My physicians told me to expect a number of unpleasant aftereffects once they removed a golf ball-sized tumor from my cerebellum, but when I opened my eyes in the recovery area, I felt remarkably good! Not even a headache. Later, when the surgeon reported that the tumor had been removed whole and intact, I was even more elated. As the day progressed and this miraculous recovery became more evident, the nurse kept telling me I had high blood pressure. (I wonder, when Jesus did miracles in biblical times, did a nurse monitor peoples’ blood pressure as they danced and praised God?) Of course, I had high blood pressure! It was all I could do to keep from dancing down the hallway shouting praises my Great Physician!

That experience caused me to ask myself, “What should be our response when God delivers us from death?” Only one answer comes to mind: Go, tell everyone we encounter that Jesus Christ is our breath, and our life, and our all. When I awoke from surgery and the reality of God’s gift of miraculous healing settled in, all I could think to do was to tell everyone. I had to share.

The first nurse who helped me in ICU introduced herself as Naomi.

I said, “Naomi . . . ‘Your people shall be my people.’”

This wonderful, godly nurse smiled and said, “Ruth and Naomi! You know the Bible!”

“Where are you from, Naomi?”

She replied, “I am from Nairobi, Kenya.”

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Earlier, the Lord had shared with me that this awakening would be for His people to share His heart for the lost and the least (Matt. 25:40). Here before me stood a lady from the very place I had been in January, a place that broke my heart for the “least of these” like nowhere else on earth. The death and poverty of the Huruma slums prompted us to establish H.I.S. BridgeBuilders there and, today, thanks to the faithfulness of several men and women, thirty to forty of the most notorious criminals meet each week to study the Word and to find new life in Christ. The study is led by Sabina Wanjiru Muchunu and a man named David.

David was a Muslim living in the northern edge of Kenya where militant Islam dominates. As he lay dying of cancer on a mat on a dirt floor he began to read discarded magazines, one of which happened to be a Christian publication explaining the gospel. He responded to the invitation of Christ with a genuine prayer of salvation. Later that night, he also prayed in belief that he would be healed of his cancer and then fell asleep.

The following morning he awoke to find that he had been miraculously healed. He had received tangible proof that the Almighty had heard his prayer, had healed his body of disease, and had cleansed his soul of sin. He couldn’t wait to share the good news with his Muslim brethren. So he went to Friday prayers at the mosque and shared that he had submitted to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and that he had been healed of cancer. His Muslim community responded by beating him nearly to death and chasing him from the city. His wife and children were given to his relatives and he hasn’t seen them since. Even so, he continues to be a bold witness for Christ in Nairobi.

When I share this story, it seems surreal. We, in America, do not have to worry about risking our lives to share the gospel. Our circumstances do not demand that we give up everything—including our families—to go and minister to people like our brother David.

When Naomi mentioned Nairobi, Kenya, I was again reminded of our calling as Christians. Just like the leper who returned to give thanks (Luke 17:11–16), how can we not go back and tell others the good news when every breath is a gift? How can we not go back and love others who are fighting for their lives when all of us have been touched by cancer in some way? How can we not go back and give when we know that every dollar we have is a gift from God? How can we not go back and share our stories of how God has healed us, cleansed us from sin, and redeemed us?

As I talked with Naomi and thought of David, it became clearer than ever that my response is to go back to Nairobi and to other urban communities around the world and to share with them the good news. To let them know that our God is bigger than any problem they might have.

H.I.S. BridgeBuilders is creating a ministry called ChemoChurch to serve cancer patients. Help us with your donation.

Many are headed for hell today. Many lay dying in hospital beds. Many are starving to death. How shall we respond? The message of the New Testament is clear. If we say we love Jesus yet do not love the lost and the least, then we delude ourselves. In truth, we do not love the Jesus of the Bible but a counterfeit Jesus of our own making. The Jesus of the Bible said, “If you love Me you will obey my commandments.” He also said, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. . . . As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matt. 25:40, 45).

There is no greater authentication that we have grasped the magnitude of the grace we have been given than by the grace we give to others daily. If you think you had something to do with your salvation, your health, or your financial standing, then you will judge others and not be moved to act. If, however, you realize that you are saved, healthy, and financially blessed by the grace of God, you will be the first to say, “Here am I, Lord, send me!”

Here is a tangible way you can help right now:

Does God still do miracles? Is He truly the same yesterday, today, and forever? The answer is emphatically YES! We have become like the early church, whose members prayed for Peter’s deliverance from prison yet struggled to believe their prayers had been answered. While Peter stood at their door knocking, they argued with the servant announcing his arrival. They dismissed her as crazy rather than believe their prayers had been answered! (Acts12:13–16)

Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to share the many miracles the Lord has done in direct response to your believing prayers. My prayer is that we may know that God has so much more that He wants to do in this generation if we will pray by faith the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit while trusting in our Sovereign Lord for the answer! Miracles are awaiting the church in this season of awakening if we will believe our Great God and pray His Word by faith.

