one Hindu healed, one Muslim not healed
One criticism with many who speak about Christians healing the sick is that they often don’t share about the non-healings. We don’t want to give the impression that everyone is healed, all the time when in fact they are not.
Today I walked into a shop and began speaking with one of the Indian Hindu employees. I asked if he had neck/shoulder pain because I was sensing something. He did not (which also shows that words of knowledge aren’t always right!) but he said he had lower and middle back problems. I asked him to put his hand on the affected area and I prayed a quick prayer in Jesus’ Name releasing healing. After the first prayer, he told me it was about 50% better. He was intrigued. I asked him to put his hand on his back again, prayed another healing prayer and with a big smile on his face told me that he was pain free and that all movement had returned. He told me that his back problem had been constant for 2-3 years and he told me it was gone. I was able to communicate to him that is was Jesus Christ who had healed him out of His great love for him. It was at that time he told me he was Hindu (from his name I already suspected it).
5 minutes later I found myself in another shop and one of the Egyptian Muslim employees limped out of the store for a short break. I asked one of his colleagues what happened to him, and he told me that he had broken his ankle two months ago falling off a ladder. When he returned, I asked him if I could pray for him in Arabic (literally “read over him” which is a way of describing healing prayer that Muslims understand). He agreed, sat down and I had him put his own hand on his ankle while I prayed for him in Arabic. After prayer, I had him get up and walk around a bit and he told me there was no improvement. I told him briefly about a gifted Coptic priest who also prayed for the sick that I had learned a lot from. I told him to check him out on the internet. He said he would. But he wasn’t healed.
This is often the kind of thing that we’ll see when we offer to pray for the sick in public places. One is healed, one isn’t. The why/why not questions never get answered. I always ask them anyway. I have some ideas.
One thing I do know is that one more person was healed today in Jesus’ Name than if I hadn’t prayed for the two men.
I've been thinking about this - and have concluded that it is a bit like a football striker trying to score goals. With experience and maturity they get better at knowing when they can get the ball in the back of the net. Like the young Welsh Arsenal player who eventually scored the winning goal in the recent UK FA Cup after "having a go" on a number of occasions earlier in the match, it is probably better to "have a go" when new to this - and as communication with God improves it will become clearer when God really is going to use the Christian's pray to effect healing.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of success for the Arsenal striker earlier in the game did not mean that he could not score goals.
p.s. Your blog is a great encouragement - Wonder when God will lead some folks to go and pray with Boko Haram and other violent groups round the world. This is all very "non-trivial" - some people are critical of the good things happening through God's people not realising that suffering on a wider scale is something that no one has a complete answer to - no one. The critics need to compare with their own solutions or lack of. God Bless you!
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that due to the complexity of factors involved in why a healing may not happen, we can never know (apart of some type of revelation from God) exactly why when someone isn't healed. The Scriptures indicate many reasons why a healing or miracle may not happen.
ReplyDeleteHi DJ - I agree - and what I was alluding to: we don't always know why the striker misses the goal - the point is that on sufficient occasions the striker will score goals and should persevere despite disappointments.
DeleteRegarding reasons why a healing or miracle may not happen - came across a really interesting point made by Mary Self who was healed 1999 [http://www.amazon.co.uk/From-Medicine-Miracle-Overcame-Cancer/dp/0007115628] - I was one of many who from a distance was praying for her. I've not met her but did meet her son. In a subsequent article from 2005, which I only read last week [http://dartcenter.org/content/‘tomorrow’s-fish-and-chips-paper’#.U4DI4ChG6A0], Mary concludes that one reason why God might not heal someone is because the suffering they would endure at the hands of media/journalists following a bone fide miracle would be more than that particular individual could withstand.
So that's a genuine response which can be added to the complex mix of factors.
I and others are praying for an individual called Jonathan who has approx 15% heart function. We've been twice to his house to pray and lay hands on him. There has been some improvement. We are persevering because that is what we understand God is asking us to do. We have seen good improvement in general disposition. Jonathan was able to go out with family last two weekends which previously seemed highly unlikely. We are continuing to pray in Jesus name - asking that, with all the prompts we've had, God moves and brings about complete healing. We've been prompted to pray for a "new heart". His current condition is regarded as terminal - the precise rate of decline is not clear but at Christmas he was given 6 months to live. I'm a former medical researcher and scientist so understand prognosis, remission and general issues around this.
We continue to learn things. The longer we have prayed for the sick, the more we learn. When I started, I thought this whole ministry must be pretty simple (a lot of Christians have extremely simplistic views that are driven in my assessment by theologies that overemphasize what it means that God's will is done and His control over the world). When we see the world the way I believe the Scripture portrays it - a fallen world that has subsequently been a war zone that constitutes not only human wills and the factors are the result of countless choices throughout history, but also we have a demonic realm full of other wills opposing God's purposes. To throw into the mix, the many means that God has given us to advance His Kingdom and our choice to either utilize them or not and there are simply too many variables to know why something does or doesn't happen. Even when we see a notable healing, I used to think, "that must have been our faith" but then later wasn't sure because we had shared a testimony before prayer and thought it could have been in reality "the power of the testimony". At this point, I don't really care "how" the healing miracle is happening (whether it be faith, a sovereign thing, a gift in operation, an accurate word of knowledge, the result of repentance, a spirit of affliction dealt with, unity, etc. - just to name a few reasons people can in fact get healed). I just want to see the person healed and encounter love. Simple. I'll wait to get my "why" questions answered in eternity.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff - completely agree :-)
ReplyDeleteI now work as an IT consultant and have seen occasions when we've been trying to fix a problem with a website or some code. Mostly we know what we've changed to bring about a fix - but there are occasions when we don't. The response is generally analogous to what you're saying: "At this point ... I'm just glad the problem has been fixed and the 'customer' is happy - and hope one day to understand more as to what we did to bring about the resolution"
I listened to Justin Brierley's Unbelievable programme with Robby Dawkins and David Beebee a month or so ago. I could understand David Beebee's frustration with Robby's yellowed now-illegible fax from 20 years ago with details of "new heart and lung" miracle. However from Robby's perspective it wasn't about proof for any of us years later in 2014 - it was about Robby being available to God (=> praying in a certain way after prompting from God) and then finally rejoicing with the family once the news and good enough proof came through for Robby to move forward. Since then it has been about letting God work through him to effect change in people's lives from a pastoral perspective rather than conducting a scientific data gathering experiment.
You, DJ, talk about "The Look" in your recent May 16, 2014 post. It seems your approach is the same as Robby's: "Let God work through me as I'm prompted by him - in most cases any change is verified by the individual."
My view is that, if God is choosing these days to work consistently through Christians to bring about healing, then in time the evidence will begin to stack up statistically. In the meantime well documented cases like that of Mary Self, act as strong evidence of healing and give the doubters something better to chew over than the healing happening in the flow (on the streets).
there were obviously many things I couldn't really get into during the interview which was somewhat frustrating at times. we have countless testimonies from muslims (and other non-christians) that they were healed WHEN we prayed and they remain healed. I find it interesting that those interacting on the FB page for Unbelievable who are critical of what I was saying completely disregard the testimony of other unbelievers! I don't expect people to believe though unless they personally "see" which was what I invited Geoff out on the streets to see. He saw more than he indicated in the interview and I know he is far closer to the Kingdom than he may seem. The essential problem with so many skeptics and I think Robbie Dawkins was absolutely right when he pointed it out is that for many no evidence would suffice. Some refuse to believe even when a supernatural healing has occurred before their very eyes. You can always email me at joel2generation@gmail.com and you should check out our podcast too.
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