© 19 Colin Melbourne Edited from The Pentecostal Evangel 1943
I anointed him in the Name of the Lord, and asked the Lord to raise him up.
Apparently, there was no change
God often hides what He does.
From day to day we find God is doing wonderful things, and we receive reports of healings that have taken place although we heard nothing about them at the time of our meetings.
As soon as we had anointed and prayed for the brother we went down the back staircase. As we arrived downstairs, I said to my friend who had come with me, “Friend. let me have hold of your hands.” We held each other’s hands, and I said to him, “Look into my face, and let us agree together, according to Matthew 18:19, that this man should be brought out of death.” We laid the whole matter before God, and said, “Father we believe.”
Then the conflict began
The wife came down to us and said, “The doctors have got all their instruments out, and they are about to operate.”
I cried, “What? Look here, he’s your husband, and I tell you this, if those men operate on him, he will die. Go back and tell them you cannot allow it.” [* See Footnote]
She went back to the doctors and said, “Give me ten minutes.”
They said, “We can’t afford to, the man is dying and it is you husband’s only chance.”
She said, “I want ten minutes, and you don’t touch his body until I have them.”
They went down one staircase, and we went up the other.
I said to the woman, “This man is your husband and he cannot speak for himself. It is now the time for you to put your whole trust in God, and prove Him wholly true. You must stand with God, and for God in this critical hour.” After that we came down, and the doctors went up.
The wife faced those three doctors and said, “You shan’t touch this man’s body. He is my husband. I am sure that if you operate on him, he will die, but he will live if you don’t touch him.”
Suddenly the man in the bed spoke, “God has done it,” he said.
They rolled back the bed-clothes, and the doctors examined him, and the abscesses were broken and away. The nurse cleaned the place where they had been. The doctors could see the bowels still open, and they said to the wife;
“We know that you have great faith, and we can see that a miracle has taken place. But you must let us unite these broken parts and put in silver tubes, and we know that your husband will be alright after that, and it need not interfere with your faith at all.”
She said to them, “God has done the first thing, and He can do the rest. No man shall touch him now.”
And God healed the whole thing.
Today that man is well and strong. I can give his name and address to any who want it.
Trust in Jesus’ Name
Do you know by what power this was done?
I would answer in the words of Peter, “His Name, through faith in His Name, made this man strong.”
The anointing is done in the Name of the Lord. And it is written, “The Lord shall raise him up.” And He provides the double cure; even if sin is the cause of the sickness, His word declares, “If he have committed sins they shall be forgiven.”
Overcoming Faith
You ask, “What is faith?”
Faith is the principle of The word of God.
The Holy Spirit who inspired the word, is called the Spirit of Truth, and as we receive with meekness the engrafted word, faith springs up in our hearts; faith in the Sacrifice of Calvary, faith in the shed Blood of Jesus; faith in the fact that He took our weaknesses upon Himself, has borne our sicknesses, and carried our pains, and that He is our life today.
She Submitted Herself
God has chosen us to help one another.
We dare not be independent.
He brings us to another place, where we submit ourselves to one another.
If we refuse to do this, we get away from the word of God, and out of the place of faith.
I have been in that place once, and I trust I shall never be there again.
[ie. Backslidden. Read his biography to see how “Polly” Wigglesworth won Smith back to Christ.]
[* Footnote: The man would certainly have died.
This took place long before antibiotics were discovered, and he was already septicaemic. Operating in his bedroom, under Chloroform anaesthetic, would have resulted in dehydration shock, circulatory collapse, respiratory failure, and death. That he was completely healed without any surgical intervention is an astonishing divine miracle. Ed]
Continue reading; I Am The Lord That Healeth Thee
© 19 Colin Melbourne Edited from The Pentecostal Evangel 1943
