John Kpikpi is a friend of mine. I know and trust him. I also know and trust Terry who reported the following remarkable text message on his blog. A truly remarkable event.

On Thursday night (29th May 2008) I was watching the Florida outpouring of God TV. It went on till our time 12.30 a.m. Towards the end there were testimonies of the 15th person raised from the dead – one of which was reported by cell phone from Kenya!

I was about to go to bed when a lady in our church phoned to say that her husband had stopped speaking and stopped responding to her, and asked me to come.

It was rather dire when I got there; we could not detect any breathing movements at all, and his body felt very cold to the touch. There was no pulse and his limbs were limp. Not being a medic I can’t claim he was dead but there was no evidence of life.

His three children were crying in another room while I set out to pray for him with his wife, obviously filled with faith from my time watching the TV.

After praying for a while I thought I noticed a slight movement below the thorax. I wondered whether my eyes were playing tricks on me so I rested my palm gently over the area – and felt it move. I asked his wife to feel the same place but she said she couldn’t feel anything. We continued to pray and I saw his collar bone move up and down!

We pressed on and then I could hear breathing noises. Then he began to snore and at this time his wife called him and he responded with a grunt! I felt it was time for me to leave and I went in and assured the children that their Dad was OK.

Was he raised from the dead? Well, I think if I hadn’t gone in with impartation from the Florida outpouring we would all have been wailing on Sunday; rather he came to stand with his wife before the church as a great testimony.

Hallelujah! I am hungry for more of this present outpouring.

John Kpikpi
2nd June 2008

Regular readers of my blog will know that I published some posts last week on the events in Lakeland, Florida. Terry Virgo has now made available online a talk on the subject that he gave on the events at the recent Newfrontiers Prayer and Fasting leaders meeting. You can download it or listen to it here.

Over the last few days we have been reflecting on events in Florida. This will be the final post. To read the complete series, please visit the following posts:

• Todd Bentley and the Lakeland, Florida ‘Revival Meetings’
  
  
• Worship at the Lakeland, Florida ‘Revival Meetings’
  
  
• What is Happening in Lakeland, Florida, by Jesse Phillips
  
  
• Terry Virgo Continues His Reflections on the Lakeland, Florida ‘Revival Meetings’
  
  
• Jesse Phillips Reflects on the Lakeland, Florida ‘Revival Meetings’
  
  
• More Reflections from Jesse Phillips on the Lakeland, Florida ‘Revival Meetings’

My dear friend, Jesse Phillips, concludes his report as follows:

“As I conclude, let me say that I have tried hard to withhold coming to many firm conclusions because I was only there one night. There are other things I have heard which have gone on in the past about which I am not going to comment. Instead, I have tried to limit my remarks only to those things that actually happened while I was there. I would have the following two main warnings, which seem pretty basic to me:

First, beware of the tendency to overstate what’s going on. One of the interesting things about this whole event is that it is the first time something of this scale has taken place in the blog era. News about Lakeland is getting out at an amazing rate. After just 45 days, it’s been fascinating to see how quickly the world has learned of it and started talking about it. In my former blogging career, I read a Challies article about how the blogosphere has contributed to a resurgence of interest in reformed doctrine, and I mused at how technology might impact the charismatic aspects of our doctrine as well, renewing an interest in revival.

I guess the caution would be that things look a little different on television than they do when you are there in person. I did watch one night on God TV, just to check it out, and then closed the computer, opened my Bible, and had a pretty significant encounter with the Lord, being filled with the Spirit and ministered to by God so that my faith was increased. No doubt God can use the Internet or a television broadcast to minister to us, speak to us, and fill us. Of course, when I was actually there, I did not have such a significant encounter with God. I guess the caution would be that some of the things that are being said—both good things and bad things—by people who have never actually been present at any of the meetings can tend to overstate what’s actually going on. For example, this has been compared to the Toronto Blessing. When I first heard about it, I wondered if it might be true that God was doing something like he did in Toronto again. But having been there, it really doesn’t seem very much like what happened in the mid-90’s at this point—not that it couldn’t grow into that. But it seems like comparing it to that time of refreshing is an exaggeration. It seems like a smaller group of people are getting more world-wide attention because of technology, although to the degree that it stirs people to pray and thirst for more of God, it can be a good thing.

