My Wedding Anniversary Gift from Jesus-Philippines Journey Report

Borongan, Philippines - May 25, 2016

It has been a very full trip; we have ministered in eight different barangays (communities) in nine days. We reached three barangays by boat--two were a long way up rivers and one was on an island across a strait. In each community we watched as Jesus miraculously healed men, women and children. (Just before I sat down to write this, the Lord healed a woman of severe hip injury and pain. She shouted with joy as she was instantly able to walk freely again, as her husband cried tears of joy).

On the Journey we encountered many more blind people than usual. Not all were healed, but many were as totally blind eyes opened. Likewise, deafness suddenly left many. One deaf girl who was also mute received both her hearing and her speech as a team member prayed for her. It was at an outdoor meeting where healing was happening all around us. I was some distance away when I heard a loud reaction come from a circle of people when they realized that this girl could suddenly hear. Immediately she began to repeat the words that, for the first time, she was hearing.

Many hundreds have been healed of pain, fever, sickness, blurry vision, impaired hearing, and more. A few days ago, I prayed for a man who had been born with only a slight amount of healing. I saw a great deal of expectancy and faith on his face as he asked me to pray for him. After only a few moments the Lord completely opened his ears. He then exclaimed that he could now see clearly--and we hadn't even known to pray for his eyesight! By the end of the first day of the Journey, every team member had watched Jesus use them to heal the sick. (Check out the Impact Nations Facebook page for lots of testimonies from team members.)

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. Christina and I have been away from each other for more anniversaries than we can remember. But the Lord remembers, because He gave me a great present yesterday. We spent the day ministering on a beautiful island. There was so much healing and salvation going on all day as the team went out in pairs from house to house praying for people, giving rice, and distributing water filters. Pastor Sam and I prayed for a woman with a bad knee, as her neighbors looked on. When she was completely healed, the lineup started: in a few minutes we prayed for six people and all of them were totally and immediately healed of all pain. Once again, conditions that we hadn't even prayed for were healed as Heaven broke into our midst.

After several hours of going into houses around the barangay, we gathered with the community under a large tree to stay out of the very hot sun. I preached then invited them to open their hearts and lives to Jesus. Then I did something I haven't done in a long time: I taught them about baptism for a few minutes then asked who wanted to take this step. Several hands went up--perhaps six or seven. Then I invited the whole group to follow us down to the sea to watch. It was about 6-800 meters to the water. Just before we got there, I looked back and was amazed to see a long parade of villagers--more than had been at the gathering under the tree--stretching all the way back to the village. More than 109 had come to see their first baptism. Two of our Impact team were baptized by their best friends (also team members), then the locals started. But not just six or seven; we baptized about 30 people as the community clapped and cheered. Each one of them then had a small group gather around to pray and prophesy when they came out of the sea. It was an amazing experience.

And it was my wedding anniversary gift from Jesus.