'I command you to get up and walk!', the preacher said. The crowd watches with eager anticipation, to see if the man (crippled for many years) will get up and begin to walk again.
The man gets up from his wheelchair, stumbles, but then amazingly begins to walk with difficulty at first, then his walk eases and he is off. Faker, staged, crowd pleaser or the real deal healing?
I'm not going to beat around the bush. I've been sceptical of miraculous healing. Shocking (many may think) since I've been a Christian for many years and one would have thought that I had grasped 'healing' by now.
Most of us have heard of the 'healing crusades', a story or two of people miraculously healed of disease or casting out of evil spirits. I have read so many accounts of healing in the bible (e.g. the boy with the evil spirit in Mark chapter 9 verses 14-29, Jesus healing the leper in Matthew chapter 8 verses 8-4....).
So what is stopping me from believing that miraculous healing does occur? Is miraculous healing a thing of the past? Is it something that is solely tied to biblical times or does this still happen today?
Why am I so sceptical? Why the disbelief?
I have been exposed to so many fakers and counterfeits. So many that it made me question whether miraculous healing does happen today. It may be this exposure that had lead me to doubt. Or is it that miraculous healing is such a foreign concept to me that I don't quite relate?
Surely the bible has the answers and the final say on the matter. But then I read the word and thought - the leper was healed - yeah yeah I get it, but do I truly get it? Yes, I do believe in healing. But in my heart, do I really believe?
In a lot of ways, I felt like the father of the boy with the evil spirit, who said to Jesus 'I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief '(Matthew chapter 9 verse 24).
A healing experience to remember
Sometimes personal experiences can alter the way we think and I believe the following experience has truly altered my perspective on spiritual and physical healing:
I had a dream that my car was stolen and I went frantically searching for it but never found it (my car is my most prized material possession at the moment). In the dream, I was so highly distressed that I sobbed with great sadness and came to a point were I just bowed my head and uttered the words 'God help me'.
The next morning I woke up from this dream, and I asked God to reveal to me what it meant. It didn't feel like just a dream. I few days later, as I was heading off to sleep, I was led to pray for a relative. That same night I had another dream - I was sitting in a sofa next to that same relative and I felt I had to pray for them. So I bowed my head in prayer placing one hand on my relative's stomach and the other on their back. As I did this in the dream, I simply said 'There is power and healing in the name of Jesus'. Just as I uttered these words, I felt an evil spirit radiate through my body and I spat it out.
I immediately woke up (still in prayer) and shared my dream with my relative and I was utterly amazed at what I heard. They told me that for weeks they felt like there was an evil spirit following them, they had on occasions gone blind, felt pain in their stomach and back. They were so highly distressed and felt like life (so precious) had been sucked out of them. They had been fasting and praying for deliverance for weeks and believed that God had now delivered them from that evil spirit. The pain in their stomach and back was gone. 'Wow!', was my immediate thought. Praise God indeed!
Many may find this testimony strange or absurd. But my hope is that it will mostly encourage and show how awesome God is. I would never have thought that God would use me to heal someone that is 10,000 miles away. I know it was no coincidence. I believe that through this personal experience, I have come to really understand that God does indeed heal. There is truly power in the name of Jesus.
A journey to the heart of God
God knows our inner most being and He speaks to us in a way we will understand. I am on a journey with God and I believe that he wants to show me more of himself. Little by little He reveals His great power - in small bite sizes so I don't choke (as it may be too much for me to take in one go). He wants to take me deeper but I need to be ready and willing. When I am willing to open up my heart to Him, then He will gladly come in. So often we place God in a box. Let God be who He is. As 2016 begins, I want to experience more of the divine power of God and give Him all the glory.
There may be counterfeits out there, but God warns us of this in the bible (1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1-2; 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 1-3). This doesn't mean that I should reject the truth of His amazing healing power. Neither should it stop me from believing what the scriptures say about healing. Fakers? Counterfeits?
I just ask that God can help me distinguish the nasties from the goodies. But this in my heart I am certain of - there is power and healing in the name of Jesus.
Kandima Awendila was born in Mozambique and lives and works as an IT Service Desk Engineer on the Gold Coast.
Kandima Awendila's archive of articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/kandima-awendila.html