Monuments: Healing

"And these signs shall follow them that believe... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." -Mark 16:17-18

It truly is amazing how the Lord heals! I am always amazed at the way that God chooses to heal his beloved! No longer surprised that he does, but still amazed by the way he does it. I've been blessed to be a the example of the "one who lays on hands" and one who "has hands laid on him." I've seen God do some amazing healings over the last few years of my life, and these just happen to be some of my favorite stories. I hope you are edified and that your faith is encouraged! 

The Prophet Runs

At the beginning of my sophomore year of high school, I was having some really bad knee problems that were consistently getting worse. I was upset at how much pain I was in and how weak my knee was getting. Finally, after about a month of intense knee-pain, I went to the Lord in deep intercession and begged him to restore the health of my knee.

That night, the Lord gave me an incredible dream. "I saw myself standing underneath a wooden shelter situated on a long, dirt road. I was meandering about without much sense of purpose or direction. Out of the desert, a man came up to me and began talking to me about the Lord. Finally, with a sense of urgency - he told me to run. RUN! RUN! He said. I took off like there was an army after me running down this long, dirt road. Suddenly, I stopped and looked back at this mysterious man who began to announce me as "the prophet of the Lord." Then he began shouting, 'Behold! The prophet runs! Behold, the prophet of the Lord runs!'"

I woke up from this dream with the same sense of urgency that I needed to start running. I jumped out of my bed and darted out into the hall way. It took me almost a minute to realize what was happening: I was running! My knee felt no pain and wasn't collapsing! It was full of strength and health! I ran around my house jumping and bending my knee in celebration of God's healing power! The Lord truly does heal!

However, my knee problems didn't end there. Two years later, I still felt the gradual pain in the side of my right knee every once-and-a-while. I was spending some time in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with some house church friends and they wanted to pray over me before I left. In the middle of the prayer time, one of the women in group stood up and said, "I saw a picture of you running down this long dirt road... you're running and you're growing weary. But the Lord is telling you to keep running! And I see two angels coming along either side of you to nourish and strengthen you. And I see you having pain in your right knee. And one of the angels is reaching down and touching this knee, and giving you a tendon of gold. " 

How broken I was as she began to tell me a similar vision to the dream I had been given over two years before. The dirt road. The call to run. The accuracy of my pain. The right leg... everything! After she told me her vision and I announced its accuracy with the pain I had felt in the past. The church prayed for my leg together, and the Lord completely healed it! Never once from that day forward did I feel that sharp pain in my leg ever again! Glory to Jesus!

Peace that Passes Understanding

I had been back from China for only about six months - but these six months had been some of the worst of my life. A gradual, detrimental illness began eating away at my body and mind. "Idiopathic, peripheral neuropathy" - doctor for "we don't know why, but it's shutting your body down." My mind was so eaten away at, that I finally had to be put into a mental hospital for my own stability sake. 

I knew I was on the verge of dying. I didn't feel much will to live because of what intense pain I felt 24/7. But the Spirit of the Lord gave me a glimmer of hope even in my darkest times. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God! And this testimony is a tribute to that verse! In my desperation, I began searching the scriptures until I came across the Philippians 4 concept of "peace that passes understanding." I began to pray, read, meditate, speak and live that passage out. I mulled over that verse until it became a reality in my life.

The curing properties of this verse quickly began to reverse the affect of the mental pain all the way back to my body's functions. Not only did my mind heal and allow for clearer thinking, but my body healed back to where I could walk and move like a normal human being in just a couple months! I should have died from that illness, but the meditation upon God's Word transformed my mind and even my body into what God had planned for it to be like! Glory to Jesus!

 

That Demon Pharmecia

There are many miraculous stories wrapped around a two-year period of my life where I was leading a house church/Bible study out of my garage for teenagers. Many of the guys were ex-gang members, drug addicts, or involved in lascivious sexual behavior. In this instance, a guy came that was addicted to marijuana. He had been coming off and on for quite a while, and really had a good heart to follow the Lord. He had been walking out his faith pretty well, but made a mistake and ended up smoking a few joints. 

Towards the end of the evening, he began to confess this sin and talk about how he needed to be able to pass a drug test the next day in order to get a job! Big problem considering marijuana stays in your system for 30+ days, and he had smoked just a few days before. Thankfully, I had a mentor that had come to the group that night to give a testimony, and he knew what to do with this situation.