Second, beware of the tendency to discount everything. Let me end by saying that we should avoid the tendency to write everything off. For example, when I heard about the girl being raised from the dead, my initial response was to say, “Yeah, right.” But I think the Lord kindly asked me why my inclination was immediately to doubt. I do believe that miracles are for today, so why should I find it so difficult to believe it when one actually occurs? Just because there are some oddities or theology that I find unbiblical doesn’t mean that God is not still working. There are many miracles being done. God is healing people. This is something that should be celebrated. This is the kind of thing that the New Testament prescribes as part of our experience; that God apportions various kinds of gifts, including healing and miracles. Therefore, just because we didn’t have an amazing encounter with God, or just because we don’t have a gift of healing, this should not cause us to doubt people who do encounter God at these meetings and give testimony to gifts of healings.

I pray that God uses what is going on and the attention it is receiving to cause the world to begin to pray for revival so that this little shower in Lakeland can grow into a storm.”

— Jesse Phillips
E-mail: me@jessephillips.net

Having shared my own thoughts, along with Jesse's view of the worship, and some other events of the evening, as well as his subsequent reflections, we resume Jesse's report today, beginning with more of his reflections on the meeting he attended.

“Fourth, there was not an emphasis on preaching from a doctrinal standpoint; rather, there seemed to be a great emphasis on faith, wholeness, healing, and inner light. Again, many things were said that are true. But I think what was missing was that the gospel was not preached very clearly. Even in its most basic forms—that Jesus died for my sins so that I don’t have to pay for them, even though I have offended a holy God—the gospel was not mentioned. Instead, something to this effect was said: “Jesus bore the crown of thorns to deliver us from our mental infirmities.” Although it’s true that we can be healed of mental illness through the powerful name of Jesus, the teaching left something to be desired. Many past revivals have centered around strong, anointed preaching. This one seems to have little or no strong preaching at all.

I also have a concern about what seemed to me to be a limited understanding of the nature of sin. The teaching in this meeting seemed to be that sin is primarily something that happens to us, and from which we need to be delivered, not something that first and foremost dwells in us. Some passages about healing through the blood of Christ which seem, in context, to refer at least to spiritual healing were applied in a way that made it seem that they referred exclusively to physical healing. There have also been some reports on YouTube and the God TV broadcast that Mr. Bentley has a personal angel called Emma. Again, I'm not speaking from experience, because nothing about angels ever came up the night I was there, but these reports would be concerning to me because I think they could potentially lead people astray.

During worship, I thought to myself, “With this level of anticipation and faith, imagine the impact a dynamic, theologically rich song like In Christ Alone would have!” My heart was aching to sing of the glorious reality of the blood and suffering of Christ, and then the absolute exultation of the line:

“Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me.”
Then, with an amazing realization of the power of the cross, to proclaim:

“No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”

In Christ Alone
Words and Music by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
Instead, we sang about being a generation who will stand and fight.

So often I can be so theologically sound and doctrinal, but lack a sense of urgency, anticipation, and faith. I am lazy and comfortable with where I’m at. Then, in an environment of real faith and excitement, I think of the power that a theologically sound and rich song and the gospel message would have in that context. I was disappointed because, while I think they do well in the faith category, I think more of an emphasis on the anointed preaching of the gospel and God-centered worship, not man-centered songs, would have a tremendous impact to stir religious affections and motivate a lot of the revival that's being prayed for.

I know some people will think I am quenching the Spirit by desiring more of an accurate theology or a clearer description of who this God is that we’re excited about, but why should we have to choose between doctrine and expectation? Why can’t we have it all? Our excitement is baseless and will never last if it is not grounded in the gospel, and all of our theology, however fine-tuned, will never by itself produce revival. I guess what you’re hearing are the longings of a reformed-charismatic who desires the best of both worlds, yet so often sins by doubting such a thing is possible.”

