I have been physically ill for 5 days yet
completely transformed for almost 15 years. I don't get sick often, and
when I do I am almost always healed within 24 hours. I went through
something over the past 5 days that I would typically keep to myself because I
don't believe in glorifying the enemies work, but God spoke to me about how I
can encourage others that are going through a difficult time. I hope you
enjoy and are encouraged.
I hate sickness. Sickness ruined
some of the best parts of my childhood. My mom was sick for 5 years when she
battled cancer. My Grandma battled depression and mental issues so we saw
a roller coaster of problems from an early age. My family wasn't
anti-doctor but we didn't see him much. Like most, we had at-home remedies
that worked for most illnesses. I continued to see sickness when I lost
my aunt to cancer and then my uncle shortly after. Did I mention I hate
sickness?
I love healing. I experienced
healing for the first time when I was 11 years old. I had warts all over
my hands and some on my other parts of my body. I went to the doctor for
help and instead of freezing them off they gave me a medicine and a grinding
pad. My job was to grind down the warts every day and put the medicine on
top. I was so self-conscious that I would grind at them until they bled
and put the medicine on them while in tears.
One night my sister went to a new church
in town called "Abundant Life." My mom didn't like it since
there were articles in the paper about it being a cult. I had gone to the
Lutheran church and established good principles and believe Jesus loved me but
nothing more.
My sister came home one night after church and heard me crying
about my hands and warts. My hands hurt so bad that I was struggling to switch
to the other hand after grinding on it. So, she sat in front of me and
helped. She took my hands and put the medicine on (like I did every
night) and did one thing under her breath that I don't think I was aware of,
she prayed.
When I woke up in the morning my warts
were gone. Not just the ones on my hands I was treating so I could
confidently give my friends high-fives, the ones on my arms too. They
were all gone. As I am typing this I can still see faint scares from the
warts. They are like the symbol of the rainbow to me; they remind me of
God's goodness, compassion, and healing power for his Children.
Shortly after, my mom passed away.
The last 6 months before she passed were awful. She had no energy
and she was typically a very active person. Her body was so frail from the
treatments that she couldn't be touched without bruising. On my 12th
birthday she crawled out to the couch crying so she could laid on the couch for
my birthday. I think part of the tears were her realizing it was her last
birthday with me. She died 9 days later.
Did I mention I hate sickness? The
next year my dad married a wonderful woman, Mary Martz. She started
taking us to a church called Oasis in 2000.
Going to Oasis changed everything for me.
I started to learn that God was a good God. I finally started hearing people say that God
didn’t want my mom to die. This was news
since one year earlier I heard all about “God’s Sovereign Will” and how God
needed my mom more than my sister and I did. What they were teaching made
sense to my heart since I never agreed or embraced the other concept. I
didn't embrace it because my mom crawled to my bed a few nights before she
passed away and laid next to me crying telling me that she was going to die.
After she left I prayed a confused prayer to God and He replied with a physical
hug that I could feel and when I asked why He thinks that it is best that my
mom had to die He told me that He didn't want that. I don't think I
was mature enough to hear more. At 11 or 12 that is often times all you
need to hear.
I really started to learn about healing
when I was 15 and Lucas Miles became my youth pastor. He taught us about
Biblical healing and how to pray for people. This lined up with my hearts
direction and the belief system I had already established. We started
praying for people and seeing them healed. We went on a trip to Mexico
and I saw some awesome things. One story that sticks out to me was a man
I saw walking on the street. He was walking with a cane and had a major
limp. You could tell his one leg was a lot shorter than the other.
We asked him to talk to us and through the interpreter we learned that he
broke his leg 8 years before and didn't have the money to get it taken care of.
God told me that his leg had to come out and grow. So, we talked to
the man about God, he decided that God could do it and we prayed for him.
After a short prayer the man stood up and walked away without a limp and
without his cane. Glory to God. We saw things like this over and
over.
I have personally experienced healing in
my life physically, emotionally, and spiritually hundreds or even thousands of
times. When someone in my family is sick, we pray for them and they are
healed. We expect it and we thank God for providing it through the cross.
I started to get sick Wednesday February
26th and thought it was because of some sleeping issues I have been having.
However, I work up Thursday morning to some serious issues. My
throat hurt, my body hurt, and I had a fever. I started praying
immediately. I did everything I ever do. I prayed, I ate the right
things, I spoke in tongues, I listened to teachings, I asked Britt to pray for
me, I spoke certain ways, I listened to worship music, I walked out my healing,
etc. Over the span of 2 days I listened to over 10 hours of teaching.
I slept for 25+ hours. When I ate, I at the right foods. When
I spoke, I spoke to Jesus. I did all the stuff I have ever done when I
experience healing. It wasn't happening.
When I woke up even sicker on Friday I was
in shock. Very rarely do I get worst. 90% of the time I am healed overnight
(because that is what my faith expects even though instantaneous healing is
biblical). Britt had a very busy day. She had to go to work all day
and babysit at night. I was set on getting some work done and getting
well. Half way through the day I realized that I needed to start acting
healed and get out the house. Somehow I drove to get a sub and get my
suit at the drycleaner. I came home and was completely out of energy.
