God is using miraculous healing to bring people to Christian faith in India, praise the Lord! We read many instances of Jesus healing in the Gospels, and He is still blessing people in the same way. Here are three stories from India of miraculous healings that led to faith in Christ. 

It’s amazing that Raman, Raj and Meeta* have become believers – but for them, and millions of Indian Christians like them, the story doesn’t end there. India is number 10 on the Open Doors World Watch List in 2019, and anti-conversion laws are becoming more common – laws that are often used as an excuse to harass or attack Christians. These believers’ new faith often makes them the target for persecution – and they need your support and prayers to help strengthen their faith.

HEALED AND HEALED AGAIN: RAMAN’S STORY

When he was nine, Raman became ill. His sickness made him weak and he would frequently collapse – and it made him doubt that any of the Hindu gods his family believed in actually existed: “At that time, I was sure that there was no god. If there were, why did I have to suffer like this?” 

 

At this point, he says, he began to hear evil voices. They whispered dark thoughts to him and urged him to carry out terrible acts, such as attacking others and even killing himself. He was a danger to himself and others, and so villagers advised his mother to chain him up for the safety of the community. Raman was chained up for months. Nobody knew how to help him.

Finally, Raman’s mother was advised to take him to church. She did, and Christians prayed for him. Within a month, praise the Lord, Raman was healed completely! His mother and sister converted from Hinduism to Christianity – but Raman wasn’t interested in becoming a Christian.

Seven years later, Raman had a terrible accident. He was hit by a truck when motorcycling, and severely injured – even close to death. The pastor of his mother and sister’s church prayed for him, along with many members of the congregation. 

After three weeks, Raman was awake and walking with crutches. While others praised God, Raman was dissatisfied: “I looked awful, I had scars on my face and I had to walk with crutches. I didn’t feel happy at all. I told my Mum, ‘If God has really healed me, then I want to walk without those crutches.’” 

She prayed with him, and continued to pray for several days.

“Within a week, all the strength came back into my legs. That was the moment I realised that Jesus had healed me.”

Raman started following Jesus, and later even became the pastor of a church. But the bigger his church grew, the more severely he was persecuted by Hindu extremists who accused him of following a ‘foreign’ God. He and his wife were knocked off their bike, and she lost their unborn baby. Extremists set fire to his church while he was inside, and Raman was injured.

Despite all this, Pastor Raman has continued to serve his congregation and is determined to plant churches in 100 villages near his town. Your prayers and support can help strengthen pastors like Raman today.

“THE REAL JOY IS IN JESUS”: RAJ’S STORY

Another convert to Christianity, Raj, started his journey to his new faith when his mother was miraculously healed.

Raj was 16 when his father died, and he and his mother were very poor. To add to these troubles, his mother was in a lot of pain from arthritis. Despite being very sceptical that it would work, Raj asked a local pastor to pray for his mother. 

“All I knew about prayer is that many people will pray, but they will charge you for it,” said Raj. 

But when the pastor came and prayed, he didn’t ask for money. To everyone’s amazement, Raj’s mother started to recover from the crippling arthritis. The family was invited to church that night. The pastor gave Raj a New Testament to read and, within a month, Raj, his mother and his brothers were all baptised!

 

“Our faith has grown and is really strong,” Raj said. “Once we became Christians, we saw that our lives were transformed. It’s something from the inside out. The real God and the real joy are in Jesus and that’s where I find peace.”

Raj’s other relatives once accused the family of converting to Christianity for money. Now they visit Raj and his family when they are sick, asking for prayers of healing.

PRAYERFUL AND PERSECUTED: MEETA’S STORY

Meeta was just five years old when she was diagnosed with the same mental illness that had caused her mother to be permanently hospitalised. Meeta couldn’t get an education, as staff at the local school considered her a danger to other children and wouldn’t admit her. 

Her father was desperate to find a solution – and somebody suggested that he ask a Christian pastor to pray for his wife and daughter. He did. To the amazement of everyone, both Meeta and her mother were completely healed after attending the time of prayer! Thank you God.

 

Meeta recalls: “Though I was very small, I still remember the terrible feeling when I was sick. Jesus healed me from that. He gave His life for all of us. I am alive and well today because of Him.”

Following their miraculous healing, many people in their neighbourhood started visiting the family for prayer. Meeta’s parents prayed for everyone in the name of Jesus and eventually they established a house church in their own home. It started small but it quickly grew. Soon the congregation numbered more than 500 people. 

With this growth came persecution. Meeta says her father was attacked several times, but never gave up his faith. Can you stand with Christians like Meeta and her father?

In partnership with local churches, Open Doors strengthens the Indian church through providing emergency aid, training, Bibles, advocacy support and legal seminars.

 

Dear God, Thank you for performing these wonderful miracles in the lives of Raman, Raj’s mother, and Meeta. And thank you for the greater miracle of bringing Your children to faith. We pray that You would continue to strengthen the faith of believers in India, and protect Christians in India from violence and persecution for their faith. Amen.

*Names changed for security reasons

Source: Open Doors

Picture: Open Doors