Healed
by His Word!
A
testimony of God’s amazing healing power, through His Word.
This
was a night in Swaziland with my good friend Anna Barnes. Well, let me tell you what
the day was like first…
Anna
was sick all day with a migraine. She gets really bad migraines that cause her
to be nauseous, dizzy, and bed ridden. Anna has relied on medication in the
past to get her through these episodes. Serious medication that she simply
doesn’t do without, well, this month she was without. She spent an entire day
in bed. I prayed for her in the
morning but when she still wasn’t feeling better by around 8pm I was more
concerned. I was journaling and
Anna came over to my bed and just laid there. She cried and was simply tired of the pain and didn’t know
what to do. I told her I would be
over to pray for her in a minute, that I was just going to finish up some
journaling. It was kind of weird
that I went about it in this way. Usually I would set aside what I am doing to
pray for someone. But this was
different. In finishing my journaling I was able to hear the Lord speak to my
heart in regards to trying something with Anna. Try trusting His word for healing. I had just finished an AWESOME book called, Faith is Not
a Feeling by Ney Bailey. There
is chapter in the book that gave a chart that she called an “Objectifying
Chart”. This chart had 4 questions
on it. You were to write the
situation or circumstance that you were struggling with or perhaps it was
facing a decision and you simply needed God’s presence and guidance. It was about Faith. Faith is not a feeling and when we lay
down our feelings at the foot of the cross and stand on God’s Word, it is more
powerful and truer than what we are going through. Our feelings change.
ALL THE TIME. But God
doesn’t change. (God is the same yesterday, today and forever)
These
are the four questions. About the situation…
1.)
What
are things you like?
2.)
What
are things you don’t like?
3.)
What
are your reactions or responses to the situation?
4.)
What
might God want to teach me or what are scriptures that will meet my need?
bible in hand I said I was going to pray with her, I told her to go with me on
it… I don’t know what else to do for her.
I’ve never done this before either, so let’s give it a try. I knew she had nothing else she was
going to do and everyone else (other teammates) were out watching episodes of
The Office.
point of total need and dependence upon Him and her need to trust in Him for
her healing. She was tired and had
run out of options. No medicine,
no doctors nothing to comfort her in her own power but total dependence upon the
best healer, the ultimate comforter and her creator. I walked her through the questions. She probably thought I was weird but, I
didn’t care I wanted God to come through and didn’t want my Anna hurting
anymore. I was thankful she was
willing and that she trusted me to try.
This is how it went.
2.)
What
things didn’t she like?
Physically not feeling good. Dizzy. Nauseous. Headache and weak. I asked her if it felt like she had a
hangover and she said yes.
3.)
What
were her reactions and responses to this?
She was in bed all day. Anxious.
Confused. Worried. She was starting to have a restless spirit and she was mad
at herself because she felt like there must have been something she could have
done to prevent this. She said
that God knows that she doesn’t have medicine to fix it. She thought she could have prevented
it. She has before.
When she said this I knew God was
bringing her to a point of total dependence upon Him. I asked her what she was
praying for herself that day. I
don’t know why exactly I asked this.
Later on after this I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion
that I wanted to make sure she was praying and not just feeling sorry for
herself, that she wasn’t caught up in self-pity and why me’s. Thankfully she wasn’t, she prayed for
restoration in her body and ceasing of pain.
So with all this information all I
did was trust that this was going to work… give it a shot. What did we have to lose. She wasn’t feeling better, I didn’t
have anything to do but spend time with her and put God’s Word to use. He is a faithful God and I guess I
wanted to see. I didn’t know what
else to do…
4.)
What
might God want to teach me, of Scriptures to meet my need?
All I did was take the obvious
struggles and stand on God’s Word no matter what her feelings were. I asked her to just pretend like the
other things weren’t there. The
anxiousness, sickness, weakness, confusion etc. instead to claim these things…
Worried = Trust Confused
= No Confusion Weakness
= Strength
Restless Spirit = Peace Anxious
= Rest &
Continued Prayer for Restoration
So with these new words. Words of peace and power, I went to my
trusty Bible Concordance and looked up Scriptures that correlated with these
words, with the understanding that they would be used in an overall prayer over
Anna. Some Scripture worked better
than others so I just quickly chose. (or perhaps God chose for me). This is what I prayed over her…
something like this…
afraid (or worried) we can put our trust in
You (Psalm
doesn’t feel good, she needs Your strength. You say that those who wait on You Lord
will renew their strength and will mount up
on wings like eagles; that they will run and not be weary; that we will walk
and not grow faint (Isaiah 40:31). Jesus, restore
Anna’s soul and lead her in a path of righteousness for Your name sake (Psalm 23:3). God, Anna is confused as to why she has been experiencing these
migraines and Lord we know that you are not a God of
confusion but of peace
Your peace upon Anna right now. Jesus You tell us to stand by the
roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk
in it, and we will find rest for our souls (Jeremiah 6:16).
So, Lord, guide us and give rest to
Anna’s soul. Father, we know You
are in control and have allowed Anna to come to this point of total dependence
on You, so Lord as we come to You now, please heal Anna of this pain. We thank You for this uninterrupted
time with You, and the simple fact that we can come before the almighty
God. Thank You. We pray this all in Your holy and
healing name Jesus, Amen.
her own, recognizing she needed to surrender control over this area. Something that should couldn’t do a
thing about in Swaziland! She had
to trust Him, there was nothing left, she was tired and drained.
IMMEDIATELY after praying this Anna felt
better. Completely better! Tired from crying and a day of pain but
in fantastic spirits. I asked her several times, really? You feel better? I was
shocked. We were shocked. Trusting in God’s Word rather than her
current state of feelings, healed her! It happened so simply and peacefully. Our faith in Him grew exponentially
that night. We are still grateful for the experience. Anna and I are closer for it. God moved and all we did was TRUST and SPEAK His Word.
I challenge you to do the same. Get into the Living Word of God.
“You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I
will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and
gather you from all the nations and all the places where ii have driven you,
declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you
into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14)
I
encourage you to read the book Faith is Not a Feeling by Ney Bailey as
well. Phenomenal book, easy, easy
read but packed with common instances that the steadfast Word of God proves
truer and more powerful than our fickle feelings.
FAITH IS NOT A FEELING!
