The God of Humor and Miracles

This is a testimony of how God allowed RC, a young missionary to become sick so as to put her in a hospital ward next to a dying woman. By His grace, mercy and miracle, the woman and her Turkish family gave their lives to Christ. Read this amazing testimony:

 

Over the last six years of doing full-time missionary work, I have seen Jesus do amazing miracles to provide, guide, and protect me.

A friend asked me recently what my biggest leap of faith had been to date. It was hard to pick a certain moment, as I’ve come to see that every time Jesus presents a challenge and through faith I overcome, He “upgrades” me; the next challenge is a little harder and more faith is required. In that way my faith is always growing.

But there was one time that I can say was a definite turning point in my life of faith. I was 18 years old and on my way to Ethiopia with another missionary friend. Neither of us had been there before, I had never been to Africa period. So I felt rather uncertain. We landed in Frankfurt, Germany, and on arrival at the train station, we started talking to two people who turned out to be from Ethiopia. They introduced us to their church and the locals there. We didn’t have any finances for the tickets, and the deadline for the flight was getting closer as the days passed.

For a couple of days prior I had been experiencing odd twinges in the right side of my stomach. The twinges quickly turned into sharp, stabbing pain, but up till that point I had never been really sick before and so I ignored it. The morning before our departure, I woke up with a start. Nothing had awaken me, but something wasn’t right. I got out of bed and suddenly blacked out.

When I woke up a few minutes later, the pain was unimaginable. My friend had woken up when she heard me falling on the floor. She rushed me to the hospital. After hours of medical examinations, the doctors discovered that I had ovarian cysts and that two large ones had ruptured, causing internal bleeding.

The doctors explained that I needed to have surgery immediately. Then he asked for my insurance details. Being a young and new missionary, I had never thought about medical insurance. The doctor was upset as the surgery would cost me 15,000 euros and he wondered how I was to pay it.

He said, “What are you going to do?”

When I started to hesitantly say that I believed God could do a miracle, he just laughed. I was afraid, and in the back of my mind was this voice saying, “This is a punishment for the things you’ve done wrong. If you really had faith, this wouldn’t have happened.” They wouldn’t let my friend in, so I lay there asking myself, “What will I do? What will I do?”

An angel, in the form of a nurse, came in just then and said, “Don’t think about the money. You belong to God. If you can’t have faith in anything else, trust in His love.”

I decided to go ahead with the surgery. Later I learned that my friends who were doing mission projects throughout Europe and Africa were having hourly prayer vigil. They were also considering how they could help me pay for the operation.

The days after the operation were tough. The rules of the hospital did not allow my friend to visit much. However what really frustrated me was that I should have been in Ethiopia by then.

Just a few months before all these events, I had dedicated my life to serving Jesus. Now this happened! Laying there in the hospital, my mind was in turmoil.

 "How am I going to pay for the surgery? Is this a punishment from God? Why did it happen?"



During this time another lady patient was put in my room. I could hear her talking to her daughter, saying, “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to face God’s punishments. What will happen to my family ... and why is God allowing this?” This lady was speaking in Turkish, and while I was by no means fluent in Turkish, yet I understood what she was saying.

I started to speak to her through her daughter, who spoke English. I told them about God’s love and how perfect it is. How God allows suffering so that we can better understand His love and grow closer to Him. As I shared with her, I started to find the answers to the very same fears and doubts that I had been struggling with.

The frightened lady was dying of cancer of the intestines. The doctors would operate on her but apparently with her serious condition, there was only a 30% chance of success.

The day before I was released from the hospital, she called me over and said, “In the Koran, Jesus is called the Healer. I have heard you pray to Him. Please pray now for my life.” Her whole family was standing there with such expectant faith. I don’t remember the prayer or what I said, but I was so desperate for Jesus to do something to honor their faith.

The next day I was released from the hospital but was told to rest in bed for two weeks. The only problem was that I had nowhere to go. I was issued a paper asking me to pay the bill within a month’s period. I did not know what to do. As I walked aimlessly, I found a seat near the entrance of the hospital and started to pray.

About two hours later I heard someone calling my name. IIt was the daughter of the Turkish lady woman, who had since been operated.

“It’s a miracle! The miracle from God,” the daughter was saying over and over again. She explained that just before the surgery, the doctors decided to do one more scan. in the previous scan, the cancer had wrapped itself all around her intestines. But this new scan showed something completely different. All of the cancer was gone, except for a small bit right at the top of the organ. The operation took very little time and she was fine. The doctors said they had never seen anything like that before—it was a miracle.

