Last year I received a telephone call from a person who had COVID-19 and was struggling to breathe. She wasn’t in the hospital, but she was physically struggling.
Using my drill instructor’s voice, with authority, I commanded her to run to her front door, touch the door and run back. She obeyed. When she picked up the phone again, the only question that I asked was, “Do you feel better?” There was a pause, as she thought about it, her response was, “I really do feel better.” We talked for a few minutes about a completely different topic, then I asked her again, “Are you feeling better?” “Wow!” she stated. “I’m healed!”
The year was 2018. I dropped an air compressor that weighed approximately 80 .lbs on my foot. My foot was swollen, badly bruised and it hurt. It was at the end of the day so I simply went home, iced it down and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t even place it on the floor. The swelling had increased and it showed all the signs of being broken. Being self employed, I had appointments with clients that I had to keep. These clients were in Knoxville Tennessee, two hours away. Since it was my left foot that was injured, I painfully limped to the car and took off.
Halfway to my destination, I stopped at a Hardees to get a cup of “lifer’s juice” (a cup of coffee). As I was limping toward the door, a woman with a cane walked up and asked if I was ok. I said yes, thank you, then asked about her cane. I briefly gave her my testimony of how I’d been healed of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Then I commanded her to give me her cane and walk. She complied and walked about five feet and came back. “Wow, you walked great. Are you healed?” I asked. Her response was, “Thank you, Jesus, I am healed.” She went back to her car, threw the cane into the back seat and went inside the Hardees to order her breakfast.
Meanwhile, I continued to limp into the restaurant, got my coffee and hobbled back to the car. After I opened the car door, I slammed my foot hard onto the parking lot in a flash of sudden righteous anger (because my foot wasn’t healed yet). The pain from that action was so intense that I fell into the car seat. After a moment, I realized I could move my toes and the swelling in my foot had gone down. The pain was still there, but I had recognized the improvement in my foot. I drove the rest of the way to the car dealership, still in pain. At the dealership, I limped around the car to unload the air compressor that had been the cause of my broken foot. I grabbed the compressor and lifted it up. As I did, the pain completely went away and I was healed!
In every single healing I’ve experienced, seen or read about, there is a spark that leads the person to believe they are healed. That spark is what I’m calling a catalyst. It causes a reaction that leads us straight into the miraculous. That catalyst can be anything that is added to the situation, causing the person to experience a change of heart. According to Merriam Webster, a catalyst is an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action. In the examples given above, the commands spoken forced the person to react, leading them to make a choice. They then believed they were healed, in spite of any wrong beliefs.
Jesus did the same thing. He added a catalyst to the situation, forcing the person into action. “Pick up your mat and go home.” The man had no time to think about it, or to bring up doubts, rationalizations or think about correcting wrong beliefs. He had a split second to make a choice. He either would or wouldn’t obey the command given to Him. Jesus’ command superseded any reservations or wrong beliefs the man may have had.
The man at the pool of Bethesda is a perfect example. He was wallowing in self-pity. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, he didn’t answer the question. Instead, he was giving an excuse as to why he couldn’t be healed. Jesus broke right through that with a simple command: “Pick up your mat and go home.” The man obeyed and did just that.
A catalyst is that spark that causes an immediate reaction, without going through a thought process. In fact, this is one reason why long prayers seldom lead to a healing, because there is no call to action. There is no spark. Think about this: When we speak a long-drawn-out prayer such as, “Heavenly Father, we ask that You destroy the cancer raging in Sister So-and-So’s body, God, we ask You for full restoration of her body.” This sweet sister is standing there thinking about how much pain she is in, but there’s been nothing shown to her that there’s been a change. There’s been no change in the belief that she’s dying. Neither Jesus nor the disciples ever prayed for a person in that manner. In those types of prayers, we’re feeding into the hopelessness of the situation. The sister is waiting for God’s answer, which she is assuming is a no. I’ve been the one prayed over like that; it only feeds the anxiety, thus feeding the symptoms.
Instead, we need to emulate Jesus and the disciples when speaking life over someone else. They already knew that the Father’s answer was yes. They simply added the catalyst, which would instantly change the person’s belief from having a need for healing to being healed. That catalyst can be one of many things. What will spark that change in belief varies based upon the individual. That is why the Holy Spirit is in you to show you what that person needs.
In my example with my broken foot, I created the catalyst that changed my belief from needing to be healed to I was healed by slamming my foot on the ground. There is no difference between seeing someone else healed and seeing your own healing. Caution: It was the Holy Spirit showing me in an instant what I needed and I reacted without a long thought process. In fact, I reacted almost instantly before I actually knew what I was doing. There are several examples of this in the Scriptures. The woman with the issue of blood created her own catalyst by the thought of, “If I only touch His garment.”
For Paul with the poisonous snake, the catalyst was that after he threw the snake in the fire, he kept on picking up more firewood.
The obvious question then is, “How do I create a catalyst for myself?” Here are my suggestions:
– Realize that the miraculous is always available
– You already carry your healing; He is the Holy Spirit inside of you. Your miracle is already approved, the answer from Jesus is, “Yes, I have healed you. By My stripes, you were healed.”
– Be in a state of confident expectation. You are healed, therefore any spontaneous action can be seized and used as a catalyst.
– Be aware of His presence within you. He is always leading you to recognize your healing. Recognize when the Holy Spirit is nudging you into action. If you have a sudden urge, do it without prior thought.
One of the things that most often creates a catalyst for myself is my paraphrase of Romans 8:11: “The Holy Spirit is giving life to my body right now.” That causes me to spontaneously react because the next thought I have is, “Since that’s true I am healed, therefore I can do.” Then I just do something. That’s when I recognize that comfort has settled in or whatever positive outcome that I was expecting.
Faith comes by hearing, so listening to healing testimonies can also be the catalyst needed to recognize that you are healed. {eoa}
Tony Myers is the founder of Outside the 4 Walls Ministry. He was healed from Lou Gehrig’s disease and now teaches others to walk in relationship with the Holy Spirit, which includes healing. Tony is the author of The Lord Jesus Healed Me, Journey of an atheist to the Truth, Unlocking the Mystery of Divine Healing, Divine Healing DIY, Yes You Can, Knocking Food off its Pedestal and Pushing the Boundaries in Christ, Living Supernaturally. His website is tonybelieves.com
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