When Dayanand Edappally opened his heart to the Lord he experienced an instantaneous healing at a Catholic Convention.
HOW JESUS HEALED
Have you ever noticed how Jesus healed people? All the healings recorded in the Gospels took no time to take effect. He healed ailments and cured diseases instantaneously without the need of medicines or tablets. He healed with a touch, a look or a word. When Dayanand Edappally opened his heart to the Lord he experienced an instantaneous healing at a Catholic Convention. And power went out of Him every time he healed someone. Sometimes it was just one person like the Centurion’s Servant in Luke 7:1-10 and sometimes a great crowd as in Matthew 15:29-31 but He healed them all immediately. This is the wonderful thing about Jesus’ ministry. He had and still has the absolute power to heal without the medium of medicines or surgery. And He heals with only one condition – that you have faith in His healing power, which means the inner conviction that He is God Almighty.
INTELLECTUAL FAITH
In the past, I have attended several charismatic healing services but I always thought that it was a lot of mumbo jumbo and I never received any lasting healing for any of my ailments. After the services I returned to my daily life as if nothing had happened. My faith was very much at an intellectual level and it did not touch my heart. I believed the teachings of the Church as a set of doctrine and rules to be accepted and adhered to at the level of the mind. This dry, ‘antiseptic’ approach to religion kept me from noticing the promptings of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I often wondered why others received miraculous healings, but I was not getting any.
TIME FOR CHANGE
Then it dawned on me that I had to change my approach to God. I realised that God works at the level of the heart as well as the mind and emotions. He is waiting for us to welcome Him into our minds and hearts. “I am standing at the door, knocking. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you and you with me.” (Rev 3:20) Our hearts have to be open to his promptings. Only then will He be able to transform us, to change our way of thinking, and to change our approach to people and events.
LACK OF FAITH
During the Second Saturday Catholic Convention in September Fr Pat Collins, an Irish priest explained the difference between mere belief and deep faith. He explained that people fl ocked to listen to Jesus because they believed that He was a great prophet and a miracle worker who could do things for them. But did they have faith in Him as the Son of God? Jesus expressed sorrow at the lack of faith, even among His own apostles, who failed to believe in His divine power. When Peter walked on the water to reach Jesus, it was his faith in the power of the Lord that spurred him to undertake the risky venture. (Matthew 14:28- 31) But when the storm started blowing around him, his faith wavered and he began to sink until Jesus pulled him into the boat.
MY SHALLOW FAITH
As I listened to Fr Pat, I realized how shallow my faith was. The testimonies he shared with the congregation emphasised the need for strong faith for successful Christian living. As he wrote in his book, Guided by God, when God speaks to the heart, one should not doubt or hesitate to act on it. The promptings of the Holy Spirit must be listened to and acted upon in good faith. Fr Xavier Khan Vattayil (Director of Sehion Ministries) has also explained how, overwhelmed by his sense of unworthiness, he hesitated to act on the promptings of the Spirit during the early stages of his preaching and healing ministry. As a result he was humbled and surprised to see many people being healed through the prayer of his lay colleagues while he himself, because of his hesitation, failed to dispense God’s healing gifts to the people.
DOUBLE HEALINGS
During the healing service, Fr Pat announced that Jesus was healing someone who had difficulty swallowing food. I raised my hand with a few others as I had been suffering from this problem for several years. Fr Pat said Jesus was healing us at that very moment. I believed him and I was powerfully healed. Later he announced that Jesus was healing back-pain. I stood up to receive this healing because I had been troubled by lower back pain for several months. I felt the pain in my lower back as I stood up but then the pain disappeared in an instant. I had experienced an instantaneous, miraculous cure. And, thank God, I am now free from both problems.
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE
These healings reminded me of my student days when philosophy taught me how God acts beyond the constraints of space and time. He is not bound by their laws because He made both of them! “For God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 19: 26) And His providence is for everyone and everything that He has created. He who feeds the ravens of the air and clothes in glory the lilies of the field will certainly take care of all the needs of His countless millions of children. (Luke 12: 24- 27) So we don’t need to worry about the future, but we can say with all our hearts, “Your will be done, Lord!”