After hearing my plight, the lady and her daughter invited me stayed with their family. For two weeks,  each of them took turns to ask me questions about God’s love and Jesus’ power to heal. During that time the father, mother, and daughter asked Jesus to come into their hearts. Jesus changed their lives.

The hospital bill still needed to be paid. And I needed a miracle. With fear and trembling, I went to the hospital on the appointed date. However, with the first miracle, my faith was strengthened. I gave the receptionist my name and waited to be called to face the music. Finally I was ushered into an office by a lady. She looked at me with a confused look and then looked back at the file. Finally she asked me for my date of birth and birthplace. I told her, and she shook her head. For forty long minutes she rattled on her keyboard, made calls, and got angrier and absolutely frustrated.

Finally she threw the file down and said, “Bah! There is no real record of your having even been here.”

I must have looked as confused as I felt, as she continued, “There was a woman here with the same name as you, but according to our files she was 76 years old, had inflammation of the joints, and was covered by our medical insurance policy. We cannot charge you if there is no record of you even existing. You can go!”

I stumbled out of that office hardly believing that Jesus had a wonderful sense of humor. He had taken my medical file and replaced it with that of a 76-year-old lady. When I went back to the house of my new found friends and told them what had happened, the mother called the hospital to make sure. It was as the secretary had said: they couldn’t find a single trace of paperwork that I had ever been in the hospital.

Apparently, the hospital administrator said, “And to us Germans, if it’s not on paper, then it hasn’t happened.”

Before that miracle, I had always thought that miracles came to those that were more spiritual, to someone who was very close to Jesus. During that time I didn’t feel very full of faith at all. In fact, I was at my lowest point—just struggling to trust that Jesus loved me.

Remembering this experience helps me so much when I’m facing impossible situations and feel like I don’t have what it takes to receive a miracle. Since then the miracles I’ve experienced have always happened when I stopped trying to use my “common sense” and learn to depend upon Jesus alone. Today, I tell Jesus that I need Him and whenever He gives me instruction, I do not question but just do it.

Casting Out Demons

(Sister Grace Kang writes to a sister-in-Christ about how to cast out demons. Here is her email.)

Demons are unclean spirits, cast down together with Lucifer. It is stated clearly in the bible that demons know that God is the Lord above all (James 2:19) and Jesus has authority over all (Mark 5:7; Mark 1:24; Matt 8:29; Luke 4:34).

Therefore, the demons, by nature, hate us human beings who are created in God's image. We are created to take over the place of angels to worship God. That is the why the unseen spiritual battle is constantly happening.

However, our Lord Jesus Christ calls us as His children and His body. And, He has given us His power and authority. Although we may not have supernatural power like the angels, our words can either build up or kill a person. "The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." (Prov 18:21)

Coming back to the topic of casting out demons, we have power and authority over demons and diseases. Jesus says "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; NOTHING WILL HARM YOU" (Luke 10:19).

This is also reaffirmed in 1 John 4:4: "But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world."

We can cast out demons just like how Jesus does in the bible. He openly rebukes the demons and commands them to leave. He moves in authority. In Mark 1:27: The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”

He casts demons out by merely commanding:
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” (Mark 1:25);

For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” (Mark 5:8); 

"When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”" (Mark 9:25); 

“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” (Luke 4:35)

So, when we cast out demons we do likewise. Apostle Paul simply commands: "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. (Acts 16:18).

The 70 or 72 believers (read: not apostles ;>) cast out demons and heal the sick by simply commanding in faith. It is reported in Luke 10:17: The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ says: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; (Mark 16:17).

And once again, He says: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; NOTHING WILL HARM YOU" (Luke 10:19).

They do not ask the demons to listen to them. They just command. They do not ask the angels to minister. They just take authority in the name of Jesus Christ. But, do take note, this is strictly for casting out demons.

I hope this 'mini article' helps you (I didn't expect to write this long...). May the Lord give you discernment and wisdom as you minister to your loved ones.

He Wasn't Cured, But He Was Healed!

Dr. Tony Campolo

Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man's healing. 

That next week he got a telephone call from the man's wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer." 

Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, "He died." Compolo felt terrible. 

But she continued, "Don't feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God 

He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn't take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. 

The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence." 

But the lady told Compolo, "After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. 

Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We've sung. We've laughed. We've read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they've been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing." 

And then she said something incredibly profound. 

She said, "He wasn't cured, but he was healed." 

Fact is, God can heal not just physically but also emotionally, spiritually, and financially. 

If you are... 

...Sick and tired of your financial situation. 
...Hurting because of bad relationships. 
...Feeling hopeless with your health problems. 
...Stagnant in your faith in God. 

Take the time now to read and memorize scriptures. You'll be surprised how it will heal you completely. 

Don & Dawn