Doug Van Pelt

The Healing

The eleventh chapter of Rees Howells, Intercessor is titled: The Tubercular Woman. It was about a woman who had developed tuberculosis. "Then one evening she revived remarkably and announced to her friends that the Great Physician had told her she was to be healed." She asked Rees if God had said anything to him. He began praying for her and "abiding" in Him in prayer over this -- for six months. Rees determined, like in all his prayer, to live like and take the place of the people he was praying for. He was convinced that, not only would he have to take on the disease of tuberculosis, but that he would have to die for this woman. At first, he could not bear to take this on. He felt horrible that night for this, and could not sleep. He wished that he had not taken on this issue of healing at all.

He then realized that he could be like a "living martyr" and live like a dead man, only alive in Christ. He told the woman he would take her place and she would not have it. She privately prayed to the Lord, "Please don't heal me. He is more good to the village than I am. Let me not be healed if it means he dies." Suddenly she was radiant and a new person. I can imagine God would love to hear sacrificial prayers like that.

About three months later she suddenly died. He was asked by her to come immediately, but she passed away before he got to her house. He was told that she told those in the room that Jesus was calling her and she was going. She would return with Him later. Then she shook everyone's hand and said goodbye, then laid down and went to be with the Lord. This was so amazing that when the story was told at her funeral that it turned into a joyous occasion.

I know healing can be a touchy subject. It can be a heart-wrenching one. I was at a funeral on Monday for a little boy named Zach that had autism yet lived his ten years in a state of joy and love that was contagious and touched everyone around him. I didn't know him, but after hearing story after story I was jealous of those that did know him. I'm sure people prayed for his healing from leukemia. When his healing doesn't come in this life he enters eternity, it can still cause us grief and confusion here. Roger Martinez told me that his journey to atheism began with a sermon series he was preparing on divine healing. His search for proof led him to disregard God.

I have had my back pain removed from prayer. I visited Steve Rowe when he was having grand mal seizures and given hours or minutes to live...and that was in 1998 and three world tours later I'm talking to Steve on the phone this week. A friend of mine, who got married this past month had a fellow groomsman that I've talked to about healing before. He's a doctor and he and some of his colleagues go to third world countries every now and then to bring medical care to those that can't afford it. They met one boy with a severe cleft-type problem -- he had a giant hole in between his nostrils -- a hole in his nasal septum. The team of doctors realized it would be a very delicate and difficult surgery. They prayed for the boy's healing and scheduled to operate on it the next day. When they examined him prior to surgery, the hole was gone! I believe in God and I believe He heals. However, He is the King and I don't order Him around. Sometimes I don't understand how or why He will heal or not or His timing.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 10, 2006 10:02 AM