One American speaker at the mission conference Susan and I attended a few weeks ago shared that every believer he met on a recent trip to India had either been physically healed, or knew a family member who had been healed. It is estimated that less than 3% of the 1.2 billion people in India are Christians. Around 80% are Hindu, 13% are Muslim, and the remaining 4% are Sikh, Buddhist, or of another religion. India is a huge country with many large cities, but over 60% of the population live in rural, impoverished villages. There are approximately 412 million Indians who have never even heard the Name of Jesus.
It should not surprise us that God chooses to reveal his love and confirm his Word through healing the sick and delivering the lost from Satan’s grip. The story was told of a family with two daughters. The father was a Hindu priest and carried the position of spiritual leader in his village. Though a Hindu, he permitted his youngest daughter to attend an afternoon Bible Club led by a young married Christian couple.
One day the oldest daughter became very ill and her parents took her to the nearest hospital. After several days, the doctors told the parents there was nothing more they could do and that their daughter was about to die. Returning to their home fearful and distraught, the youngest daughter said, “Daddy, in my Bible Club the teachers tell us of a God named Jesus who hears prayers and heals the sick.”
Desperate, the father asked to meet these teachers. The young couple went to the hospital, prayed for the older daughter, and God healed her. Joyous and convicted, the father removed the dozen Hindu idols from his home, put them in a bag, and threw the bag in the river. From that point on he declared that he and his family would only follow the God Jesus.
Angus Buchan, an evangelist in South Africa, once said, “One genuine miracle equals a thousand sermons.” As a Hindu priest of a village became an outspoken advocate for Christ, an entire village was impacted. And a little girl who listened in Bible class was instrumental in the spreading of the Kingdom of God.
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ‘The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves… When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, “The Kingdom of God is near you.”‘” Luke 10:1-9
“… and a little child will lead them.” Isaiah 11:6