There were a lot of cool healings this weekend at IHOP-Atlanta. My wife and went on Sunday night. One of the words of knowledge was for pain in the right shoulder blade and lower back. My back was actually hurting from lifting my 4-year-old daughter, who now weighs 44 pounds and is all muscle, but I was tired of going up to the front. Every time I go to IHOP, it seems like almost every altar call applies to me, and at that moment I was exhausted from worship!
Exhausted from worship? A bus-full of youth had been dropped off, and those guys were wild. Their enthusiasm punched everything up a notch. I noted with satisfaction later that the man who was worshipping the loudest and most passionately among the group…was the youth leader himself. So cool. Billy commented, “so I thought I was going to a service, but it looks like I came into an aerobics class!” It was really cool, but also very tiring jumping around like David with folks half my age!
So anyway, I’m sitting back chilling out. I hear the altar call and get this prompting inside that I really need to go up there. But I’m stalling because I’m tired, it didn’t really specifically name my problem, and there are probably others who need healing more than I do.
Then two more words come forth: “you have chronic inner ear infections,” then, “you’re having pain in some dental work or in your teeth.” Both described me to a T; I have had recurring problems with ear infections over the past few months, plus this weekend the molars on the top right of my mouth were starting to really hurt, making me wonder if I had an abscess developing.
At that point I knew that my number had been called, and I knew that it would really be disobedience if I didn’t go. So I did. And today my jaw doesn’t hurt any more. I attacked my gums with dental floss and poked and prodded my teeth all day long. No pain whatsoever. Jesus healed me.
It’s the Naaman principle at work, 2 Kings 5. Naaman was a foreign king who had an incurable skin disease. So he goes to the man of God…and gets an unexpected answer:
So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood in the doorway of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent out a messenger who told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan; your skin will be restored and you will be healed.” Naaman went away angry. He said, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease. The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry. His servants approached and said to him, “O master, if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, you would have been willing to do it. It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. His skin became as smooth as a young child’s and he was healed.
And thus Naaman learned that God heals people however He wants to, and not always in the way we think. One of the ministers here gave a good message a few weeks ago that brought this principle into present culture: You have a sickness or some type of demonic oppression, so instead of healing you at home in your bed at 10pm, He tells you to go to a specific geographic location (then: the prophet’s home in Israel, now: wherever God is moving in signs and wonders and miraculous power) at a specific time, and go stand up in front. And just stand there. Maybe you stand there with your hands out like you’re receiving a gift. Maybe someone prays for you, maybe not. And because you humbled yourself and did what the Lord asked, you get your healing.
But many don’t. It saddens me when I hear believers say things like, “oh, I would do ANYTHING if God would heal me of this.” Then someone suggests they go to a healing service and you could hear crickets chirping. Why? Because of pride. Some think that God can heal them wherever, whenever, so they’ll just complain or ‘grin and bear it’ and try to outlast God. And God smiles and lets them remain sick so eventually they’ll listen. Hopefully.
That kind of pride is something I was struggling with today. You remember how I mentioned there were two words of knowledge, one for teeth and one for ear infections? The problem with my teeth vanished almost instantly. Total breakthrough; Jesus’ healing power at work.
The ear infection? Well, it got worse. A lot worse, to the point where I was going to leave work with severe headache and nausea. So the conversation I have in my heart with the Lord goes something like this:
“Lord, thank you for healing my teeth. Now can you please heal this ear infection?”
“Your wife suggested you go to the doctor. So go to the doctor after work.”
“Ummm…yeah. So Lord, please heal my ear infection, it really hurts.”
“Yep. Go to the doctor.”
“But Lord, I’m believing for my healing!”
“That’s good. So go to the doctor.”
At this point I am arguing with this. As an ardent tongue-talking Charismatic, I believe that the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and boy howdy, I’m gonna get my healing.
“So Lord, I’m believing for my healing.”
“That’s great! So go to the doctor’s office after work, get them to look at it, and do everything they tell you to do.”
At this point I’m getting a little irritated, because if God can issue a major healing to my wife, grow out legs two inches, heal blind eyes, and cure several cases of fibromyalgia (all of which have happened at IHOP-Atlanta numerous times since the awakening services started in January), then He can heal my ears.
It is then that the Lord, who is infinitely smarter and kinder than I am, asks me a question: “If I had asked you to go dip in the Jordan seven times like Naaman, you would have done it. So why, when I ask you to do a simple thing like go to the doctor and follow their instructions, are you arguing with My method of healing you this time around?”
No further objections, Your Honor. I get it now. So I go to the human doctor down the street, who prescribes real physical pills and tells me to stay home tomorrow to rest. And I’m following her instructions to the letter.
And once again, I get to enjoy the taste of humble pie. And I realize again that God knows better than I do. :)
