What Happened to My Miracle?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared with you about miracles that I’ve personally witnessed in my life: the instantaneous healing of my own torn ligament and the life-saving intervention my Aunt Linda received from a brain aneurism. Until my dying day, I will continue to let people know that God heals and heals miraculously. Sometimes he does it instantly with no medical intervention. Sometimes he uses physicians and advanced medical breakthroughs, equipment, and pharmaceuticals to bring the healing.

Before I write about the times when miracles don’t seem to happen, I want to recommend John Hagee’s book and CD package, The Power to Heal, as a wonderful tool to put in your healing arsenal. (If you follow the link to his site, choose "bookstore" and "CD" to find the package.) I have nothing to do with writing or promoting the book or CDs, but I’ve bought several sets for myself and for numerous friends and family members battling life-threatening illnesses. For $20, you’ll get a book that teaches the scriptural basis for physical healing, deals with impediments to healing, and acknowledges God’s will as sovereign. The package comes with two CDs: “Lizzy’s Miracle,” the true story of a daughter’s healing from terminal brain cancer, and “Healing Scriptures,” around 45 minutes of Pastor Hagee praying all of the healing scriptures in a way that will encourage and inspire anyone listening.


Not Everyone Gets The Miracle They’re Praying For

So why do some people receive physical healing and others do not? If God loves all his children (and he does) and his plans are to prosper us and not to harm us (which they are), then how do we accept the fact that not everyone we love receives the physical healing that we’ve prayed so diligently for and that they were desperate to receive? (By the way, I’ve personally lost several important people in my life that had been the recipients of many healing prayers, so I completely understand the frustration and sense of betrayal we can experience when that happens.)

Let me start by saying: I’m not God and neither are you. There are some things we are not going to understand on this side of heaven. God tells us, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:9 (NIV). Think of it this way: None of us expect that our pets should be able to calculate 1+1=2. Our thoughts are higher than their thoughts. We also can’t expect ourselves to comprehend all that the supreme creator, eternal God of the universe knows or the ways that he accomplishes his purposes in our lives. Put simply, he’s smarter than we are and knows more than we do.

One more caveat before I give some reasons to consider for why the miracle you were praying for didn’t happen: All of us are unique. God’s plans for us are unique. The possibilities I’m about to list don’t necessarily apply to your or your loved one’s circumstances. Unless God impresses one of these on you as being applicable to your situation, then just use these ideas as a starting point for your own discussion about this with God.

All right, with those principles in mind, here are three possibilities to consider:

1. The power of our own belief
2. God’s timing
3. Earthly vs. heavenly perspective

The Power of Our Own Belief

When pharmaceutical companies are testing a new medication, they have to conduct studies comparing the results of their drug with those of a placebo. (A “placebo” is basically a fake version of the real medication; you can’t tell the difference between the two by looking at them, but the placebo does not have any of the real medicine in it.)

Researchers have to do these studies so that they can determine what real impact their drugs had. Why? Because some people will believe so strongly in the ability of that medicine to deliver the results it’s intended to produce, that they will experience those results even though they never got any of the medicine (the placebo effect) but just thought they did.

Similarly, numerous medical studies have shown that a person’s attitude about an illness and their outlook on their prognosis have a measurable impact on how quickly and to what extent they heal.

The power of what we believe has the ability to affect our physical and emotional wellbeing. People’s attitudes about an illness and their outlook on their prognosis have a measurable impact on how quickly and the extent to which they heal.

The power of what we believe has the ability to affect our physical and emotional wellbeing. We may be praying for a miracle, we may be desperate for a miracle, but if we believe we are not going to recover, that hurts our ability to recover.

If we take that a step further, and begin to say those things about ourselves (e.g., telling a friend that we don’t think we will every be healed), then we give even more power to that belief. (According to Proverbs 18:21, our tongues have the power of life and death!) Those beliefs and those things we say can then begin to influence our will. Rather than be disappointed in case the healing doesn’t come, we accept the fact that it won’t. Remember: God created us with a free will! He will not counter that will.

In the “Lizzy’s Miracle” CD mentioned above, Lizzy’s parents talk about their determination to continually speak healing scriptures over their daughter, to surround her with those scriptures written onto posters, and to forbid anyone around her from saying she was going to die. Don’t misunderstand me: No one is saying you should live in denial about a prognosis that has been given. The point here is that you must know that God’s power is stronger than any diagnosis you could receive.