When I was diagnosed thirty-eight months ago with stage 4 non-smoker’s lung cancer, I believed the diagnosis and accepted as truth that I was a dead man walking. I planned my funeral, arranged my affairs, and prepared for death to take me within eight months—eighteen months at the longest—anticipating seeing God face to face. “To live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21) was ever on my heart.

As I waited for death, a group of intercessors came into my office, among them, Kay Boleman, who had been assigned to be my intercessor while I was on the staff at Prestonwood Baptist Church. These prayer warriors prayed as the Bible instructs us to do:

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. (James 5:14–15, emphasis mine)

They prayed a “prayer of faith.” The Greek could be translated “a prayer of believing” or “a believing prayer.” That is, they prayed believing that I was already healed.

That was a critical ministry they performed on my behalf. People in the pit of despair simply do not have the capacity to believe. I needed Kay and the others to pray over me and for me. Their prayer of belief lifted my eyes from this death sentence to see my great God and to hear His promises. And I believed, that day, I was healed. I began to walk daily in this confidence, no matter what men would say. I do not ignore science; I simply give more credence to the Word of God. I did accept the best course of medical treatments offered, but I placed my trust in the Great Physician to heal me.

Let me be clear. “Praying in belief” is not our attempt to bring God around to our way of thinking or to get His approval for our desires. God is sovereign and He calls us to trust His character. Trusting in our Sovereign God for the answer to prayer means that if He tells me it’s time to suffer greatly and then go home to be with Him, I should rejoice knowing that this will bring Him Glory. (I will explain this further in a later post.) Jesus is King and we must surrender to His sovereignty.

The week before surgery, the pastors and elders of Prestonwood Baptist Church held a prayer service on my behalf. The elders anointed my head with oil and prayed believing God for my healing. My mother prayed in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming that I was healed. On that day, I believed, by God’s grace and mercy, that this surgery would be the final chapter in my battle with cancer. (Click here to listen to her prayer now.)

Before surgery, Dr. James Batiste, a Neurooncologist with U.T. Southwestern Medical Center, warned that removing a tumor the size of a golf ball from my brain would likely cause balance problems, which would take anywhere from two weeks to six months to resolve. He mentioned that I should expect nausea, headache, impaired speech, sore neck, and muscle spasms during my long recovery.

When I was taken back to surgery, I remembered the last words of my oldest son Michael, who prayed, “Thank you, Lord, for entrusting this to our family.”

When I woke, the surgeons reported that the tumor was completely contained and came out in one piece! My doctor said, “We all know that Somebody else had something to do with this.” I spoke freely and clearly, experienced no nausea, no major headache, felt no more pain than a sore neck. The next day, Dr. Batiste came to see my first attempt to walk; as he watched, I walked with no assistance. He said, “Please quote me on this: This is a miracle.” (Click here to see for yourself.) Less than forty-eight hours later, note the improvement.

By that afternoon my bodily functions were all normal and I needed nothing more than Regular Strength Tylenol for minor pain. In fact, I spent much of my time in the waiting room praying for families whose loved ones lay in the ICU. I was released from the hospital three days after surgery instead of the expected four to seven days, and I have been feeling great. A week after leaving the hospital, I began working out at Gold’s Gym.

I tell you this for two reasons. First, I want to encourage you. We serve a God who continues to work supernaturally for our good and His glory. (Rom. 8:28–39) Second, to proclaim that the Lord is calling all of us to be awakened, to know Him, and to experience Him in a fresh and powerful way! There are miracles yet to be experienced if we will, again, become a people who pray by the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, trusting in the sovereignty of our great God.

As Jesus said to His followers,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt. 7:7–11)

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When my twin brother, Mel, and I were born in Nuremburg, Germany, just a little more than 50 years ago, we weighed slightly more than three pounds each. My grandfather, a medical doctor, told my grandmother, “Get on a plane, get over there to be with your daughter; they’re not going to make it.” In 1961 Germany, the chances of a premature birth ending in death were extraordinarily high. Yet, I am here today.

When I was two years old, I contracted an acute kidney infection that the doctors worried would kill me. But I’m here today.

In 2009, I was diagnosed with stage IV non-smoker’s lung cancer and the doctors gave me 18 months to live—at most. Thirty-seven months later, I’m still here.

As my friend, Pastor Elmer Lessa, said this weekend, “We get a medical diagnosis so that we will know the size of the miracle God did when He heals you.” I can tell you from personal experience that “impossible odds” are nothing more than God’s opportunities to demonstrate His power through the most unlikely people in the most unusual circumstances. The problem is, we’ll miss out if we remain in a spiritual slumber.

