The
sweet sound of worship greeted us as Grace and I arrived at
the parking lot of the quiet
neighbourhood of Botanic, Klang. After scaling two flights
of steps,
we entered the nicely decorated sanctuary. It was
a joy to meet Pastor John Lim and his wife, Sister Sharon,
again… after
a hiatus of some 16 years. Back in the late 80s and
early 90s, Pastor John was a lay leader helping in one
of our
branch churches in Johor Bahru. Today, he is an accomplished
minister and Senior Pastor of a thriving church situated
in the growing township of Botanic in Klang.
A couple of years ago, this church began in Pastor John's
home at Bayu Perdana. With less than ten people, the Church
worked hard in winning souls and God gave much increase.
People were saved and baptized. As the membership grew,
the Church moved to a larger premises, which is a three-storey
corner shop, that includes a worship sanctuary, class rooms,
canteen and a Youth Centre.
Grace and I ministered in two services. In the first service,
which was in English, Grace sang a solo. I preached about
the authority and power to heal in the light of preaching
the Gospel. After the sermon, I invited those who were
not feeling well and had pain in their bodies to the front
of the sanctuary. About 8 people with various ailments
came forth to be healed. I then invited the rest of the
believers to minister healing by giving them quick instruction
on how to heal in the name of Jesus. The faith levels of
these believers were initially subdued but most of the
ailments were quite ordinary such as pain in various parts
of the body. One of the more serious ailments was in the
form of a cyst in a lady's breast.
As expected, God was gracious to these believers who were
ministering healing for the very first time. Pastor John
helped by leading the congregation in a prayer of repentance.
He did that in both services. The reason was because God
would heal believers on the condition that they did not
harbour sins in their lives. However, for non-believers,
the healing would be unconditional. As Grace and I took
turn to lead the believers in taking authority over the
diseases, the healing process was activated. After the
first command, everybody reported a marked improvement
in his or her condition. A few testified that while hands
were being laid upon the affected parts of their bodies,
they felt a strange warmth like an electrical current that
saturated them. The lady with the cyst said that she felt
the tenderness of that area left her. She also said that
the cyst had reduced in size but she would go for a medical
check-up to confirm it. A man with back pain testified
that he was totally healed. He kept turning his body to
test the authenticity of the healing.
In
the Chinese service, six people came forth for healing. Apparently
the faith-levels among these Chinese-speaking
believers were much higher – miracles happened
much faster than in the previous service. A lady
testified that
the arthritic pain in her knees was totally healed.
Another lady, who had a painful sciatic nerve-pull,
mounted the
stage and walked back and forth to show that her
pain had faded away. Even Pastor John's mother received
divine healing.
She testified that her nagging headache was gone
and
she had been healed by the power of God. A few more
others testified of the healing of shoulder pain,
back pain
and
other afflictions.
We thank God that once again, the God-given authority
to heal was activated and the members at Botanic Family
Church are now convinced that they also have the authority
to heal, while preaching the Gospel. After the services,
Pastor John said that in the near future, he would like
us to return to provide a more thorough training of the
Elijah Challenge to his members.