronger now because of the testimony they had just heard. He is a God who really heals, just as He said He would.
Cautiously, the believer’s slipped away from the illegal meeting. They were ever wary of the watchful eyes of neighbors and authorities, yet eager that those same people should come to know this wonderful God too,
I thought a moment on Huynh and Dang’s dramatic story. “Is this story for real?” I wondered. It is the first question many of us ask when we hear these kinds of reports. Then I was reminded about the life-changing bright light that had shone on Saul, the Christian hater, recorded in the book in chapter nine in the book of Acts.
BOTTOM LINE:
As I probed the matter with them, Huynh laughed, Nguyen’s healing was quite unusual. Sometimes we pray for the sick, and they don’t seem to get healed. We get discouraged and give up too soon.”
NEXT UP:
Huynh then went on to relay the next story about persistent prayer, Chapter 33, that will be the post for tomorrow.
From Wendell & Daisy Martin’s book GO NOW! From the INNERMOST PARTS OF THE HEART to the UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE WORLD Plus Forty Stories of Faith, this being #32