A Healing Unawares

Originally written March, 2013

As many of those around me are aware, I have suffered with what is known to be an autoimmune disorder which is also called an inflammatory arthritis.  This arthritis is in the same family as the more well known Rheumatoid Arthritis, though mine is called either Ankylosing Spondylitis or Psoriatic Spondylitis.  If you are not aware of any of the autoimmune disorders, they are malfunctions in the human immune system in which the immune system sees something which is healthy as something that needs to be healed and actually attacks the healthy tissue in some detrimental way.  In the above mentioned arthritic conditions, the body is trying to heal healthy bone and connective tissue.  This results in the bulging painful joints of those suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis.  In my case, my body has, for the past forty years, been progressively trying to fuse the bones in my spine together.  It started in my lowest spine and progressively worked toward the upper back and neck, including my rib cage as a bonus.  In the most recent of years, this disease has become quite limiting in that any physical activity I did would be rewarded with a lot of pain and one to two days of pain and a feeling of flu-like symptoms. At its worst, I only vacuumed the carpet one day and was nearly laid up for two whole days.  Let’s just say it was a lot of fun.

There is no cure for this type of disorder, only treatments.  I went through many treatments.  The results varied from nothing, to side effects that were as bad as the disease (sometimes nothing plus the bad side effects), to some tolerable results (sometimes combined with difficult side effects).  One thing most of these treatments had in common was they were extremely expensive.  Even with good health care coverage, the out of pocket expenses would range in the thousands.

The disease affected my attendance and participation in our house church ministry.  I was quite vocal about it to the leadership team in choosing meeting nights due to how the arthritis affected me on certain days.  It was after this that it was put to me if I would like to put my needs before some members of our church, Woodland Hills, who had a praying/healing ministry.  My response was honest, but maybe a little odd.

Honestly, my wife and I had both prayed for healing before with no noticeable result.  I also couldn’t see why I should be healed when there were so many others out there with greater and more desperate needs for healing.  I can live with pain, though it sucks and I complain about it, but there are others who are dying.  I would hate to be healed while others with what I see as greater need go unhealed.  It may seem odd.  It may seem martyr-like, but that was the way I looked at it.

But, people started to pray for me anyway.  It was a very mild, but loving and I guess a bit headstrong woman who was most determined to pray for my healing.  It was at a time about two to three months ago that I realized a change was happening.  I had earlier come to realize that my latest treatment, an actual chemotherapy drug used for the treatment of Leukemia, was not only ineffective, but that the side effects were intolerable.  I had then stopped using that treatment and went to see my rheumatologist to see what else could be done.  I decided to take some time away from medical treatment to decide on the next path of treatment.  During this time, and as the side effects wore off, I realized that I was doing as well without any treatment as I had done with treatment.  I attributed this to God and his blessings.  I thanked Him for this progress.

It was at this time, two months ago that I brought the progress of my arthritis to the Sojourners group as a whole at our monthly learning community.  Everyone was excited and praised the Lord and continued to pray for me.  That evening was a very special spiritual night for our group.  It was after the meeting that things got real interesting for me.

I found myself standing by myself waiting for Gayle to finish something when a minister, who was attending as a guest to our meeting came up to me and asked if I was the fellow who had the arthritis.  I answered yes, and he asked if he could pray for my healing.  Again I said yes (like I’m going to say no to that).  Yes, I have trouble asking for myself, but I will not refuse such an offering.  So this man put his hand on my spine and moving it up and down my spine, started to pray for my healing.

It is here that I have to take an aside.  I am a strongly believing Christian.  I believe in the power of our God to do anything He has a mind to.  I believe in healing, but honestly, to this point, I have not undisputedly witnessed it with my own eyes.  I have also seen God’s gifts mimicked and/or abused in so many ways that I admittedly find myself a bit jaded in respect to them.  I am also not, in any way shape or form, a “name it and claim it” man.  If this were a viable direction of Christian belief and practice, I believe the Apostle Paul would have been healed of the thorn in his flesh long before any of today’s practitioners of this fallacy would be healed from their post nasal drip, or get a new car or a new house.

