Testimony from Joshua M. in Florida who trained with The Elijah Challenge in November 2007 and October 2008
“Last Friday we went to South Beach again. It was an amazingly discouraging night in the beginning. People would reject the message of myself and the brother I was with, Felix (his first time to South Beach for evangelism), in an incredibly outspoken and almost violent way. A few of the other teams were actually threatened for sharing the gospel to be beaten up if they didn’t leave. This forceful rejection is incredibly uncommon to experience even once per night in the past!
Our group is not the “Fags are going to Hell” type either, but mostly softspoken, “Jesus Loves you”, types.
After the first four serious rejections Felix and I experienced we walked, slightly discouraged, until the Holy Spirit directed us to a man sitting on the wall on Ocean Blvd. We approached him and began speaking plainly with him. Then he asked why we were talking to him and we began with the message of the gospel. In the beginning and throughout he was complaining about soreness in his shoulder. Apparently an injury from a long time ago.
Noticing he wasn’t paying any attention to the gospel, the Lord prompted me to ask about his shoulder.
“Wait… your shoulder is hurting you?” “Yea, it’s not painful, just really sore.” “Ok, can I pray for your shoulder for the Lord to heal you so you know the message I’m bringing is true?” “Well praying isn’t going to help any but alright.”
I stood up and prayed for the Lord to demonstrate His power and heal so this man may know the truth and in repentance know Him. Felix was in agreement. Then I did something they both didn’t expect…
I placed my hands on his shoulder and with both eyes open commanded his shoulder to be well, for soreness to leave and the pain to leave immediately.
“How are you feeling now?” “WOW! It’s much better!” *with a big smile as he moved it around* “On a scale from 1-10 what is it?” “I’d say it’s an 8!” “Do you want to have the other 2 healed?” “No, I’m really good with this, now what was the rest of that message you were telling me?”
I finished preaching the good news to him and he readily repented of his sins and accepted the Lord.
I could hardly believe this myself. It has been such a long time since I laid hands on somebody and I don’t remember the last time I did with a complete stranger. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised!
The Lord blessed the rest of our night fruitfully. We didn’t heal anybody else by His name, but even so, we prayed with several people and even one man from Guatemala was in tears of repentance as Felix spoke to him the gospel in Spanish.
May Christ be praised forever!”