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A young Chinese man who wasn't a Christian experiences the miracle healing of Jesus, because Christians were willing to step forward and pray.
As we study Jesus, healing was a major part of His ministry. During His brief three-year ministry Jesus healed countless numbers and many instances they were healed because of their own faith (Mt 9:29 and Mk 5:34).
However, there were also times in both Jesus' ministry and that of the early church when they healed people who lacked the faith for their own healing.
We see this when Jesus healed the blind man in John 9:1-38. The healing dumbfounded the man and his parents who could not explain the miracle in the face of the Pharisee's interrogation. In the end, the man sought out Jesus so he could believe in the Lord (v 35).
In Acts 3:1-11, Peter and John healed the lame man. Again the faith for the healing emanated from Peter, possibly a gift of faith (v 16).
This message carries over into the book of James ch 5:14, 15, where the sick are encouraged to call for the elders who will anoint them and pray for their healing. James says it is the elders' prayer of faith who will heal the sick.
According to a 2004 survey of American doctors, 73% of them believe in miracles and an astounding 55% said they had witnessed a healing they would term as miraculous in their own practice.
Jesus is in the business of healing and He wants the church to take this healing to people who may not even be Christians. This is exactly what happened to Li Peng -- a 19 year old boy from China -- attending university in British Columbia, Canada.
This incredible story recorded in the Victoria Time Colonist newspaper shows that Christ is ready to heal if believers are willing to do their part.
When friends saw Li Peng lying at the bottom of his swimming pool of the apartment complex where he lived in Saanich, BC, they pulled him out and rushed him to the hospital.
The doctors looked at Li Peng and due to the amount of time he had been under the water expected him to die and if he did recover, live the rest of his life as a vegetable.
Dr Alan Meakes the attending doctor described Li Peng's situation as "nonsurvivable." His body temperature and blood pressure were going down and his heart rate was declining.
When he heard of the accident, Li Peng's father Li Shao Zeng flew in from China to be at his son's side. During the week following the accident, medical staff considered stopping all care and letting the inevitable happen.
Then Lily Chow showed up. She knew Li Peng, because he was one of her students at the University of Victoria's English Centre where she taught.
However, Li Shao Zeng spoke Mandarin, and Lily -- who spoke Cantonese -- was having difficulty communicating with him. At that moment she remembered a pastor of a Pentecostal Chinese church she formerly attended who spoke Mandarin. Lily asked Li Peng's father if he would like to talk to him.
When Pastor Laurence Wan showed up at the hospital he told Li Shao Zeng that he believed in Jesus and wanted to pray for his son's healing. He prayed but nothing happened.
The next day Pastor Wan shared of Li Peng's plight with a group of Mandarin Christian students at the University of Victoria. One of the students asked if she could take up an evangelist to pray for Li Peng.
The next day Wan and the two women showed up at Li Peng's room. This time following the instruction of James, they anointed Li Peng with oil and prayed.
Later that day, Li Peng opened his eyes for the first time since the accident and has since regained his ability to walk, speak and write.
Li Peng can't remember the details of that day, but says, "I believe in God, I believe Jesus saved my life." He returned to the water once more, this time to be baptized.
Dr Meakes said in his 20-year practice he had never seen anything like this. He said, "And, in the time that he was prayed for, this patient made a major demonstrable change in condition."
Source: Man credits prayer for saving his life by Lindsay Kines (National Post: August 19, 2004)
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