Praying for someone's back

A strong, pain-free back is important for an active, healthy life. Back problems are common however, so it's not surprising that we often prayed for many people suffering from various kinds of back pain in our home fellowships, church gatherings and conferences over the years. Here are three stories that illustrate some of the kinds of things that can happen when you minister healing prayer to people experiencing back problems. 

1. The team approach

At a Vineyard conference a man who came forward during ministry time said he had been experiencing almost constant mid-back pain for years. After interviewing him, three of us decided to take the man downstairs where we could minister to him in a more private setting. The three of us laid hands on him and began praying for the man, who was standing in the midst of us. One of us took the lead and began asking God to release his healing power on the man's back. The second member of our team was praying in tongues. I remained silent and waited for the Holy Spirit to give us a word of knowledge about the man's condition. 

After a few moments I saw in my mind what looked like a vertebrae that glowed warmly, so I began to pray out loud and say "Touch that vertebrae with your power, Lord, heal it." At this point the man we were praying for was twisting his torso and moaning. It sounded like he was in pain, so we continued with our prayers, each of us praying independently according to how we felt the Holy Spirit was leading us. 

After about five minutes of praying, we looked at each other and decided to stop praying. "How are you doing?" one of us asked him. The man opened his eyes and began to slowly twist and bend his torso. Then he looked at us with puzzlement in his eyes and said, "The pain is gone." 

"Really?" we all said? "Try bending right over, but be careful, do it slowly." 

The man bent over and touched the floor, then stood up straight and said, "No pain." 

The three of us who had been praying looked at each other with wonder and some excitement, but the man merely looked puzzled and somewhat apprehensive, perhaps fearing that he might only experience a temporary reprieve from his pain. But since the man seemed to be healed, we blessed him and he left to go back upstairs. 

Looking back on our prayer session, it struck me afterwards how poorly the three of us had functioned together as a team. We had prayed independently of each other and had not shared with each other what we thought might be the root cause of the man's pain or how we should pray effectively for him. We also didn't discuss our prayer session afterwards to see what we could learn from it or what we might have done differently. 

And yet the man was healed, for a few years later I ran into him again and he confirmed that his back was still healed and he was no longer experiencing any pain! But he still looked puzzled when I talked to him about it, and I probably should have probed his mind further in case there was some missing spiritual dimension to the constant pain he had been experiencing. But we were both busy and had other things to do, so we parted and moved on. 

2. Persist in prayer

The second story illustrates how persistence in ministering healing prayer can, over a period of time that may range from weeks to months, can eventually result in healing. This story was told by my friend Ken and has been excerpted from chapter 3 of my book Simple Kingdom: Home Fellowships which you can read online or download as a free PDF.

Anyways, here is Ken's story of how his back got healed in our home fellowship:

When I joined the house church I was experiencing back pain almost continuously. The group prayed for me every Sunday for over a year until my back was finally healed. I received a lot of love from that group and it encouraged me to pursue God and pray for healing for others.

While this story is short, it illustrates several important things. The first is that home fellowships provide an ideal environment for people to learn how to pray for the sick. A second observation is that when someone gets healed of a debilitating condition, the result is often that they start praying for others to be healed—that's kingdom multiplication happening through the expression of God's power! And finally, don't give up when you pray for someone's healing—keep on praying until they get healed!

John Wimber brings this last point home on page 158 of his book Power Healing when he says: "There is another reason—I believe the most fundamental reason—why more people are not healed when prayed for today. We do not seek God as wholeheartedly as we should. In other words, God is able to do greater miracles than we have yet seen, if only we would persist in seeking him."

3. Seize the moment

The third story happened at the end of a time of fellowship in our home when those who came were standing in the entrance getting ready to leave. One of the men bent over to tie his shoelaces and suddenly let out a yelp. "Ouch! My back!" 

"What's wrong?" we all cried. "I can't stand up, I've thrown out my back again!" he said, as he remained stooped over. "This has happened to me before, and it'll be days before I can stand up straight again. Oh, damit!" 

At this point my wife Ingrid suddenly rushed over to the man, laid her hands on his back, and said "Be HEALED in Jesus' name!" The man's torso suddenly jackknifed upwards and he stood up straight. I asked him how his back felt and he twisted his torso and said, looking somewhat bewildered, "Fine, there's no pain". We all felt somewhat stunned, but we hugged each other and praised God and everybody went home. 

There are various ways one could explain how this healing occurred e.g. the Spirit came upon Ingrid, God gave her a gift of faith, she was moved with compassion, and so on. But the point is probably that she saw someone hurting and decided to act by praying for him, immediately and with expectation that God wants to heal.

I wish I was more like that. 

Anyways, be blessed everyone, and be healed :-)

--Mitch (with edits by Ingrid)