Faith Bible Study Guide
There was a woman in one of the churches where I pastored who was in a wheelchair. She had arthritis and the doctor had told her some years before that her body would become stationary and she wouldn’t be able to move. He said she would have to become bedfast or stay in a wheelchair and her body would be locked in that position. In other words, her body would be locked either in a prone position or in a seated position.
She and her husband never missed a service, whether it was a weekday meeting, a Sunday service, or a revival meeting. They were always there. I could pray for that woman for any other ailment and she would always get healed, but she never asked me to pray for her arthritis.
This bothered me, as there were several people in the church who had been healed of very serious conditions. Some of the people would say about this woman, “Maybe it’s not God’s will to heal her.” But I knew it was God’s will because it’s His will to heal everyone. That doesn’t mean that Christians aren’t going to heaven because they don’t get healed. It just means that they are robbed of a blessing while on this earth.
One afternoon, a small group of church people gathered together and we went to this woman’s house to pray with her. As we prayed, I saw exactly what God would have me do.
I said to everyone, “Move away from her,” and I went to the opposite side of the room from her (we were in a large room). I said, “Watch, and don’t any-one touch her. Stay away from her.” Then I pointed my finger at her and said, “Now, Sister, arise and walk in the Name of Jesus Christ.” I’m a witness to the fact as well as everyone else who was present there that day that an unseen power lifted her out of that chair and she just sat up in mid-air away from the chair. She could move her arms, and she reached down for that wheelchair. When she did that, she just fell back into it.
The moment she did that, by the unction of the Holy Spirit I said without thinking, “Sister, you don’t have a bit of faith, do you? You don’t believe you’ll ever be healed of this arthritis, do you?” She spoke up immediately and said, “No, Brother Hagin, I don’t. I’ll die and go to my grave with it.” And she did. You see, you can’t receive from God beyond actual faith. Do you know what would have happened if she had cooperated with God and with His power that was upon her? If she had cooperated, she would have begun to walk; she would have been healed right then.