Continued in part 5 . . .

So far, I have shared my thoughts, and my friend, Jesse, has reported on the worship and other events of the evening he attended. Today he begins to reflect on his thoughts, looking back on that experience.

“Those are the events that stand out in my mind as I look back over the evening. I was able to draw out my father-in-law a bit, who has been to Toronto and Kansas City during various times of outpouring, and develop some perspective about the Lakeland Revival. There were several things that stood out to me:

First, there was an inspiring atmosphere of expectancy. As I said earlier, there was an amazing sense of hunger and thirst for God to do something great. Everyone present anticipated seeing amazing evidence of the active presence of God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that a sense of contentment and complacency is a great cause of apathy and hindrance to revival, and there was certainly no contentment present, but hunger. That was convicting. I thought to myself, “How often do you just show up and treat each Sunday like just another Sunday?” In the days after Toronto, I’ve heard, there was such an expectancy for God to work in power, that one pastor said, “I’m never going to look at Sunday the same way again.” Each time we gather, God will honor an atmosphere of faith and anticipation. I say this very hesitantly, but even if there is some bad theology mixed in, I still think God honors our faith and child-like trust in him. So I would encourage anyone who would be tempted to write this whole thing off as demonic, or to call Todd Bentley the anti-Christ, that there does seem to be a strong genuine thirst for revival and faith that God is stirring one up.

My initial thought about the whole thing when I first learned of it was that, like a brief shower during a great drought, this rain that was falling was going to demonstrate just how dry and thirsty the ground really is. That prophetic leaning was confirmed as I was there last night. There are certainly some healings taking place, and I think these outpouring of healings are exciting people and causing them to thirst for more, to desire a genuine outbreak of the presence of God. I was amazed at how many people seemed to be genuinely hungry for God to work wonders.

Second, I did not feel an incredibly strong sense of God’s presence. I’ve been part of meetings where the presence of God seemed so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. On the ride home we were talking about Toronto and how it was like that. There was one time in Toronto when a man from China was asked to intercede in his native tongue. When he started praying, the presence of God was sensed so strongly through the power of the prayer that people who did not even understand the language began weeping. Then, when asked to give the translation, the prayer was interpreted as, “God, the blood of the martyrs cries out to you.” The environment in this meeting was not like that. Again, I’m not saying that God wasn’t present. I know that he was present, but my subjective experience was that while there was certainly much excitement about the healings that had taken place, and people were certainly being rallied up to pursue the fire of the Spirit and healing power, there wasn’t an overwhelming sense of “Wow, God himself has drawn near!” Someone asked me today, “Is there a real move of the Spirit there?” I answered, “I don’t know.” I expected to walk into the room and instantly be aware of God's presence, and that something was 'going on.' That’s what can typically be the experience in seasons of outpouring. To me, the environment seemed more casual than that. It was very electric and excited, but lacking that general overwhelming sense of God’s immanence and holiness that just makes you stop in your tracks and worship.

Third, there were no prophecies. I’m not saying that there have to be prophecies in order for God to really work; I just thought it was interesting that there weren’t any prophecies shared. There was more of an emphasis on healing than hearing. With previous moves of the Spirit there has been a very strong prophetic tone, a great sense of what God was up to, and how each member present was to be a participant, and to be affected. Obviously, I was only there one night, but I must say I was hoping for more of a prophetic dimension. 1 Corinthians 14:1 makes it clear to me that one of the chief gifts of the Spirit to be desired is that of prophecy, when it comes to a large gathering. I’m not saying that there is no place for any other gifts—far from it—but I would have liked for there to have been more prophecy. I kept thinking to myself, “Lord, what are you saying through all of this? What are you doing in all of this?” I thought to myself, “I don’t just want to see God at work, I want to hear his voice also.” Galatians says that miracles come through “hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5). I think that an added presence of prophecy and the preaching of God’s Word would have greatly complemented the miracles and greatly increased my anticipation as I heard with faith.

