Out Of The Wheelchair

The Sunday before (23 December 07) I was preaching on healing and then we prayed for the healing of various people at the end of the worship service. No visible healings occurred and eventually I also prayed for a blind man who was sitting in a wheelchair. Once again no visible healing occurred and inwardly I began remonstrating with God: “When you make me preach on healing, then it would really be nice if you also confirmed your word with actually getting someone out of a wheelchair.” Inwardly I was whinging and I even whinged to others.

However, on the same day the blind man in a wheelchair, Mitchell White, had a few trippy (his own word) experiences where his whole body went numb and he was overcome with love and joy. He received visions and nothing like that had ever happened to him before. A few days earlier God had given him a song and he had kept singing this song continuously expressing the comfort and closeness of Jesus.

Before the Christmas Eve service on Monday we prayed again for healing and we did not forget praising God for having begun a more comprehensive healing work in Mitchell’s life. Only a few weeks earlier the authorities had given up on dealing with a hardened man like him but then God put him in the path of David Challenor and soon after he came to church.

It is not easy to hear Mitchell White’s life story. His mum had literally thrown him in the rubbish bin when he was three years of age and subsequently he had suffered a history of abuse, life on the streets and jail. However, God had not forgotten him and on Wednesday raised Mitchell from his wheelchair. The swelling of his arthritis went down to the extent that he could walk again.

He was a happy man the next Sunday and gave a testimony in front of the whole church praising God. We joined in with glorifying God (I repented of my whinging) and then also prayed for the healing of his eyes. May this only be the beginning of ministering more in the power of the Spirit in preaching and healing.