A friendly couple from California came to my office for a tour of the headquarters where I work in North Wilkesboro, NC. As we were wrapping up, I mentioned that my wife and I pastor a church on Appalachian State University’s campus. I continued by telling them we see the Lord work in miracles, signs, wonders and healing. As I sat across the table, I offered to pray for them if they had anything that needed to be healed. The husband had been waking up with back pain, was contemplating a knee replacement, and disclosed a confidential health issue that needed to be dealt with. I love testimonies. They excite me, stir me, and reveal the character of God to me and hopefully to others. I began to share how we saw students healed of similar conditions. As I ended one of the testimonies, the wife voiced the common sentiment, “We’re praying for healing if it’s God’s will. But if He wants to bring glory to Himself through this then that’s okay too.”
“Let me stop you there,” I interjected. “When did Jesus ever encounter someone that was sick and say to them, ‘You haven’t learned your lesson yet,’ or ‘I’m not going to heal you’? Acts 10:38 says that Jesus healed all who were oppressed by the devil. God is never the oppressor. Jesus is the unchanging Word – the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He healed all then, He is willing to heal your husband now. God is not a God of favoritism.”
They asked, “What about the man who was blind from birth?”
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! – John 9:1-7 (NLT)
“Jesus said the man was born blind so that God would receive glory,” the husband said. When I asked him when, in that testimony, did God receive glory, he paused and replied, “In the healing.” If God’s glory and power was found in the sickness rather than the healing, then Jesus put an abrupt end to the glory of God – not only on this occasion, but throughout His entire ministry.
If Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8), the one who came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), then why does most of the church believe God is putting the devil to work? It is our position as joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), to delegate His authority and Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10, John 14:12). Jesus is the blueprint to a Spirit-filled life. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of the Father – that all mankind may be saved, healed and delivered (I Timothy 2:4) – and demonstrate the Kingdom of God by healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils, and cleansing the lepers (Matthew 10:7-8).
After hearing their preconceived understanding of the uncertainty and confusion of God’s will, I didn’t refuse to pray or tell them that they lacked the faith to be healed. These are two people that love the Lord with all their might. Often, we blame the level of faith in a person when all they really need is a renewed mind (Romans 12:2). Faith accompanies hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Now that they’ve heard the Truth in love, we could agree for a miracle (Matthew 18:19).
I prayed for his body. His wife watched as his leg grew about an inch. His body came into alignment. The wife in tears and the husband wide-eyed in amazement, he stood up and began to walk around, testing his back and knee.
“I don’t feel any pain!” he exclaimed. We thanked the Lord together and they blessed me by encouraging and praying for me. That was the end of their tour. Just another day in the office.
Jonathan Fawcett