When someone "loses" their healing...

Obviously, when we pray for an unbeliever in Jesus' Name and they get healed, we love it when we check back in with them at a later time and they are still healed. 

At times, however, we find out that a person's pain/problem has returned; that in some way they have "lost" their healing.

Of course, whenever we encounter this we will pray again and I can't remember a time in doing so when their pain/problem doesn't go away again after prayer.

I had a discussion with a friend the other day about the issue of unbelievers losing their healing, and I think the Lord gave me a deeper insight into why that might have happened.

He had shared about a man who was healed, lost his healing, and then when he met him again, after prayer, the Lord brought healing a second time. He really hadn't responded much to the Gospel after the first encounter, but after the second, he was a different man. It also opened a door for the woman who was with him to be healed. 

This reminded me of a testimony from years ago. I thought I had included it in this blog but I couldn't find it. To the best of my remembrance, years ago we prayed for a woman in a restaurant who was healed, and in following up with her some weeks after our initial meeting, she had lost her healing. We had shared something of the Gospel with her when we first prayed. I remember when she asked why her pain returned, I was prompted to ask her what she had done with Jesus. She said she had done nothing. I remember telling her, "He wants to put a ring on your finger". We prayed again the pain left once again. 

In both situations, the loss of the unbelievers' healing led to another opportunity for the Gospel, and in the case of my friend's testimony, a significant response to God's call was the result. I don't know what happened to that woman from years ago, but I do know that the loss of her initial healing and the subsequent one, gave her a clear reminder that Christ was pursuing her heart and wanted her to surrender her life to Him.

God doesn't seem to answer our "why" questions very often. Why didn't that person get healed? Why did that person lose their healing? Even, why did one person get healed and another person didn't at the same time of ministry? I know there are answers. One day we will get those answers. But sometimes, in hindsight, the Lord will help us to understand why something happened the way it did. I think He did that for me this week.