Second Day of Elijah Challenge Training
Elijah Challenge School of Basic Training (SBMT)
Organized by Christ Baptist Church
19, Jalan Stakan, 7th Mile, Kota Sentosa
93250, Kuching, East Malaysia
Senior Pastor: Rev. Greman Ujang Selat
The second night saw a greater crowd coming for training. This scenario happened all the time in our past seminars. Most participants thought that El ijah Challenge Seminar was like other seminars where the speakers would ‘speak’ about the healing of God rather than demonstrating the actual healing. After experiencing the tangible miraculous power of God, the participants were too excited not to tell their friends. In this seminar, some participants could hardly wait for the session to conclude so that they could contact their friends to attend the next session. Nothing drew the crowd faster than old-fashion authentic New Testament miracles.
To conserve time for the training, the worship team led the participants in only two songs. As expected, even this short worship was able to carry us quickly into the presence of God. After the worship, Pastor Greman and I quickly got into action. With interpretation, we needed at least 12 solid hours of training time to cover the major topics. The purpose of all these lessons was to provide the participants with the biblical mandate for Power Evangelism. In this seminar, we did not place emphasis on the theory of healing but made time for practical healing exercise. As the participants watched the training slides and listened to the Words of God, their faith was visibly strengthened. Pastor Greman interpreted with such ‘oomph’ that from time to time, I would pause just to watch and listen to him.
For healing the infirm, we emphasized on utilizing the Kingly Authority instead of the Priestly Authority or Prophetic Autho rity. Priestly Authority is important and so many churches continue to emphasize on Prayers. These churches also emphasize on preaching and prophecies. That is good too. However, what is lacking in most churches is the utilization of Kingly Authority which has to do with spiritual warfare. This means that the Christians have to actually heal the infirm, cast out evil spirits and challenge the power of the evil one. The Pre-Christians will be convinced that Jesus is God when they experience the miraculous healing touch.
In this session, the participants also learned the biblical way of winning souls. The biblical approach is always to use the ‘laws of God’ to convict and the ‘grace of God’ to save. For example, when the rich young ruler wanted eternal life, Jesus asked him if he had first obeyed the laws. By doing that, Jesus led the young man to confront his own sins. When the young man was unwilling to give up his sins, Jesus did not offer him salvation. Without the conviction of sins, the Pre-Christians will have no way of knowing that they are actually living in sins and outside the will of God. They will not know that they need the saving grace of God. In light of this evangelistic approach, we taught the participants a simple and fun way of memorizing the Ten Commandments. After that, everyone was able to repeat the Ten Commandments with much effort.
During the demonstration for healing, the two rows of chairs at altar area were filled with the infirm. The trained Iban believers were already in position. We really appreciate their simple faith. The team from Australia was very responsive too. They were among the first to take their place waiting to heal the infirm. The faith level on the second night of training was at an elevated height. Even though this session was not a healing rally, it soon resembled one. People were being healed as command after command for healing was given. In fact, after the first command, the stage was filled with ladies who were healed. However, there was not a man in sight. A lady with pain in her head testified that the pain was gone. Another was healed of her back pain. An elderly lady had her arthritic knees healed. Painful hands and legs received immediate relief from pain. A couple of them with stomach pain were also healed. All these ladies gave glory to God. The joy of healing was written all over their faces.
The ‘male-patients’ did receive the touch of the Lord and their ‘mountains of pain and disease’ did move but not all the way. Every one of them claimed improvement in their conditions. Pastor Greman and I encouraged the male participants to exercise their faith so as to push the ‘mountains all the way into the ocean’. I invited Pastor Greman to practice giving the commands in Iban. With his clear strong voice, he commanded the diseases and pain to leave the people. This time, the men exercised their faith and many male ‘patients’ were healed along with the women. Several of the men who had back pain testified of complete healing. When I asked if the healing was 100 percent, they exclaimed that it was. Some bended and touched their feet to prove that the miracle was real. One of them had such pain constantly for over eight years but now it was gone. Those with arthritic knees found instant relief and kicked their legs to test their healed condition. Both men and women with painful eye problems also received healing. A man with a hearing defect was healed. He was thrilled that he could hear clearly. Painful frozen shoulders and arms received instant healing. One cancer patient testified that he could swallow with pain in his throat. The stage was packed with healed people who took turns to testify with joy. After every testimony, loud applause of gratitude to God came from the rest of the participants.
The healing process continued as the trained believers used their faith to gain every inch of healing ground. Even after Pastor Greman had concluded the training session with a prayer, the participants formed small teams and took authority over the rest of the infirmed people. That was the whole idea – after the participants had been trained, they would do the healing themselves. Since all ordinary believers have been given the authority and power to heal the infirm in the context of evangelism, these newly trained believers realized that they could heal by their own God-given authority.
Reported by
Reverend Albert Kang
Coordinator
Elijah Challenge Asia
