Does God Still Heal? Acts 5.12-16
11/9/2016 1:46:47 AM
Is it possible? Do you believe you can ask God for a miracle?


Does God Still Heal?  Acts 5.12-16

This is a long one, but it is worth your time, I truly believe.

 

Does God still heal?  Some people believe he does, some say he does not.  But ask someone who was the recipient of his miraculous healing, and she has no doubts…

like me.

 

Why do I ask?  Take a look at what was going on in Jerusalem:  [do not skim over it; note the key sentences I have underlined]

“The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

 

God is still in the miraculous healing business . . . I know because he healed my boy.

This story needs to be retold occasionally because it tells of God’s mercy, grace and power. Many folks ‘add in’ over the course of a year to these Morning Briefings – people who also need to experience miraculous answers to prayer in their lives.  See when you and I come face to face with God’s mighty power, it changes everything—I mean, everything.

 

Our family of six had just moved to San Clemente, (California), from the San Francisco Bay Area.  About a month after we moved into our house, our two-year-old, Danny, came walking into our room, and he was limping.  This was a kid who could already manage a skateboard pretty well, so it was most unusual that he didn’t even want to walk by mid-morning. 

 

I found a pediatrician, who looked him over and said, “Oh there’s nothing wrong with your boy, except for a little ear infection; we’ll put him on Zithromax, and he’ll be fine.”  He limped the next day, and the next day after that; on Thursday, I took him back to the doctor, now with swelling around his eyes as well.  The doctor again told me he could find nothing wrong.  He patted me on the back, and sent me home, assured that nothing was really wrong with Danny.

 

On Sunday evening, when I took him upstairs to give him a bath, his diaper was drenched with dark red blood.  Over the phone, the doctor said ‘pack your bag and take him to the hospital—he is very sick.’  I soon learned that his kidneys had failed, but CHOC Mission could not diagnose what had caused it, or give us any prognosis for getting well. His blood pressure, sodium, potassium, and cholesterol were off the charts.  The normal benchmarks for the kidneys: BUN-normal 5-20; Danny’s 83.  Creatinine-normal: 0.2-0.6; Danny’s 1.3.  Tests, IVs—no answers; sent us home after six days.

 

That week, I left the hospital to attend my daughter’s high school volleyball game, where a woman I did not know approached me and told me she knew about my boy . . . “Honey,” she said, “We’re gonna ask God for a miracle.”  We bowed our heads, and that’s just what she prayed—that God would do a miracle, and heal my son.

 

More blood tests several days later, and then we got the call that Danny was in serious trouble.  We were to take him to CHOC Orange ICU immediately.  They readied him for a needle biopsy, but then we waited and waited.  Finally, a team of hematologists came in and said they couldn’t do it—he had a bleeding disorder as well, (von Willebrand Disease),  and would bleed to death on the table.  They scheduled him for surgery the next day.

 

THIS was the day that I met God—in the surreal place that is the pediatric ICU ward.  I mean I met him in his Word—held him at his word, and leaned on his promises like my mama had taught me to do and to sing when I was a wee child.  The renal biopsy went off without a hitch.  But again, we were sent home with no diagnosis and no prognosis—lots of medication, including steroids and blood pressure meds.  He continued losing blood, and the best we could hope for would be transplants.  Needless to say, it was a scary time.

Finally, on Monday evening, the kidney specialist called.

 

“Well, this has been most unusual from the start,” the Israeli-trained Jewish nephrologist said.  “Danny does indeed have a kidney disorder—actually, three of them.” (ATN, Post-infectious Nephritis, and an allergic reaction to the Zithromax!)  “But all will reverse themselves, will not require treatment, and will not leave lasting damage.”  I stood there in my driveway in what can only be called a ‘holy moment’…  “Dr. Ben Ezzer,” I said, “I would like to think that God has done a miracle…”  She was very quiet for a moment, and then said, “I would say you are 100 percent correct!”

 

Danny’s miracle was spread over a couple months’ time—meaning that he was not healed instantly—but then, he was well.  He was not just well, but ever since, he’s been kinda like ‘well, only better!’—all boy, daring, great athlete, and funny as all get out—you get the idea.

 

The apostles in Jerusalem were not set apart as the only ones to receive the miraculous healing of God in their midst—no way, God is still in the healing business!

 

So, here’s the question: 

WHAT ARE YOU TRUSTING GOD FOR?

WHAT MIRACLE WOULD GOD DO IN YOUR LIFE IF YOU

         ASKED HIM?

 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…”  James 1.17

 

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save…!”

Zephaniah 3.17

 

Maybe now is the time to ask God for a miracle.