There was a Swedish Baptist Minister by the name of Johannes Heiden visiting and taking some classes at the seminary.  One morning he went down town and was hit by a bus and had his arm broken in several places.  He walked into class directly from the hospital, and when I looked at him with his arm in a sling, I immediately started to cry.  That was about the worst thing that could possibly happen in a seminary class, in front of all your peers, with everyone so critical and skeptical.  Now I didn’t have a clue as to why I was doing this, and while I was trying to get things under control, an elderly black lady came back to me, took me by the hand, and said, “Come on.”  She took me up to the front of the class – right to Johannes Heiden, took my hands, put them on his head and said, “That is the compassion of the Holy Spirit.  He wants to heal this man through you, so pray.”            

I had never been so terrified in my whole life.  I was embarrassed by this crying, standing in front of all my peers, and I don’t even remember what I prayed, but it was short and very much to the point.  Then I raced back to my seat, and this man got up and went out.  By the time the next class was over, he was back from the hospital with the cast off, and his arm completely healed.        

All this happened with such rapidity, that I stood in amazement at what the Holy Spirit had done.  It was only later that I began to realize God was beginning to train me for the ministry He was preparing to launch me into in the future, and He was teaching me to understand that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit operate through love and compassion.

In about ten minutes, the doctor came out, rubber gloves on, with the dripping wet X-ray plate, holding it up, and said, “Mrs. Lincoln, maybe you can explain to me what is going on here!”  Now most doctors don’t ask their patients for explanations.  He was her surgeon.  He knew he had removed one whole lung and part of the other. “I have a picture here of you with two perfect lungs!  Now, how do you go about explaining that?” 

She stood up, smiling from ear to ear, and told him that she had been to a meeting the previous night, that she had invited Jesus Christ into her life, that He had changed her completely, body, soul, and spirit, and that she had been healed by the mighty power of God. 

God did more that night than heal Adele Lincoln’s body. He also saved her husband and restored their marriage.  Later we had the privilege of having dinner with them in their home and witnessed the miracle God had done for them the night they decided to come to the meeting and “Give God one last chance.”

Hallelujah!  There are no impossible situations with God.  It doesn’t matter what your condition is, God is able to come and touch you and change your life and move you into a relationship you never had before.

“As you prayed, you said, ‘If the Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, God shall quicken your mortal bodies by this same Spirit.  Let resurrection life go through this woman’s body now, in the name of Jesus!’  My baby leaped within me.”

“I had a good night.  The next morning I went back to the hospital.  I spoke to the doctor and said, ‘I don’t need the operation.  My baby is alive.’

“He said, ‘You have no baby.  Your baby has been dead for some time.  You have a decaying mass of flesh in your womb which is killing you.’

“‘But my baby has been kicking.’    

Very angrily he took her into the next room, examined her and said, “Now tell me what happened?”

At this pastors meeting, two years later, she took this lovely little boy and put him in my arms. “Mfundes, pray for this boy that God gave me back alive through your prayers, that he becomes an evangelist in Africa.”

When Jesus was here on earth, he demonstrated his authority over death.  He is still doing it today!  I never shall forget one night when I got radical in front of a couple of thousand people, and declared that God never expected anyone to just pray for the sick. When he sent the seventy out, when he sent his own disciples out, He didn’t say, “Now boys, remember, only pray for sick people.” 

He said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils, and raise the dead!  Freely you have received, freely give.”  (Matthew 10:8 NKJV)

The next night I had just started to speak.  There were thousands of people sitting there in the big tent, and an ambulance drove up in front with the lights flashing. They took out a stretcher. The stretcher bearer, the doctor and the family came into the tent, and they set a teenage girl’s body right in front of the platform. The doctor looked at me and said, “I understand that last night, in the presence of this family, you told them the duty of the church is to raise the dead. This girl died about an hour ago in the hospital, and her parents insisted that we bring her to this meeting. So if raising the dead is one of the duties of the church, go ahead!”    

Well, it is one thing to say it. It is another thing to have to do it. It is sort of exciting to be able to say, “This is what God says!”  But when you have to do what God says, it is not quite as easy. 

I am not going to stand here and tell you that I wasn’t scared.  This is where the rubber meets the road!  You can’t sit and spin your wheels now!  It would be good to take a week off and have a time of prayer and fasting, but there is no time for that! 

I went down to the front. A few of the people gathered around, and we just declared to the Lord what He said in His word. “I command the spirit of death to come out of this girl’s body right now, and life to come in!” That was all I said.  And I was just as surprised as anyone there when that girl took a deep breath and sat up. The doctor stood there and checked her in front of thousands of people, attesting to the fact that she was living and whole.  Praise God!  The Word says it!  God’s Word says it!