When I was three years old, my foot was run over by an automobile, and the doctor said I would never walk again. But my parents believed God and prayed, and I’ve been walking ever since, although the doctor said that many of my bones were completely crushed and my foot was just a mass of pulp!
On the other hand, I also once worked for one of the greatest saints of God I have ever known, Dr. A. U. Michelson, a converted Jewish judge, and founder of the world’s first Hebrew-Christian Synagogue and a Gospel program for Jews—a man undoubtedly with thousands of souls to his credit and a glorious reward! I never knew a humbler, sweeter, more compassionate, more loving, more hardworking man. And yet he was pitifully clubfooted and hobbled around all his life on crutches, in constant suffering. Maybe this is one reason he had so much pity on others. We comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted!1 How can we be more than conquerors? By being good losers, and even praising God in our affliction. Dear old Dr. Michelson had miraculous faith for souls and finances, supporting missionaries around the world!
So who knows the will of God? All we can do is believe His promises and pray, and expect some kind of an answer. Sometimes these things happen to draw us closer to the Lord—to keep us humble or more dependent on Him, or as chastenings from the Lord! But He says in Hebrews 12, “Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth,” and “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed!”2
Expect a miracle! Search the Scriptures and see what that means: “The lame take the prey.” “Then shall the lame man leap as an hart.”3 And Jesus said that He caused the lame to walk, as one of the proofs of His Messiahship! And remember that it was the healing of the lame man which resulted in the conversion of 5,000 in a single day and launched the early church on paths of glory!4 So expect a miracle for the glory of God!
In some cases, it took years of patient waiting before Jesus or the disciples came along to bring them healing. “But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.”5 Remember that He says, “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” ... “Who healeth all thy diseases and forgiveth all thy iniquities.”6 There are no exceptions: God can heal anything!
Some years ago, we prayed for a girl who had been eight years in bed. Her feet were deformed by lack of use and the weight of the covers, so that they looked like hands rather than feet. She’d gotten so sick that she could not even hold water in her stomach, and so thin that she looked like a skeleton! But we received for her the scripture Hebrews 2:14,15: “That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death; that is, the Devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
So as we laid hands upon her for healing, we were also inspired to cast out her spirit of fear, and to command her to arise and walk. She said she hadn’t walked for years, and couldn’t walk—but again we rebuked the Enemy and her doubts and commanded her to arise and walk, as the Lord had instructed us—and she obeyed, and was instantly and totally healed; and walked the floor that day, her feet restored to normal!
When we saw her a few months later, she was absolutely beautiful, and had gained all the weight necessary to make her so, and was radiantly happy in the service of the Lord, giving her testimony everywhere she went, praise the Lord!
So the day of miracles is not past! Our God is still a God of miracles. Our emphasis in recent years has been more on the miracles of salvation—on the miracle of service and witnessing, the miracle of following Jesus, the miracle of the transformation of human lives—but God is still in the business of transforming the bodies that need it, as well as the heart, the mind, and the spirit.
I am a witness to His healing power, having been given up for dead nearly thirty years ago. My heart was so bad, the doctors said that if I’d stay in bed, I might live a year. But I promised to serve the Lord if He healed me—and I’ve been busy for Him ever since! And I’m in better health today than ever. Praise the Lord!
Jesus never fails! God cannot only do it, but He wants to do it! He’s more willing to give than we are to receive! Therefore “cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”7 Believe God! He never fails!—Even when we are faithless!8 Hold Him to His Word!
Demand and expect an answer! He has promised it! And remember that “all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.”9 And that this, too, has befallen you for the glory of God! Love and trust and praise Him more than ever—and I know He’ll not fail! He cannot deny Himself!
He is bound by His Word! Remind Him of it, cling to His promises, memorize and quote them continually, and never doubt for a moment that God is going to answer—and He will! He has to! He wants to! Trust Him! And thank Him for the answer—even if you don’t see it immediately! For behold, the trying of your faith is much more precious than gold!10
Originally published August 1971. Updated and republished March 2012.
1 2 Corinthians 1:4.
2 Hebrews 12:6, 11–13.
3 Isaiah 33:23; Isaiah 35:6.
4 Acts 3–4:4.
5 Malachi 4:2.
6 Exodus 15:26; Psalm 103:3.
7 Hebrews 10:35, 36.
8 2 Timothy 2:13.
9 Romans 8:28.
10 1 Peter 1:7.
Posted in: Audio, David Brandt Berg, Faith, Healing, Miracle
0 Comments:
Post a Comment