Healing

by Steve Ferber

I am not writing this to give biblical teaching; this is just an account of my experience with the Lord concerning physical healing in my life.  It all started in the early 1980’s.  At the end of the church service the pastor said that the Lord was present for healing, to come forward to be prayed for.  There were several people praying for healing.  As I waited in line a man came up to me and asked what I needed prayed for.  He said that he wanted to pray for my healing.  I told him that there has been a lot of pain in my left knee.  He knelt down and laid his hands on my knee asking the Lord to heal it.  I could not tell you everything that he said because while he was praying I was really hoping it was the pastor who was praying for me.  Well God healed my knee right then, despite my wrong attitude!  The biggest lesson I learned was that God was not a respecter of persons; not me because he did not use the person l thought he should.  I also learned not to look at the person that the Lord chooses to use, Gods ways are not my ways.

There was another time when I had developed a severe case of bursitis in my right shoulder.  The pain was quite severe; I could not even get my wallet out of my pocket.  At the time I was part of the college/career group at the church and had gone to a convention in Ohio with Phil Stern.  Many things happened there, but the most profound to me was that my shoulder was healed instantaneously!  It was during praise and worship, there was a person slain in the spirit and many were praising God in the Spirit.  (For some time I had a problem with speaking in tongues; I believed in it, did it myself but my problem was with how some people were so open with it.)  At this time I was not able to lift my right arm high enough to get my billfold out of my pocket due to the bursitis.  As I was standing in front of the stage, singing and praising the Lord, I found myself with both arms stretched high in the air praising the Lord in other tongues.  What the Lord said to me was “praying in tongues is to your spirit like your right arm is to your body”.  The physical ailment of bursitis was due to my spiritual condition; another lesson that I have not forgotten to this day.

Let’s fast forward to 2010/2011.  Several years ago I was diagnosed with spinal stinosis and had a complicated surgery on two discs in my lower back.  I now was having issues with three more discs; I was in constant and severe nerve pain.  I certainly was not looking forward to any more surgery or the possibility of more discs failing in the future. There was one thing for certain, since I did not have any health insurance I would not have to worry about surgery, just the concern of how long I would be able to function somewhat normally.  The doctor had prescribed prednisone (steroid anti-inflammatory) which did not achieve any long term healing.  All I had was the narcotics he gave me which only helped enough so that I could sleep for a few hours at a time. 

It has come to a point that if the Lord did not heal me, I would just have to suffer.  I have never been a “name it and claim it” person, however Alex had explained to me that it is not like you deny the problem. “It was a fact that I had disc problems, but the truth was that by His stripes I am healed”.  I could grasp this and accepted it by faith for my healing.

The pain in my back continued, then the Lord gave me a dream.  James Benfield (a large muscular man) had his arms wrapped around my shoulders lifting me off the ground causing my spine to stretch out, I actually felt this.  When I woke up the pain continued but I knew that the Lord was showing me something. 

Several weeks passed by, nothing seemed to be changing.  Tammy and I went to Hal and Vickie Heffner’s home group one night and they had a guest speaker.  At the end I went up to him for healing.  Instead of being healed, he gave me a word from the Lord saying that “He was walking thru my healing with me”.

Several weeks later I find myself writing this; the three discs in my back are healed along with the pain that has been in my right shoulder.  God has healed me!!!

The most important thing that I have learned thru all of this; relationship with the Lord.  You see He does want to heal me just because He loves me.  But most of all He wants to heal me because it will bring me into a closer relationship with Him.

I want to encourage you, that in all you do God is there with you.  Take the time to get to know Him better.