“God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” – Hebrews 2:4

Miracle – An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

---

Weeks ago, I Joined in on the newly-formed Wednesday Evening Prayer Zoom Call hosted by our Church’s Prayer Team. I entered the meeting with great anticipation. It was only the second meeting for this ministry to substitute for the Prayer Ministry I highlighted in a previous post (On Any Given Sunday) usually available Sunday mornings when the church building is open.

The previous day I was leaning over working on a home project when my back went out. A painful bolt of electricity shot through my body. I was left hunched over and in agony. Stretching, cold compresses and Ibuprofen was not providing much relief. So, knowing this team of dedicated, faith-filled pray-ers, I was not only hoping for, but expecting a miracle.

I got on the call in a standing position because getting up and down was too painful. We entered in and I shared my request. Jim, Gaylord, Chioma and Angel prayed for my healing. When they were done, Jim asked me to check it out. I stretched and bent over and reported that my pain felt better. Yes!  But, they pressed in and continued to pray wonderful prayers for complete healing. They stopped and I tested my back, now bending completely over and getting up and down from a chair with almost zero pain. Praise God!

I went from steady pain and very limited mobility in my lower back to complete mobility and just a slight twinge of pain. What a relief! After our call I went out and did a little jig for my wife, Eleni to show off. We prayed and thanked God!

And now . . . . for the rest of the story!

I got up the next morning and much of the pain was back. I had booked an appointment with a Chiropractor that, after the previous night’s prayers, I intended to cancel but in the morning decided to keep. Hunched over in pain I went in to see the chiropractor and came out in worse pain.

However, the doctor did identify that the problem was a combination of decrease in the cushion between 2 lower vertebrae, a build up of cartilage on the bone that restricts movement and strained swollen muscle around the vertebrae. He recommended the standard ibuprofen, ice packs and stretching.

I did ask him how I could have experienced many hours the previous night where my mobility was restored and the pain was virtually gone? He shrugged his shoulders – “Something must have caused the swelling to recede and then lying in a bad position overnight caused it to inflame. Perhaps the ibuprofen finally had kicked in for a time?”

Well, I’m pretty certain it was not the ibuprofen. It had not proven very effective prior to my reprieve. I experienced God’s healing touch responding to His people’s prayers of faith. But why hadn’t it continued? An image of a deflated balloon ‘popped’ into my mind. Yes, that’s how I was feeling; a bit deflated.

The Deflated Balloon

The image of the deflated balloon stirred up a memory of my first encounter with a dramatic healing experience. My friend Mark was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and was going in for surgery. Just before the surgery our church mens group gathered around him for prayer. We obviously prayed for his healing and as we prayed an image of a balloon came into my mind. The balloon had a small hole in it and was slowly withering to something like a shriveled fig.

Isaiah 34:4 – the prophet is declaring judgement against God’s enemies – “All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.”

This was the first time I can recall that a clear image came into my mind as I was praying – an image that seemed connected to our prayers. Yet, the image didn’t quite match up with how we were all praying for God to just make the tumor disappear.

When we concluded, I shared this with Mark. He squinted and shrugged, “Well, Ok.” He later shared that he did not take it as something positive but thought it meant something about the air going out of his life. He was not particularly encouraged by it.

Mark went into surgery. When the surgeon opened him up they were certain to find a solid mass that would be a challenge to cleanly remove. Their hope was to scrape it all out leaving only good tissue. The most reassuring comment to his family at the end of the surgery would be to say, “We believe we got it all.”

But, when the surgeon went in they were shocked to find a cavity with a wrinkled blob of tissue inside. The best way they could describe the tumor was as a ‘deflated balloon’! It was as though it had been filled with fluid but had popped and drained out leaving this shrivled mass disconnected from any other tissue. It was then easily removed. After testing the surrounding tissue they declared Mark clean and free of cancer. Wow! We praised God for his miraculous healing.

As with most miracles I’ve encountered, this was not the end of the story

God healed Mark but years later the cancer came back with a vengeance. Once again, we all prayed for a miracle but in 2007 my friend went to be with the Lord.

I had to ask, Why heal then and not now? Was the initial healing even a real miracle?

Certainly, not of the same magnitude, but why heal my back just for an evening? Was it just a short period of ‘mind over matter’? Was it the case that I wanted to believe I was healed, so the pain went away but it was all in my mind?

No, I have concluded that the Prayer Team had prayed and God chose to cause the swelling to recede. I was healed. For whatever reason God chose not to answer the part of the prayer that it would be a permanent healing. Why?

Where in the World is Lazarus?

I’ve wondered about this in the past. When God chooses to heal it is about signs and wonders to make the reality of who He is known – to draw people into the reality of a loving relationship with a living God. But how long should we expect it would last?

For those that Jesus restored, say hearing – did they not lose their faculties as old age set in? I’ve had both shoulders miraculously healed – I still can’t throw a baseball anything like I could when I was younger. The Miracle Mets won a World Series against all odds in 1969 but they haven’t demonstrated the miraculous very often since. (Sorry JT)

Then there was Lazarus. He was not only raised from the dead but raised from the grave! But, still he died. He’s certainly not walking around somewhere today. (Maybe he is? Hanging out with Elvis somewhere?)

So, why bother healing if it is not permanent?

After the pain came back I posed this question to my friend, Pastor G and he responded with this wisdom:

“We know that all healing in this life is just a foretaste, a sip of the permanent healing that awaits us in Heaven where we will inhabit eternal bodies made by God Himself that will be immune to pain and weakness.”

In this corrupt and fallen world where man has turned his back on God’s incorruptible ways there is no permanence. Even those of us who have eternal life in Christ are all appointed once to die (Hebrews 9:27).

Any of God’s goodness in this realm is only a taste of what is to come. Yet, even as we step  further out in faith and see Him do what only He can do, and then testify to His good works, the tastier this ‘abundant’ life gets. (John 10:10)

So, what about my back? I got a taste of God’s supernatural goodness and then through another 10 days or so of discipline, (ibuprofen, ice packs and stretching) my back fully recovered. Once again, I have even more reason to testify to God’s goodness and declare . . . Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” – Lamentations 2:22

---

Black Rock Church, Fairfield Ct is opening up for 3 straight nights of live worship limited to 140 participants beginning Wednesday August 5th.

TO ATTEND, PEOPLE MUST REGISTER AT: http://brc.church/outdoorworship.
IT will be held in the church parking lot with appropriate social distancing and requiring a mask.

Also, Black Rock Church will begin opening up Wednesday Nights of ‘Praying Boldly’ Meetings for a limited number of participants starting August 12th

Come join us at these events to Worship our God for who He is and to experience Him for what only He can do!