God’s Timing

In a nutshell, God’s timing is often not the same as ours. We want things fixed immediately; He’s working something out in the process. Time is a big thing for God. Even though He lives outside of time (he’s eternal), he created it and made a point of setting feasts to be celebrated at certain times, planning the time his son would be born of a virgin mother, and having a set time for his son’s triumphant return to earth that only the Father knows.

Keep in mind:

1. The bible tells us there is a time and a season for everything, and God makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11).
2. God has an individual plan for each of us. “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16, NLT). (This does not negate free will; God lives outside of time and knows all—including the choices that we and others will make to affect our lives.)

With God, delay is not denial. Just because physical healing has not happened yet, does not mean that it will not happen at all. Wait on him to do things according to his timing, and seek his guidance about what you need to do during that wait.


A Matter of Perspective

We don’t think like God, and we can’t. God spends around nine months preparing us in the womb for our lives on this planet. Then he spends our lives on this planet preparing us for eternity. While we are here on Earth, his mission is to craft us into Christ’s likeness (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18), and he uses all of the circumstances that we encounter here to accomplish that goal so that we're ready for eternity with him. Our time in the womb, on earth, and in heaven are not three separate lives; they are three development phases of the same life.

We’ve only experienced life on this planet, so when we think about life, we think about it here on this earth. The reality is that earthly lives pass in the blink of an eye—they are “but a breath” (Psalm 39:5). We are eternal creatures created in the image of an eternal God. When God looks at our lives, he sees them from the standpoint of eternity.

Delivered by Fire

One of my favorite Bible teachers is Beth Moore. In session 3 of her series Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy, she covers the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s deliverance from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). Beth asks her students to consider three scenarios when we as Christians face fiery trials in our lives (e.g., needing a healing miracle). All three options are forms of deliverance, and all three bring glory to God and result in benefits to us.

1. We can be delivered “from the fire” (e.g., biopsy shows no malignancy). Result: Our faith is built.
2. We can be delivered “through the fire” (e.g., lump is malignant, but after a time, we respond favorably to treatment). Result: Our faith is refined.
3. We can be delivered “by the fire” into His arms (e.g., cancer doesn’t respond to treatment and ends in physical death). Result: Our faith is perfected.

As Beth says, “Death is dropping off our physical body and walking on without it.”


Get Real with Your Feelings

One final thing: It’s okay to feel all of the emotions (e.g., anger, grief, confusion, impatience, etc.), that go along with facing healing challenges, especially those that result in the physical death of someone you love. Go to God and tell him how you feel. Ask for his grace and insight to look at the situation as he does. Ask for reassurance about his love. Seek support from Christian counseling professionals and other Christian support groups who understand the eternal perspective of life.

If you think that you just can’t possibly tell God exactly how you think and feel, look back over King David’s psalms or Moses’ angst over being called to lead Israel. They didn’t hold back any of those feelings from God, and God spoke face to face with Moses as a man does his friend (Exo. 33:11), and he called David a man after his own heart (1 Sam. 13:14)! God already knows all, so he knows how you’re really feeling. He’s waiting to be invited into the situation by you.

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things…I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” Philippians 4:4–8; 12–13 (NIV).

Fightin' Words

This week has been a battle. Not one of those that you plan and train for, and feel equipped to fight, but a full-out ambush by an enemy manipulating a friend.

I’ll be honest with you: It took me a few hours to stop reeling from the first verbal punches. Round two came two days later. Round three is scheduled to take place in a meeting that’s been put off for three days in a row now.

When I entered the door of the church this Sunday, I walked with a bit of an emotional limp. Little did I know that God was waiting to supply me with some much-needed ammunition to put the pep back in my step, lift my head, and send me back in feeling more excitement than fear this time.

This particular Sunday, in place of the Apostles’ Creed, we were given a copy of “The Zimbabwe Covenant.” I’ve been carrying it with me ever since. I don’t know who to credit for writing this, so if any of you do, please let me know. But here it is for you other wounded warriors out there who need some refreshment before you head back into battle.

“I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I will not look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I am finished and done with low-living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotion, or popularity. I do not have to be right, first, tops, recognized, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayers, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not give up, shut up, or let up. I will go on until He comes, and work until He stops me.

I am a disciple of Jesus.”

Fight on fellow soldiers!