UNCOMMON VALOUR - HE WAS 36 HOURS DEAD
We had dinner last night with two great friends John &
Grace, leaders in YWAM, they told us of a personal experience they had several
years ago. It left us stunned and amazed on account of their faith. They gave
permission to post it as it demonstrates an uncommon valour that many of us would
do well to pray for.
Before, John, had led a young man to Christ but then
relocated away from that area, he received a call sometime later to say that
the man had experienced a massive heart attack and had died. John could not possibly
accept this death as being the will of Gods. Instead it was an opportunity for
Gods glory, after all the man was only seventeen years old.
Travelling any and every which way they could, Jeepney,
motorbike passenger, John and his dear wife grace travelled nine hours out of
sheer, loyalty, compassion, faith and outrage that the devil would even attempt
this, so they could get there. If you have ever travelled on the back of a
motor cycle on these roads you will know that the will to live far less reach
your destination begins to leave you at the one hour mark, every mile after
that is sheer attrition and could mark you as special forces potential. The
depth of character required to endure that knowing that a dead body and huge
expectation of others awaits at your destination, beggars belief. Such is the
faith and courage of these two mighty leaders.
After a gruelling nine hours of travel they arrive at the small
hut around 5pm, as is the custom the body lies in a hollowed out tree trunk
with open top. No money for hand crafted caskets here.
They eat at 6pm and begin commanding the young man to rise
7pm. John told me that he prayed and commanded the young man to rise up so loudly
and for so long that the neighbours gathered outside to find out what the noise
was about. John who had the corpse on his lap at that point laid him down for a
while explaining he would preach to the crowd and return. Which he did then
returned to the corpse this time praying and massaging the dead body convinced
that a miracle could still happen. The body remained cold and limp.
Three hours later, voiceless and exhausted, they finally
replace the corpse back into the tree trunk then lay down on the small floor close
by to try and seek sleep for the night.
The family asked John if he would provide the funeral
service the next day. But these two heroes of the faith hadn’t made the trip to
take the funeral service and John the valiant had no idea how to do that.
Providentially, Grace had been present two weeks earlier at a funeral her
brother had conducted so she passed on the basics to John as best as she
remembered them.
Next day, the man
still lay cold and still in the hollowed out tree. A blanket was laid over him
and John carried out a compassionate, yet forthright gospel based funeral,
reminding the listeners that this is the relity of life – Death, are you ready.
There are of course several ways you can look at this, it’s
an unavoidable reality that after all the dead was not raised. But, what’s the
real outcome of the venture? did it do any harm? Certainly not to the young
man, he’s in the glory. In fact a tear trickled down his cheek as they prayed. The
family were delighted at the possibility that they may get their young bread
winner son back, The neighbours had the gospel preached to them. Did it in
anyway cause injury John & Graces future faith? Listening to them last
night, I certainly don’t think so. They remain battle ready for just about anything.
So at what point should we pray and at what point should we
avoid a potential “faith disaster”? I share the same view as my two noble
friends on that - If you do nothing, nothing will certainly happen. But in the
words of Saul’s son Jonathon to his armour bearer when faced with overwhelming
odds before a troop of heavily armed Palestinians “Who knows what the Lord will
do”? Jonathon won a great victory that day and defeated twenty men and turned
the moral of the battle in the Jews favour. The Philistines fled and Israel
lived to fight another day.
Our own practise is that as much as possible we listen to
hear the word and direction of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we are not sure if
His silence is His approval or indication to do nothing? Sometimes there is no
time to fast and pray – An instant decision and action is required.
The dead man I
prayed with that Christ raised to life
The dead man I prayed with thankfully was raised to life.
I had arrived in this large old house late the night before, it was a only stopover
some had arranged as I’d been asked to come and pray with a young mother that
had terminal cancer the following morning.
Arriving in the dark, an old lady opened the door and beckoned
me to follow. Strangely, no words were exchanged and she appeared highly un-delighted
that I was even there. I followed as she led me to a large single room at the
rear of the very dimly lit house. The room was large and almost empty except
for a single bed way off to one wall and a small cabinet. At that she turned at
left. I saw and spoke with no one else.
Lightning &
thunder filled the room as the whole house seemed to shake.
I took this trip very seriously as I’d learnt that the
mother who had the cancer had already arranged for her two children to be adopted
fully expecting to die soon. But, there was little to prepare me for what
happened around 3 am when first the bed and room began to tremble, which
tremble quickly built to a prolonged roaring, shattering clatter the whole room
filled with flashes of lightning. Somehow, and I don’t yet know how it
happened, I was out of the bed and stood quaking and traumatised in the middle
of the room wondering when if ever, this deafening, blinding living nightmare would ever end. I was too
paralysed with shock and awe to determine whether it was the four horsemen of
the Apocalypse or the rapture itself. After what seemed forever, the eruption
began to fade till all I could here in the returning still of the night was the
fast disappearing clatter of train on track. I later learned that the “visitation2
was the London to Glasgow express and the line was a mere 3 metres from the
window of my room.
boxer shorts, t-shirt, wild just woke up hair & morning
breath.
I mumbled trying to sound confident and knowledgeable as
to whether her husband had experienced this condition before, which she replied
with a further stream of loud and clear directives that I should pray NOW!!! –
And no it had never happened before.
I began a gentle sort of bedside comforting the bereaved
prayed for which seemed to annoy her further and I received another mighty
shove and loud command to pray.
At that point, realising, there was no easy way out of
this room with this very animated old woman and very dead old man, something
deep inside me automatically changed gears, I felt more spectator than
participator as if an adrenaline anointing began to rush through my entire
body, even my voice became energised and deeper. With an authority that almost
made even me jump I bellowed out “death spirit depart - Rise up and live in
Jesus name”. His eyelids fluttered, then jumped as if we had used Defib paddles
on him, he sat bolt upright in the bed, eyes wide open, definitely alive as he
stared at me registering shock I guess at the guy with the boxers, then stared
wide eyed at the wife “What happened” he asked, I excused myself and padded
back to my room.
Later the now dressed and seemingly very refined old lady
brought me a cup of tea, thanked me formally, explaining with the briefest of
terms that her husband was now very well and that someone would be coming to
collect me shortly!!! Never saw or heard from either of them again.
The woman with the cancer visited me at my office 6
months later, with her family, she was totally healed within an hour of being
prayed with - Jesus
Spectacular
Courage
My situation, totally different from John & Grace’s
paints a very different picture as to what courage and faith is. Rom 10v17 States,
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. I never heard anything
other than the woman screaming for me to pray. Seemed she had way more faith
than I did at that moment in time. Would I have travelled nine hours to go pray
with him? Probably not ninety minutes even in a car.
For me John & Grace’s experience is not defined by
whether or not the boy returned to life after being 36 hours dead but the real
gold in this, the thing I believe makes the father smile was the faith, the
willingness, the courage, the readiness to be a fool for Christ. The endurance
just to get there with no guarantees of success and yet they pressed down any insidious
suggestion that their God may not show up for them. Whilst I heard this last
night and type this now, I remain amazed, stirred up, this is the kind of New
Testament willingness and readiness for battle we must return to if we are ever
to see His glory manifest among us.
And from the days of John the Baptist until
now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matt 11v12
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