—MOAugust 1971NO.87—GP

My Dear Children:

1. CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN ON THE NEW BABIES!—And our prayers are with you for David Nail's feet. The Lord has a promise for feet: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" (Isaiah 52:7). Nothing happens by accident! God has a purpose in everything‚ even if it is only to force us to exercise our faith for healing, and to demonstrate it for the encouragement of others.

2. MAYBE HE'S GOING TO GIVE YOU SUCH A MINISTRY! We need more folks in the Revolution for Jesus with gifts of healings, not only for our own sake, but to inspire the faith of others and to encourage their trust in the Lord.

3. SO "BE NOT FAITHLESS, BUT BELIEVING." In prayer for you and him just now‚ I got the following, taken from the beautiful old story of the blind man in the Gospel: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Is anything too hard for the Lord? Nay, this is a small thing for Him, the God of thy creation! If He can create the baby, He certainly can straighten the feet. The One who made him can certainly fix him!

4. HAVE DESPERATE PRAYER, WITH SCRIPTURAL LAYING ON OF HANDS of the elders, even anointing with oil, if you feel so led‚ according to James 5:14,15!—And expect a miracle! You do your part, and the rest is up to God.

5. "AND BE NOT LIKE KING ASA, who was diseased in his feet; but Asa turned not unto the Lord, but unto the physicians, and he died." "With God nothing shall be impossible, and all things are possible to him that believeth!" Trust in the Lord!—He never fails, He hath never failed us in one of all His good promises! Read Grandmother's books on healing: The Hem of His Garment and Streams That Never Run Dry, to encourage your faith, especially the chapters on how to get answers to prayer!

6. WE HAVE HAD MANY SERIOUS DISEASES AND INJURIES IN OUR FAMILY, BUT GOD HAS NEVER FAILED TO HEAL THEM ALL! "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." When I was three years old, my foot was run over by an automobile, and the doctor said I would never walk again!—But my parents believed God and prayed, and I've been walking ever since, although the doctor said that many of the bones were completely crushed, and my foot was just a mass of pulp!

7. AND YET AGAIN, I ONCE WORKED FOR ONE OF THE GREATEST SAINTS OF GOD I HAVE EVER KNOWN, DR. A.U. MICHELSON, this nation's most famous missionary to the Jews, himself a converted Jewish judge‚ and founder of the world's first Hebrew-Christian Synagogue and a Gospel programme for Jews, which is still heard on hundreds of stations around the world—a man undoubtedly with thousands of souls to his credit and a glorious reward! I never knew a humbler, sweeter, more compassionate, more loving, more hardworking man, and yet he was pitifully club-footed, and hobbled around all of his life on crutches, in constant suffering. Maybe this is one reason he had such pity on others. We comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted! How can we be more than conquerors?—By being good losers!—And even praising God in our affliction. Dear old Dr. Michelson had miraculous faith for souls‚ even Jews, and finances, supporting missionaries around the world! But he never seemed to have the faith for his own healing, although he prayed for many others who were healed!

8. SO WHO KNOWS THE WILL OF GOD? ALL WE CAN DO IS BELIEVE HIS PROMISES AND PRAY‚ AND EXPECT SOME KIND OF AN ANSWER. Sometimes these things happen to draw us much closer to the Lord—to keep us humble and more dependent on Him—such as chastenings from the Lord! But He says in Hebrews 12: "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth," and "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed!" Praise God! Expect a miracle! We'll be praying with you! Search the Scriptures and see what that meaneth: "The lame take the prey" (Isa.33:23 and Isa.35:6)—"Then shall the lame man leap as an hart." And Jesus said that He caused the lame to walk, as one of the proofs of His Messiahship! And remember‚ that it was the healing of the lame man which resulted in the conversion of 5,000 in a single day, and launched the Early Church on paths of glory! So expect a miracle for the Glory of God!

9. AND THAT PASSAGE IN HEBREWS 12:13‚ where it says, "lest that which is lame be turned out of the way," means, "lest that which is lame become discouraged." So He says, "Let it rather be healed!"

10. SO WHEN WE HAVE LEARNED THE LESSON GOD IS TRYING TO TEACH US‚ or the conditions are ready for the result that God wants to bring, He says, "rather let it be healed." God prefers to heal—if we can be trusted with it‚ learn what He is trying to show us, and let it accomplish His purpose!

11. IN SOME CASES, IT TOOK YEARS OF PATIENT WAITING before Jesus or the disciples came along to bring them healing. "But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth‚ and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." (Malachi 4:2,3) We also received this Scripture as we were praying for you. Remember that He says: "I am the Lord that healeth thee," ... "Who healeth all thy diseases and forgiveth all thy iniquities." There are no exceptions: God can heal anything!

12. A FEW YEARS AGO, WE PRAYED FOR A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN EIGHT YEARS IN BED, so that her feet were totally deformed by lack of use and the weight of the covers, so that they looked like hands, instead of feet, and she'd gotten so sick that she could not even hold water in her stomach, and so thin she looked like a skeleton!—But we received for her the Scripture, Hebrews 2:14,15: "That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death; that is, the Devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

13. SO, AS WE LAID HANDS UPON HER FOR HEALING, WE WERE ALSO INSPIRED TO CAST OUT HER SPIRIT OF FEAR, AND TO COMMAND HER TO ARISE AND WALK! She said she hadn't walked for years, and couldn't walk—but we again rebuked the Enemy and her doubts and commanded her to arise and walk, as the Lord had instructed us—and she obeyed, and was instantly and totally healed; and walked the floor that day her feet restored to normal!

14. WHEN WE SAW HER A FEW MONTHS LATER, SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, and had gained all the weight necessary to make her so, and was radiantly happy in the service of the Lord, giving her testimony everywhere she went, Praise the Lord!

15. SO THE DAY OF MIRACLES IS NOT PAST! OUR GOD IS STILL A GOD OF MIRACLES. Our emphasis in recent years has been, more on the miracles of Salvation—on the miracle of Service and Witnessing—the miracle of Forsaking all and following Jesus all the way—the miracle of the transformation of human lives—but God is still in the business of transforming the bodies that need it, as well, as well as the heart, the mind, and the spirit.

16. I MYSELF AM STILL A LIVING WITNESS TO HIS HEALING POWER, HAVING BEEN GIVEN UP FOR DEAD AND DYING NEARLY THIRTY YEARS AGO. My heart was so bad they said if I'd stay in bed, I might live a year, but I promised to serve the Lord if He healed me—and I've been busy for Him ever since! And I'm in better health today than ever, PTL! Jesus never fails! God cannot only do it, but He wants to do it! He's more willing to give than we are to receive! Therefore "cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience‚ that, after ye have done the will of God‚ ye might receive the promise." (Heb.10:35,36.) Believe God!! He never fails!—Even when we are faithless! Hold Him to His Word! He says‚ "Command thou Me."

17. DEMAND AND EXPECT AN ANSWER! HE HAS PROMISED IT! AND REMEMBER THAT "ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE THE LORD."—And that this‚ too, has befallen you for the glory of God! Love and trust and praise Him more than ever—and I know He'll not fail! He cannot deny Himself! He is bound by His Word! Remind Him of it‚ cling to His Promises, memorise and quote them continually, and never doubt for a moment that God is going to answer—and He will! He has to! He wants to! Trust Him! And thank Him for the answer—even if you don't see it immediately! For behold, the trying of your faith is much more precious than gold! God bless you! We're praying for you PTL!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family