The Ortho Appointment

Vanessa sat on the gurney as the doctor examined her. He asked questions as he tested her ability to flex and extend her feet. Her tracheostomy made it difficult to hear the answers. Her words came out in a muffled whisper. It was easier to read her lips.

She’d been brought to an orthopedic appointment by another crew that had been held past the end of their shift and they needed to go home. We were taking over patient care. Vanessa was being evaluated several months after a car accident that left her severely disabled and in a lot of pain.

The medic gave me a quick report and apologized (repeatedly) for “dumping” their patient on us. There’s a lot of mistrust in EMS. Some crews do as little work as possible so when a patient is handed off to another crew, there’s always the thought that laziness might be involved. The weary medic assured me she wouldn’t be a problem.

The doctor finished his exam. Before leaving, he assured Vanessa he’d be praying for her. I love it when doctors pray.(Now if we can only teach them how to heal their patients through prayer)

I introduced myself and Vanessa whispered her story. I already knew a few details, having listened in during the exam. She’d been in a car accident that left her with a lot of broken bones in her arms and legs. She also had airway problems that required a tracheostomy and ventilator.

She rubbed her left wrist.

I asked if it hurt. She said it did and rated the pain at 6/10. Both wrists hurt, but the left was worse than the right. I asked if I could pray with her.

She whispered, “Sure. I pray every day.”

I asked if she wanted God to heal her. She said she did. I told her that when I was done, her wrists wouldn’t hurt anymore, because God loves to heal people and she would be healed. So let me explain why I’m now telling people in advance that they will be healed.

I’ve noticed that when I have confidence (faith) in God’s desire to heal someone and when I allow that confidence to be expressed in words, it comes out as a confident declaration that they will be healed, before I lay hands on them.

My faith in God is manifest as a declaration that they will be healed. Not “maybe you’ll be healed” or “I think you can be healed”, but a confident prediction: “God will heal you.”

I’ve noticed that when I believe in my heart that God will heal someone and I speak with boldness that they’ll be healed before I pray, God nearly always heals them immediately. It’s extremely rare that they are not healed.

I’ve also noticed that when I don’t have as much confidence in what God will do, and I fail to speak confidently about what will happen—the results are not as good.

Now before we create a formula for healing, let’s be clear about one thing: It’s not my words of confidence that cause a person to be healed. It’s my faith in God. If I were to make the same prediction while doubting that God would actually heal them—the results would be the same as if I’d said nothing at all.

There’s one more thing that I’ve noticed. (Take note of it, because it may be one of the keys to operating consistently in healing) I believe the Holy Spirit revealed a principle to me. I wasn’t absolutely certain that it was Him, so I took the principle and began testing it to see if it was just a flaky idea or a real principle of the kingdom. It seems to be holding up under testing. Here it is:

Once I’ve reached a certain level of faith about what God will do in any area–He expects me to operate at the same (or higher) level of faith in that area from that point in time forward.

This principle (if it’s true) is full of consequences.

Once my heart and mind have been enlightened to the truth about God’s will for a specific thing, I don’t have the luxury of walking in doubt or unbelief about it any longer. He does His part when I do my part. And my part is believing that He’ll do what He’s done in the past.

That means that when I discuss possible outcomes with a person who needs healing, I must speak as though I know what will happen before it actually happens; calling things that are not, as though they are.

So there I was in the doctor’s office, telling Vanessa that her wrists would be healed. I couldn’t help but notice the surgical scars on her wrists where pins, plates, and screws had been inserted to hold the broken bones in place.

“Alright Jesus, you like healing people, so let’s get her healed. Holy Spirit, bring your presence and touch her. I command pain and inflammation to leave, evil spirits to leave. Muscles, ligaments, bone, tendons, nerves, and cartilage, I command you to be healed now in the name of Jesus.”

I asked what she felt. She moved her hands in circles, smiled, and said. “Nothing.”
“What do you mean by ‘nothing’?”

“No pain. They feel great”, she whispered as she continued rotating her wrists to make sure she wasn’t imagining it.

“Is there any pain at all?”

“Maybe just a little in the left one”.

By now my partner was getting involved. Having been healed of neck pain two weeks ago and seeing a few patients healed since then, he told Vanessa she would be healed too.

I prayed over her left wrist a second time and the pain vanished. “Now let’s get your feet healed.”

I asked how much pain she had in her feet and checked her range of motion. The atrophy in her right leg was the greatest concern. Her left calf was twice the size of her right one. She had a limited ability to move her right foot. Her ankles hurt constantly.

I told her, “You won’t have any pain when I’m done.”

I had to believe that if God healed her wrists, He would heal her feet. I commanded her feet to be healed in the same way that I did her wrists and in a minute or two, all the pain was gone.

That’s when the doctor returned.

I told him what we’d been up to. He seemed pleased by her testimony and remarked that God’s ways are wonderful and mysterious.

On the way back to the nursing home, I prayed for her throat to be healed so they could remove her tracheostomy tube. She said that as I prayed, she felt heat coming out of my hand which was resting on her arm.

God just amazes me.

This is an excerpt from the book My Craziest Adventures With God Volume 2.

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