By Ada Brownell
Christians often struggle with why some are healed and some are not. Many Christians are
confused by that mystery and the church sometimes staggers under a spirit of
unbelief.
I’ve entered that valley, too, but as a
Christian and retired medical reporter, I still believe in miracles.
My faith journey began as a child. My friend,
Velda Jean Bailey, was stricken with leukemia. My brother-in-law told me about
her condition.
“The
doctors say Velda Jean probably has only two or three weeks to live.”
A woman in my home church tearfully
requested prayer for my friend.
A few days later, Velda’s grandfather
had been praying with her when her mother saw a change come over her daughter.
“She looked as if new blood were going
into her veins,” her mother recalled.
Velda’s symptoms disappeared and the parents
asked for new tests. Diagnostics revealed Velda was completely healed. She was
alive the last I heard—25 years later.
Our daughter, Gwen, didn’t need tubes surgically
inserted into her ears after she went forward for prayer. Our youngest daughter
Jeanette s elbow was healed so that it no longer slipped out of the joint.
Years later, our granddaughter, Melissa,
suffered from croup, Our son, Gary, and
his wife, Janice, were moving and due to be in Tulsa, so they left anyway. Gary
drove the truck and Janice followed in the car. I and Janice’s mother went to
our knees in prayer.
Snow fell so fast as Janice followed the
truck the windshield wipers wouldn’t work. Janice had to stick her head out the
window in order to see, bringing the cold air in on Melissa and her little
brother, Justin.
When they arrived in Tulsa safely, Janice
called us.
“How is Melissa?” I asked.
“The croup is gone. She’s not sick
anymore.”
I’d heard sometimes cool moist air helps
chest congestion—but cure a fevered child with croup?
We’ve had numerous times when physicians
thought a member of our family was in trouble physically. A few years ago, a medical
test showed Gary had only 40 percent kidney function, but after prayer, a
specialist found nothing wrong. Gary never had kidney problems again.
At about age 30, Gwen had symptoms of
multiple sclerosis. After prayer and many tests, physicians said she was
fine—and she is fine, 10 years later.
Our six younger grandchildren are
miracles, and I believe it’s because God answers prayer. Complications during
their mothers’ pregnancy could have endangered four of their lives or their
future, but God intervened. Two other grandchildren came to us through the
miracle of adoption.
With five children, and now
grandchildren, we’ve had so many medical problems changed from serious to
insignificant after prayer I can’t list them all. Yet, Carolyn, our oldest
daughter, died at age 31 of an aggressive form of lymphoma, and our son, Jaron,
has suffered from asthma since age 2.
But I still believe for Jaron’s healing
and know God heals. His health is improving, and in 2014 when doctors suspected he had leukemia because of constantly elevated white blood cell counts, when we prayed diligently, tests showed no leukemia and his blood became normal.
I’ve been a student of the Bible almost
all my life and although answers to why some are healed and some are not is a
mystery, the Word explains a great deal about healing and miracles.
Here are a few things I’ve learned.
1.
All
humankind is destined to die because of sin. God told Adam and
Eve if they ate of the forbidden tree, they would die. Satan, the liar, said,
“You won’t die! He just wants to keep
something good from you!” (my
translation) Adam and Eve ate and became mortals. We, as their offspring,
inherited the curse of sin. Read about it in Genesis 3.
I
like the way the King James Version explains in Romans 8:22 how our mortality affects
us: “We know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but
ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body.”
- Healing is in the
atonement. Centuries before Jesus came Isaiah
wrote, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we
considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed (Isaiah 53:4-5). Peter quoted the verses and said, “By his wounds
you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
- Our Savior knows what is to suffer.
They plucked his beard and tore flesh off His back for our healing. Yet, even
before pain gripped His body, Jesus had compassion and healed many among the
multitudes that followed Him.
3.
An
atmosphere of doubt interferes with God’s Spirit working among us. Jesus
Himself couldn’t do many miracles in Nazareth because of a spirit of unbelief
(Matthew 13:57-58). In Luke’s
description of the Lord’s visit to His home town, Jesus told how many lepers in
Israel needed healing, but only one—Naaman—was healed. The heavens were shut up
to many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, but because of unbelief Elijah
was sent to only one--the widow of Zarephath.
It
isn’t that Jesus doesn’t have the power for miracles among a throng of
doubters, but we often absorb the unbelief.
4.
