During this same series of meetings (in Haiti), a certain woman who had been born blind was brought to the front by her granddaughter. Each time this little lady would come to the front with her hand on her granddaughter’s shoulder, and I would pray for her. Every time the anointing of God would hit her and she would fall down like I had hit her with all my strength, although I barely touched her. I knew something had happened, but each time I helped her up and asked, “How are you, Grandma?” she would blink her still blind eyes and say, “I can’t see.” I could only answer, “Okay. Come again.”
The same thing happened each service after that for seven days and nights. She would be led forward by her granddaughter. The power of God would hit her, her body would shake, and down she would go. I knew it was the genuine power of the Lord hitting her. It was so obvious that I almost wanted the Lord to be gentle. Yet each time I helped her up again and asked, “How are you?” she would shake her head and say she still couldn’t see.
I was really struggling with this situation. As you might imagine, when you are conducting healing services, you don’t necessarily want the first people to come up for prayer to be born blind! There’s a strong temptation to ask for the warts and headaches first. The Lord doesn’t think that way.
By the fourth day, I was getting tired of seeing Grandma coming forward for prayer. Thank God she wasn’t looking to me for healing, she was looking to the Lord. Once again, the same thing happened. In fact, the same thing happened on the fifth day and the sixth day. She would come forward, I would pray, she would fall down, I would help her up, she would shake her head no, and I would say, “God bless you, come back again,” and so on.
On the last service of the last day of the crusade in Haiti, my favourite grandmother came forward to the front once again with her hand on her granddaughter’s shoulder. Once again I prayed for her, and again the incredible power of God hit her so hard that she was absolutely knocked to the floor, just like every service before that. Once again I knelt down and said, “God bless you, Grandma,” and went on. But this time the Lord said, “Help her up.” So I said, “Okay.” I went back to help this dear lady to her feet.
Once again I asked her, “How are you, Grandma?” She blinked her eyes and said, “I can see you clearly!” God had totally recreated her eyes and given her sight for the first time in her life! Outwardly I exclaimed, “How wonderful!” but inwardly I said, “You know, Lord, You could have done this the first day!”
Many months later during an extended time of fasting and prayer, I was driving down a street in South Florida where I lived at the time. I was minding my own business and wasn’t even praying on the eighteenth day of the fast when suddenly, right in front of my eyes, I began to view scenes of the times I had prayed for that precious Haitian grandmother. It was almost as if I was watching a full-colour video tape of those prayer times.
I had wondered many times about the seven days I had prayed for that blind woman, and suddenly I found myself reliving those times in living colour. Only this time I knew I was seeing through the eyes of the Spirit. As this woman came up for prayer in each service, the Lord showed me that there was a creature that looked similar to an octopus with several tentacles wrapped around the woman’s eyes. Every time I prayed, the anointing of God would hit her and knock off one of the tentacles.
During the second prayer, a second tentacle was supernaturally removed. During the third prayer, a third tentacle came off. Finally, on the last night in the last service, the woman came forward with a single tentacle still wrapped around her eyes. It was like a spirit of blindness, the main demon that had kept her bound in a world of darkness. When I prayed for her the last day, the last tentacle came off and she could see clearly.
The Lord revealed to me that at times, demonic obstructions hold us or cling to us with several arms. Every time you pray under the anointing, something happens. You can count on that the Lord would say to many of us, “Don’t get discouraged. Keep praying through until the last tentacle comes off and you see the healing and deliverance!”
(From the book The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting by Mahesh Chavda, pg 46-49)