Back in early 1970, my dad told me about a friend at work who was a believer and attended a church in Anaheim that believed in divine healing. Since Dad had suffered for decades with a bad back, even to the point of having major surgery, his friend kept encouraging him to come to a service and simply have the elders pray for him. He finally agreed to go, so I went with him.
It was a huge church (Melodyland Christian Center) and when the invitation came to come down for prayer, because Dad was super shy, he didn’t budge.
Later though, after most of the people had left, we went on down. One of the elders had Dad sit down in a chair, then held his legs out with his feet together. By lining up his heels you could see one of Dad’s legs was about 1 inch shorter than the other. Very simply, the elder said,
“In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I command this leg to line up with the other one!”
Right before my very eyes it did — and Dad’s leg/back stayed in place from that day forward!
In the summer of 1986, 16 years later, I began to notice symptoms of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. I prayed, fasted, others prayed and asked God to heal my dad — but he was not restored. Fact is, he only got worse. Ten years later, 6/29/96, Dad died.
As Christians, we believe God can — and does heal today. But like many other areas of our Christian faith, divine healing remains, in large part, a mystery. We can pray, believe, expect — and receive! But just as often we take what we know, line everything up — and nothing happens. Sometimes things even get worse.
Nobody has all the answers because nobody knows the mind and will of God completely. But, the Lord does give us teaching on the subject, enough that we can confidently approach Him for healing and then leave the results in the hands and will of a loving and wise heavenly Father.