The Craziest Prayer Time

One day near the end of my prayer time in the Church while Jesus was exposed in Adoration, a lady with a cast and bandages covering her leg walked in with her daughter. She walked back and forth for a while, looking sad and discouraged. I had JUST been reading in the Gospels where Jesus begins His ministry by rebuking the “unclean spirit” in a man in the temple, and then He “healed many.” I started to feel convicted that Jesus wanted us to pray with her, but honestly didn’t want to, for fear of being powerless… But Jesus was literally right there.

Just then, Madeleine, my teammate, came to me and said, “I feel like we need to pray with this lady.” Alrighty Jesus, I guess we’re praying! She was walking out of the church when I called her name, “Maria!” Her daughter, Diana, had told me. She turned, surprised, and came to us. We told her we both felt Jesus invited us to ask her if she needed prayers. She immediately broke down in tears. The details of her accident were confusing, but I gathered that someone hit her with something that broke her elbow. She had surgery and skin taken from her leg to put on her arm, but medication was causing her dizziness and nausea. 

As we talked and prayed over her broken body, her spirit became so joyful, I was baffled at the lack of pain she said she was feeling. Praise You, Jesus—and showing up in my lack of faith!

As we were wrapping up with Maria, a man came to us who had come to me earlier. He’s a young man we often see very drunk, and is usually very hard to deal with. The first time he came in, I lost my patience. But Jesus gave me a second chance after giving me His words to learn from.

I asked Jesus what I should’ve done, and that’s when He led me to Scripture. This time when the guy came in, my patience was still slim, but I was ready to invoke the power of the Lord, who was right there with us. I asked if we could pray with him and surprisingly he let us.

Maria and Diana stood by as I laid my hands on him, and Madeleine and I began praising Jesus out loud, calling on the Holy Spirit. Immediately, he began having a fit of sorts, cursing and getting very frustrated at the name of Jesus and pulled out his vodka to try pouring it onto the chapel floor and drinking it again. 

At that, I began rebuking every work of the devil (the “unclean spirit,” as Jesus said) that came to mind—the spirit of drunkenness, alcoholism, slavery, lust, chaos, rebellion, etc. Then I began reclaiming his identity as a child of God, and proclaiming the victory of freedom over his life from the power of the enemy.

This was the most intense prayer I have ever prayed, but it was powerful and beautiful because Jesus was in control. The Holy Spirit was moving, and I believe we will see this man clean and sober one day. He eventually calmed down and wanted food.

Another lady in the chapel offered to buy him lunch, and together with Maria and Diana, Madeleine and I went to the church kitchen right outside. We fed everyone and spent a long while with Maria and Diana as they asked us about our lives. Maria put down some food, and we rejoiced because the nausea didn’t prevent her!

This was the craziest prayer time I could’ve imagined. But Jesus really showed up to us and showed me not to be afraid of anything when we call on His Name.