I fell asleep and woke up a few hours later. When I woke up my
throat was so swollen that I could barely swallow. I was still tired but
I said to myself "If I go back to sleep and don't get up my throat is
going to close and I am going to die." I know there are people that
have been through a lot that can tell me about suffering, but this was the
worst I had ever been. I went downstairs and decided I would read the
bible until I got well. At this point my throat was nearly closed, I
hadn't eat much in 2 days, I was dizzy, my body was so sore I could barely
move, I had a fever with cold sweats, congestion in my nose, and I could feel
pressure in my ear like I was getting an ear infection. I decided that if I
prayed for the congestion to go and my throat soreness to go that everything
else would get better. My nose congestion left almost immediately after I
prayed for it and my throat pain left a few hours after reading the bible and
praying. I then decided I would praise God for what He had done. I
listened to two worship songs and by the end of the second song I could feel
something go from my right ear down into the right side of my throat and make my
throat unbelievably sore again when I swallowed or drank anything. So, I was
back on the couch. I decided I was going to the doctor but Britt was gone
the rest of the night.
So, Saturday morning I went to the
immediate care in South bend. After 2 hours of waiting with every sick
person in south bend, the nurse called me back. I thought, here's another
chance to get healed and show the doctor’s office what God can do. In the
back of my mind I was thinking "I'm so ready to get some medicine and be
done with this crap." The nurse listened to about half the stuff I
was having issue with and did a strep test. The doctor came in 15 minutes
later and asked me what was going on. I told him 2-3 things and he did
the doctor thing. When he finally looked in my mouth he looked for 2
seconds had me close it and he started laughing. He said I had a serious bacterial
infection in my throat (strep throat), double ear infection, and influenza.
He gave me a laundry list of medicines to take. I looked at the
list like I do at the Word of God. I thought "here is an easy way to
buy my healing."
I haven't taken medicine for anything in a
very long time. At least a decade. I was under the impression that
this medicine would cure me like God does when I receive His healing that was
purchased for me on the cross. So, my
$100 purchase at CVS for medicine is equal to God’s purchase on the cross…
Much like being saved, healing isn't meant to be an ongoing thing.
It is a decision and receiving. That's why it is in the word
"sozo" which is the Greek word for salvation, saved, etc.
When I took the medicine I had a smile on
my face because I was expecting to be able to go out that night to Politos for
pizza. Not so fast my friend (Lee Corso), I felt exactly the same.
In fact, my ear infection got worse. After two days of taking the
medicine I have gradually gotten better. I can walk, I don't have fever,
I can stay awake, but other than that it certainly didn't cure me.
I still hate sickness and I know there are
very few that are willing to read this far. Being a marketer, it is difficult to give the
key points I wanted to get across at the bottom, but here goes:
1. God has been teaching me that there are
things in this world that hurt us. God told me a while ago that I
shouldn't drink pop. This last week God specially told me that drinking pop
is like drinking poison for my body. I'm not going to drink pop anymore.
Well, I will drink it as much as anyone is okay consuming poison. Relate this to Paul talking to Timothy in 1
Tim. 5:23. Tim was having stomach
issues. Paul used wisdom and the Holy
Spirit to find out that the water of the area was what and causing the
issues. So, paul told tim drink some
wine every now and again and it will fix your issue. Why? The
water was bad and the wine has stuff in it that will kill the bad stuff that
was in the water. Is paul saying we
should only drink wine? No, I’m sure
some people should never drink wine. That’s
why the letter is to timothy and not you.
However, there are some things that you drink/eat/say/think/do that need
to be replaced or followed by something else so you don’t have to be
continually going to Jesus for healing.
I think about brother hagin about this.
Bro Hagin once said that he stopped drinking coffee or tea (I don’t
remember which) because God told him to.
Brother hagin knew about healing and had one of the greatest healing
ministries in North America. However, he
also understood wisdom. Listening to God
and your body is wisdom.
2. I refuse to let hate, anger, anxiety,
stress, etc. into my life. I do live this out by using wisdom to stay out
of difficult situations and letting the love of Christ work in my heart.
Love never fails. I saw a sports related documentary where a young
kid was abducted by his karate coach and raped after flying him to California. They
found him and brought this young boy back. The boy’s dad found out what
really happened and when the guilty man was being transferred through the
airport the young boy’s father shot the man in the head and killed him.
They interviewed the man 30 years later and asked him if he felt remorse.
The man responded and said "if they dig him up I'll shoot him in the
head again." The man was now crippled and almost completely lost his
ability to speak. There is biblical evidence that this anger and hatred
that goes unforgiven causes the physical illnesses that this man was
experiencing. I try to not hate anything or anyone. I don't even
hate the New England Patriots after everything they've done to my Miami
Dolphins :). I'm still working on the Jets. :)
3. Never stop believing. I'm glad
that I went through this medicine process because I have learned that medicine
isn't always a quick fix. It is a support that people should take when
needed to support their faith, add longevity to their life, and show their
loved-ones they care about their future.
Mixing it with faith can be a powerful thing, but learning faith before
it is too late is essential. Paul explains in Hebrews 11 that many die
without seeing what they believed for, but there is no reason to not believe.
Believing (faith) is what makes us different from the world. It's
what reminds us that we aren't God, but He loves us and wants His best for us.
He isn't holding back from us, and we can continue to expect his goodness
to happen in our lives.
Ryan
