WAIT, GOD HEALED YOU?!

Written into my prayer list is this ask, "Father, I want to pray you would give me moments of encounters where healing becomes a regular part of my walk with you, where your compassion, love and nature are tangibly displayed." Each time I prayed this, I felt this faith in me rise. It was as though I was feeling His desire. If it was normal for Jesus to heal as he lived from intimacy, then it could be expected for it to be like that for us too. 

On Sunday, November 14, 2021, a friend named Jasper felt a strong impression (felt strongly) to ask me to pray for her healing. She had intense pain in her middle finger, and as a young mom and artist, she felt frustrated. She had seen many doctors try everything to help her, but nothing had worked. That morning I was in a place of low faith. Nikki and I were feeling a bit disheartened in the season of waiting we were in. I planned to grab our children from the kids' church after service and leave as soon as possible. I share this because when God wants to move, He does it because of His goodness, not ours; He loves to heal because of His compassion, not our state of preparation. 

"James! Can you pray for me? I felt like I was supposed to ask you". I replied, "of course, I'll pray for you, but I've not seen much healing. But let me ask God quietly and see if I hear anything.” As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw a faint picture of myself putting oil on her palms. I asked Jesus what the oil represented, and I heard the phrase “set apart.” When I closed my eyes to pray, I was filled with God's love for her. So I said, "Jasper, I think the Father wants you to ask him what He loves about your hands. So I sense that for three days, you're supposed to anoint your own hands with oil and ask God what He loves about hands each day.” While I was saying that last sentence, I was thinking in my mind, “what are you doing, James?” That was it. We prayed and went home. What I didn't know was that my wife saw a silver thread moving along her finger when I was praying for Jasper. 

Two weeks later, on a Sunday morning, Jasper ran over to me and, with the biggest smile, glowing with God's joy, said, “oh hey, by the way, God healed me!" I was so surprised, so shocked, and said, “Really? He healed you? No way! Tell me what happened!" 

She said, "I did the three-day thing." I laughed, "what do you mean?" She said, "you know, for three nights, I anointed myself with oil.” She said, “Ya, the first night I got into my bathroom before going to bed and got quiet, put rose oil on my hand and asked Him. Immediately I felt the love and presence of the Father, and He began speaking to me about what He loved about my hands and identity and how He sees me; He started blessing my hands. God so undid me, I cried and received His love and told my husband and mother.” The next night she did it again. This time Jasper described a feeling in her finger and a healing release! Her finger was wholly healed that night, and she again shared with her mother with excitement and joy. The third night she prayed and asked God, and she felt him give both her hands complete restoration. 

I was so amazed! Then Jasper says, "Ya, my mother-in-law’s back got healed too!” WHAT? “Yes. She did the same three-day thing," I laughed and said, "that wasn't a method, haha. That was what I told you, but Jasper, your faith was so full you gave that away, and her faith rose to receive healing too.”

Wow, God, you're amazing! As soon as Jasper left the conversation from sharing, my beautiful wife said, “James, I saw a silver thread come over her finger when you were praying for her.” With so much excitement towards my wife, I said, “What?! Why didn't you tell me that?” It's so fun when you partner with Jesus and show the people around you the same thing He's doing in different ways. 

One of the truths I've been learning is the principle we can see in John's Gospel around miracles. Jesus did what He saw the Father doing, and that's how we release His gifts. When Jesus' mom tells the servants at the wedding feast at Cana, "do whatever he tells you," they had enough to go on to see the miraculous love of God be released. When I saw her hands with oil in my mind, I had to partner in believing THAT was the Father and that God wanted to do something. When we get a sense that God wants to do something, we get to partner with His love, and when we do, the faith needed for the thing He wants to do rises within us to "DO what he tells us." I hope that makes sense. 

In this instance, I obeyed. But so did Jasper, which released the faith. I love this story because healing was secondary to Him loving her purpose first. 

JASPER' STORY