Continued in part 4 . . .

I wanted to continue to post some reflections on the events occurring in Florida. Terry Virgo has now posted the second part of his comments, so I thought I'd share all the links we have so far, and then end the post with some quotes from Terry's latest post. I also still have more to come from Jesse.

My own reflections:

• Todd Bentley and the Lakeland, Florida 'Revival Meetings'

Jesse Phillips' report:

• Worship at the Lakeland, Florida 'Revival Meetings'
  
  
• What is Happening in Lakeland, Florida, by Jesse Phillips

Terry Virgo's posts:

• Lakeland, Florida (Part 1)
  
  
• Lakeland, Florida (Part 2)

A quote from Terry's second post follows. Terry begins by comparing current events with the 'Toronto Blessing,' about which I have written an extensive article previously. Terry says this:

"One of the features of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that affected so many in ‘94/’95 was the fact that it was something that could be ‘caught’ or ‘transferred.’ People who attended certain meetings became ‘carriers’ of a kind of ‘spiritual contagion’ which subsequently broke out elsewhere.

It would be true to say that this has been a mark of historic revivals. People visited the 1905 Welsh Revival, for instance, and on returning home, found that God’s presence had accompanied them in an extraordinary way . . .

Various phenomenal responses were noted when the Holy Spirit’s presence seemed to be strong. Some fell, some shook, and some laughed. Some seemed to happen in an involuntary kind of way; others perhaps were imitation. The pressure to conform on these occasions can become very great.

What influenced me most significantly was not the extraordinary physical manifestations, but the extraordinary lasting change that I observed in the lives of people I knew. Many displayed a new love and devotion to God and a new sensitivity to the Spirit’s presence. Some embraced a new commitment to Christ and his mission to win the world for his name. The physical manifestations gradually faded, but the transformed lives have remained . . .

How do we evaluate? We must get our doctrine clear.

We often imagine that God’s gifts are proofs of holiness or marks of maturity given only to the most advanced Christians to demonstrate God’s approval of their spiritual progress. But this isn’t the case. God’s gifts aren’t rewards! If that had been the case in Corinth, the church would have been completely devoid of gifts because, as D. A. Carson declares, the believers were ‘wretchedly, unacceptably, spiritually immature’ (The Cross and Christian Ministry, Baker 1993). But Paul said that they ‘didn’t lack any spiritual gift’ (1 Corinthians 1:7). In spite of their immaturity and carnality, God gives gifts freely on the basis of grace. Christ’s righteousness qualifies you to receive amazing gifts of the Holy Spirit . . .

We should pray for 32-year-old Todd Bentley, whose high profile through exposure to daily television broadcasts circling the world would frighten the most experienced preacher. Some of his references to angelic visitations are at least vulnerable to misunderstanding and, tragically, stories of shipwreck associated with previously high profile ministries who spoke frequently of angelic visitation are well documented.

In the midst of what has been historically regarded as authentic and powerful revival, Jonathan Edwards found himself exposed to extraordinary phenomena on all sides. He neither dismissed it all nor accepted it all, but offered his own critique, sometimes defending and sometimes challenging what took place."

Read Terry's complete post . . .

On Sunday Jesse began by speaking about his experience of the worship in the Lakeland, Florida meetings, about which I have also shared my perspective. Today he continues his report of events on the evening he attended:

“After worship, Stephen Strader, pastor of Ignited Church in Lakeland, whose father, Karl, had previously been the pastor of Carpenter’s Home Church, stood up and gave some testimonies, as well as some background on the revival for those of us attending for the first time. He explained how the revival was a melting pot of a bunch of different backgrounds. ‘It’s former rain and latter rain,’ he explained, adding that it consisted of folks from the Jesus Movement, charismatic folks, Pentecostal folks, and even some Quakers and Shakers—all together seeking the Lord. He said the message was a “whole gospel,” not one in which certain parts were cut out. What he seemed to be referring to were people who did not agree in the presence of modern-day healing and some of the other things that were emphasized throughout the night.

