A story on Charisma News about the miraculous healing of a woman who had been sick for nearly 30 years after being struck by lightening is a testament of how God wants us to be honest about our spiritual condition.

As a result of a lightening strike, Caleb Hyer’s mother was in a constant battle with pain. This included severe migraines that often left her bed-ridden for weeks.

To deal with the chronic pain, doctors prescribed several powerful and addictive drugs including Oxycodone, Fentanyl, Dilaudid and Percocet. Of course these heavy medications brought with them some serious side effects.

Caleb Hyers was also a Southern Baptist boy and like most Southern Baptists, he believed in God, but he didn’t believe in the spiritual gifts, and he didn’t believe in divine healing.

But those beliefs were challenged when he joined a mission trip to Honduras. While there, he encountered a group of Christians who believed in Divine healing and regularly prayed for the sick.

One of their favorite verses spoke about believers being able to heal the sick and cast out demons:

¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

Mark 16:17 NASV

Hyers said he didn’t even believe there was such a verse in the Bible, until he saw it himself.

When he returned from his mission trip, Hyers visited his mom and found her in terrible pain and going through withdrawal because she hadn’t been able to get refills.

As he watched his mom suffer, God told Hyers to lay hands on his mom.

Hyers described what happened next:

“After arguing with the voice of God I finally replied, ‘Fine, God; it’s not going to work, but I will do it anyway.'”

But when he laid hands on his mom, God instantly healed her of the pain. She is now drug free and is actually fulfilling her life long dream of becoming a nurse.

But the key here is that Hyers was honest about his unbelief.

It reminds me of the father, whose son was possessed by a demon. While Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration, the man brought his son to the disciples, who tried to cast out the demon, but had failed.

As Jesus came down the mountain, the Lord came upon the crowd that had gathered watching the show.

When Jesus asked what was going on, the man immediately pointed to the failure of Christ’s disciples in delivering the boy and pleaded to Jesus for help (Mark 9:18).

Jesus responded “everything is possible for one who believes” (vs 23).

The desperate father responded with “I do believe, help my belief” (vs 24).

It was an honest confession. He believed in God, but it had a serious leak — unbelief was draining away his faith.

With that confession, Christ immediately delivered the man’s son.

So what was the source of this unbelief?

Well, it was partly due to the failure of the disciples to cast out the demon because it was one of the first things the father mentioned when he ran into Christ.

And I think the church today is in much the same condition.

Hyers was struggling with his faith because of the dispensational teaching that fills the Southern Baptist church that instills the idea that miracles are not for today.

And with the rest of us, because of the internet, we are inundated with stories about the failures of the church.

But like Hyers and the father with the demon-possessed son, the first step back to faith sometimes involves being honest about our unbelief.

Sources:

• How Holy Spirit Used a Southern Baptist Boy to Heal His Mom: Charisma News