Don’t Forget the Lost
April 12th, 2007 by Carl Thomas.So I was working the altar last night for a while. Near the end of the evening a girl I had seen a couple times came up to me and asked for prayer because her back has been hurting for several months.
I prayed for her and asked how her back felt. . . no change. Now, we are just talking about some back pain here. Not blind eyes, not missing limbs, not lupus. A backache. I prayed the prayer of faith and the anointing was so think that my ministry assistant and I both felt like we might fall down. I asked again how she felt.
No change.
Now this was getting annoying. I quoted James 5 and did all I knew how to do. I asked again and she said she felt a little better. I don’t settle for courtesy healings so I asked her how much better. Turns out she was about 50% better. I said that we are going in the right direction and was about to pray again when I decided to ask a question.
I know many of you might be saying that there could be unforgiveness, or bitterness. Maybe there was a specific sin or a generational curse. Maybe we had to tackle a territorial spirit or have her renounce past affiliations.
I am not that spiritual.
I asked her, “Are you right with God?” She shook her head no. I asked if she had ever known God. She shook her head no. Hmmm. We might be on to something here.
I preached the Gospel from front to back and gave her an opportunity to repent for specific sins that God was showing her. I really prefer this method. I will lay my hands on a person and tell them that God is going to reveal specific sins that they need to repent of. He always does. They then have the opportunity to either submit to God or resist His Spirit.
This girl was broken. As tears rolled down her cheeks she mouthed words of repentance for sins that only she and God knew of. After that I lead her in a prayer declaring Jesus as Lord and requesting to be saved and filled with the Holy Ghost so she can have power to not do those things again.
Afterward she looked up at me with the glow you can only see on the face of a new believer. I asked, “how do you feel now.” She said, “I feel really, really good.” I said “That is what forgiveness feels like. How’s your back?”
“The pain is gone.”
I said, “Of course it is. Welcome to the Kingdom.”
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Fantastic. I love it when you share testimonies.
This shows simple it is to LISTEN to Holy Spirit and LISTEN to the person you’re trying to help. Thank you for sharing.
AND THANK YOU JESUS
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Great anecdote, Carl. While I certainly stick to my Pentecostal guns about healing being part of the package with the Atonement, I also agree that God can - and does - allow sickness & infirmity in our lives to force us towards Him.
And when we turn, how often does the Spirit come to relieve us!
(PS: I meandered over here thanks to Rich’s Pneumablogs list.)
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@Mark Thanks.
@will
Thanks for the comments and welcome to the revival. I will be the first to admit that I do not have it all figured out. Like mark, I just try to listen and obey. Had that girl been healed in the beginning I would have never asked about her salvation.
God is so much wiser than I am.
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That is so awesome! God knows exactly what He’s doing. He’s so awesome. He has a plan for every single occurence in our lives. How awesome to know! I love YOU so much Jesus! Thank YOU JESUS!
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