27 Feb A Miracle for Ildus
I remember a young man named Ildus that we met at one of our meetings in Bashkortostan. Ildus could not speak and had severe difficulties. Our ministry workers found him outside our tent meeting begging in the trashcans, and someone decided to invite him to our meeting. They brought him in and I was preaching that day. He came up to give his testimony after I finished speaking. He was so excited as he came up onto the platform and walked over to the microphone. Everybody was expecting this wonderful healing testimony, but when he picked up the microphone he said, “ooh, ooh, ooh” and pointed at his heart.
Right at that moment my husband walked into the meeting, and I could see him looking at me thinking, Leslie, what are you doing? Obviously this young man has not been healed. I remember I just said to the audience and to my husband, “Everyone look! It’s obvious that Jesus has touched his heart and brought peace into his life.” So we all celebrated the smile he had on his face and the fact that something had happened in his heart.
Well, the next day when we were conducting a similar meeting and my husband was speaking, here came Ildus into the meeting again with that big smile on his face. He came up to the edge of the platform and wanted to testify. I could see my husband looking at him thinking, Hmm, I don’t think I’m going to let this young man up here; it doesn’t appear that he is actually healed. But one of our directors, Akop, was on the edge of the platform waving at us saying “No, it’s okay! It’s okay—he’s okay!” My husband still had the same reaction, as if to say, sure he’s okay…you’re going to let him up tonight like you did yesterday? But Akop kept saying “No, it’s real! It’s real!”
So this young man marched out to the center of the platform in front of all the people, took up the microphone, and began to tell a story. He said, “Last night when I went home after the meeting and I was alone in my room, Jesus walked into my bedroom and put His finger on my forehead. And when He did, all of a sudden the fog left my mind, and for the first time in my life I began to think clearly!”
Satan’s tools have never changed. He has no greater power than to fog, distort, and cause confusion in the minds of people—to cause them not to understand who this God is that we serve, and to deny the One who was sent to deliver us and bring us into fellowship with God.
But this young man, who the day before could only speak in grunts (he showed us the papers—he was in one of the more serious classifications of mental retardation), was healed when Jesus walked into his room, extended His hand, and touched his forehead. And when He did that fog left his brain and he could think clearly!