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Discussion Forum : Miracles that follow the plow : God is still healing

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 God is still healing

I share the testimony below not as a formula but because there are so many reports of God's people getting cancer and so on, facing life and death decisions. This is just one story, may God lead all of HIs children and may they be able to hear that small still voice above the great noise of the storm............bro Frank


Eighteen years ago, just six weeks after my son Daniel was born, and just two years after coming to know Jesus at the age of 27, the doctors made a pronouncement to me that many people fear. I was told, after blood tests, x-rays, cat scans and finally a lung biopsy, that I had an incurable disease. One-third of each lung was covered with irreversible fibrosis, a disease known as Pulmonary fibrosis. Many of you will remember that DR Bill Bright of Campus Crusade For Christ died of this disease a couple of years ago.

This disease slowly robs you of your ability to breathe. As the fibrosis spreads, then your lung capacity decreases. I was already at stage three of a four stage disease. I could barely talk on the telephone without my breathing being extremely labored. The pulmanologist explained that the only treatment would be high doses of steroids on a daily basis.

Many Christians know in their heads that the secret to an intimate relationship, a dynamic relationship with the Father is founded upon dependence on Him. No one exemplified this more than the Lord Jesus. At no point in His earthly life did He act or speak without the leading and the guidance of His heavenly Father. This is the key to life for all Christians. We must follow His word, this is His revelation, and we must also know that small still voice that that leads and guides us always.

After just a few weeks of taking the steroids, that small still, beautiful, precious voice spoke into my spirit. “Frank, come away with me, I am your life, I am your stillness, I am your peace when all around you is falling apart, trust in me….trust in me.” The Lord was directing me to stop taking the pills yet I was aware that He was allowing me to make the decision and so I asked the Lord if He would lay a Scripture upon my heart for a confirmation of what i truly knew He was saying to me. He gave me ...

Mat 14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
Mat 14:28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Mat 14:29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.



I stepped out of the boat and stopped taking the pills. One of the hardest things to do was to sit in the clinical doctors office and tell him that I was coming off the pills and putting my life into Gods hands. The doctor was very angry. My wife was hysterical, our Down Syndrome child had just been born six weeks earlier and she was simply overwhlemed. Good Christian friends came to my door and told me that I was wrong. My father said " dont you know that you have a family to look after?" so many voices, so many opinions, yet that small still voice, in the eye of the storm, whispered…………….”Trust in me…….trust in me.”

Several weeks passed, and the many voices seemed to be right. My ability to breathe declined. It is imperative to notice that the small still voice made me no promises, my only command was to “trust.” A well known man of God from the last century said this “Lord, may I be an ox on the altar or an ox in the field.” None of is really know our purpose here in life, what we do know is that we have been called to bring honor to the name of Jesus, regardless of our situation.

There will be a time, or times, in every Christians life, when He will “Make you lie down in green pastures.” You may think to yourself, what is so “Green Pastures,” about a diagnosis of incurability or possible death. Let me tell you something brothers and sisters in Christ, when we have complete dependence upon God, even although we did not choose it(He makes you lie down) you will be in a place that is almost beyond description. The windows of heaven will open, you will hear heavenly choirs of angels, you will feel the sun on your face and it will feel so good, you will mount up with wings as eagles and soar high above the things of earth. From down through the centuries the martyr’s will call out to you and the same Spirit that comforted them in their greatest trials and allowed them to sing psalms of glory, even as the flames began to consume their temporal bodies, that same Spirit will burn like a mighty furnace in your chest, and if men could look into your situation, they would say “there is one like the son of man with Him,” and they would be right.

Ten weeks after coming off the pills, I heard the phone ring at 5.30 on a Monday morning. How many of us know that when the phone rings in “wee small hours of the morning,” that it is usually significant? This phone call would be perhaps the most significant phone call of my life. It was my mother calling from four thousand miles away. She apologized for calling so early, but she had been compelled by the Holy Spirit. She very simply stated “The Lord told me that He was going to heal you.” “The Lord has instructed me to attend a certain prayer meeting this week and to pray for you and He is going to heal you.” I find it significant that my mom was instructed to call and tell me beforehand. This was an act of faith, trust, obedience, this was a “stepping out,”

As she spoke, I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, I fell to my knees and in my spirit I knew that I was to be healed, I had no doubt whatsoever. I went for an x-ray two days later. The Doctor called me into his office, he seemed subdued. I had shared with him all those weeks before that I was putting my life in the hands of the Lord. He flicked the light of the x-ray board on and pointed to my lungs and said " I dont know what you are going to call this," they were completely clear. Apparently the Lord does not know the meaning of the word ,”irreversible.” That was eighteen years ago, and, as many of my friends could testify, my lungs are in good shape.

