Healing For Life is Clare Nonhebel's latest book. It is scheduled to be published by Lion late September. Prior to publication we have an excerpt and an interview with Clare.
Six years after my operation, a red sore lump formed on the site of the scar, which had never quite healed. In the past ten days the lump had swollen, become rock hard, and was growing rapidly.
On the day Fergus came to ask for prayer for himself, the cyst - or whatever it was - was about the size of a tennis ball.
At first Fergus didn't talk at all. Then he said, 'I don't know if I want prayer. I've got nothing to live for anyway. Everyone I've had sex with over the past two years has been diagnosed HIV positive or has already died of Aids. I wish this disease would become active and I could get it over with.'
'What if God wants you to live?' I asked. 'Would you give him the choice?'
He shrugged. 'I used to believe. But not any more.'
'He still believes in you,' I said.
'Maybe. Maybe he wants me to have Aids. Maybe I've deserved it, I don't know. I haven't lived the way I should.'
I felt a wave of rage go over me. 'He doesn't wan this children to be sick!'
'I don't know,' he said. 'How do you know? It could be my punishment.'
'I don't want you to have it!' I said. 'And he's nicer than me!'
He stared at me. 'Don't you? Why not?'
I don't quite know what happened at that point. The room went black and I could hardly see. It was like looking at him at the end of a long tunnel and speaking from a long distance away. It felt weird, like the feeling you get before you faint. All the strength went out of me in one great whoosh! It was quite hard to speak.
'It's a horrible disease,' I said. 'I don't want you to have it.'
After what seemed like a long pause, he nodded.
The darkness cleared and the room looked normal.
'Ask him to heal you,' said the Lord clearly.
'Fergus,' I said, 'I've got this problem. I don't know if you can help.'
He looked surprised. 'What is it?'
'It's a cyst or something. Over an operation scar.'
'I'm a nurse,' he said. 'I could maybe see to it for you if I had a scalpel, but .......'
'A scalpel! I'm not asking to be stabbed. I want you to pray with me.'
'I don't pray any more.'
'That's okay. Now is a good time to start. This thing is about the size of a tennis ball, hard as a rock, really sore, and I'm quite worried about it.'
'When was the operation?' he asked.
'Six years ago.'
'Six years! That's not normal. Not for a cyst to come up after all that time. You should go to Casualty.'
'I'm asking you.'
'I don't believe any more!' He said.
'I don't mind. You do the praying and I'll do the believing.'
He gave in. 'Okay. Where is it?'
I pointed to my abdomen.
'Oh no. Sorry. No offence,' he said. 'But you know I'm gay. I'm not at ease with women. Maybe if it was somewhere else ...... '
'I can't move it to some other part of the body you find more acceptable,' I said, 'and I'm not prepared to have a sex change.'
He laughed. 'Okay, But ... oh, okay. But nothing will happen, all right? I used to have faith and all that, but not any more.'
He pulled up a chair next to me, closed his eyes, and extended a hand gingerly in the direction of my stomach.
'Lord', I prayed, 'if you want him back, get him now!'
After a second, Fergus stopped holding his breath and squeezing his eyes closed and started to pray. Really pray. I felt the effect. His friend looked at him, eyebrows raised. Something was going on.
Fergus sat back and let out a huge sigh. 'I'm exhausted,' he said.
'Thanks. I appreciate what you did.'
As he was leaving, he said, 'You shouldn't leave it, you know. Get it seen to at the hospital. Really.'
'I'll see how it goes,' I said.
Four days later, his friend phoned. 'Fergus wants to know if you've been to the hospital yet? He said it could be dangerous to leave that cyst.'
'Tell him no, I haven't. And if I look very carefully, I can just about see where it was. A very faint mark. And tell him God still believes in him, will you?'
Q Is healing only for believers?
A Yes and no. Many churchgoers who say they believe in God are not very open to being healed by him, especially of physical illness, while many people who wouldn't call themselves religious are quite prepared to invite God to work in their life. Cynicism can be a block to healing, but so is complacency!
