(of Roberts Liardon Ministries)
"Healing at New Orleans Mission"
Keith's ministry website: World View Ministries | Other testimonies from Keith
Regional Elijah Challenge Affiliates
Keith Roussel
Keith is a missionary to the Philippines and attended The Elijah Challenge Training in Davao, Philippines in June 2007. In April 2008 while back in the United States he wrote the following testimony:
Healing at New Orleans MissionOn Wednesday night I had the opportunity to visit the New Orleans mission on Barone Street. Throughout the week they feed the hungry and give lodging to the homeless. Before the meal the people must take part in a short church service. This Wednesday’s service was being conducted by the church I used to attend years ago before I went to Bible school. I was just there to say hello to my old pastor and church-mates, observe the missions work and to lend a hand where needed.
After getting lost and driving around for 30 minutes trying to find the mission, I arrived just as the preaching began. It was a great message geared towards salvation, and at the end the pastor held a call for salvation. I was standing in the back of the room enjoying the anointed preaching, when I noticed horrible coughing coming from the guy sitting in front of me. It got so bad that he got up and excused himself to the restroom. I could tell that this was a usual occurrence by the rags he was carrying that he would constantly cough into.
By the time the man got back to his seat, the pastor was praying with the people who came to the front. I then approached the man and asked him if he was ok. He answered by telling me that he had bronchitis and inflazema. As if he was trying to sarcastically say, “Hell no! What do you think?” I asked him if he believed that Jesus could heal him. This time he responded with a hint of skepticism saying, “Yes, but son I’ve been praying that prayer for 5 years.” I told him that according to the Bible Jesus healed all sorts of sicknesses and diseases, and I asked if I could lay hands on him to receive his healing. The man said, “Are you Jesus?” I said, “No, but I am one of his followers, and in the Bible Jesus gave his disciples the authority to heal the sick.” I then quoted him the verse from Mark 16:17-18 which says, “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
I told him that these verses do not say that these signs might accompany, or that they could accompany. It says that they “will accompany.” I then asked him, “Who does it say they will accompany? Only pastors? Only missionaries? Only Bible college students?” To each of these questions he admittingly replied, “No.” I continued, “It says that these signs will accompany those who believe. I believe. Do you believe?” “Yes” he replied, and immediately grabbed my hand and closed his eyes as if to say, “I’m ready!”
I began to rebuke the sickness in his body as the Word of God shows us. As I continued to declare the Word over him, his hand gripped me tighter and tighter and tighter. When I was finished I asked him, “How do you feel?” “Right now I feel fine!” he answered as he breathed in and out with no problems. He thanked me and I returned to my spot in the back of the room as the service came to a close. I later heard him say to his friend sitting next to him, “I feel good!”
God’s power is still at work today, and it belongs to “those who believe.” This world has a hard time believing in a God whom they cannot see, but God has equipped us with all that we need to portray His loving nature through our lives. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us into triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)
To God be the glory!
Luke 10:9 "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.’"
