One of the things Jesus did in his earthly ministry was to heal people of all kinds of diseases.  And, there were plenty of diseases, as the pages of Scripture illustrate, that afflicted folks: blindness, palsy, lameness, deafness, dumbness, blood disorders, and the biggie, leprosy.  Oh, and let’s not forget the physical ailments caused by demon possession.

His tactic was most interesting.  He didn’t challenge people to believe in him before he healed them, but afterward.  And that’s the way it seems to be in the large subcontinent from which I have just flown.

The fellow who will be taking charge of the whole state in which my class is conducting ministry told Bill and me an interesting story.  About 15 years ago his mother was diagnosed with leprosy.  She lost the feeling in her leg, and spots began to appear on her body.  Doctors could only tell her what was going to happen.  There is no cure.

Velukumar was not a believer in Jesus at that time.  But, after the doctors had given up hope, a traveling evangelist came to their town.  This man prayed for healing for the afflicted mother.

In less than a month all of the spots were gone, and the feeling returned to the lady’s leg.  She immediately believed in the Healer, as did her son who is now working in Berean church planting in this country.  Not only that, but 300 other folks placed their faith in Jesus.

Velukumar told us that the people of this land will believe when they observe a stupendous thing like this, and that those who believe have, in his words, “double faith.”  What he meant is that those who come to Christ this way are totally committed believers who have a passion for seeing others saved.

“First they come to him as the Healer,” he said, “and then they believe in him as the Savior.”

That set me to thinking.  Why is it in our country that praying for healing is often either a last resort, or something we do to “help” the doctors and their modern medicine accomplish the task?  Is it because we have so much more in the way of material things that we really don’t need Jesus for anything?  Is it because we think this sort of thing happend in Bible times, but it’s not for today?  I don’t know.

I do know this has caused me to assess my response when someone asks me to pray for a person they know who has a physical need.  That response, for the most part, has been, “What’s his spiritual condition?”  Maybe I’d better revise my approach.

This was brought home to me in the first conference we attended.  There, on the last day when one of the indigenous pastors was preaching, a man who was obviously not a pastor came into the room and sat in the back. 

When the meeting was over, one of the Berean pastors brought the man to Bill and me and told us he’d just met the man earlier in the week near the conference site.  He said the man was a Hindu, and that he had an injury, or deformity, to his back.  The pastor asked me to pray for healing.

All of a sudden my former approach didn’t seem to be appropriate.  Here was a man in need, a pastor who trusted God implicitly to heal, and a request for me, the visiting dignitary, to pray for physical wholeness.  The man was a Hindu, for crying out loud!

But, I adjusted quickly, laid my hand on his back, and prayed.  Bill joined me.  And as we prayed I actually believed that the man was going to be healed.  I also prayed that he’d come to know Jesus.

It will be interesting and exciting to receive followup news from that Berean pastor concerning this.

My own students gave two thrilling testimonies graduation night of similar healings and subsequent belief as they’ve preached the Word of God in their designated places of ministry. 

Maybe the students have taught the teacher something about healing here that should be the the way it is back there at home.

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