Jesus Turns A Doorknob!
Jesus Turns A Doorknob!
Last fall Nancy and I had the wonderful privilege of helping lead a revival at a church. It was great to be a part of it! God showed up and blessed many people. What made it especially meaningful to us was that we had once lived in that town and I had once pastored at the church, so the revival included opportunities to reconnect with people who have a deep place in our hearts.
On the last day of the revival after most people had exited the building, I had the opportunity to visit with a young man and to hear first-hand what God has been doing in his life. He was telling me about some of the ways that God had been using him. It was exciting stuff! God had told him to pray for a particular person that week, and he did! God had given him a word of prophecy to share with someone, an encouraging message of God’s love, and he did! At the revival itself, he had gone forward to the prayer rail to spend some time with God and he knelt with a friend and they prayed together for quite a while. It was not a curtesy prayer. Itt was doing real business with God. I loved hearing what God was doing in his life and how God was using him.
After we had talked for a little while, his mom came over and joined in our chat. She told me an amazing story, and I want to share it with you.
She said, “I need to tell you about something that happened when you were our pastor. When our son was young, he had a medical condition in his legs and lower body. (She told me the name for it but I don’t remember it.) One Sunday during church, while you were preaching, you interrupted your sermon part way through and said to the congregation, ‘Excuse me for a minute, but I believe I am supposed to go over there and pray for that boy.’”
“And you came off the stage and over to where we were sitting and prayed for our son. I had never heard a prayer like that one. You asked Jesus to come over to him and lay hands on him, and then you asked Jesus to go into our house and stand next to him while he was sleeping and lay hands on him and heal him. And then, after your prayer, you went back up to the pulpit and finished your sermon.
“That prayer was so vivid, I decided that I would start praying for him in the same thing. At night I would go into his bedroom and pray for him. I would ask for Jesus to come into our house and walk down the hallway to our son’s room. I would pray for him to open the doorknob and come into his room and bring him healing. I don't know why I would pray for the detail about him opening the doorknob, but I did. I prayed this same prayer night after night, but I didn’t tell my husband.
“One evening my husband was watching the kids and when I got home that night my husband said, “I saw Jesus tonight in our house! He went walking down the hallway to our son’s bedroom door and he reached out and turned the doorknob and went inside. After a while he came out and Jesus said to me, “In ten days your son will be well.”
She then told me, “And ten days later he was healed.” It was quite a story and as she told me this her son was sitting right there beside her with a huge smile on his face.
I have never had encounter with Jesus like the one she told me about. But we have known this couple for years, and we completely trust their integrity and honesty and the love of God that flows forth from the whole family. So, when she shared this testimony with me, I did not doubt for a moment that it happened just as she said.
Nancy and I have been blessed to see many healings take place, and one important lesson we have learned is that God is very creative and heals in many different ways. Sometimes God heals people from the outside in, healing first the outer bodies and then does healing work inside of them, healing their characters, emotions, and spirits. Other times God heals us from the inside out. First healing people's souls and minds and emotions, then healing them physically.
Now, if someone is convinced that God must always use the same method and follow the exact same steps when he heals, we may not even recognize that a healing of our lives is taking place. We may not realize that our prayers are being answered. And therefore, we may not even open ourselves to receive what he is seeking to do for us.
Nancy and I would love to invite you to come to the Healing Training Retreat that Nancy and I will be leading in two weeks at Camp Egan on March 20-22. It will start on Thursday after lunch, so eat before you come to the camp; and it will conclude on Saturday after lunch with a closing worship and prayer time. Our son-in-law, Nathan Cates will be leading the worship. To register for the retreat go to the Oklahoma Annual Conference UMC website at OKUMC.ORG and register by March 13. We are grateful for the sponsorship of the Conference and of the Oklahoma Methodist Foundation that is providing scholarships so all can afford to attend.