On August 31st, I received the following voicemail message:

Hi Chris this is Justin.  I’m with Rock Church…I talked to my group leader and I was telling him I was interested in seeing someone for prayer for a condition I’m having.  I’ve been to the doctors and they don’t know what it is.  I spoke with a friend and he really encouraged me to seek out prayer.  I talked to Andy (at Rock Church) about it and he gave me your number.  I was trying to get in contact with you.

I didn’t know till later who Andy was, but I have been getting referrals for healing from other churches and I was happy to call Justin.  When I called him, he told me that for the last year and a half he has been suffering from a condition that has left him severely fatigued with achy, flu-like symptoms.

Justin:

Some days I just don’t want to get out of bed.  It hinders everything.  The aches are everywhere….legs, thighs, back…throughout my entire body.  I have headaches.  I’ve even seen my arm twitching.

To fill the atmosphere with faith, I shared with Justin some of the recent healing we have witnessed.   I explained that if people could be healed from cloths that touched Peter (Acts 19:11-13) or even healed from Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:14-16), then Justin could be healed over the phone.  I also told him about the woman who was healed through a text message.  Justin liked the idea of being healed over the phone.

Because I had been carefully taking notes when Justin was talking, I was able to rebuke every symptom of Justin’s illness in the name of Jesus.  I spoke healing power over his body and declared him well in Jesus’ name.

As I was praying, I began hearing something loud and disruptive in the background.  I kept wondering why Justin didn’t excuse himself from his surroundings and get to a private place, but I decided to just finish my prayer.  Before I could finish, Justin interrupted.

Justin:

Did you hear that?

Me:

Yes.  What was that?

Justin (laughing):

I started breathing extremely hard!!!  When you were praying, I was holding the back of my neck.  I was listening to you and my breathing started changing.  I couldn’t help it….you heard me, right?

Me:

Yeah!  I was wondering what that was.

I realized that the sound I heard during the prayer was Justin uncontrollably HEAVING on the phone.  He couldn’t believe it.

Justin (still laughing):

Wow!!!  That breathing hit me out of nowhere.

We both knew it was the power of God.  What makes this SO noteworthy to me is that Justin is a conservative evangelical.  He has not been in environments where people are uncontrollably “consumed by the Holy Spirit.”  This was the real deal.  He couldn’t stop laughing; he found it incredible.

Justin:

It felt like something was getting pulled out of me….it felt like I was getting released.

Me:

How do you feel now?

Justin:

I feel a lot better.  I feel a weight off of me…I feel lighter.  My eyes feel better.  I feel a lot better than I did before.  I feel good!  THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!

I can’t help but wonder how this experience will change the way Justin views God’s mercy…or God’s willingness and even His desire to know us on a very personal level.

John 15:15 (Jesus speaking)…

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.