We were not very spiritually sensible in our early days but we loved God. Do you know that you can be spiritually foolish? Well, we sure were. We would attack any devil anywhere night and day. We wouldn’t sleep, we wouldn’t rest. We were young and had gone crazy for God.
One day my wife Mavis, I, and Brother Sydney, a big, giant brother, walked 15 miles over the mountains into a place called Mayfield in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. We went there to pray for a sick man. They had sent for us and asked us to come and pray for him one week before, but we couldn’t get to go. However, we were anxious to pray for him. So we went over the hill, through little tracks, through the woodland, trying to get to this place as fast as possible. We planned to have a meeting in the town that evening so we had to get to the house and pray quickly as time was against us. We were already late so we were more running than walking. When we got over the hill we observed a great crowd of people in the yard. We did not inquire what the crowd was doing there. We just hurried inside and asked where he was. They directed us to a small room to the right. On entering, we saw the form of a man stretched out on the bed covered with a white sheet from his head to his feet. We came to pray for a sick man so we thought he might have been cold. Well, he was really cold!
As we had no time to waste, without asking anybody, we rushed by his bed, laid hands on him, rebuked the power of death and commanded him in the Name of Jesus to rise up! The power of God came down and we shouted! We were so wild! Some people say we raised such a racket that we frightened the devils! We literally jumped on him. Brother Sydney was 250 pounds of bare muscle and as strong as an ox. His hands were so long that they went below his knees. He wore size 16 shoes. When he shouted hallelujah, the windows would rattle. “Hallelujah!” Rattle, rattle. “Hallelujah!” Rattle, rattle. When he stomped the floor, the whole place would vibrate. And you have to know that when he shouted, he didn’t put his mouth downward.
As we started shouting in that room, the man suddenly sat bolt upright in his bed. His big brown eyes were looking at us incredulously. I will never forget those eyes! They were just rolling and rolling, looking and looking. He was wondering where he was and what world he was in. When we saw him sit up, we knew he was healed. So we started to praise God! We were gone crazy with joy. He was healed!
Eventually, he interrupted us and tried to signal something to us. So we asked him, “What is it?” He said, “Get me something to eat.” We called outside and asked his wife to bring something for him to eat. The woman said, “What? Who? Who is going to eat?” She rushed in, took one look and ran out screaming. People outside started running! Food was brought in and he ate as I have never seen anyone eat before. It was then that they showed us his death certificate issued by the coroner. They also showed us his grave which was being dug in the back yard. WE HAD RAISED A DEAD MAN! The people had actually gathered for the funeral. We did not know all of this when we first came in. If we had, maybe we wouldn’t have prayed. But because of the energy of God and the life that God had given us, we let it loose on him. As we were already late for the meeting, we could not wait to see him finish eating. We ran right out of there and left them with the excitement.
Faith truly is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. When you feel the faith of God, it lifts you off the floor and energizes both your body and your soul, and you know you have won. The power and the energy that comes through faith when we believe God is more than anything you can think of. There is nothing that we cannot accomplish if we believe, for, “All things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23b)