Strader stated that this series of meetings is now in its forty-fifth day. It started back on April 2nd when he invited Todd Bentley to come for a series of five meetings or so. Todd ‘made himself at home’ and decided to stay. People had come from at least ten or twelve different countries. There were testimonies of eight people who have been raised from the dead.

Of course, this struck me as amazing, and I waited to hear some explanation. There was a story told of a three-year-old girl named Jaden, who died. The family had begun to make funeral preparations. Lily, a schoolteacher who was part of these meetings, prayed with her class for God to work a miracle. Jaden was an organ donor, and died on Monday. On Tuesday a match was found for someone to accept her organ donation, and on Wednesday her body was in transit to the surgery room for the organs to be removed. On the way there, she coughed and sat up. After telling the story, Strader exclaimed, “Funeral cancelled!” Another story was told about a child who had flat-lined during dialysis. Her testimony was that she had an out-of-body experience, and was sent back down to the earth just before being pronounced dead and sat up praising God.

On the issue of excess and judging the legitimacy of the revival, Strader made the comment, ‘Todd [Bentley] and I know that not everything that’s happening here is of God. There’s a whole lot of flesh going on here as well.’ He then warned the group that if they saw anyone acting out in the flesh they would kick them out. Of course, he said, the surest sign of someone in the flesh was someone refusing to participate, writing off everything as demonic. He encouraged the group using the parable of the tares—that God alone can judge, and at the appropriate time he will separate the wheat from the tares.

I was somewhat disappointed to find out that Todd Bentley, the man who has been primarily leading the meetings, was not present. He was in California. In his place, Keith Miller from Stand Firm World Ministries, was addressing the group. He encouraged us to push to a new depth of faith and belief in God for great things. On one occasion he told an individual to stand up, named the cancer they were suffering, it proved to be an accurate word of knowledge, and then he prayed for that cancer to be healed right then and there. His message seemed to be a bit wild, a mix of different texts being read, interrupted by people coming up on stage, 'throwing' the Holy Spirit to hit people in the back, calling out various ailments and praying for a surge of power to heal. You can watch on God TV to get a feel for yourself of the flavor.”

Continued in part 3 . . .

Yesterday I spoke about my reaction to the little I know about what has been going on in meetings run by Todd Bentley in Lakeland, Florida. Today I begin a special report brought to us by my dear friend, Jesse Phillips, who is a Sovereign Grace pastor in the Florida area. He visited the meetings himself one evening. The following is his unabridged report.

*************************

The thing I was immediately impressed with as we showed up, and throughout the whole night, was the overwhelming sense of anticipation and faith. This is something that, quite frankly, some of us could use a bit more of, myself included. The people at these meetings expect God to do great things when they gather. Too often I expect God to do nothing. My faith was certainly challenged as I thought about my posture in the gathering of my church each week.

We arrived at the meeting a few minutes late, but managed to catch most of the worship. My father-in-law and I estimated that about 4,000 people were gathered in a large arena. The first song was a medium-paced tune that started, “We are the generation who will stand and fight.” It was a song about being a light in the darkness, carrying the light that is within us to shine as a testimony of the power of Jesus’ name. The second song was about Jesus being the way, the truth, and the light of the world. It started “Prepare the way of the Lord,” and the chorus was a repeat of Jesus’ name eight times or so. I didn’t know the song, although it was easy to learn because of its simplicity.

During worship we were repeatedly encouraged to stir up our passion for Christ, to feel the heart of Christ for his Church, to not do church for the sake of doing church, but for a relationship, to seek the face of God.

One interesting thing I noticed during the worship time was that there were several people throughout the arena who had flags. One of them had the crown of a king on it, another had a heart shape printed on the front. People were very expressively waving flags, an element of worship I can’t say I’ve ever seen before. There were also a couple of people who had loud horns that were blown at various times.

