In my previous article (A Prophetic Warning at the Moldovan Border) I shared about how God both warned the Overseas Missions team about the Moldovan border crossing and also walked us through everything we needed to resolve the matter in real-time. But that was just the process to arrive in Ukraine. Once we were there, the real work began. And when I say “work”, it wasn’t physically challenging for most on the team, nor was it fast-paced such that it would be hard for someone to keep up. It was really more about steadily and persistently being involved on a daily basis, and as we did that, Jesus healed people every day. And why did He do this? Because Jesus loves to heal the broken.
A favorite passage of mine is Isaiah 42. The entire passage is a prophecy speaking of Jesus, but I want to highlight a few specific verses, Isaiah 42:3, 6b-7, which says:
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. . .
. . . I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
I love thinking of Jesus’s personality in this context. He is so gentle and kind to the hurting and broken that he won’t further injure those who are already injured, and those who are nearing the end of their ability to cope, or even the end of their life, He will never push them further or finish the job. He is a light to all mankind, heals those with any physical malady, brings freedom to those in captivity, and to those in any form of darkness, whether physical, soul, or spiritual, He sets them free. And this is exactly what the OM team saw Him do again and again each day in Ukraine.
Most weekdays our team would join a local church in Izmael on their weekly soup-rounds with refugees. Each weekday the local church we partnered with would visit a location with a large (7 gallons or larger) pot of soup. They would go to the same park each Monday, a particular shopping mall square on Tuesdays, etc. Our team would help them dish out the soup, share a short message (under 5 minutes) about Jesus and His love and good plans for them, serve soup, and while everyone was eating, we would go around with our translators and pray for people. Sometimes they needed physical healing, and almost everyone needed Heaven’s touch in their emotions.
As you can imagine, with a war going on in the country, with daily drone strikes somewhere in the nation (and oftentimes somewhere in their state), and with family members and friends having been conscripted for the war, many were grieving and lived in a lot of fear. And yet Jesus showed up time and time again with His healing touch. Sorrow would turn to joy, pain and debility into relief and ability, and more. One day we might pray for someone with a cane and Jesus would heal them on the spot—and a few days later when we saw them next, they were still not using a cane. One woman who was deaf began to start hearing. She could only hear vague sound, but it was more than nothing—and we would continue to pray for her hearing each time we saw her for Jesus to complete the job. Quite regularly people would have pain leave their bodies instantly, regain range of motion in their joints, and while not everything got healed instantly, I don’t think anyone we prayed for left without some kind of change when Heaven touched their bodies.
As I mentioned above, Jesus didn’t just come to fix physical problems, but to heal those whose hearts are hurting and broken. And there were many in Ukraine needing His love to heal their hearts. Whether grieving widows, parents in fear for their adult sons at war, or whatever other situation, Jesus touched hearts as well. Sometimes we would just hug someone while they cried, but even then, they would feel loved and know they weren’t alone. And as we prayed for people, it was common to see tears turn into smiles of joy. The Bible tells us that the peace of God bypasses our conscious understanding and goes straight to the depths of our soul (Philippians 4:7), and that in God’s presence there is joy. As we prayed for these beloved ones, the Holy Spirit would come and release His presence, bringing peace and joy with Him and filling everyone who needed it.
One day we drove from Izmael to Odessa (about a 3-hour drive) early in the morning and spent the day there. A few of the team were able to join a military chaplain who was filled with the joy of the Lord and pray for soldiers in the hospital, and each of the men they prayed for received a touch from heaven. One man who had an amputated limb that was in constant pain didn’t believe that anything was going to happen when they prayed—and as they told us the story, he was quite shocked when the pain instantly left at the name of Jesus. That evening we held a healing meeting in a local church and the team called out many words of knowledge and God healed many. At first the people there were unsure of what we were doing (even after we explained it) because they had never experienced the gifts of the Spirit or the power of God like we were demonstrating. But the more we called out different injuries God wanted to heal and the more people got healed, the more people began raising their hands when their problems were called out and were open to receiving prayer. One healing in particular that stood out to me came when we called out “blindness”. Multiple men and women who wore very thick glasses raised their hands, and while I don’t remember what happened to everyone, I remember one elderly gentleman who no longer needed his glasses because his vision had been restored!
These kinds of healings were a daily thing for our team, and I am thankful for that. If I reflect a bit on what we experienced in Ukraine, however, I think it is important to recognize that Jesus is the same in the United States as He is in every other nation. The truth is that if we were in the USA and ministering to people one could easily see similar results. What really is at play is that when we step out in faith to release the Kingdom, God backs us. And if He will back us in Ukraine, as He has done in India, Guatemala, Peru, Thailand, and in other nations that Overseas Missions has visited, He will do the same here as well. Often I think we hear these stories of what God does “overseas” and categorize it as a “missions thing”. I enjoy going on mission trips and seeing God touch people with His power and love all around the world, but it can be easy to forget to apply that same miracle-working power to those around us when we are no longer “on a mission”. In reality, the “as you go” commission wasn’t just about intentional mission trips, it was about “as you go” to the grocery store, to the post office, and everywhere else we go in daily life. If anything, these trips are an opportunity to love the poor and the broken, but also to get equipped to release the Kingdom everywhere we go!
If these stories are inspiring and encouraging to you and you want to find out about future trips, I encourage you to head over to the Overseas Missions website and keep an eye out for future trips. Currently OM tends to run trips 3-4 times a year, and it is a great opportunity to challenge yourself, grow your faith, and see God move in healing and miracles. And if you don’t feel led to go on a trip but want to help sponsor someone else to go or support the missions work of Overseas Missions, you can contact them to see how you can sow into the ministry as well.