We all got around this friend of mine and laid hands on him. We began to start interceding for him while my mentor began to talk to him. With a gentle, yet commanding, authority - my mentor said that this demon, "Pharmecia," was not allowed. He rebuked the influence of drugs and the affect of drugs over my friends life. My friend began to get dizzy and looked as if there was some intense battle going on inside of him. Suddenly, he began to vomit black, marijuana out of his lungs! He threw up for probably 2 minutes while the whole group stood their in awe of God's healing power! 

Truly enough, this friend of mine passed the drug test the next day without a trace of the drug in his body! Not only that, but he is now walking in righteousness and a life free from drugs - serving and following the Lord with his whole heart! Amen! 

Stomach and Back

Ever since I was a little kid, I had suffered from random periods of intense stomach pain. They were much more frequent than the average "stomach ache" an individual may get - and the doctor's even seemed to think they might have known what was wrong with me. Thankfully, the Lord never gave them that opportunity.

This stomach pain was accompanied my junior year of high school with an intense back pain as well. From the time I had been sick my sophomore year of high school, the pain I felt in my back had never fully subsided. But again, God had a plan for eliminating this suffering.

I had taken a trip up to this IHOP (International House of Prayer) service called "The Awakening." I only went a few times over the months that it was running - but was touched by what the Lord did during that time. I happened to be there one night when many people were getting healed - healed from drug addiction, from illnesses, from lameness, from deafness, from bad eye-sight... you name it. I was making it a focus of mine to spend time praying for others during this night of great healing - walking around and laying hands on those whom the Lord was leading for me to pray.

This healing had to be one of the most simple and pure healings I have ever witnessed. I was walking through the crowd that filled up IHOP-U's student building, when a little boy walked up to me and locked eyes with me. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old, but the purity in his eyes kept me fixed into his gaze. Suddenly, with childlike faith, he placed his hand on my stomach - not saying a single word - and sent what felt like fire straight into my gut. This fire ran into my gut, up my esophagus, through my whole shoulders/back/sides/ribs - everything! Until the fire had practically consumed me! And all this time, my eyes were continually fixed with this little boy. He probably only held his hand there for 15 seconds - but it felt like hours as I felt the Lord doing a transforming work on my insides. Then, without so much as a "In Jesus Name" or the typical IHOP phrase, "More!" The boy just walked away and disappeared into the crowd. After that moment, I never again struggled with those pains the same way - I had been healed with purity in Jesus' name!

Sleep Deprivation 

These last three testimonies also took place at my little teenage house church towards the end of my time in high school. On this specific night, we had attracted the attention of a boy who was struggling with homosexuality, Satanism, and drugs. He seemed to jump right in to the group, and enjoyed talking about the Lord and about the Bible. But at the end of the study, he pulled me aside and told me a struggle he'd been having.

I was expecting something about the sex, drugs, or demons - but he simply told me "I haven't been able to sleep for a week." Wow! I was blown away. Here was a kid trapped in what we consider some of the most horrible of sins, and he was asking the Christian guy to help him with his sleep issues! I couldn't believe the opportunity I had. I probably had a thousand answers running through my mind about demonic torture and the need for peace that comes from Jesus - but in my moment of thinking, the Holy Spirit kicked in with some words of his own.

I love those times when you are giving advice or preaching, and suddenly it's like you're listening to something God is saying through you instead of thinking the thoughts and then speaking them. This one of those times. I looked the kid in the eyes and told him, "Tonight, you will sleep. Jesus has given you rest. But for the rest of the week you will again find no rest as a testimony to the power of God!" I couldn't believe what I was saying. I almost wanted to reach out and grab those words back! 'What if that's not true!?' I was thinking. The kid seemed equally surprised, and just kind of took what I said and left. 

The next week, the kid saw me outside of the high school we went to and came running up to talk to me. "Josh! You won't believe what happened. I slept that night! All through it. The one you told me at least. But since that day, I wasn't able to sleep at all! Just like you said! Will you pray for me again?" WOW! Truly God did something only God can do in this situation! What a tribute to the power and omnipotence of our Lord!

Fading Arthritis

The evening of this particular story was simply meant to be prayer meeting. I had invited a couple of guys over to pray and seek the Lord with me. When one guy showed up, he had casts on each of his wrists. He told me about how he had been to the doctor earlier that day and was diagnosed with severe arthritis because of the strain his job was putting on his hands. I wanted to pray for him right away, but the Lord put a check on my mouth and said to wait. 