Our
personal faith is affected by what our minds feed on. Romans
10:16-18 tells us faith comes through hearing the
word of God. Much of the church today attends services an hour and a half a
week. We complain about 45-minute sermons and have no time for prayer in the
altars, but spend several hours each day watching TV and we’ll sit outside in a
snow storm for three hours to watch a football game. Romans 8:1 (KJV)
indicates when we allow our flesh to take charge of our minds; it interferes
with walking after the Spirit.
5.
We build our faith remembering miracles God has done. In every church and
prayer group I’ve attended “these signs, including healing, have followed them
that believe” (Mark 16:17). One time I was asked to speak about prayer to the
youth group. Instead of speaking, I a half dozen people with testimonies of
God’s intervention in a crisis.
The father of a large family who worked on a highway crew urgently
prayed because rain was forecast and he couldn’t work in the rain. Rain followed
the paving machine all day, but it never rained where they worked.
Several told of miraculous healings—two where
doctors had given no hope. One woman told how God turned away a forest fire
racing toward their house as she and the children stood at the window praying
and repeating Psalm 91. I later wrote their testimonies for The Pentecostal
Evangel in a story, “What Prayer Can Do.”
Yet, a serious diagnosis
such as cancer of the pancreas strikes faith-paralyzing fear. I believe part of that is Satan’s “spin” on
truth. Like every expert of propaganda, he uses a smidgeon of truth in his
destructive lies. While treatments have advanced, cancer of the pancreas has
meant almost certain death. But Gospel Singer Jimmy Blackwood, son of James
Blackwood, was healed of pancreatic cancer in 1984. I interviewed him about it
for the newspaper where I worked. Jimmy is still singing.
6.
We have a drought of God’s power because we don’t seek the Gifts
of healing, faith and miracles. It’s been a long
time since I’ve heard people praying for, seeking after, and having hands laid
on them to receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gives the Gifts to those
for whom He has a specific purpose but He also tells us to ask for them (1
Corinthians 12). Jesus said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you
have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8).
7.
Lack of fasting and prayer affects spiritual outcomes. In Ezra’s time they fasted and prayed for God’s protection over
their families (Ezra 8:20-22). The disciples couldn’t cast out demons because
they didn’t fast and pray before they went out (Matthew 17:20-22). We’re told
God is able to do more than we can ask or think, but it is according to the
power that works in us (Ephesians 3:19-21). According to the Word, prayer and
fasting increases that power.
8.
Although
we know our sin doesn’t cause most sicknesses, sin could cause us to be sick or
even die. Paul wrote, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and
blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread
and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the
body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick,
and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judge ourselves, we would not
come under judgment” (1 Corinthians 11:29--31).
When,
however, some people witnessed the healing of a blind man and asked who sinned,
the man or his parents, Jesus said, “Neither, but that the works of God might
be revealed in him” (John 9:1-3).
9.
Some
people aren’t healed or delivered because of “the greater good.”
For instance, when our oldest daughter was near death from cancer she left a
witness. Four people gave their lives to Christ and others recommitted
themselves to God. When people experience a death close to them, they realize
their own mortality and the need of a Savior.
- Often God uses faith and works and we
should give Him credit for these miracles. James
said, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claim to have faith but has
no deeds? Can such faith save him? … Faith, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead” James 2:14-16). I was prayed for several times because of
knee pain. When I had knee replacements, the pain disappeared. Medications
along with God’s mercy have helped Jaron live triumphantly with asthma for
40 years. I consider that a gift from God.
I believe the knowledge of physicians
today is given by the Lord and furthermore, it is a sign of Christ’s coming.
God told Daniel, But thou, O Daniel,
shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4).
On the medical beat at the newspaper
where I worked, over and over I was told how physicians couldn’t do much for
diseases and medical conditions until the 20th Century. The most
important things that changed health and longevity, according to physicians
I’ve interviewed, are clean water, immunizations and antibiotics—but God also
has given wisdom for marvelous diagnostics, medications, and treatments.
- Sometimes healing doesn’t come because
we’re being tested, as Job was.
“These
trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies
gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold” (1 Peter 1:7NKJ).
- God’s
sovereignty means He always has the last word. God has the last word
in everything, including how many days we live. We have promises all over
the Bible about healing which we can grasp and believe, but we have to put
the whole Bible together for correct doctrine. It should give us comfort, and not fear,
to know everything is in His hands. “This is the assurance that we have in
approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears
us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have
what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
But His “last words” to His children
always are words of love (See John 3:16).
Note: An edited version of this article appeared in the summer 2013 online edition of Enrichment Magazine.
