"DEADMAN" RESTORED TO HEALTH

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant...the manifestation of the Spirit is given to EVERY MAN to profit withal. For to one...the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge...To another faith...the gifts of healing...the working of miracles...prophecy... discerning of spirits...divers kinds of tongues...interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to EVERY MAN severally as he will."

Time and space does not permit us to discuss at length all of the operations and manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. However, we do want to examine the fact that the gifts of the Spirit are available to every believer as the Holy Spirit wills. God desires spiritual gifts to operate in the lives of all believers, whether in a local church meeting, at the supermarket, or in prayer.

Oftentimes, we see powerful men and women of God flowing in the gifts of the Spirit so easily. We sometimes fail to realize the amount of time most of those ministers have spent practicing the gifts of the Spirit in prayer.

For example, I have heard several ministers mention having prophesied or interpreted tongues in prayer. If the utterance gifts of the Spirit can operate in our prayer lives, then the rest of the gifts must also be available. Are we willing to pay the price to see these things manifest in our lives?

Not all believers are called to public ministry. Not all will operate in the gifts of the Spirit in church services. However, all believers are called to prayer and can eventually learn to yield to the Holy Spirit in the privacy of their own homes.

If we will fill ourselves full of the Word of God and learn to flow with the Spirit, we can see glorious things accomplished for the Kingdom of God. Even from a prayer closet there is no distance or time in the realm of the spirit.

Ephesians 6:18 tells us that we should be "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit...." The phrase "in the Spirit" can be a reference to prayer in tongues. However, the more an individual studies the Word of God and learns to work with the Spirit in prayer, the more spiritually sensitive they become. God is always looking for individuals who are willing to make themselves available, yielding to Him in the Spirit.

Not long after I graduated from Bible school, something happened that changed my whole perspective of prayer. As an illustration of the gifts of the Spirit working in prayer, I would like to share the following true story. (The names have been changed to protect their privacy.)

My cousin, Joe, and his wife, Kay, lived several hours away from our home in southern Indiana. They were close in age to my parents and even though the miles separated us, we always made time over the years to visit regularly.

When Joe was in his early fifties, he had a heart attack and died. He had been dead for nearly fifteen minutes before anyone realized what had happened. Life-saving CPR was performed and an unsteady heartbeat was restored.

At the hospital, he was placed on life-support systems and the family was given a grim prognosis. His brain was so severely damaged, he became what the doctors termed a "thrashing vegetable." Comatose, he was unable to sleep or eat, his body thrashing around in the bed uncontrollably. The doctors expected him to remain in that condition until his severely damaged heart gave out.

This was very disturbing to my family, especially my Dad. He shared with me how he had heard Joe in the background over the telephone. He said that Joe moaned and groaned in such a manner that it sounded like the torments of hell.

I knew in my heart God wanted me to pray concerning this situation. However, being a young newlywed with a hectic schedule, I put it off, ignoring several strong nudges from the Lord. Honestly, my natural mind thought, "What's the use? They don't know God. How could God intervene in such a limited situation?" (Even Bible school graduates can have occasional thoughts of unbelief.)

Finally, one evening while entertaining guests in our home, I could no longer withstand the urge to pray. I excused myself and, literally, ran to another room.

As soon as my knees hit the floor I was "in the spirit." When I closed my eyes I could see Joe laying in his hospital bed (more than 100 miles away). His body was overrun with demons that were biting, hitting and clawing at him. No wonder he was trashing about in the bed! Off to one side was a putrid, grotesque figure I recognized as the spirit of death. He just seemed to be standing back letting the other evil spirits have their "fun." I somehow knew that when they were finished tormenting my cousin, "death" planned to step in and finish him off. (This is a good example of the discerning of spirits in operation.)

Suddenly, the young woman visiting in our home was by my side praying. Her presence gave me the courage to press forward. (I was not accustomed to seeing such things in prayer and, frankly, it was kind of scary.)

The next thing I knew, I was standing next to Joe's bed. As far as I could tell, I was still kneeling in my living room, but my spirit seemed to be two places at once. The power of God was so strong, it was as though my hands would explode. I laid them on his heart and commanded it to be healed and to function normally. I did the same with his brain. (The power I sensed was the working of miracles and the gifts of healing, operating in conjunction with the gift of faith.)

The prayer I had been putting off for days was over in a matter of a few minutes. Afterward, I related what I had seen to the young woman and she confirmed that she had seen the same things.

Then, my husband walked in and shared something truly amazing. He had not been present during our time of prayer, nor was he aware of our conversation or of the burden I had had to pray for Joe.

He explained that as soon as I left the room, a "spirit of prayer" had come upon him. He began to pray in tongues. As he closed his eyes, he saw two women standing next to a hospital bed. The bed was surrounded with demons. When he walked in, the demons turned their attention to him. He dealt with them, making it possible for the man in the bed to be ministered to by the two women. (Again, the discerning of spirits in operation.)

The next day, we received word from Kay that Joe woke up early the next morning alert and in his right mind.

In the end, the question that boggled my mind was, "Why would God go to such lengths to move in this situation?" Within a few days I visited them in the hospital and got my answer.

Two weeks prior to Joe's heart attack, Kay had given her heart to the Lord. She had fallen so much in love with Jesus, she didn't know if her marriage could survive. (Her husband did not understand her new-found love and zeal for the Lord.) She asked the Lord how she could continue in her marriage and still serve Him.

When Joe had the heart attack, she thought God was answering her question by taking him out of her life.

On the contrary, the Word of God tells us that Jesus came to give us life abundantly (John 10:10). God is not the author of calamity or death. He wanted to make it very clear to Kay that he would not kill her husband just so she could serve Him. He wanted her to know without a doubt that He was a God of Love and Life.

Even though she was not fully aware of all the benefits of her new-found covenant, God honored His Word by healing and restoring her husband, sparing him from an eternity in hell (Acts 11:14).

Joe came out of the hospital a few days later and began attending church with Kay. They spent the next eleven years together (before she passed into eternity)--eleven years of love they would have never known had God not supernaturally intervened.

It's important to note that God did not accomplish this awesome miracle because of my faith. I was reluctant to pray and honestly didn't think that God could move in the situation through my prayers. This is why it is so valuable to be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. I was available. God was looking for a willing vessel to yield to the Spirit in prayer. Even though she didn't understand, it was Kay's new-found faith that moved God; and MOVE is exactly what He did! Hallelujah!




September/October 1999