Overall worship was very expressive and repetitious. It was forty-five minutes to an hour and consisted of three songs. The last song was called “Revelation Song” and was the most engaging for me, partly because I recognized it, but also because of its content. Whereas the first song focused on us as a generation, this song focused on God and proclaimed “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.” Then, a particularly moving line, “Jesus, Your name is power, breath and living water. Such a marvelous mystery.”

Continued in part 2 . . .

I have had a number of people ask me about events which are gaining a lot of attention at the moment. In the UK, a series of ‘revival’ meetings being run in Lakeland, Florida by evangelist Todd Bentley are being shown daily on God TV.

Before I get into that, however, apparently British satellite TV now carries ten stations devoted to nothing but Christian teaching, and as far as I know, not one of them is consistently promoting a more Reformed message. “Desiring God TV” anyone? In fact, I don't get to watch any of these channels since having paid the government for the right to own a TV, I object to having to pay a subscription to Mr. Murdoch as well.

What is interesting to me is that the medium of TV and the medium of the Internet appear almost by their nature to attract different kinds of ministries. If an alien from another planet (if such a thing exists!) was to spend a few hours searching for Christian blogs and sermon websites and would compare notes with another who had spent the same amount of time watching Christian TV, I suspect they would come to very different conclusions about the predominant philosophical and theological environment of western Christianity.

Anyway, back to Lakeland and Todd Bentley. As a result of my self-imposed TV channel poverty, I know little or nothing about the events in Florida. For the past few weeks I have been studiously avoiding commenting here on the blog about something I know very little about. I did read a piece over at Pyromaniacs, but felt that I did not want to reject these events which I have not studied.

I heard that someone said recently concerning these events, “I do not want to be an enemy of someone God calls a friend.” But neither do I want to endorse something wholeheartedly that, from what I have heard, has, at the very least, some significant stylistic differences to what I would be comfortable with.

Oddly enough, I had already written this article before reading Terry Virgo's post on Todd Bentley and Lakeland, Florida from earlier yesterday in which he shared his own initial reflections, which begin in a very cautious tone. Terry was rightly concerned about a number of things he saw on the God Channel.

Terry ends his post by speaking of the experiences of another Newfrontiers pastor. “However, a friend of mine who actually attended the Lakeland meetings for several days felt ‘I hate this . . . I want to get out of here,’ but actually went on to be blessed and, as he watched more closely, felt that he saw remarkable compassion and mercy, particularly being expressed to large numbers of poorer people who were flocking to the meetings. Since his return to the UK, he has witnessed a number of healings, as indeed others have."

I suppose my own conclusions for now on what little I know of these events would be as follows:

• We should not rush to either wholeheartedly reject or accept everything that is happening. I suppose I am taking something of a Gamaliel approach, at least for now.
  
  
• It strikes me that if it weren't for TV, we might not even be hearing about these events yet. Time will demonstrate if this is just a localized event or truly something more significant.
  
  
• If we hear reports of God healing and people becoming Christians, it would be wise for us to rejoice, even if we may reserve the right to be discerning about the practices and beliefs of the teachers involved. Paul rejoiced whenever the gospel was preached, even if he knew that the motivations of the preacher were bad.
  
  
• We should resolve to think the best of others as much as we can, without foolishly swallowing everything we see as being all right.
  
  
• We should remember that, as I heard someone say recently, God does not distribute his anointing as a reward for good theology or good behavior. If God can use a donkey in the Bible, we should not be surprised if he uses somebody of whom we do not approve. Fortunately for us, God is much more gracious than we are!
  
  
• The faith and expectancy of others should challenge us to dare to believe that God can act today, and as John Piper recently put it, be “desperate for the supernatural.”

Over the next few days I will be sharing a report of a visit made to the Lakeland ‘revival meetings’ by a dear friend of mine, Jesse Phillips.

