Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over him after anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful. James 5:13-16

I remember the first time I experienced supernatural healing from physical symptoms. I was sixteen and regularly attending a home Bible study and praise service in Montreat, my hometown. I had been skeptical about some of what I had heard concerning these meetings, but out of curiosity, I went.

From the first meeting, I began to see remarkable answers to prayer as this small group of believers laid hold of God’s throne. I knew that when we met together, God met with us.

One week, I went to the meeting even though I was very ill with a strep infection. Despite having started on penicillin, I was still running a high fever, had an extremely sore throat, deep chest congestion, and painfully enlarged glands in my throat. Though I had been staying in bed, I got up and went to the meeting anyway.

Following his usual format, our host, Adger McKay, asked if there were any prayer requests. He remained seated as he worked his way around the room, praying for each request. When it was my turn, I told him I was sick and would appreciate prayer. I was startled as he jumped from his chair, placed his hands on my head and began to pray aloud for my healing.

To my amazement, the moment his hands touched my head, I felt as if an electric charge was flowing through my body. This was the second time I experienced this physical sensation. The first time, I had been alone on a mountainside hiking with my dog. The experience had given me an awesome awareness of the presence of God. On this night when Adger prayed, the sensation was the same, but the resulting healing was something completely new and astounding for me.

I was instantly healed of all symptoms. My sore throat was gone, I no longer felt feverish, my glands were no longer swollen, my sinuses were clear, and there was no congestion in my bronchial tubes. It was the most dramatic physical healing I have ever experienced.

God used that moment of prayer and healing to lift my sights. I wanted to know God better, experience His power, and be used the way this man was being used. I would spend my teen years being mentored by this man of God who really knew how to pray.

When I asked Adger after the meeting was over why he had jumped up to lay hands on me as he prayed, he responded simply, “I only did that because God told me to.”

Ultimate Healing

Several years later, during my first spring at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, I received word that my dear brother and mentor Adger had been on an overseas missions’ trip to Africa. He had returned with falciparum malaria, encephalitis and black water fever.

Thousands of people around the world, including many famous Christian leaders, prayed earnestly that Adger would be healed. I prayed fervently for his healing and was crushed when he slipped into a coma just before Good Friday.

I vividly remember the phone calls from people who sensed that God was telling them that he would be healed on Easter Sunday. I said to my wife Susan, “I believe he will be healed, but I believe God is saying he will die and his healing will occur when he sees Jesus face to face.”

On Easter Sunday, Adger McKay slipped quietly out of his hospital bed and into the courts of heaven. In the midst of my sorrow and grief, I was extremely grateful to the Lord for the way He had timed my beloved friend’s home going.

While some, who had been praying and believing God for Adger’s physical healing, felt betrayed when he died, his family exhibited supernatural peace in their pain. A grieving widow and her three teenaged children had to believe God had done what was best. He always does. The timing of Adger’s home going, on the Sunday when we celebrate Jesus’ triumph over death, could not have been more perfect.

The following summer I took a course at seminary with Joseph Bayly, a man who had lost three sons to death. After telling the class the heart-breaking stories of each of their deaths, he astonished us all when he said: “Losing three sons to death does not make me an expert on dying. If you want to talk to someone who understands death, you need to talk with someone who knows that he himself is a terminal case. It is with this qualification that I am here to speak with you today.”

He then reminded us that none of us would get out of this life alive. Though he wasn’t battling a terminal illness as we had thought, he had made his point. My own mortality became clearer that day. My interactions with this dear man helped sharpen my perspective on God’s purpose for my life and the need to live today with eternity in view.

Another Lesson

That same summer, Susan was expecting our first child. I felt an uneasy sense that God was preparing me for something painful concerning my unborn child. He was.

My son Paul was born with Spina Bifida. Because Spina Bifida occurs within the first month of fetal development, Paul’s condition existed before we realized Susan was pregnant. But, none of this was a surprise to God, and we knew from the beginning that God had a plan for Paul’s life—His plan is good, acceptable and perfect.

Many times, beginning when Paul was an infant, people have prayed for him, sometimes anointing him with oil. By the time Paul was eleven, he had had twenty surgeries. The surgeries never got any easier, and I have spent a great deal of time praying for God to heal my son.

As an eleven-year-old boy, Paul was facing yet another surgery. A woman at church wrote a note and handed it to Paul’s mother Susan. The note indicated that a man, whose ministry often involved the healing of people in wheelchairs, would be speaking at a nearby church that Sunday night. This lady who had written the note was a precious prayer warrior who was convinced that Paul should attend the healing service. Susan gave the note to Paul and asked if he would like to go. Paul asked for some time to pray about it.

With tears, Paul spoke to his mother late that afternoon and ministered to his whole family in a profound way. He explained that he was willing to go to the meeting, but that he didn’t believe God intended to heal him: “I would love to be healed, because I know you want me to be able to play soccer and basketball and everything. I know God does heal people sometimes, but I believe He wants me in a wheelchair for a reason. When people see me and ask me why I’m so happy in spite of my circumstances, I can tell them ‘it’s because of Jesus.’ I don’t want to disappoint you guys, but I want to do God’s will.”

Paul went to the healing service with his whole family, but he was not disappointed when he didn’t walk out afterwards.

I still want God to heal Paul, and I have made this abundantly clear to Him over and over. But I can honestly say that even more than I desire Paul’s healing, I rejoice in the fact that Paul had learned to trust his heavenly Father. While it’s hard for me to comprehend, Paul’s heavenly Father loves him and cares more about his well-being than I do. We can trust Him.
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