Acts 28:1-10 (8)
8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
In his book “Biblical Preaching,” Fred Craddock tells of a young pastor who visited an elderly woman in the hospital. She was obviously she did not have long to live.
The young pastor asked her if he could pray for her. In answer, she gasped “Pray that I would be healed.”
Taken aback by her request, he began to pray with uncertainty that she would be healed if it was God’s will. He then added a disclaimer, asking that she would be willing to accept her circumstance if it was not God’s will to heal.”
The pastor ended his safe prayer with “Amen.” To his surprise, she opened her eyes wide, sat up, crawled out of the hospital bed and walked out of the room. The last he saw of her she was going down the hall crying out, ‘Look at me! I’m healed.’
Stunned the young pastor went to his car in the parking lot. As he opened the door of the car he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Please don’t ever do that to me again’ (Beukema, in Biblical Preaching, 130).
The sad thing about this story is that the pastor was surprised. If we would trust God and exercise our God given faith, He would be able to use us more often to help those who are in need.
by Dr . Gayle Woods