But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities; the punishment that brougt us peace was upon him, and by
his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 NIV)
That is just one of the many scriptures that refer to our healing, I have a list of over a 100 scriptures that show how healing is GOD's desire for us. I had spoken to others who have received miraculous healing, read about others and heard pastors talking about it. So what I
haven’t been able to grasp, in groups that believe in healing, why some people are healed and some are not. I’ve
wondered does that mean those that haven’t been healed didn’t have enough
faith? So I began looking at what we need for our faith:
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News
about Christ. (Romans 10:17 NLT)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—(Ephesians 2:8 NIV)
Jesus told them.
"I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed,
you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move.
Nothing would be impossible." (Matthew 17:20 NLT)
So we grow our faith from reading GOD's Word, we are saved by grace through faith (believing that we can even be saved), and that with faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. So now I think I know what is required to have healing, but don't have a practical application, that is until....
Febuary 8th our vet gave us the prognosis of lymphoma and advanced kidney failure for our 'puppy' Jedi. The vet told me he had about 30 days - I immediately told her we believe in GOD's healing and that we won't have to worry about that. Three days after that prognosis we brought him back in and she was amazed at how wonderful he was doing, she said she knew we believed in healing and that she was impressed. We have been continously praying for Jedi and have only been speaking life over his diagnosis and not death, we have believed that he received healing and that maybe some symptoms are still showing, but everyday he is healthier and he is healed.
I pray over a list of people every night, all for different requests, and there are a few for healing. I've often prayed the same way for these healings and now that I've been in a situation with a healing, I have been second guessing the way I've been praying, because I've learned from personal experience that our emotions, faith, and patience are constantly battling each other.
I read once a story that happened to Bro.Kenneth E. Hagin, he said he was visiting a friend at work in an oil field, he had just left that friend and the friend was in a terrible accident that he was maimed so badly, that he had died. While Brother Hagin was praying over his
friend he was giving GOD all the reasons why this man needed to stay alive and
couldn’t die; the man would later tell Brother Hagin he was in heaven and talking with Jesus, and Jesus told the friend, sorry you can’t stay, Brother Hagin
won’t let you. The friend lived and continued to serve the Lord all because Bro. Hagin was praying over him and explaining why his friend needed to live!
Well, last night (30 days past the original diagnosis), my dog was very near death and I was very afraid; crying and praying over him in the Spirit. You see I was so torn, I had believed we received healing, so why was this happening, my flesh (emotions) fighting with my faith (spirit) and my patience (my mind - soul). As I was praying in the Spirit, my mind began thinking of that story from Bro.Hagin, so I
began to tell GOD why Jedi couldn’t die. His healing is going to lead others to
salvation, there are too many people who are watching him to see if my miracle
happens or not, there are too many people counting on this to make or break
their faith. My Facebook friends are aware of the prognosis, many are praying, some I’m sure are
skeptical and then some are probably needing this miracle as badly as we want it. Our sons need to see this healing, so they can
know first hand that healing is ours, that prayers do get answered and GOD cares about us, what matters to us, matters to GOD. My father
hasn't been in church for years and I know how much he loves his ‘grand-dog', so I know he needs to see this miracle. Last but never least, my husband away in
Afghanistan needs to be able to see his puppy of 6 and half years again. Their reunions are so sweet, there are a large number of ‘viewers’ who could see this as a miracle since I
take video of our Boxers and Daddy’s reunions and upload to YouTube, we have
gotten over 500k hits – think of how many people we could share and our miracle healing with.
So my point here, Jedi’s miraculous healing could very well lead to
people turning to GOD for salvation. So this battle we’re in, is not just a
battle for our dog’s life, but the battle for people’s salvation and restoration! Which makes
sense why the devil would be attacking my family so hard right now, we’ve had
more than just one fight on our hands, we’ve had several, and all at the same
time. I know without a doubt, I could not have made it through this if it weren’t
for the previous faith battles we’ve endured, that which doesn’t kill us, really
does make us stronger!
I’m not going to lose this battle, I don’t care what the
devil throws at me next, I’m standing on the solid rock and I will not be
moved. It doesn’t matter how many times we get knocked down, it only matters
how many times we get back up! So I’m fighting here for much more than our
puppy beating cancer, I’m fighting for the lost and wayward; I have been praying that GOD would use me as HIS vessel and often I've thought of what Jesus said:
He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the
workers are few. So pray to the Lord who
is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
(Matthew 9:37-38 NLT)
So I’ve learned a lot during this time, I’ve learned that I
can never know what a person is going through when they are praying for
healing. I’m only praying for our sweet puppy, I refuse to even imagine what it
would be like if it were one of my sons or another family member. I use to
wonder if continuing in medical treatments, surgeries, medications that seem to
destroy the quality of people’s life to fight the disease was actually going
against their faith – but I’ve learned personally, that I would do whatever I
physically could, to fight for my Jedi. I’ve learned that healing can be received immediately or the healing maybe present but we just might not see the immediate effects; that maybe GOD is working
on our patience during this season of illness. I believe without a doubt that
EVERY illness, accident, and injury are from the devil! And I know that whatever the devil means for harm, that GOD can turn to good.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are
called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28 NLT)
HE made the water into wine, HE made the blind
see, the lame walk and the dead to live! The key to every miracle was faith and
action. We have to have faith that we will receive the miracle and we have to
put that miracle into action. In my situation, we prayed for healing for Jedi, then we made the action of telling everyone, "The Vet has given Jedi 30 or so days to live, but I'm claiming
victory in the name of Jesus ~ if you've never seen a miracle before, watch
closely, ones on its way!!!" You see that was a step of faith, proclaiming to everyone that we were going to receive a miracle, that step of faith was the action GOD needed for us to receive our miracle.
Now like I said, I believe patience is a big part of faith, sometimes we have to grow in patience and personally I know I needed to work on my patience. So we might not see an immediate end to all the symptoms, but we know we've received the healing and we will see it in GOD's timing, not our own, because HE sees the big picture; HE knows what we need to get to where HE wants us to be in our faith.
As I sit and watch the events unfolding around me, I can’t
see GOD’s plan, but I trust that HIS plan for me is full of an abundance of
goodness, mercy and grace. We don’t see the big picture, we only see a narrow
view of what’s going on around us. The plan was that I was to be driving to Florida
today, I had the perfect opportunity to stay with a friend, have a wonderful
and practically free trip to Disney and the beach for our son's Spring Break. It's just that the devil threw a wrench in our plans this past week;
he did a few things that would have totally knocked the wind out of our sails
if they had happened a year ago, but we’ve grown enough in our faith walk that
we’re able to take the punch and just roll with it now. This relapse happened late last night and I would have been on the road a few hours after - it wouldn't have been a good trip if I had known Jedi was sick. I would have been worried the whole time, because you know no one can take care of your sick 'child' like Momma. Thanks to what the devil intended for our harm, I’m able to take care of our puppy and nurse him back to
health promptly so he can be on the road to recovery and healed! Our family has also learned a valuable lesson, because Jedi received such fast healing when he was initially diagnosed, I believe we took that healing for granted - now more than ever we are united in fighting for Jedi, we’re joining in
prayer, we’re taking this opportunity
and using it to spread the Gospel to all those we know. I know that if we stay on the path HE has for
us, we will get to see the goodness of the Lord....
Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness
while I am here
in the land of the living.
Wait patiently
for the LORD.
Be brave and
courageous.
Yes, wait
patiently for the LORD.
(Psalm 27:13-14 NLT)