But, yes, down deep in my core, I believe, though with reserve.  I hate to admit it, because he has gotten such a bad rap, but I am a bit of a Doubting Thomas.  I’m probably too scientific in my view of the world, but I want to see proof.  I believe in the possibilities, but cannot believe in the product without confirmable proof.  I believe it takes all kinds, even Doubting Thomas’s.  In my case, I won’t confess unless I know it to be absolutely true.  I will not fake it!

It is with this attitude and baggage that I bowed my head and let Dave Heinrich lay his hands on me and pray.  As he did, I prayed.  I prayed a confession of my doubts and that God would take away my unbelief.  I prayed that I could accept healing if it were proffered.

Now keep in mind my DT stuff as I continue.  As he put his hands on certain parts of my spine, those parts that were most greatly affected by the arthritis, I felt a heat concentrated directly in that spot.  It was weird to me.  We continued to pray.  As he finished that, he told me I would feel tingling and such, but that was only part of the healing taking place (stick around to hear more about that).  After this he also sensed a spiritual need which was also true and he prayed for.

I went home bewildered.  I had not been fully and immediately healed.  I did not turn any cart wheels.  I went home, however, with the knowledge that something had happened in my body at that moment.  I could not deny it.

The next morning, I woke up with some weird stuff going on.  To back up, the damage of the disease had caused my spine to progressively hunch into a curve.  I woke up the next morning and my back was the straightest it had been for years.  In fact, if I stooped or hunched, it would hurt.  It was weird.  The following two weeks was also very weird.  The man who prayed had said I would feel some tinglings.  Tinglings my foot!  I had some of the worst intermittent pain in my spine that I had ever had, but I knew it was different.  I could recognize it as the damage to my spine reversing and the pain was only symptoms of the recovery.  Once again, it was not tinglings, it was pain, sometimes ice picks in my back and spine for hours, but it was in some ways very cool because I could realize what was happening.

This is not what I expected from a healing, but this is what I got.  The reversion of the disease is continuing.  It has not been immediate or quick, and at this point is not fully complete, but I honestly and truly believe I have been and am being healed of this malady.  Sort of like, I have been and am being saved.

So what does one do with such a work of God in their lives?  One thing they do is to live as though they have been healed.  It’s amazing that I have been able to step up my physical activity with no residual pain or flu like symptoms as before.  It’s weird, because I am still a bit wary about going all out because of the years of history.  I have to actually push myself.  Hey, I actually shoveled snow with a real shovel a few weeks ago and lived to tell about it.  I tried that with a very light snowfall last year and barely survived the ordeal.  I find a parallel here between living as if I have been healed and our call as Believers to live as if we are redeemed.

The other thing one does with such a work in their lives is to tell about it.  That is what I am doing here.  I am sharing it with those who have prayed for me and been concerned about me.  I thank you for your prayers and love.

One last thing, why was I healed?  In some ways I would say I have no clue, but I do.  I believe that God does His miracles in our lives first and foremost out of love, no strings attached, just, simply out of love.  Secondly, I believe we can see in every work of our Lord Jesus during His ministry, that not only love and compassion is involved, but every act of His is a teaching opportunity.  So, I as well as others who see this must look to what we can be taught through this.  Beyond this, I believe there may be more for me to learn from this, but to attribute any ulterior motives to God’s work truly cheapens and denies His Love and Grace.

Oh, by the way, though the arthritis is being healed, what I am finding down below it is a body that is still 60 years old, that played too many years of sports and hasn’t been treated too well.  Yes, my knees hurt and my shoulders hurt and I get sore muscles because I’m out of shape, but I don’t have the arthritis to deal with. 

Praise God! 

Update, as of September 2013.

