The Power of Prayer and Why We Believe

God will do some amazing things when we trust Him.

By Nancy Flory Published on November 6, 2016

Ben’s Miracle

It was a late summer Saturday morning in 1977, and seven-year-old Ben Godwin was riding his bike home from the store. He didn’t have his parents’ permission because Ben had gone to the store to get cigarettes to share with his brother. After buying the cigarettes, Ben began making his way home. Perhaps he was preoccupied by his illegal purchase or just distracted, but in a split second, Ben went flying up over the hood of a car and struck the road hard.

Xray1

X-ray of Ben’s leg taken September 15, 1977. Horizontal pins are visible.

His bicycle was crushed under the car. When he tried to get up and walk, his leg wouldn’t hold the weight and he collapsed to the ground. A 3-inch piece of his tibia lay on the road beside him. Amazingly, a doctor was one of the first people on the scene. He treated Ben and sent him on his way to the hospital in an ambulance. On the way, however, a car crashed into the ambulance, sending the ambulance driver to the hospital and EMTs scrambling to get another ambulance on the way for Ben.

Ben’s parents didn’t want to accept the doctor’s predictions — that he could lose his leg to infection, or in the best case, with bone grafts, he would always have a severe limp. “Lord, we trusted You this far and we’re not giving up,” he recalls his mother praying. One night, Ben’s church had a prayer service. During the service, Ben’s pastor, a 79-year-old woman, prayed over him, asking God to replace the bone in his leg. “A new bone for Ben, God,” she prayed. “Honor Thy word with a new bone.” That night that Ben told his parents that he felt something change in his leg under the cast.

Prayer isn’t about demanding from God the results that we want and then looking at our watches. It’s about total surrender and absolute faith in His perfect will.

They changed doctors after that — the first was an atheist who had mocked their faith. Ben’s mother made an appointment with the new doctor, a believer, and took him in for x-rays. That doctor scolded her for not bringing him in sooner to make sure he was healing properly. But when he looked at the x-rays just taken, his attitude changed completely. The doctor didn’t know how, but where once there had been a gap, now there was new bone visible on the x-ray. Ben remembers his mother, a vibrant and vocal woman, jumping up and down and praising God right there in the doctor’s office. Ben said he grabbed his mother’s shoulder. “God did it! God did it!” The cast was removed, and Ben began to walk without crutches immediately. Only 110 days had elapsed since the crash.

Xray3

This follow-up x-ray was captured on March 6, 1978. No pins and no crutches needed. Ben’s orthopedist described his healing as “a remarkable regeneration of bone tissue.”

My Experience

I’ve had more than one experience with the power of prayer myself. One of them I learned about from my mother recently. There was a time when I was gravely ill as a little girl. I lay on the couch, unconscious and unresponsive, for 24-48 hours. She kept wondering if she should take me to the doctor, but each time thought about it she “felt a check” in her spirit. “I knew if I took you to the doctor you would die,” she said. “I just kept hearing ‘if you take her, she will die.’” It was counter-intuitive, but she listened and prayed. The next day she saw an article in the newspaper about a little boy who had an illness that sounded much like mine. His parents took him to the doctor, he was treated incorrectly, and he passed away. He wasn’t the only one, but it was enough for my mother to know she’d done the right thing in listening to God.

Americans Believe

Do Americans have a tough time believing in healing miracles and the power of prayer? It may seem like it, but according to a recent Barna survey, that may not be the case. Results released in late September show that about two-thirds of American adults believe that “people can be physically healed supernaturally by God.” The remaining one-third expressed skepticism about supernatural healing.

The study further found that 68 percent of adults have prayed for supernatural healing by God, and about 27 percent “have actually experienced a physical healing that could only be explained as a miraculous healing and not solely as a result of normal process, medical procedure or the body healing itself.”

Why I Believe

I certainly believe! I believe because I’ve experienced it, because it is sound Christian teaching and because God never changes. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). John 14:14 says, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Jesus laid hands on people and healed them (Luke 4:40), and so did His apostles (Acts 6:6). Paul did as well, even though he had not been with Jesus (Acts 28:7-9). In fact, Paul called the practice of laying on of hands an “elementary” Christian teaching (Hebrews 6:1-3). And it isn’t just about laying on of hands, but prayer in faith. Remember the centurion’s sick servant? The centurion told Jesus, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed.” Jesus marveled at his faith and did as the centurion asked (Matthew 8:5-13).

Does everyone experience healing? No, but as a friend recently told me, we can’t pray and then look at our watches. We trust God in His timing and with His methods (Is 46:10). We trust that He knows what is best and has our best interests at heart (Matthew 6:8). Our prayers are a function of our trust and not our demands. Even Jesus prayed “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10, 26:42). But we know God is still in the business of listening to our prayers and healing our minds, souls and bodies, and we trust Him to do so as He sees fit.

Pastor Ben Godwin

Young Ben Godwin, along with his parents and their pastor.

Young Ben Godwin, along with his parents and their pastor.

Ben Godwin is now the pastor of Goodsprings Full Gospel Church in Parrish, Alabama.

The church’s vision is to “maintain a place of vibrant worship, to provide an atmosphere of Christian unity and fellowship, to teach & preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to disciple believers in the knowledge of the Scripture and in the Christian lifestyle, to evangelize the lost in our community and beyond, and to support foreign missions.” Pastor Godwin has authored four books, one of which details his accident and recovery.

He knows that not everyone is healed as he was through God’s intervention. Still, he maintains that biblical teaching and the life-giving Word of God have not changed and will not change, and that prayer is about total surrender. “We do what the Bible says,” he said. “then leave it in God’s hands.”

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