As Easy as a Free Meal

Ever struggle with praying for someone to be healed? I have. I’ve had those all-too-familiar extra beats from my heart and flip-flops in my stomach when someone comes up to me and asks for me to pray for physical healing. I’m sure I’m not alone. The thought What if nothing happens? always seems to fly across my mind. But then, one day I read something in the Bible that put a whole new perspective on our role and position as believers when it comes to operating in God’s authority for healing.

          I’ve read the story before, many times. I’ve read it to myself, I’ve read it with friends, and I’ve read it out loud to my kids. Jesus sends the 72 disciples out, two by two, with instructions to take nothing for their journeys, stay with whoever will show them hospitality, and eat whatever they’re served. Yep, okay, I can do that. Sounds easy enough. Then He gives them one more set of instructions “Heal the sick that are therein” as if it’s just as straightforward and simple as the first three. I was like, Uhhh…Jesus? You DO know it’s easy to eat food that’s been prepared and plated for me. It’s easy to sleep in a bed set aside for me. It’s easy to walk from one place to another. But heal the sick? How is THAT on par with the rest? Yeah, no problem. BAM! Healed. All of you. I wish!!! I mean, how incredible would that be?

          I’ll be honest, I wrestled with this passage. I mean, it’s not like I don’t believe God can heal. He does! I’ve seen it! I’ve even been used as the vessel before both in the United States and abroad in various ministry opportunities. But at this particular time, as I read this passage with new eyes, it had been a while since I’ve had the privilege of laying hands on someone and watching God work a miracle before my eyes. And over those years, the faith that had grown and blossomed had begun to wilt. Yet here, God had drawn my heart and mind to this passage with a purpose—to reignite that faith, the belief that with God anything is possible and the belief that God could use me, simple, small town Pennsylvania-born me, to bring miraculous healing to someone else. The belief that being used by God to work a miracle could be as easy as eating something served to me.

          Because in God, it really IS that easy. After all, it isn’t MY power, strength, or abilities. I mean, THAT would be COMPLETELY impossible. So impossible, it’s ridiculous to even think about. But just like He sent His disciples out and told them to eat food prepared by someone else, He sends us out to work miracles prepared by Someone Else. The ability to work healing miracles is a free gift, prepared and served, by God and God alone, just like a meal at someone else’s house is a free gift, prepared and served by the host. God is the source of the sustenance and is the host; we are merely the recipients of His work of love and His labor on the cross. He has prepared and served it, we just need to tune in to His leading, reach out, and receive it in faith.

          As God challenged me to believe that He could…and would…use me to heal others, I began to take steps of faith and say prayers of faith. I began to pray prayers and believed that something could…and would…happen as a result. And guess what happened? God responded! At first His response was through a conversation that went something like this.

Me: God, I’m scared to say (medical condition) will be healed.

God: Why?

Me: Because…what if it doesn’t happen?

God: Are you the one that heals?

Me: Well…no.

God: Then, you don’t need to worry about doing the healing, that’s My job. Your job is to release the words I give you to share. Let Me take care of the healing.

And guess what?! People started to report that aches and pains went away, that arms and wrists were healed, eyes were healed, jaws were healed, shoulders were healed, and backs were healed. I prayed for my daughter who had a rash on her face as a result of an allergic reaction and saw it instantly disappear and at the time of this writing, it has not returned despite re-exposure to the allergen. God took me from thinking What if nothing happens?, to taking a deep breath and thinking What if something happens?, to thinking I can’t wait to see what God will do. And I’m not sharing these testimonies to have anyone think that I’m anything special. I’m just a person who is willing to dare to believe that God can—and will—do the miraculous when we hear, respond, and believe.

I want to invite you to this challenge of daring faith. God has prepared and served victory for us and wants to use each one of us as co-laborers, or partners, to see these miracles happen on Earth. He’s invited us to an amazing, incredible, free-to-us feast of miracles. All we need to do is step up, listen to His leading, and dig in in faith and see what God does.