My God's Not Dead, He is Surely ALIVE!

As some of you may have already heard, this past Friday I had the awesome privilege of praying for two people and seeing them healed! It was such an awesome, humbling experience seeing God respond to faith and obedience, and I wanted to encourage all of you so that you would know that God is not dead, he is surely alive and well and at work in the world today!

Friday July 26th there was a 24 hour worship service at the church I am currently attending (Life Center in Harrisburg, PA) and I felt the need to go check it out. The first two hours of worship were kind of cool, but I didn't really feel the presence of God. It might be because I really don't enjoy country music, and the one who was leading worship lead from a guitar that sounded like a banjo... Don't get me wrong, he was a wonderful singer and instrumentalist, but I just couldn't connect. The next set was where things started to happen. When they began to worship, the presence of God filled the room (and honestly, I don't even know how to describe how I knew that he was there, it's one of those things that you just know deep down inside your spirit), and after singing at the top of my lungs for a while, I decided to just sit down and rest in His presence. As I did this I "heard" (when I say "heard" I do not mean that I hear the audible voice of God, it's more of an impression that I need to obey, because I've learned that when I feel this way, God is usually behind it and wants me to do something) that the woman sitting about 4 seats to the right of me needed healing for something. So, me being me, I decided to wait until my heart pounded out of my chest because I'm still getting used to all of this, but I then realized, "hey, what's the worst that could happen? The worst possible thing is that you didn't hear and the woman gives you a funny look, BUT WHAT IF YOU JUST HEARD FROM GOD AND HE'S GOING TO HEAL THIS LADY OF SOMETHING?? Isn't that worth the risk???" And in true Phineas and Ferb fashion, I decided "Yes, yes it is". So I walked towards the woman and asked her if she needed healing for something, and to my delight, she said "Yes". She then went on to tell me that she had been in a car accident, and that her ankle and foot have been in a lot of pain, and she was currently sitting down because she had been on it all day and it just hurt too much to stand up any more. I then asked if I could pray for her, she said yes, so I laid my hand on her ankle and began to pray. I can't really remember how I prayed, or what I even said, but obviously that doesn't matter to God! He does not respond to lofty prayers filled with beautiful words, no, my Jesus responds to faith and stupid obedience to him. I finished praying and asked if she would be willing to stand up and try out her ankle and see if she felt any differently. As she stood up, she told me that her ankle felt like there was a cool breeze on it, and there was no longer any pain! She informed me that she still didn't have the full range of motion in that foot as she did in the other foot, so we went back into prayer, but after a while I felt the Lord tell me to stop praying, she tested it out and she still didn't have the full range of motion. I don't really understand that, but I do know that the good work he has started in her, He will bring to completion! (Phillipians 1:6)

Needless to say, I was CRAZY STOKED!!! This was the first time I had ever seen someone healed after I prayed for them, and I didn't even pray pretty! I then had to go to get some more water, and as I went out, I saw a friend and HAD to tell them what just happened! She and some other people were gathered around a girl praying for her (I could tell this because they had their hands laid on her and their heads were bowed).  The people gathered around this girl heard me tell my friend what the Lord had just done for someone else who I had just prayed for, and they told me to lay my hand on this girl. As I looked, I could tell that she was sick. Her sentences were sluggish, she was shaky, and she looked a little bit sweaty. I figured that if Jesus could heal a woman with pain in her ankle and let her walk without pain again, he certainly can heal this sickness! I felt that I was to remind her that when the Israelites came out of the wilderness  not one among them was "feeble", I then entered into prayer and told the sickness that my Daddy was bigger than it, and it needed to go in his name. I also prayed that the joy of the Lord would be her strength, she then started slowly falling to the ground in laughter. after about 15 seconds, she got back up and said she felt all better. 10-15 minutes later, she was dancing in front of the stage worshiping Jesus!

Since then, I have prayed for a few other people, and did not see them healed as I prayed for them (I have no idea if God did a work over night, or if he will strengthen them day by day, or if there was no healing at all). I don't really understand that, and I think that part of it is because people really need to expect for God to heal (Jesus wasn't able to heal many in his home town because of the unbelief and lack of expectation) and part of it is so that I pursue him more to see others healed that his name might be made famous. I don't fully understand God's plan for healing people, but I do know this: If you do not pray for the sick to be healed, you will never see the sick healed. If you do not step out on a ledge, there is no need for God to be there to make sure that you're safe. If you are obedient, He is faithful. And without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). So this is my challenge to you, listen to the Lord, do what he says (Jesus says he only did what His father told him to do) act in faith when you hear him, then stand back and watch Him do His thing. I DARE YOU.