We entered a time of intercession, and the Lord had me walk around the room, shaking my hands, praying for the loosing of "physical chains" - and he probably had me do this for 45 minutes! Pray, pray, pray. That's what we did. I had no idea what the other guys had going on in their hearts, but the more I prayed, the more excited I got! I felt like chains were falling off of my wrists! I felt the Lord come and place some ounce of the Spirit on my fingers and gird me with strength I didn't even need! I can't explain the feeling outside of it feeling like God had chosen my hand as a temporary habitation! 

Suddenly, he told me to go grab the guy's wrists that had arthritis. Everything began to make sense. I needed to break off those chains that had bound his wrists under that stupid curse - that ugly sin! I ran over to him and grabbed his wrists, and lifted them in the air towards heaven. I didn't say a thing. There was no need to. It felt to both of us as if fire was running from my body into his, and he could feel the chains of arthritis melting away from his wrists. Praise the Lord! Two weeks later, there wasn't a trace of arthritis to be found! Not even the doctor could find it! Hallelujah!

Moving Bones

This last story is probably one of the most powerful stories I've ever had a chance to witness. Simply God's transforming power - both in the physical and spiritual realms - will never cease to amaze me. This testimony took place near the end of the time I was leading the little house church with the teenage guys. We were holding one last big "BOB Bash" - basically, an outreach concert. While the heavy-metal/screamo sound definitely doesn't get me into a worship mode, the majority of the guys I worked with were really into that type of music. Needless to say, that type of music and dancing can always be a precursor to various injuries.  


Towards the end of the show, one of the band members for the last heavy-metal band broke his arm while swinging his instrument around. All I remember was hearing a loud CRASH and seeing this member run off of the stage. Everyone suddenly rushed back to see what was going on with the guy, people began praying for him, and this band member crawled up on the ground in intense agony over his hurting arm. After they prayed for him, the band went back on the stage to finish the show, while myself and a few other guys walked the hurting band member outside of the main auditorium.


We took him into a hall outside of the main room, laid hands on him, and started praying in the Spirit. I was begging the Lord to do a miracle to show all the non-believers the power of the Lord. After a couple minutes of prayer, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to take my right hand and put it on his hurting arm. At first, seeing his pain, I was hesitant. But I finally obeyed in full faith that God was going to do something. What happened next was truly amazing. Once my hand was on his arm, I could feel that one of his bones was not in the right place - something had been bent way out of whack. But the moment I put my hand on that broken bone, I began to feel shifting in his arm - things were moving! A second later, the hurting band member dropped to floor in some of the most intense pain he felt all night. But glory to Jesus, this only lasted for a minute! The Holy Spirit MOVED that bone back into place, and this victim started bending his arm and crying at the goodness of the Lord!


After everything was over, the member paralleled the healing to a healing that was going on in his heart. About how he had felt like he was drifting from the Lord, but this healing was a sign of God's unconventional love and transforming power. He rededicated his life to the Lord, along with at least twenty other people that night, and received not only a healing of his arm, but a healing of his heart. Glory to Jesus. Amen.

Monuments: Destiny

"...That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever." -Joshua 4:6-7

Just to be honest with the world, I don't blog or journal as much as I should. God continually does amazing things for me that I neglect to remember or write down, and I feel like that needs to change. So for the next little while, I'm making it my goal to start consistently posting stories about God's faithfulness in my life.

When God dried up the Jordan for the children of Israel, Joshua had them make a monument as a monument to God's faithfulness for generations. While I haven't seen God dry up a river (yet), I've seen him do some things that I certainly can take no credit for! And I want to take some time to draw attention to God's awesomeness over the next few months.

While much of this is a personal endeavor for my own spiritual health, I pray you may find encouragement from the stories I share with you. God-bless and enjoy!

Ever since I was a little boy, God has been writing a "nations" destiny in my life. I sure didn't know it back then, I definitely didn't understand it when I accepted a call into mission work, and I still haven't got the slightest clue of what I'm doing now that I'm actively walking it out! But one thing I know, God has been incredibly faithful throughout each step of my life.

My mom used to read me missionary stories when I was a little boy. I would hear about missionaries smuggling Bibles into the Iron Curtain and standing against persecution in Communist China. I was awed over these stories - and - with a six-year-old's childlike faith - I began asking God to write the same type of stories with my own life. 

