The following testimony was written by a Father’s TouchTeam member who led ministry over a period of four months to a 50-yr old stroke victim. At one point during this period, the doctors were already preparing a death certificate. Read on to see how the Father touched this “hopeless” man in a powerful way!
“In July 2004, I received a call from my church Hospital Care team to go out and pray for Tom (not his real name) who had just had a stroke and had been admitted into a long term care facility.
When I met Tom, I saw a man that had a strong will to live, but his physical body was in bad shape. I learned that Tom had been raised in a Christian home, and had accepted Christ many years ago.
Tom had his first heart attack at the age of 25, and just five years ago at 45 years of age, Tom had open-heart surgery.
The stroke that occurred in July affected his speech to the point that it was very hard to understand him. He was confined to bed or a wheel chair and he was taking a lot of medication, not only for his heart, but to prevent seizures, as well as insulin to regulate his blood sugar.
Here are a few key events & observations seen along the road of Tom’s healing
** Tom’s relatives and church family (known and unknown to Tom) prayed diligently for the restoration of his health in general, and for specific spiritual and health issues as they arose.
** In the beginning, for several weeks I read scriptures from the bible that focused on healing and I read verse after verse that the focused on the nature / characteristics of God vs. the characteristics of Satan. Tom quickly came to the conclusion that God did not cause his medical condition, but instead that God is the healer and his protector. The Holy Spirit anointed and blessed Tom with peace whenever we prayed together at the end of our times together. During these visits we prayed for immediate medical issues and concerns and broke the power of pronouncements that were made over this life.
** I was encouraged as I saw an acceleration in the healing process take place when my friend and mentor on the Fathers Touch Ministry team interpreted a word of knowledge from the Lord. The Lord directed to him to ask Tom to place his health crises in the hands of the Lord. This was big event, since Tom had spent his career as a Paramedic and Nurse and his medical training kept him constantly diagnosing / treating his condition in his mind well before any Doctor could. Once he surrendered his health crisis to the Healer the healing began almost immediately.
** Evidence of the spiritual battle took shape just hours after Tom had surrendered his healing to the Lord. He entered into a coma and was in and out of the coma from a particular Thursday night to approximately Monday. During this time the medical team was working to revive Tom. During this time, he later described being TEMPTED by Satan. While Tom was unconscious, he described a vision where he saw a vast kingdom, and he was offered healing from his condition. When he inquired what the letters K.S. stood for on the huge banner overhead, it was revealed that the initials stood for Kingdom of Satan. Tom rejected all offers and called upon the Lord.
** Next came an Encounter with the LORD. Tom described walking with an angel and seeing the presence of the Lord, and hearing others who came near or were in the presence of the Lord, yelling out “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the Lord our God.” Tom remembers discussing with God at some point that he would like to live and would like to fully recover. Tom sensed that his physical condition was getting critical at the care facility, and he explained to the Lord that if He didn’t step in quickly he would be coming home sooner than expected.
Tom awoke from the coma to see the medical staff around him who were all working to keep him alive. He continually improved over the next few days.
On Thursday, just one week later I returned to visit Tom, and learned from him what had occurred over last week. For the first time since I had met him he was out of bed and had rolled himself out of his room in a wheelchair and down the hallway where he was waiting to greet me. He was smiling from ear to ear, and he physically looked a lot better. His speech was dramatically better
After praising the Lord for what he had done, and praying with Tom, I encouraged him to listen to the audio CD of Bible verses being read that focused on the topic of healing.
He listed to the CD and soaked in the word, and as he did his faith began to grow and his health continued to improve.
Then a few weeks later, Tom came under attack from the enemy who was trying to steal what God had already begun to do for him.
When our team arrived at the hospital to pray for Tom, he was in great pain, on oxygen and he appeared to me to be very near death.
** My friend and mentor on the team saw that Tom was under attack by a spirit of Death, and after binding and casting this spirit out and others in the holy name of Jesus Christ, Tom immediately was at peace, and fell into a deep sleep right before our eyes. He awoke the next morning, but when he did he immediately sensed that he had been healed.
** New FAITH put to the Test – after Tom was stable, during the next few days doctors approached him with results from tests taken earlier. The doctor explained that from reading his recent lung X-rays that he had pneumonia.
** Tom, knowing that the Lord had restored his health, acted in faith and told the doctor that he did not have pneumonia and if the doctor would take another X-ray he would prove it to him. He even told the doctor that he would pay for the X-ray out of his own pocket if he was wrong.
The doctor took the new X-ray and was amazed at the results, Tom had no water in his lung, NO pneumonia. The next day this cycle was repeated but this time, he was told that he had a urinary tract infection. Tom again proved to the doctor after another test that he did not have an infection.
A few days later, Tom left the facility to have a brain scan. The tests reviled that their was no evidence of any brain damage from his stroke.
He continued to grow stronger and was again out of bed and looking much better when I arrived to see him. His speech continued to get much clearer.
The next week I arrived to learn that Tom’s doctor had called his sister to tell her that Tom had a “Divine Healing”, a “Miracle Healing”. He told her that he had never seen anyone recover from his condition.
Another week went by, and it was now time to test the healing.
Tom surpassed all expectations during a walking test. Instead of walking the test goal of 20 steps with a walker, he put the walker aside and walked approximately 400 steps without it, to the amazement of the doctors, staff and patients who witnessed him walking around the facility.
He then went through many neurological exams and passed all of them in half of the allotted time. Then just days later, the news came that everyone had been waiting for: the doctors concluded that Tom was free to go home, and he was released from the hospital on November 15, 2004.
Instead of filling out a death certificate, the doctor wrote in his chart: “Divine Healing.” Praise the Lord for his mercy!
