Last Sunday 11th September 2011 our daughter was at a pool party at a local pool complex and my husband and I decided to take 4-year-old M for a swim while we waited for the party to finish. I had a sense to go, although the thought of a quiet couple of hours at home was appealing …
We walked into the complex with M skipping excitedly and, as the blast of hot air hit, I looked straight at a man in a wheel chair sitting by the pool. I instantly knew I had been set up by God …
With M happily ensconced in the water – his father watching – I walked over to the man and said “hello”. I quickly explained that I was a Christian and asked if I could pray for him, telling him about A whose two broken legs had been healed after prayer (see: http://godisgoodstories.com/2010/12/21/%e2%80%9ci-will-give-you-the-treasures-of-darkness-riches-stored-in-secret-places%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%a6-christmas-shopping-with-jesus-%e2%80%a6-being-given-treasures-isaiah-453-saturday-18th-dece/). To my surprise he readily agreed, and he told me his story as best his could, for his speech was badly slurred …
In 1990 he had been in a car accident. Someone had come through a stop sign and he had been hit. He said he had suffered brain damage and was a paraplegic. I asked his name, but I could not quite make it out – I later found out from his wife that he was called Archie.
He suggested I put my hands on his head, but I said I would start with my hand on his shoulder and see what God did.
I started to pray for him, feeling the anointing come in waves. I blessed what the Holy Spirit was doing and kept asking for “more”. As I prayed I felt to ask if he had forgiven the person that had hurt him … he said yes he had forgiven them and responded further by saying that he was Greek Orthodox. I exclaimed in delight saying that he would then know that there was healing for him, that Greek Orthodox believers have great faith in communion, and I reaffirmed saying “there is healing in the communion”. He readily agreed.
I then felt to place my hand on his head and as I prayed my hands got very hot, or his head got very hot … I knew this could have been the healing power of God, or it could have been the environment … either way, I kept praying and thanking God for healing this kind man.
I then felt to pray for his chest and I asked if he had problems with his chest and he said yes his lungs. I placed my hand there commanding it clear and be healed in Jesus name.
I looked at his hand which was crippled over and crunched to the point where one finger actually bent back on itself at the tip … I started to pray for it, holding his crippled hand in mine and prayed for movement to return, he started to flex his hand, and gained more and more movement, flexing his hand, saying he had not been able to do that before.
He then looked at me and said he felt he had a word from God for me … that I needed to receive God’s love, and he looked like he went to hold me, uncertain, I pulled back a bit and suggested I keep on praying for him, but in my mind I wondered if God had done a double set up because this is one of the issues that God has been dealing with me for some time … daughtership in the Kingdom … I am currently reading an excellent book called “Healing the Orphan Spirit” by Leif Hetland and I am anticipating God will go much deeper …
I went to his other side and asked about his other arm and hand, which was buried under bags and jumpers belonging to his family. He said he could not move it and I saw that the hand was screwed tight. I said try to do something you could not do before. He started to move the arm as I prayed and he swung it further and further afield, flexing his hand as he did so. He told me he had not been able to move like that before…
Feeling encouraged I said keep trying things you could not do before … and I kept praying and thanking God. As I did I explained how A (with the two broken legs mentioned above) had stood the day after I had prayed for her, and bit by bit she was healed, so that by the end of two weeks she was completely out of the wheel chair, using no leg braces or crutches and was walking free … and that, by the time she was only just meant to be out of her wheel chair, she had joined the cadets … (see: http://godisgoodstories.com/2011/02/05/praise-report-%e2%80%93-god-is-good-so-very-very-good-%e2%80%a6-part-1-of-2-wednesday-22nd-december-2010-and-19th-january-2011/ and http://godisgoodstories.com/2011/02/11/praise-report-%e2%80%93-god-is-good-so-very-very-good%e2%80%a6-part-2-of-2-wednesday-22nd-december-2010-and-19th-january-2011/ )
He said he would keep trying and thanking God. His family came around him. Strangely they did not seem that excited … I thought that perhaps they may be battle weary, and I knew I could not judge … His father said to me “we shall see how he goes” and I again explained A’s story of healing and how it could be progressive, and I quoted James 5:14, that he could go to the elders, be anointed with oil and the prayer held up in faith will make the sick person well. His father did not really respond much, and neither did his wife, which I found sad and a bit strange.
I then said to Archie, you pray for me, and so he took my hand and prayed, silently, for me. I felt a gentle anointing come. He said quietly to me that I must love myself before I can love others … Ouch! I thought, God go deeper!
I then asked his wife his name and asked if I could give him a kiss on the cheek. She shrugged so I lent down and said “thankyou” and kissed Archie on the cheek and bid him farewell, looking for my family as I walked away.
I had been set up. Another wheel chair – right in my line of sight as I entered the complex … and a word about loving myself … God wants me to be His daughter and know His love, see myself as He saw me …
There is a journey we take. We do not stop for “the one” to perform for God’s love; but, we stop for “the one” from a place of God’s love … I need more of His love to go to where I want to go … which means that I must allow Him to love me more, so I can then I have a greater capacity to love others more … Archie was right!
We will transform the world from our place of inheritance … as we go about doing life, we can also go about doing the Father’s business … giving away His love. And, just as Archie saw in me, we need His love before we can give it away …
“… as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you … “ (Jesus speaking in John 20:21).
Jesus went about doing His Father’s business (Luke 2:49), knowing that He was the Son … we are called to do so too … doing the Father’s business, while being the children of God.
We are in a family business … healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons (Matthew 10:8) … setting the captives free (Luke 4:18) ….
But, to be about the Father’s business we need to know the Father and in knowing the Father we will know His love for us, not just so we can give it away (which I believe we are all commissioned to do), but also just because …
God is Good!