Somehow, despite my rebellious and stubborn nature, God has managed to write some of the stories I asked for back then already in my young age! I've smuggled Bibles into Communist China, I've watched God pull a veil over the eyes of security while I walked past with "illegal" Christian materials, I've even been protected from Communist Police, Muslim Radicals, Angry Buddhists, and Demon-Possessed Murderers under God's miraculous care! All these are stories for another time. For now, I simply want to focus on God's faithfulness in getting me to where I am today.

I became a Christian after renouncing some deep sexual struggles I was facing at a ripe 10 years of age. It still amazes me how young the pulls of pornography and homosexuality can affect kids in this age. Not long after receiving the Lord, I re-awoke to the desires my parents instilled in me for foreign missions. I dreamed of being one of those "amazing missionaries" again, and began actively pursuing the Lord.

I began growing in my relationship with God, and I'll never forget the day He told me "start learning languages." I was a little confused. It was so deep a conviction, I had to do it. But what God was asking me just didn't make sense. I heard Him say, "Study Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Latin, and Swahili." Whoa. That's an awful lot to take on at once. EVERYBODY told me so. Even people that were supportive of me learning unusual languages thought that the combination of everything at once was a bit much. But I knew what the Lord had told me, and I refused to back down. 

After having some people poke fun at me for this endeavor one day, I went to the Lord and prayer and said, "God! You said to do this! Be faithful! Use it! Do something!" I got a piece of paper and wrote on it: WHY LEARN LANGUAGES? HE WILL PROVIDE! I didn't know what I was looking for... or how... or when... but I believed. And as seemingly insignificant as learning languages may seem in comparison to casting demons out of people, I consider this one of the greatest acts of obedience I ever did. Not because of it's importance in my life, not because of its applicability, but because GOD SAID SO, I HEARD IT, and no matter what people told me, I WOULDN'T BACK DOWN. 

I continued doing this for about a year-and-a-half until God did something amazing! After signing my life over to a blank piece of paper and asking God to "write my story," I ended up in China at the ripe age of 14-years-old! Not only that... I was working in a heavily Muslim area, and I ended up using my ARABIC to minister to someone! I spent my 8th and 9th grade years dreaming about China and doing mission work with the underground church. I took two trips during these years - one which was a 2-month (1-month by myself) trip into the bamboo curtain! But after my second trip, I got very sick and began to forget about the incredible call God had placed on my heart. 

A year-and-a-half passed before God decided it was time to wake me up again. While God used a time of adversity to grow me and prepare me for even more mission work at home and in other countries, it took a good knock to my skull to remind me of his destiny for my life. But in the midst of all these things, I came across my old paper with the words "WHY LEARN LANGAUGES? HE WILL PROVIDE!" I remember again being filled with my childlike faith and I asked God to do something amazing! And he has...

Now, at the still-ripe age of eighteen, God has awaken a "back to Jerusalem" call in my heart. I barely remember any of the languages I studied so intently back in Middle School, but I know why God had me to do it. He was testing my obedience. Whether or not I would follow him even in adversity. And all the while, He was affirming a call to the nations in my spirit by the languages I was learning. 

I'm now networked into a group of people with a similar heart. To see the CHINESE speaking people take the gospel back through the silk road, to see the SWAHILI speakers take the good news back up the Nile river, to see the "LATIN" speakers bring what Paul took them nearly 2000 years ago, and to see the RUSSIANS bring Jesus from the North - covering the "four-corners" that Ezekiel and Isaiah prophesy about. And how somehow, all these people groups will minister to the ARABIC speakers that surround and inhabit that middle east.  

I sure didn't understand this call when I was six! Nor when I was twelve! And I still haven't got a clue now that I'm eighteen, but I know God is piecing together something amazing. I've had the opportunity to share this burden with quite a few people now, to travel to both China and Uganda, and to see the foundations laid for a God-driven ministry I can take no credit for whatsoever! Who could've predicted God had all this in store when I told me to start "learning langauges!?"

This little story doesn't have much "glitter." There's no miracle, no healing, no near-death experiences... but this story means more to me than just about anything else I've faced or gone through. No matter where I go in life, I can look back at that old piece of paper, and remember that God is faithful to provide purpose if we'll simply trust him! You may not always understand the things that God asks you to do... that's probably a good thing. That means that God is God, and we're not. I figure that this is the best place to start... the weird, quirky little thing I was lead to do that changed my life. God tells us to "be faithful in the little things" - so go for it! Do the weirdness that no one else will do. I promise you that God watches for that. And when he finds those that will be faithful with the little things in life, he gives them more and more and more until they are feasting in the presence of their enemies! Truly, we serve an imaginative, mysterious, and incredible God. Amen.