I shared this update verbally with some believers recently, and was reminded that I had not shared “The Rest of the Story” with everyone.  The rest of the story is a continuation of what I shared earlier.

The disease started in my lower back at the age of 17 to 18 years old, and slowly, through the next 40 years progressed up into my upper back, neck and rib cage.  The healing went progressively in the reverse.  Luckily it did not take 40 years to reverse.  It did take about four months however.  As I stated earlier, the healing, as it progressed in reverse through my back was not an easy thing.  As it would enter into the next section to be healed, the pain would be incredible.  Once again, however, as I mentioned above, the pain was different and I could continue to realize that it was a pain of healing, and not one of damage. 

Hmmm, “pain of healing”.  There may be a sermon title there.  I guess you can take the man out of the pulpit, but not completely take the pulpit out of the man.  Ha!

So during the last few months, the healing, even with its accompanying pain has progressed back through all of the damaged places until last, but not least, it entered into the area it started, my lower back.  Once again, knowing that this is where it started, I knew the healing was progressing.  Once again, however, it was not fun.  The pain and stiffness of the lower back went on for weeks.  Every morning I would get out of bed and barely be able to move due to the pain in my lower back.  It slowly faded, nonetheless, until without really realizing it, it was gone too.  As I understand it, there’s nowhere else for the healing to go, except to continue its work in my heart—the spiritual one, not the physical one.

Like I said earlier, I considered myself healed or in the process of being healed.  I now/still considered myself healed.  I consider myself healed by God’s power through the faithful efforts of those who prayed for me—even Gwyn and others, who were stubborn enough to pray for me over and above my silly objections.  I don’t believe this would have happened without their faithful caring prayers too.

Also, like I said earlier, I don’t have the body of a ten year old boy.  I have the body of a 60 year old man who played rough and hard his whole life.  Shoulders and knees don’t work as well as they did and once in a while the back hurts, not because of the old arthritis, but because I did something to it I shouldn’t have.  I’m not going to join any volleyball or football leagues soon, but, I can now work and be somewhat active and not be laid up for days.

Oh, and one last thing.  This being an inflammatory arthritis, one of the tests to prove one has this type of arthritis as well as test how the treatment is doing, is a blood test for signs of inflammation in the system which always showed positive for me.  Recently, I had such a blood test done for another reason and the results showed no signs of inflammation in my body.  How cool is that?!  Maybe I or someone else needed that little something extra.

Once again, Praise God!

The Missional Aspect of the Power and Gifts of the Spirit

I recently asked a group of people what the focus of the Gifts and Power of the Holy Spirit was.  The near instantaneous answer I received was the one I had expected, “The edification of the Church Body.”  We give this answer based on Paul’s discussion in I Corinthians.  We proudly give this answer because we have learned from Paul’s discussion in those passages that the Gifts of the Spirit are not for our own personal edification. 

Paul’s discussion concerning the Gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 11-14 is the strongest  focused discussion about the Power and Gifts of the Spirit in the Epistles.  In this very powerful discussion, the work of the Spirit into the body (internally) is discussed.  It is very directly and strongly dealt with in an instructional as well as a correctional way.  It is somewhat disturbing to me to observe that many modern day believers take most or even all of their doctrine concerning the Power and Gifts of the Holy Spirit from these four chapters alone.  Some will expand their basis to include all of the Epistles.  In doing so, however, we limit our knowledge of the truth of the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s work. 

I have heard way too many people say out loud that they want to see today’s church honestly be what the Church in Acts was.  They say that, but in practice and honesty, what they really want is for the modern church to be more like what they read about in the Epistles, which tends to deal with the workings of the Holy Spirit into the Body. If we really look at the Book of Acts and the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church there, we see a different picture.  What we see foremost, is the Church being empowered to be and do exactly what Jesus said it would be and do—be His witnesses doing His work out into the world.  What we are seeing is the missional side of the Power and Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  To truly get a good look at the missional work of the Holy Spirit we can’t start with the Book of Acts or even Pentecost, however, we have to look first at the life and ministry of Jesus.