The Lord is so good, no matter what your situation is today, if you will trust Him, not even so much for healing, just trust Him, then you will fly where the eagles fly and you will venture into the realm of the miraculous, into the land of the dynamic, for trust is the gateway to the kingdom of God. This kingdom is here and it is now, since we have to walk through this life, let us walk together in the kingdom that was, and is, and is to come and the night will shine like the day.

Please know brothers and sisters that I do not put forward this testimony as a formula, God forbid. The key point of this testimony is this Joh 2:5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

And thats the only formula I know brothers and sisters, whatever the Lord says to you, do it. Not doctors, not well meaning friends, not even spouses. Obviously it is imperative that one know and hear that small still voice. Just for the record, I have different surgeries since then including gall bladder removal and shoulder surgery, and in these matters I heard nothing from the Lord.

I praise God for this illness. It taught me that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of God. It taught me that I am not leaving this planet one moment before my King deems it. It taught me that no force on earth is greater than my God. It taught me that I could praise the Lord even in the valley of the shadow of death. It taught me that when He says that His grace is sufficiant His word is not broken. This word sufficiant does not capture the abundance of His presence that I felt through that time. To have to rely upon God for the very breath that I took was an amazing experience.


I wrote the two poems below years ago trying to describe something of what I felt in the midst of the disease and yet when when I read them, I know my words fall woefully short. There are no earthly words to describe the presence of God, one may as well try to catch gossamer butterflies.
But know that our God still works miracles. When we trust Him with our whole lives and worship Him with our whole hearts it opens up a realm of the ,miraculous, the greatest miracle of all though is to trust in Him and to hear His voice.

HIS REST

I HAVE BEEN TO A GLORIOUS LAND
THAT IS FAR BEYOND WHAT I HAD PLANNED
BEYOND THIS WORLD AND ALL ITS DREAMS
THAT LIES IN THE SHADOW OF HIS HOLY WINGS

I FOLLOWED HIM AND WE TOOK FLIGHT
AND HE CARRIED ME ON BEYOND THE NIGHT
THROUGH A VALE OF DARKNESS, PAIN AND FEAR
MY SWEET JESUS WAS OH SO NEAR

MAJESTY, GLORY, PRAISE TO OUR KING
THERE ARE NO WORDS THAT I CAN SING
THAT WOULD FULLY EXPRESS WHAT HE IS TO ME
AS HE CARRIED ME ACROSS A MAJESTIC SEA

MOUNTAINOUS WAVES ROSE UP TO FIGHT
YET IN HIS HAND I WAS HELD SO TIGHT
FARTHER, FARTHER, FARTHER ALONG
IN AN OCEAN OF PRAISE , AND ON THE WINGS OF A SONG

HE TOOK ME TO THE PROMISED LAND
AND I LAY DOWN IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND
AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
IN THE DARKEST DUNGEON, NO MATTER, FOR I AM FREE


Storm

Can I walk upon this water
In the midst of this mighty sea
Surely I will stumble, surely I will drown
Oh Lord how can this be?

The waves are high and the wind it howls
And the rain it lashes down
Yet you are there, I see you Lord
Now I know I shall not drown

Then the thunder roars and the lightening flashes
High above in the angry skies
Dark clouds rising, set on fire
To them do I lift my eyes

Heavier now the rain is falling
The noise so loud I cannot think
The lightening fractures the sky above
And my legs, they begin to sink

I look around , eyes wide with terror
As all this madness does unfold
I look once more, there , it’s Jesus
In the midst of the storm , standing bold

I am your peace when all hell breaks loose
Devils and demons flee
In the storm, in the night, when all breaks down
Remember , keep your eyes upon me.

 2012/4/18 1:29
Heydave
Member



Joined: 2008/4/12
Posts: 1306
Hampshire, UK

 Re: God is still healing

Frank, Thank you for this testimony. It is very humbling to see your trust and obedience in the Lord at that time.

Can I ask what the reaction was of your family members and others who questioned your actions when you were healed. Did they believe and give God glory, or did they explained it away as something else?

Were you part of a church where you receieved prayer and encouragement to trust God in the decision you made?

Dave.


_________________
Dave

 2012/4/18 5:22Profile









 Re:

Brother Frank, of course I've read this before - but I am SO GLAD that you've posted it again.
Yes! He Does Still Heal and speaks intimately to His Beloved Sheep.