Q Can you heal someone else on my behalf - say, my sister in Australia?
A As God is the one who does the healing, distance is no object. If you're already praying for your sister, you can certainly ask someone to pray with you for her healing. But don't ask for her instead of for yourself. If you open your own life to God, it will have a far greater effect on the person you want to help.
Q Is healing for psychological illness or physical illness?
A Healing isn't just about removing symptoms but about healing you - your whole life. Because everyone is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual person, you're affected in all those areas when you're ill. It doesn't make much difference what symptoms you have - God is not a specialist.
Q Do you have to understand how healing works, to benefit from it?
A No. Babies are often quite easily healed, for instance. And nobody understands how God works, anyway!
Q I don't pray for myself. A lot of people are worse off than me.
A You're not competing with them for God's attention. He has enough for everyone. You can't ask too much of God - only too little. And how can you pray for other people to have health and happiness, if you're not open to receiving them yourself?
Q Do you need the person's permission to heal them?
A Yes. It's not possible for someone to be healed if they don't want it. It's all about whether someone is really willing, deep down, to give God a free hand. Healing is not just getting what you want in the short-term, but trusting God to give you what you really need for your life - and for your life in eternity.
Q Why do I get ill? I haven't done anything wrong and I don't see why I should be punished.
A You must be the only person on earth who has never done anything wrong, then! But no, you don't deserve to be punished. Jesus Christ didn't deserve being mocked and stripped and tortured and nailed to a cross and left to die in front of a howling crowd. But we're creatures of God and we live in a world which treats us the way it treats God - with total contempt, at times. It's not possible to generalise about illness, which is individual, but it can be that something in your life no longer suits you. It may be a call to change: a sign of moving on, not a punishment.
Q Is touch part of healing?
A Sometimes. The original followers of Jesus - and Jesus himself - used ordinary human touch and the more formal 'laying on of hands'. I find it useful - it's like praying with my hands, as well as with thoughts or words - and some people get sensations of warmth or coolness in the site of the pain. But it's not essential.
Q Is there any benefit in being prayed with by a group, rather than by one person?
A There can be. In a good healing service, with everyone in the church praying and a music team leading praise and worship of God, people are more open to receiving. Sometimes, the ones at the back of the crowd are halfway to being healed by the time the prayer team gets to them, and that's good news for everyone! But I'd be wary of being in a group that's not focused on Jesus Christ.
Q Can anybody have the gift of healing, and do you need training?
A The training is a willingness to do things God's way, which may include taking a share of someone's suffering until they're strong enough to cope with it or let it go. Because of that, healing is a gift not everyone would want. If you do, ask God to use your willingness to help people, in his own way, at whatever cost to your self. It is a gift from God, not a qualification, so there's no formal training and no diploma - and certainly no pension or salary!
Q Isn't money involved? Don't some healers charge for their services?
A I'd be very worried about anyone who did. The power to heal comes from God, not from the person who lays on hands or prays or uses their gift for discernment or insight to give you help.
Q So you can't be a healer unless you have a private income!
A You can't be a 'healer', full stop! Not as a profession or a way of earning. God is the one who is working - and he's healing the 'healer' as well as the 'patient', so you're already in a privileged position. God promised, through Jesus Christ, that he would provide for anyone who put him first, and that they wouldn't go short of anything, material or spiritual.
Q What would you say to someone who had prayed very hard for something and didn't get what they wanted? Or to someone who did get what they wanted, but not by going to God but to, say, a spiritualist or a Satanist?
A I'd say, God isn't Santa Claus - he's much better. Giving somebody what they want certainly makes you more popular than asking them to accept what God wants to give them - which may include some suffering, in the short-term. What he does promise is to save you from fruitless suffering. He won't waste your life, and he certainly won't harm your spirit.
Q But why don't some people get healed, when they believe? It can't be bad for them to get back their physical health.
A It's a fair question, and a complex one. People do have choice and often use it in ways they're hardly aware of, both for themselves and on behalf of the people they love. There is quite a lot about this in my book, so probably what I would say to that question is ...... read Healing For Life!
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