In Jesus Christ we see the full and complete revelation of God in human form.  In him we also see the utter and complete fullness of the Holy Spirit at work, empowering a life lived out on earth.  In the Gospels we see that he is guided by the Holy Spirit.  He is empowered by the Holy Spirit.  The Power of the Holy Spirit manifests itself in and through him in many different and wondrous ways.  I believe it’s pretty easy to conclude that all of the gifts of the Spirit were present in and manifested through Jesus during his ministry.  We can actually see most of those listed in the Epistles being manifested through Jesus in the Gospel accounts.  He healed multitudes of people.  He spoke prophesies—one in particular was to Peter predicting his denial.  Jesus spoke words of knowledge—the Samaritan woman at the well was the recipient of this.  Jesus had prophetic visions—he saw Nathaniel under a tree and got insight into his character.  And Jesus taught with power—he taught his disciples and he taught the people.  These and many other examples were all works of the Power and Gifts of the Spirit through Jesus and they were directly into the world—they were missional.

In the Gospels we also see the work of the Holy Spirit being manifested through Jesus’ followers.  In Luke 9, Jesus passed this Power and the Gifts on to the chosen 12.  “He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (NIV)  In Luke 10 Jesus sends out the seventy-two with the same charge and the same results.  Again, the Power and Gifts of the Spirit are used for ministry into the world.

Then there comes a time when the torch is passed permanently to Jesus’ followers.  When his ministry was coming to a close, Jesus gave a commission to his followers who would establish the Church; the ongoing bodily presence of Christ in the world.   The most notable recording of Jesus’ commission to his disciples is in Matthew 28, but in the beginning of Acts, we find another recording of Jesus’ promise and commission to his followers.  Act 1:4 quotes Jesus as saying, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  He continues in verse 8. “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Receiving power and being witnesses from here to the ends of the earth.  It’s hard to find a statement that is any more missional than this one.  We shall be his witnesses.  And how are we to be those witnesses?  We are to be those witnesses because we have received power to be such.  We, who believe, have received a gift which is the Holy Spirit.  We who believe, have received power, and that power is to be used to minister into the world.

And that’s exactly what we see in the book of Acts.  It started on the day of Pentecost.  The first recorded manifestation of the Spirit in the Church was an interesting gift that we categorically call “tongues”.  That manifestation was, however, an unbelievable missional gift that allowed all people present that day from many different regions and countries to hear the Good News of Jesus in their own native tongue.  Now that is missional, and I honestly believe that it is a viable ministry gift even for today. 

The disciples would go on to heal, raise people from the dead, prophesy and teach, and continue the missional work of their master.  They would continue his work in the same power that he employed to carry out his ministry.  Jesus had predicted that they would do greater things than they had seen him do.  It’s a wondrous story and a marvelous history that we have to look back on, seeing the Power and Gifts of the Spirit doing such great things through God’s people into the world in the name of Christ.  That is the Church of Acts.  That is what I want to get back to, how about you?

Yes, there are many groups who have denied or shunned the Gifts of the Spirit.  Some say it was for then but not for now.  I don’t agree with these viewpoints.  But, I also fear there are those who, though open to the Power and Gifts of the Spirit would rather focus on the work of the Spirit into the Church rather than out from the Church into the world.

When I look at the unbelievably powerful ministry of Jesus and through the scripture realize that he passed that on to me, I am blown away.  When I look at the powerful work of the Spirit through the Apostles, Disciples and the early Church out into the world I get excited.  I also get convicted, because I have shied away from realizing the missional work and Power that the Holy Spirit wants to work through me into the world.  Powerful work.  Miraculous work.  Supernatural work that touches peoples lives and points them to Jesus, my Lord.

(I always invite comment and dialogue on whatever I post)