By Nena Benigno
A Challenge to Experience Miracles
Yes, you can heal and be healed. God can and will surprise you, if you’re willing to try, and want to believe. I’ve seen average, ordinary people become channels of God’s miraculous healing power. I’ve witnessed sick and disabled persons recover right before my eyes. As the Bible puts it, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He still makes the lame walk and the blind see.
I saw that literally happen in 2008, during an Operation Blessing (OB) mission trip to Laguna led by CBN Asia founder, Gordon Robertson, CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and host of The 700 Club TV program. Dr. Kim Pascual, head of OB, announced that we were going to donate 100 wheelchairs to sick and disabled indigents in the town of Lumban. I noticed Gordon looked perturbed. “Why just give them wheelchairs?” he challenged us. “Let’s pray for their healing!” We had just attended a seminar on Jesus Christ’s abounding love, a main expression of which was His desire to make our broken bodies whole. Our part is to pray and draw on that love and power. I saw Malou Ibañez, our CBN Asia VP for Administration, strictly an office-type lady, pray for an elderly lady, Nanay Socorro, who was going blind. Everything was a blur around her. Malou told her how much Jesus loved her and prayed for God to restore her sight. “What do you see?” Malou asked hesitantly, not really sure if anything happened. “I see Capiz windows in front of me,” Nanay Socorro said. Malou, encouraged, prayed some more and gave her a Bible. Can you read it? she asked.
Aling Lucrecia cries with joy after taking her first steps since suffering a stroke
I was assigned to write an article on the mission, so I went to where Gordon was praying over Aling Lucrecia, another elderly lady who was sitting on our donated wheelchair. She had been paralyzed by a stroke and couldn’t walk. Gordon and some of our staff members were extending their hands towards her and declaring as the original disciples did in the gospels—“In Jesus Christ’s name, be healed!” Gordon urged her to try and stand. He reached out, took both her hands and drew her up and out of the wheelchair. She managed to stand and take a few wobbly steps forward. Her feet, which had turned inwards, straightened out as she put weight on them. I could hardly believe my eyes. At our encouragement, she even managed to dance a little jig, grinning happily.
I’ve worked as a writer for The 700 Club Asia for 20 years now, and seen these healing miracles happen again and again. Jesus said He came to give us “life to the full,” (John 10:10) which includes the restoration of health, a foretaste of life in His Kingdom. The 700 Club was given a jumpstart as an international ministry reaching millions worldwide because of God’s amazing healing power. I don’t just want you to experience it. I want you to extend it to others. That’s why I encourage you to go to a Healing Conference led by Pastor Hiram Pangilinan, author of the bestselling book “Healing is Yours,” and co-host of The 700 Club Asia host Peter Kairuz in a DVD collection of healing testimonies titled “Yes! Jesus Heals!” The Conference will be held at the Cuneta Astrodome on July 30, starting 8:30 AM. (For tickets, call 9280758 or 09438165838)
How did healing miracles catapult The 700 Club from a local TV show airing in Virginia Beach USA, to a program broadcasting in 138 countries today? Why did Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary some 2000 years ago pay the price for your deliverance from sickness? What principles can you learn from the upcoming Conference that will build your faith in God’s power to save and make you whole? For the answers, read the second part of this article on this website tomorrow.
Watch this Operation Blessing AVP where you can watch Aling Lucrecia walk for the first time around the 7-minute mark.
