Witnessing His Grace at Work

Justin Ong tells us how his team experienced God’s grace at work while on a mission trip to Mae Sot, Thailand.

Life-changing – this is how I would describe my team’s mission trip to Mae Sot, Thailand. I believe it was not only impactful for me but also for the rest – all 17 of us, including three-year-old Ephraim. It was a huge blessing and privilege to have a few father-child duos on this trip. I believe the presence of the fathers made such a difference to the way we ministered. There was a sense of covering, authority, and empowerment to operate in the Spirit, and I really saw how God moved so evidently and undeniably. Every day was filled with His goodness and faithfulness. From the small to the big things, and everything in between, His hand was upon it.

Before this trip, I had been asking God to activate the area of the prophetic in my life and to give me the faith

to see healings, signs, and wonders, and this trip was nothing short of that. Although it was forecasted to rain

every single day while we were there, not only did God hold back the rain, but it was nice and sunny 90% of the

trip while we were ministering!

The itinerary for this trip was house visits, as well as ministry at their youth conference and youth service.

Because we were such a big team, we were split into subteams for most of the trip to reach out to different areas.

Our journey began at a school with young kids.

As we travelled there, we continued to practise our skit with puppets that one of our team members, Chris, had brought, not knowing what to expect when we arrived. Upon arrival, we saw about 180 kids making their way to the brick shelter, and we were in awe because we knew that this was God orchestrated.

We played some icebreakers, and then moved on to the puppet show with an evangelistic message behind it. At the end of that meeting, we saw about 80% of the 180 kids raise their hands to want to receive Christ. It was a beautiful sight, and it really reminded me of the simplicity, the genuineness, and purity of heart that these kids carried.

Subsequently, throughout that same day, I saw how God answered my prayers to work in and through my weakness, and to step into the prophetic as we visited different homes.

All He is looking for is our willingness to just come as empty and broken vessels, ready to be used for His glory.

During one of the home visits, I sensed that there was someone present who had a headache in the left part of her head, and true enough, there was a lady who told us it was her. She also told us about her knee issue, back and neck pain, which had been bothering her for the last 14 years, but she had never gone to the doctor due to lack of money. As we prayed for her, she was completely healed! The pain left, and she could stand up without any problem! She started tearing, and I could see that God had touched her heart. That day, she received salvation with two others.

On the second day, while visiting another house, we also prayed for another lady to be healed of lower back pain. While laying hands on her, she also received healing and was moved to tears.

Later that day, we were reaching out to a family of pre-believers who had yet to accept Jesus into their lives. While we were sharing there, I felt a ringing in my left ear, and it felt like it wasn’t of my own, but probably someone was experiencing that too. I asked if anyone had ringing or hearing problems in their left ear, and a lady raised her hand and said it was in her other ear. We prayed for her, and she said that she felt like something lifted. The ringing was almost gone.

As 2 Corinthians 12:9 says: “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” Even though I felt inadequate, God showed up when I stepped out in faith. It was an honour and privilege to be used by God during this trip, and it really isn’t about how good we are, but whether we can acknowledge that we live, breathe, move, and have our being because of Him. All He is looking for is our willingness to just come as empty and broken vessels, ready to be used for His glory.