| A woman called Bev and I to her apartment in a nearby
town to pray for an 82-year-old friend of hers who had arthritis in her
hands. Bev had been healed of rheumatoid
arthritis so we had a fair amount of faith to pray for healing from
that dreadful infirmity. We sat the woman, whom we'll call Anna, in a straight-back chair and then talked to her for a while before we prayed for her. We found that she had faithfully attended a Methodist church for over 50 years, but she had a another problem that bothered her besides her arthritic hands. She had a hole in her chest - not a physical one, a spiritual one. "It's right here," Anna said, "pointing to a spot just over her heart. I've had it for years, and no matter how much I pray about it, it never goes away. It just feels so empty right there." She rubbed the spot with her hand, as if she had done it many times. "Have you been born again?" I asked her. "Born again?" "Saved," I said. "Have you been saved?" "I think I am," she said, "I've been going to church for fifty years." "Well, I'm sure you are," I said. "But just to make certain, would you mind if we lead you in a salvation prayer before we pray for your healing." "No, I don't mind," she said. So we lead Anna in a salvation prayer, and then - and this is important - we asked the Lord to manifest Himself to her, to make Himself real to her, to seal her with the Holy Spirit. We then commanded the spirit of arthritis to come out of her hands, and continued to do so until we were satisfied that it had left. Bev and I had been kneeling on each side of Anna's chair while we ministered to her, and we continued kneeling there praising and thanking the Lord. Suddenly Anna shouted, "It's gone! It's gone!" Thinking she meant the arthritis, Bev and I started praising the Lord for her healing. But she said, "No, I mean the hole is gone! It's not there anymore!" Then she started weeping with joy and rubbing her chest where the hole had been for so many years, as if she couldn't really believe that it was gone. Bev and I wept with her. About five years later, the woman who had called us to pray for Anna called us again to tell us that Anna had just died. And to tell us that during those five years Anna was the happiest Christian she had ever seen, and that the "hole" and never come back. Oh, yes, Anna's hands were also healed of arthritis, and that never came back either.
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