"Will you get out?" I shouted. The lady seated next to me asked if I was talking to her and I responded, "No." It was obvious I wasn't talking to her. What was not obvious, was who I was talking to. We were about the only two in the room.
It started 12 years ago. It would last for about 5 minutes every time it happened; five minutes of unexplainable stomach pain. Not being able to do anything else, I would lie helplessly on the ground. It strikes anytime, anywhere.
Last month, as we prayed again, the leader declared that God had ended that stomachache of a long time. I knew it was for me. I received it by faith and believed that was the end of my 12-year-old problem. For weeks, I didn't even remember it until this last Sunday. Gradually I felt it building up again; just the way it starts. "So God didn’t heal me again?" It was not the first time I would feel the pain again after being very sure I was healed. The pain kept coming back.
What was building up this time went beyond the pain in my stomach, but also the disappointment in my heart. I felt, "So God didn’t actually heal me of this plague after all."
My usual response would be to lie down, allow the pain to overwhelm me, torment me for 5 minutes as usual. It doesn't go beyond 5 minutes. "Even Paul had a thorn a thorn in his flesh. Three times, he prayed, but God didn’t heal him. It seems like this is mine." With those words, I would 'console' myself.
Something was different this time. It was sudden, as quick as a flash. It felt like a great light beaming on my spirit. I understood it clearly.
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." Matthew 12:43-45 NIV
So all these years, God actually healed me, but I kept opening the door for the devil when he comes back. He would make me feel God didn’t heal me and I will agree. As soon as I feel the pain, I would lie down and allow it to have its course.
As I shouted: "Will you get out!" The pain subsided in seconds. JESU! I AM HEALED!!
Lesson One: Do you know that you are no longer sick? Are you aware you have long been healed of this disease? God has done his part. Your space is now clean and tidy. When next the devil is at your door, don't open. Don't just refuse to open, tell him to leave and never return.
Lesson Two: Keep loading your spirit with the word. You don’t even have to understand it that day. Just keep feeding on it. On the day when you will need it, it will shine forth like a light.
