healing stories (pt. 1)
God is good and he is still in the healing business. He wants to heal and deliver people more than they want to be healed and delivered. Why? Because he’s reconciling the world to himself through Christ, and that reconciliation involves our whole person. It will ultimately be complete when Christ returns for his bride and the world is judged with righteousness. Only then will the fullness of our salvation be realized. But until then we’re experiencing a daily salvation of our whole man, more and more and from glory to glory according to our faith.
If you’re not totally sure this is true, read through Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts and John in one sitting. It might take a bit, but it will probably be one of the most eye-opening experiences you’ve ever had. Healing and power encounters (supernatural deliverance, authority over demons and various other miracles) are part of God’s kingdom, part of how he continually testifies to his body and to the world that Jesus is alive, that the Holy Spirit is at work in the earth and that the gospel is a relevant message of power and hope.
Water that down even a drop and you’ve got less than he intended, less than is in his heart and less than what he promised through Christ. Believe it in its entirity, and let go of everything else, and you’ll see and experience it for yourself.
We’ve been experiencing God’s healing for a while now, and I just can’t shut up about it. I’d like to take the next few posts to tell you some stories. These are stories about physical and relational healing that are nothing short of God’s miraculous touch in the lives of broken and dependent people. I hope you’re encouraged by them as I have been.
Tony suffered from years of intense, chronic back pain. He had been going to the chiropractor regularly for months and couldn’t sit in one position for more than a couple minutes. It was exhausting him and stealing his joy. We prayed for him multiple times for weeks without seeing any changes. Finally, we just rested in the assurance that God knew and that he would heal him in his own timing. Weeks later, one of the guys laid hands on him at a meeting and the joy of the Holy Spirit filled the room. We laughed as Tony’s back was effortlessly, miraculously and permanently healed. He was running around the room and rolling on the floor like a kid! The best part was when he realized he could tear up his cold pack.
Rick is a master mechanic whose ribs had been popping out of place multiple times a week. He was stiff, in chronic, excruciating pain and wasn’t able to do his job properly. God spoke to him about some lifestyle changes and he immediately obeyed. Soon after that we laid hands on him and prayed. God gave one of the ladies a word of knowledge about a specific muscle that needed to be healed. She spoke to it to loosen and he immediately gained several inches on his stretch. A few days later he attended a healing service and God touched him again in a powerful way. It’s been a couple months now and Rick’s ribs have stopped popping out of place, he can easily touch his toes for the first time in years, and he’s been to the chiropractor maybe once or twice since then. Ask him about how God healed him and you’ll see a huge smile break across his face. Then just sit back and relax. He’ll gladly tell you all about it.
Katy sat on the floor in one of our meetings, having dealt with mild skulliosis most of her life. Hands were laid on her and she immediately felt a physical shift in her back. Since then she hasn’t noticed any of the discomfort or pain she had before, and her posture has improved.
Allen is my next door neighbor. I was out talking to him recently and he told me how he had suffered from neuropathy of the feet for 15 years. He said it felt like a severe 24/7 sunburn on the tops of his feet. One day he prayed and asked God to remove the pain. The next morning he noticed that his feet didn’t hurt. It’s been two pain-free months now. His eyes welled up with tears as he told me about how personal God has become, how grateful he is and how much he realizes now that God loves him.