Bless GOD & GOD Bless you and all His Sheep.

 2012/4/18 10:21









 Re:

Hi Dave,

I was part of a large church at the time but also a home group from the church. They had been puzzled because initially I did not allow them to pray for healing for me. When I felt the release from God, I allowed them to pray for me and they rejoiced in my healing.

I felt very led not to " shout aloud," this healing but have shared it over the years. I was part of a pentecostal church and much is made of miracles. This story was not about a miracle, the miracle was secondary to what the Lord was doing. He had filled me full of indignation that a child of God should fear anything, He had filled me with a spirit that rejoiced that the worse thing that could happen to me was that I would go and be with my Lord.

My wife was not and is not a believer. In fact, I actually believed that this whole episode was for her benefit. I thought that if the Lord took me home, that she would run to His arms. Months after the Lord healed me He gently rebuked me with something so simple but something that I had completly overlooked He simply said this " Frank, I died for Angie." I was astounded when I thought how I could have missed that, thinking that my own death would bring her to Jesus.

The friends that had rebuked me rejoiced in my healing. My father said little, he is very legalistic in his outloook and leans more towards being stoic.

A couple of years later I was working on a building site and one of the bricklayers had colon cancer, it had spread to a large section of his colon. He was an older man, in his midddle 60s, a Baptist man. He was a very good witness on the site. He told men that it did not matter if he died because he knew where he was going. One day we spoke and he shared with me his great fear was not of dying, but of a colostomy bag. I understood because my son had a very serious disease that almost killed him and he had to have a colostomy bag. I understood the lack of dignity and so on that goes along with this. I shared with him about my healing. I told him that I had written it down and it was online. He said that he would read the whole story.

He came in the next day very excited. He told me that as he read the story he felt very led to do what I had done. This actually made me afraid. He was supposed to have the surgery on the Monday and this was Friday. He said he was not going to have the surgery. I told him that the Lord had confirmed with Scripture what He wanted me to do and that he too should seek confirmation from the Lord, especially because of the seriousness of the situation. And then asked him if I could pray for him to which he agreed. So right there in the parking lot, with bricklayers and hod-carriers and other tradesmen all going home, I laid hand on him( I explained that this is what we pentecostals do:) and raised my other hand to heaven and cried out to the Lord for this man.

I went home and interceded on this man's behalf, crying out to the Lord for his dignity. The next time I saw him, which was months later, he told me that after praying he felt led to go through with the surgery but would not take the chemo-therapy which the doctors had insisted upon. When they opened him up, the cancer was much smaller than they ahd told him and he did not need a colostomy bag. They still insited that he needed chemo but he refused because the Lord had directed him. I heard a report that ten years later he was still going strong.......... bro Frank

 2012/4/18 10:26









 Re:

God bless you too Diane, He does speak to His people and it is so important that we can hear His direction day by day and in the issues of life............bro Frank

 2012/4/18 10:31
MaryJane
Member



Joined: 2006/7/31
Posts: 3057


 Re: God is still healing

Dear brother Frank :)

Reading through your testimony brought conviction to my spirit this morning. As I read I found myself hearing that still small voice speaking, "YOUR will be done." For a moment I trembled and as I read of how HE healed you that still small voice grew stronger. Reading in your words FATHER showed me that there must have been a moment for you to just let go and say "alright LORD YOUR will be done" and you meant it. I know this moment comes in the life of every believer but I realize a part of me has on some levels held back. I felt convicted because as I heard these words and contemplated their meaning in my own life I found myself trembling, trembling because I was afraid, afraid to let go, afraid to take that first step(as you shared) and afraid to accept no matter what the outcome is...I have struggled with always wanting to know and yet I realize that true faith comes from placing my hand in HIS and completing this journey with out knowing(I know you will understand what I mean brother) I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this, FATHER is so unique and wonderful in how HE uses our experiences in this life to open our hearts to each other and to HIMSELF. Needless to say I have spent much time in repenting for the fear that I now see still lingers. I have been praying and giving thanks too that HE doesn't leave a work unfinished and that HE always takes us deeper!

God Bless
maryjane

 2012/4/18 11:44Profile









 Re:

Dear sister Maryjane,

You wrote...........

"I felt convicted because as I heard these words and contemplated their meaning in my own life I found myself trembling, trembling because I was afraid, afraid to let go, afraid to take that first step(as you shared) and afraid to accept no matter what the outcome is.."

