Sunday, April 10, 2005
“Do you really believe that one man can move the Hand of
God?”
In
December of ’04 I made an important decision to dump my 17 prescription
medications and trust God for my health. At the time of that decision and today
I have not had many supporters. Many judged my motives. One close person wrote
that I was hurting my body in a desperate attempt to see God move in my life.
Many thought that I was testing God, tossing out my prescriptions and therefore
placing myself in a life or death position to force God’s hand.
I
have no idea as to how many people have told me that God is just not doing this
today. Some have sent me copies of different stories of others, primarily
Jehovah’s Witnesses who have refused blood transfusions, or of some
“scary-looking” fanatical couple refusing medical help for their children, or
some small obscure fundamentalist church where the worshipers believed God for
the raising from the dead of some church member. Of course in all of those
stories there was tragedy and suffering and the belittlement and ridicule for
those who would dare to believe God for a miracle. Come to think of it no one
has sent me any stories of those who have turned their faith completely and
solely upon the wisdom and skill of modern day man and have been tragically
disappointed, those people are not ridiculed either!
“Wouldn’t
it be something if we lived in a day and age when believing God was the right
thing to do?” When someone gets sick the first thing you hear is, “Have you
seen a doctor yet?” Do you ever hear, “Have you turned to God and asked Him to
heal you yet?” or, “Have you gone to the Elders of the Church for the anointing
of oil and the prayer of faith that will heal you yet?”
“I
know this man, he is a genius and he…you should call him.” Wouldn’t it be
something if Christians everywhere would say, “I know a man who loves you and
who died for you and by His stripes we are healed!” or, “I know a man in whose
Name we can ask anything and it shall be granted!”
Let
me ask you something; is it harder for God to heal our diseases than it is for
Him to help us find adequate employment? Is victory over diabetes impossible
for God but for our safety while we go about in our everyday lives is something
He can handle? I have a friend who is a Marine and today he is involved with
serious performance end maintenance tests for a new gun-ship. Last night we
talked on the phone and at its conclusion we prayed for each other, he for my
healing and me for his safety. Is he a fool to believe that God can and will
heal me based upon God’s love for us and our prayers of faith? Am I the more
reasonable one who only believed God to watch over my Christian Brother and
keep him safe from accidents?
There
are stories of Christians who placed their trust in God in the face of
imprisonment, persecution or martyrdom who never again realized their freedom
here on earth, are they fools? There are stories of Christians who forsook the
comforts of home and who have ventured out into an unknown land to minister to
complete strangers, to a people of a different language and culture. These same
ministers have left behind doctors, policemen, firemen, etc and who have placed
their lives completely in the hand of God, are they fools?
Over
thirty years ago I found the Lord and the salvation from the penalty of sins
that He offers to all men and women. I was placed upon a road that leads to a
city whose foundation is laid by God. I found myself on a road that contained
curves and blind intersections that hid what is up ahead. All we need to do is
love and trust God to see us through the journey, are we fools? In December of
’04 I set out on a journey, a journey of trusting God to heal me of illnesses
that are impossible for man to heal. All I need to do is love and trust God and
He will see me through, is this foolishness?
I
Believe God. I have a confidence that I will arrive at the destination I long
for and desire and need! I will be set free of Diabetes, I will be set free of
finger pricks and testing the sugar levels in my blood, and I will be free from
daily injections of insulin. But more than that, I will be free to believe God
for an even more desperate need in my life, an even more debilitating and
painful disease, another disease that man is not able to heal!
In
my life God has healed me of a heart disease during a heart attack when I was
18 years old. God healed me of a broken arm overnight. God took away the pain
and quickened the healing of sever burns from a radiator mishap. Two years ago
God healed me of pancreatitis, during a long sustained extremely painful
inflammation. God will heal me of Diabetes and soon from an even more painful
condition. I believe God and Him alone! It is in Him I have placed my trust, my
life.
There
was a day when our Savior and His disciples came upon a disabled man and at the
sight of him one of the disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his
parents?” Jesus said that this condition was not brought about as a result of
sin but that it was allowed so that God would receive the glory at his healing.
I have often wondered, “Why me?” Why was I born with a bad heart and had to
suffer illnesses all through my childhood? Why was it that I came down with
diabetes, why did I come down with pancreatitis? Why have I had to suffer all
these years with this other horrible and debilitating disease? Perhaps it is to
bring glory to God.
One
thing that I need to make clear here, is that I am not some towering man of
faith. I am a man in desperate need of healing. Personally, I need this healing
not just for the quality of my life but for life. I was watching the effects
upon my body of all the prescriptions that I was taking. I was watching my body
slip even more into dis-ease. It became apparent that without God I was not
going to make it much further. But today I am so full of faith! I can really
see the end of the road and I long to enjoy the freedom from disease!!!! I long
to feel health, life, vitality!
I
am not a man who is desperately looking for God’s presence in my life. I am not
a man who is trying to force God’s hand by throwing away my meds and turning my
back to man’s abilities that will lead to healing. I am a man in need of a
miracle and I happen to know someone who can do anything!
Just
me
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