Brad Smith, working in the Netherlands, describes how God works in mysterious ways, beyond what we could ever hope for or ask, for His Kingdom and for His purposes:
One day, I invited Jochen*, one of the men I was mentoring, to go prayer walking with me. It was a new experience for him. While we had been meeting regularly for Discovery Bible Studies, that day I felt prompted by the Spirit that we should prayer walk.
So we chose to meet downtown at a coffee shop and then to pray our way through the city. Standing near the coffee shop was a man selling homemade booklets of poems, stories, and personal notes that he had written. Jochen had arrived before me, had purchased one of these booklets from the man, and had read some of it. Little did we know that an hour later, we would witness God at work!
When I arrived we got coffee and set out through the city. We walked for about an hour, and as the Spirit led us we prayed for the people, the families, the homes and businesses we were seeing. Our goal as we prayer walk is to see our neighborhoods with God’s eyes and to intercede on behalf of the city.
When we returned to the coffee shop to get our bikes and leave, the man was still there. Jochen approached him boldly and told him that he had read in one of his poems that the man had a pain in the side of his abdomen. Jochen asked him about the pain and asked him where it was. He then asked if he could pray that it would be healed for him. The man obliged and Jochen put his hand on his side and prayed that his pain would be healed, in the name of Jesus. When Jochen finished praying, the man said thank you (but not as if anything had changed for him), and we parted ways with him.
Now, frankly, I didn’t really know what was going on at this point because they were speaking Dutch, which I was still very much learning. We went back into the coffee shop, and Jochen told me about reading the poem that mentioned the pain in his side before I arrived. We both committed to follow up with the man and see how he was doing in a few days.
From there we parted ways. But when Jochen left, the man found him and told him that he no longer felt pain in his side – that Jesus had healed it! When he got home, Jochen called me and told me the good news.
A very simple act of obedience, walking and praying through the city, led to this man’s chronic pain being taken away, in Jesus’ name. This man is on a journey of faith. Among His followers, God is looking for the willing, those who are willing to be His hands, in Jesus’ name. What will He do with our simple obedience?
Brad and Hannah Smith live in Utrecht, The Netherlands. They serve with Communitas as part of the leadership team in The Netherlands, and in training and coaching to multiply discipling initiatives in churches and cities across the region.They are passionate about helping people discover Jesus and training them to do the same.
*Name changed for privacy
