The ink was still not quite dry on my college degree as I launched into my first pastorate. Wishing to be faithful to preach all the Gospel, I felt I should preach a message on healing. I worked Psalm 103:1-5, Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 9:20-22 into the smooth flow of my treatise on the doctrine of healing. Triumphantly, I closed with the declaration of the unchanging nature of God revealed to us in the life of Christ. Hebrews 13:8 rolled so easily from my lips as I thundered what my head and my heart knew to be the truth: "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, and today, and forever!"

In my naïveté I spoke into the expectant hush that followed, "If anyone would like prayer for your healing, just come forward."

I was expecting headaches and arthritis to be the healing needs as a few came to the front of the church. Imagine my shock when the first lady in line asked me to pray that God would heal her of a large tumor in her reproductive system.

In the blink of an eye we had moved from the theoretical to the practical. It would either be gone following prayer or it would still be there. 

Simply following the instructions from James 5:14&15, I put a small spot of olive oil on her forehead and prayed a quiet prayer asking God to heal her. She returned to her seat with no fanfare and said nothing to me as she and her husband left the building. 

The following Sunday they were back. She asked to say something and shared how amazed her doctor was to discover that the tumor was no longer palpable. He suggested a D&C rather than the scheduled surgery.  There was nothing there. In response to the preaching of the Word and obedient prayer, God had stepped in and healed her. 

If you need a healing, study what God's Word says about the subject. Pursue your healing through the many means available to us today. Prayer, Doctors, nutrition, technology...if we ever recover from any disease, God certainly has something to do with that recovery. 

Believing for your miracle!

Pastor Richard Orrell