O sister, yes I trembled and yes I let go, live or die I let go and that has meant more to me in my walk than the healing, the healing is so secondary to the letting go and following. If you read the first poem you will capture some of what happened when I let go, even although the storm raged all around, I was brought to such a deep place in Him , so much so that when the storm passed I mourned the passing of it, does that make sense? It makes no sense in the natural but I was so consiously aware of being held so tight and that this was the safest place in existance. We often hear the phrase in Christendom " let go and let God,' I do not underestimate the cost of actually doing that, but the benefit, the outcome, far outweighs the cost and looking back I would not change a thing. May our Father bless you sister in the mighty name of Jesus and you go further into the Father's heart.......... bro Frank

 2012/4/18 12:16
pilgrim777
Member



Joined: 2011/9/30
Posts: 1211


 Re:

Thank you brother Frank for your encouragement to the Body. This kind of post is so very different from a theological post filled with debate.

Your testimony of God's sure word and that He can be trusted is very profitable.

I know the Enemy tries to put fear on all of us regarding abandoning all for God. He will say "God will test your heart with extreme trials to see if you love Him. He will bring sickness and pain to you and your family, and He will strip everything away from you. He really does not love you. Do you really want to go through all of that? God cannot be trusted. He will leave you and you will die."

How many of us have heard this lie?

And then Saints like you tell of how you proved His Word to you and He did not fail you. It is good to hear this (firsthand) from someone that is alive, today and not just a story from another century.

Your testimony is a powerful repudiation of the Adversary and I can see from other posts, a very strong encouragement, too.

It is a very strong encouragement to me, too. You crossed over into a dimension that few travel. Thank you for giving us a glimpse of what is possible to all who trust in God with all of their heart. And, I'm not talking about physical healing.

Pilgrim

All praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ.





 2012/4/18 12:24Profile









 Re:

Pilgrim writes.........

"It is a very strong encouragement to me, too. You crossed over into a dimension that few travel. Thank you for giving us a glimpse of what is possible to all who trust in God with all of their heart. And, I'm not talking about physical healing."

Praise the Lord brother. The enemy certainly tries, strongly tries, to persaude any brother or sister from abandoning all. And there is good reason for this, because the totally abandoned saint can be a powerful weapon in the hand of God and well might the enemy tremble when Christ is exalted above life itself.......... bro Frank

 2012/4/18 14:47
Trekker
Member



Joined: 2011/7/29
Posts: 683
northern USA

 Re:

QUOTE: "She very simply stated “The Lord told me that He was going to heal you.” --APPOLOS



How does a person know when to believe people who say such things? I had a "Christian" say the EXACT same words to me about roughly 7+ years ago and I am NOT healed. From the beginning i tested this person and she was able to say Jesus Christ is God. But later i found out she follows Pentacostal heretics like Benny Hinn and his ilk. She also demonstrated a refusal to listen to sound scriptural proof and doctrine regarding something else (long story), plus she denied that a mutual former classmate of our's had committed suicide (she claimed SHE knew the "truth" and that everyone else was wrong...i spoke personally to the police chief who was first on the scene and a neighbor of said classmate and he verified that "there was no doubt" it was suicide), PLUS she also later accused my niece of doing something which my niece swore she did not (and my niece had never lied to me about anything so i believed my (gradeschool age) niece and i believe i can tell when a child i am very familiar with is lying). After all this i have long concluded that this "Christian" former classmate of mine is nothing but a chronic liar...but if she is, how is it she is able to say that Jesus Christ is God...and man she is able to keep such an innocent looking face is just floors and bewilders me. I know i don't believe her claim that God is going to heal me after all that, nor have i ever received any kind of confirmation. As far as i know she does not go around pretending to be any kind of prophet or anything, she is a strong believer in the gifts of the Spirit and believes God spoke to her, that healing is for today, etc. However, i have caught her little girl (who used to play with my niece) in a lie also (the little girl absurdly insisted that her mother told her that a man was buried beneath a park building in the park where i took her and my niece to play), and the one contact i had with her husband made me suspect he was lying about something once too (Of course, i met a lot of "Christian" liars at a church i used to attend also so i guess the churches here are replete with them and i should not be surprised...)so i sometimes think maybe a lying spirit rules in that family. Other than these things, the woman is very nice, has a very pleasant temperament, etc. She still to this day insists she heard God tell her that I am going to be healed, even after i rebuked her because of all these other issues. After this experience i doubt i could ever believe anyone who would say such a thing to me ever again. The nuts,fruits, and flakes of the spirit are just too many....

 2012/4/22 10:38Profile





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