Jesus heals men

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16

In our sixth sermon on Acts this week, “Empowered by the Spirit to Heal,” Pastor Mark shared a few testimonies of God’s healing work in the lives of people at Mars Hill. Here’s one he read:

‘I fell off of a 50-foot cliff’

I landed on my back, in between two giant tree stumps. I was air-lifted to Harborview Medical Center and listed in critical condition. I had broken my back in three places, had internal bleeding, and renal contusions (my kidneys had severe bruising). The firefighters who strapped me to a gurney and carried me to the helicopter later told me most people die after falling 10 to 20 feet—let alone 50. I was scheduled for surgery to have my spleen removed, as it had been split open.

Meanwhile, my mother and some of her friends, along with family, had begun to pray for me. Before my surgery, the doctors checked my levels again, and my spleen had been healed. This saved me from needing to take medication every day for the rest of my life—plus, I like my spleen where it is. I was out of the hospital and walking around less than a week later. I have no issues and have made a full recovery because God healed me.

–Deacon Ryan
Mars Hill Federal Way

There are also many, many more great stories Pastor Mark didn’t have time to share in the sermon! We wanted to share them here. So here are a few more stories of God’s very real, very active power to heal from the people of Mars Hill.

There were so many stories that we’ll be sharing them over the course of the week. Today, we’ve got stories of prayer and healing in the lives of men at the church, specifically:

‘My husband suffered from migraines for years, every single day’

Blair, my husband, would carry around a bottle of Excedrin Migraine everywhere he went, popping up to six pills a day to get some small relief from the pain. Because he would take so much medication, rebound headaches would set in if he didn’t take the pills.

He had CT scans of his brain taken and tapered off the medication. He tried massage, naturopathy, diet changes, and nothing worked! It got to the point where we were hoping a scan would show something, even cancer, so we could at least explain what was happening. It was heartbreaking to watch him suffer, knowing he wasn’t experiencing life. We prayed and prayed for God to heal him, our Community Group prayed, too, and laid hands on him.

Then one day he was completely healed, he didn’t have to take medication anymore or even taper off of it. God just outright healed him. It was an incredible miracle to witness. Seeing God heal Blair encouraged me to pray BIG and pray for anything, because I know my God can do anything!

–Jess (and Blair)
Mars Hill Everett

‘My 23-year-old son attempted suicide’

This was in 1996 because his wife at the time slept with his friend and left him. The ER doc said he’d taken enough phenobarbitals to kill an elephant and that if he regained consciousness, he would be a vegetable. I said to unhook my son from the ventilator; my husband begged me to give him three days to come to grips with what was happening. My family and I stayed around his bed praying, singing, and loving him.

On the second day, the doctor told us to leave for an hour and get some lunch at the restaurant across the street. As we prepared to leave him, a little old man came in and said he was a pastor and asked if we would mind if he prayed over Jason. We agreed, took his hands, and bowed our heads in prayer with this kind stranger. We then left for lunch.

When we returned one hour later, the nurses came running towards us as we got out of the elevator, screaming that Jason had woken up. After removing the tubes and figuring out that Jason could talk, knew who we were, and knew who he was, we went out to the nurses’ desk to ask about the hospital pastor who prayed over him with us. We described what he looked and how he was dressed. They knew of no pastor like that. They told us he definitely wasn’t the pastor on staff and that they had not seen anyone like that on the floor that day.

–Connie
Mars Hill Federal Way

‘My husband was 40 with only a few years to live’

Over the course of three years, my husband, Bill, developed symptoms of weakness on his whole left side, balance difficulties that required him to use a cane to walk, and trouble swallowing, speaking, and breathing. He gradually declined mentally as well, and couldn’t keep up with conversations, began to be forgetful, and had a “flat” expression on his face. Our neurologist diagnosed him with a type of Parkinsonism, PSP, which has a life expectancy of about five to seven years.

Bill was 40, we had six kids, ages four to 18, and he was the executive pastor of our church. He eventually resigned his position and went on long-term disability. And although we knew God was able to heal, we also began planning for the possibility that he might not.

In October 1999, I was reading in Acts 4:22 where it says, “For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old.” I thought, God, Bill is 40 too. See? You can heal him—I know you can! But I just didn’t know if he would! However, many people were praying for Bill—friends at church would come up to me and say that God would wake them in the middle of the night to pray for his healing.

On October 27, 2000, we were at our church, where the speaker taught on Ephesians 1:19–20, where Paul wanted the Ephesians to know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”

Then he asked, “What stone do you need God to roll away in your life?”

Of course, my thought was: Bill. God, you need to heal Bill. That night, the pastor asked the whole church to pray for God to heal Bill, and they all got on their knees, many of them crying and begging God to heal him. It was an incredible comfort that so many people bore this burden with us. Yet, Bill went home that night, still using his cane, still sick.

However, the next morning, when Bill woke up, he immediately felt he could breathe. Then he sat up in bed and noticed he had no pain. He said, “Jean, I’m either having the best day I’ve had in three years or God has healed me!”

Then he stood straight up and didn’t need his cane! His mind was clear, he started cracking jokes, he could eat without choking—it was amazing. Incredible. The kids were just staring and grinning, wondering why Dad wasn’t using his cane, almost afraid to believe that their prayers had been answered!

Our family doctor was totally stoked (he was a believer), and said, “I’ve heard of a handful of verifiable miracles, but none of my own patients.” He just sat on his chair in the exam room just smiling and shaking his head.

Our neurologist had a different reaction and was freaked. “So why are you better?” he asked. “We were at our church, they prayed, God healed me. That’s pretty much what happened,” we told him. “Hmm,” he said. “Well, I hope I never have to see you again for 30 years.”

Well, it’s been almost 13 years, and we haven’t been back yet.

Our God is powerful, and nothing is too difficult for him!