Derek Prince - Testimonies of Healings
Now I think we need to move into action. This is the point at which I'm totally dependent on the Holy Spirit. If He doesn't turn up or work, this will be a fiasco. But, I have to say He's remarkably faithful. Exercising the gifts is like going out on a limb. You have to take a risk. For people who never take a risk never do anything in this area. So what I want to do with Ruth helping me is what we normally do in many places, and some of you have seen us do before, we're going to pray for the sick. I'm going to exercise a particular gift which God gave me in 1970.
So, I am now, I would have to say, confident about this gift. I've exercised it for 15 years and I've seen, I can say fairly, thousands of people healed through it. Now, not all the people that we pray for are healed. There's a certain sovereignty of God which we can't overrule. This gift is a gift of faith, supernatural faith for certain kinds of physical problems. First and foremost, for people who are lame, whose legs are unequal, and going with that, for people who have back problems. As a matter of fact, most people who have back problems have unequal legs. It's very rare to find a person with a back problem whose legs are fully equal.
Let me say that I have ministered to chiropractors in this field and they've admitted that it works. So, I'm not just offering you some wild theory, although it's very strange. When I first started checking people's legs in public, some of my dear brothers suggested that it was a dangerous thing to do, I had just established a reputation as a scholarly Bible teacher. For me to go around checking people's feet and measuring them would ruin my reputation. Well, I've survived. I think because of the results, you see? I tell people in a healing service our motivation is just as practical as that of a doctor or a dentist. Our aim is to heal the sick. Our methods are different, our motives are the same.
I always thank God for doctors, dentists, nurses and others. I tell you, there are so many sick people in this world that if we all became an army, we couldn't meet all the needs. Sometimes, especially in Third World countries and other places, when I see all the sick, I can hardly bear the sight. It almost overwhelms me, the thought of human need and suffering. But, we do what we can. That's all we can do. So, I'm going to begin to exercise this gift. I'm going to begin by ministering to people with back problems.
Now, I've never had a shortage of clients ever since I started that. I think more than 50 percent of Americans have back problems. The advantage about this as a breakthrough is that first of all, I've got plenty of customers. Secondly, the results are visible. You understand? People see what happens. Twenty years ago most Christians had never seen a visible miracle in their lives. Fortunately, there's a great change coming. But just one visible miracle can totally change the outlook of a person or the attitude of a congregation. I'll tell you one story. This is true and it's so funny that I have to promise you it's true.
Some years back I was asked to speak in a Methodist church in a certain American city, evangelical but not Charismatic. They said there are two services from 9 to 10 and 11 to 12. We want you to speak at both. So, I spoke from 9 to 10. It was very safe, stayed within the boundaries of being evangelical, and that was that. Then I found myself waiting around between 10 and 11. So, some sympathetic soul came up to me and said, "Would you like to go to the adult Bible class"? So actually, I wasn't the least bit interested but I thought it's better than hanging around. I said okay.
Well, then without my knowing it, they brought two or three different classes together and they said, "Would you like to speak"? Well, they hadn't warned me. I thought, "What do I tell these people"? I said to myself, "I owe it to them at least once to tell them what's happening in the church". So, I tried to describe the Charismatic movement to them. Well, they didn't respond, it was outside their total range of reference. I thought, "I'm not getting anywhere". So, I began to teach them about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Well, it was like describing the backside of the moon to people who've always lived on earth. I mean, it just didn't work.
So I stopped and I thought, "This is just wasting time". I said, "Is there anybody here with unequal legs"? And somebody put his hand up in the back. I said, "Would you like to be prayed for"? He said yes. I said, "Put a chair out in front, come and sit in the chair". I sat him down, measured his legs. Everybody who was near could see the difference. His short leg grew out and I said, "There you are". Well, the moment that happened, the attitude of the people totally changed instantly. So, everybody wanted to be prayed for. I was scooting around on my hands and knees measuring people's legs and praying for them.
A lady who had a blanket over her legs somewhere on that side said, "Pray for me". So I scooted over, held up her legs. One was shorter than the other. It grew out. I said, "There you are," and went on to the next. Well, after a little while I saw this lady getting very excited. She said to me, "I don't think you know what you've done". I said, "If I don't know, tell me". She said, "When I came here I had MS, that's multiple sclerosis". She said, "I don't think I have it now". "Well," I said, "if you don't think you have it, let's see". So I got her out of the chair and out in the middle of the class doing knee bends in front of everybody. She was completely strong.
Now, I had no idea she had MS. I think if I had, I'd have probably got in God's way. You understand? Because I would have tried to introduce my own ideas. I just released what I had and she took it. Well, the end of the story is this. At the end of the class she waited around very diffidently until everybody else had left and then she said, "You know, Mr. Prince, I'm a Roman Catholic. This is the first time I've ever been to a Protestant church. I didn't know they were like this". Well, I will tell you one thing. I'm a Protestant, if I'm anything. And I'm not interested in being called anything else.
Catholics are the easiest people to pray for. Because, once the priest says it, then that's it. You know, they just have got to obey. I was in a Pentecostal church, my own Pentecostal church in Copenhagen years back praying for the Danes, and the Danes, I don't know if we've got any Danes here, my first wife was Danish, but they are pretty, I would say, stogy. I mean, they don't easily get enthused. And I was really working hard. I mean, I was sweating and there wasn't much happening. Then I prayed for three people in a row and they all got healed. So just jokingly I said, "They must be Catholics". The funny thing is they all were! Well, if you know Pentecostals, I mean, you can't believe that Catholics would get what Pentecostals don't get.