An article on CBN, tells of the miraculous healing of Pastor Jim Dumont.

Jim and his wife Pam were visiting family in Maine, when Jim decided to go for a walk. He had been gone for a while and Pam suddenly became very concerned about her husband and went out looking for him and found Jim lying on the ground surrounded by a police car and a couple of ambulances.

Pam said that her husband’s face was purple and his eyes looked like they were made of glass.

Jim’s heart had stopped. After EMT worked on Jim, they were able to get his heart beating, but they estimated that there had been no heart beat for at least 12 minutes and as much as 15 minutes. Every minute is important because of the longer you are without blood, the potential for brain damage dramatically increases.

After he arrived in hospital, Jim was put into a coma to prevent further brain damage. The plan was to wake him after 36 hours, but he didn’t come out of the coma as expected and the medical staff were now very concerned.

While this was all happening in the physical realm, things were also taking place in the spiritual.

Bible verses were being claimed

When Pam arrived at the scene where her husband lay on the ground, she immediately called Paul, one of the elders in the church who immediately felt the Holy Spirit rise up within him, and he claimed Psalm 118:17:

I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done. (Psalm 118:17

The Church Prayed

As soon as news reached the church, about 100 people gathered to pray and worship for three hours calling on God to heal their pastor.

During this service two verses became the rallying cry for this impromptu service, Psalm 118:17, that was previously mentioned, and:

 No weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord. (Isaiah 54:17 NIV)

People prayed these verses and claimed God’s healing for their pastor. And the prayer expanded out to other churches after a local Christian radio station told its listeners what had happened and asked for prayer.

Enter the children

But back at the hospital, Jim’s coma had now dragged out to six days. The doctors told Pam there was undoubtedly brain damage and to prepare for the worst, that her husband wouldn’t make it.

At that point the family decided to send in the grandchildren thinking this might be the last time they see their grandfather alive.

But a miracle took place, as the children prayed and sang for their grandfather, Jim opened his eyes.

The medical staff was stunned as Jim came out of his coma with absolutely no brain damage. It was a miracle. So what actually happened?

The miracle explained

CBN explains how God healed Jim.

“Doctors determined that an artery behind Jim’s heart dubbed “the widow maker” had collapsed and miraculously re-opened. Stints were put in to prevent and further failures. Jim’s speedy recovery astonished not only his family, but the medical community as well.”

The key to effective prayer

I believe God wants to heal the sick today and as the spiritual climate becomes more anti-Christian, the Holy Spirit desires to move in power, healing the sick through your hands to reveal the Kingdom of God to people.

We know that healing requires faith, but James adds an odd twist to this faith that heals the sick, when he writes:

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16 NIV)

He says that the prayer of a righteous man is “powerful and effective.”

Is James referring to going three days in a row without sinning or losing your temper?

No, James is referring to our righteousness in Christ. Effective prayer is directly related to how much you believe and understand your righteousness in Christ.

This is where the power of prayer lies. It is tied to the cross and our faith that Jesus died for our sins.

READ: Dead for 13 minutes, man makes stunning recovery AND Doctor says ‘faith is real’ after pastor dead 12+ minutes makes miracle recovery

I recently did a podcast on this subject entitled “How many crosses did Jesus die on?”