I want to share three stories with you. The first happened right here at our home church. A woman who had previously had a melanoma removed was told, following a scan, that her cancer had returned, I believe in three places. I know this lady personally. We prayed. Following that, the doctors were unable to find the lump in her neck; it seemed to have disappeared and so could not be biopsied. That caused some consternation to the doctors. They then removed another lump, which actually seemed smaller than they had originally thought it to be. It seemed as though the cancer was shrinking, not growing. Now, just this week, they repeated the scan, and could find no trace of cancer. They have told her they do not need to see her for a few months. We are thrilled for her! Skeptics might say, “Oh, but it went into remission naturally,” or “The doctors just made a mistake in the first place.” Me? I just want to thank God that he has healed her—miraculously or naturally—it doesn't really matter to me which way!

The other two stories both come from Terry Virgo's blog. Terry is a man I would trust implicitly having had contact with him for many years.  Incidentally, God-willing, I will soon have videos appearing on this blog of my New Word Alive interviews with Terry, John Piper, and Don Carson. Please pray that some of the technical hitches we have been having with those files will be resolved shortly.

Anyway, when reporting on his own perception of New Word Alive, Terry reported briefly on a healing he had observed the week before:

While at Rhiwbina, I had the joy of praying for Maggie Parker, who had been wheelchair-bound for 23 years. She stood, walked unaided to the front, and testified to an astonished and tearful congregation how Jesus had completely healed her, and then expressed her surprise that everyone seemed so short! That was pretty exciting, too!”

This story is a remarkable one, and just the other day Terry shared the following update from Maggie Parker:

““‘It has been a very strange fortnight, to say the least. I have never had so many opportunities to witness handed to me on a plate. I have many Christian and non-Christian friends all over the world. I am just overwhelmed by the joy He has given to so many people: the hairdresser, an exercise class I attend, the road tax man. The list goes on and on. I haven’t heard from the Council, or the DVLC, or the Department of Works and Pensions, whom I have told I do not want their money any more! All the letters contain a short testimony to the effect that I am a practicing Christian and believe that Jesus died for me to forgive my sins, is risen, and that He is still healing today! Wow! I would love to have seen their faces on opening such a letter.

‘People are not looking quite so small now as I am adjusting to seeing the world from standing upright. I have been up an escalator and, of course, walked where I have not been able to before. My friend in North Wales already has my favourite walks earmarked and, of course, this includes the miners’ track of Snowdon. My muscles and ligaments are complaining because I do not seem to be able to gauge a “slow build up of exercise”! I’ll get to a more sensible stage I expect.’”

In the same post, Terry spoke of a time of remarkable healing this past week during a Russian speakers conference in the Crimea. At the end of the conference, he also reported that his wife, Wendy Virgo, suffered appendicitis.

Wendy was not miraculously healed. But she was sovereignly preserved. And the God-given skills of surgeons and doctors meant that a potentially life-threatening condition was quickly resolved. I am quite sure that although he doesn't say this in his post, Terry is as grateful to God for healing his wife in this way as he is for the other healings he has recently witnessed. Actually, given that Wendy is his wife, I am fairly sure he is actually more pleased that she is recovering well from her surgery.

As John Piper reminded us at New Word Alive, it is right for us to pray for healing. It is biblical to lay hands on the sick and ask God to heal them. God does heal today. Sometimes, like for my friend, it is a mysterious process that some observers might simply put down to the body somehow curing itself (although, in her case, it seems like somewhat more than that to me). Others are healed dramatically as Maggie Parker has been. But a final group are healed through the God-given skills of the doctors. We should rejoice and thank God no matter which method he uses to heal.

We rejoiced in God together this morning in our church prayer meeting. We remembered to thank him for all the wonderful things he is doing. But, hearing these stories made us long for more. Please join us in crying out to God to send more of his Holy Spirit on this earth to heal the sick, bring salvation to many, and purify his Church.

Note: The photograph of an empty wheelchair is taken by Richard James and is not Maggie Parker's.