My father was diagnosed with bladder cancer one-and-a-half years ago. He has had surgery and was at one point cancer-free. But the cancer has returned and he has had to endure chemo and radiation treatments. So, I have been visiting him and my mom every three or four days.
On one of these visits, he asked me to pray for him. This request, by the way, got some great conversations going about healing, as well as a number of other things regarding my faith in Christ. Since my mom’s cousin had experience a healing some years ago, he was at least aware that healing was a reality. Also, once, while lying on the table during a radiation treatment, he was experiencing some very bad pain, so he prayed, “God, if you can do anything to take away this pain, please do.”
He then sat up with no pain.
What was interesting was, as I started praying for Dad on this particular day, I moved into praying more for his salvation than for healing. This happened several times over the next number of visits.
We had started studying God’s plan of salvation in our life group, so two weeks ago I began sharing with Dad how we need to repent, have Jesus in our heart and be born again, and by doing this we can be sure of our salvation and have eternal life. At one point I stood up, and was about to leave, but then I turned and asked him, “Would you like to do a ‘repeat-after-me’ prayer?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Father, forgive me,” was how it started, and continued something like, “We (Mom was there too) believe that you sent your son to die for my sins and that he rose from the dead ...”
“Dad,” I said when we finished the prayer, “by saying this prayer we are born again!”
And that day my dad was born again, simply by praying, from his heart, a ‘repeat-after-me’ prayer! Thank you, Jesus!
When I see him again, I think I am going to share how he can be filled with the Holy Spirit!
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