This past Sunday, my church family at Prestonwood Baptist Church held a prayer service, during which elders gathered around me, anointed me with oil, and prayed over me in keeping with James 5:14. During that time, Pastor Jack Graham said, “This is not a wake, it’s an awakening.” And he’s exactly right! This season of illness and recovery is another opportunity for God to bring glory to His name and for use to draw near to Him in prayer.

My illness, like all difficult circumstances and “impossible odds”, is an awakening. Henry Nouwen explains that the word “obedient” is derived from the Latin root word, audire, which means “listening.”[1] When we awaken, and learn to listen to God, we become obedient. As we hear from God, we get His heart. And what is His heart? To restore souls to Himself. The world needs Jesus. Awakening occurs when God shakes us from our comfort and complacency to get us on our knees so that we will share His burden and His passion, and to fully realize that this world is not our home. Life is a vapor, but we have this hope of glory that is eternal. The world needs this hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

In the past couple of weeks, as I drew near to God in prayer and the news of my illness spread among my friends and those who support the ministry of H.I.S. BridgeBuilders, people all over the world began to gather in the throne room of grace to pray. We have God’s promise that when we gather in His name, and seek His face, He will be faithful to lead us. We will hear His Word. And He’s telling us there’s so much that needs to be done for the kingdom. As we follow through in obedience, His name will be glorified, and what could be greater than that?

As an example of God’s moving in this way, let me share with you two related stories of God moving in the lives of awakened men. The first is Daron Babcock, who joined our staff a few months ago as Director of Community Development. This very successful businessman was awakened by God some time ago, gave up his career, sold his home in a wealthy suburb, moved into the South Dallas neighborhood of Bonton, and now makes about 20 percent of his former income. Many of the things most people labor a lifetime to acquire, Daron gave up.

Interestingly, Daron doesn’t see it that way. At the prayer service, Daron stood up and said, “I didn’t give up anything. God called me to let go of things that were preventing me from experiencing all the goodness He had waiting for me. When I made these decisions, I felt like I was giving up a lot, but it’s been the greatest gift in the world to walk alongside Mike and the BridgeBuilders staff in this great work of God.”

To illustrate, he told the group about a young man named, Germany, whom he met in Bonton. One Saturday evening, Germany and his two brothers were hanging out at Daron’s house. When the time came to go to bed, the young men asked to stay overnight because their home didn’t have any utilities—no water, no electricity, no air conditioning. In fact, they had no food and hadn’t eaten. He explained that to give Germany and his brothers a place to stay and a meal to eat became just one of the many great privileges of his life.

The following Sunday morning, Daron and his son took the young men to church with them. During the service at Reunion Church, Pastor Richard Ellis typically invites people from the congregation to come forward and ask for prayer, or share a praise, or offer a testimony. When Germany moved toward the microphone, Daron thought for certain he would ask for prayer concerning his difficult circumstances. Instead, Germany said, “There is a man who is helping in my community and his ministry is helping my family. He has brain cancer, and I want you to pray for him.”

Let me make this clear. Germany and his brothers have no running water, no electricity, no place to escape the 110-degree Dallas heat, and no food. Yet he prayed, not for himself, but for me. When Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest, He replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind . . . And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–40).

At 17, Germany has figured out what most people don’t discover in a lifetime. He is fully awake!

My prayer is that, as you are on your knees praying, that you would experience an awakening, and hear what God has for you. I pray that my season of physical illness and recovery becomes the catalyst for your own awakening. He’s seeking to do something in your life that’s new. In fact, it may be something in connection with the movement of God called H.I.S. BridgeBuilders, which is now in seven cities around the world. Perhaps this is your opportunity to experience what Daron, Germany, and so many others have experienced as they engage in kingdom work.

Many have asked how they can support me and my family in addition to prayer, and I will be candid; the weight of seeking monthly support for this work of God is a joy that I will not be able to carry in these coming months. I love when Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and he said “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you,” and Jesus said to him, “Feed My Sheep.” That is my prayer—that God would rain down His provision in this season of Healing and restoration. But as my time and energy is diminished during my recovery following my brain surgery at 9:00 a.m. this Thursday at Zale Lipshy, I need your help.

If you have been standing with us financially each month, would you prayerfully consider increasing your monthly gift? If you haven’t yet joined us with your financial support, now is the time.

The process is simple. The link below will take you straight to the H.I.S. BridgeBuilders donation page, where you can use a credit or debit card to commit to a regular monthly donation.

Or you may click on the Response Form below, print it, fill in the requested information, and send via mail with your donation to:

H.I.S. BridgeBuilders

2075 W. Commerce St.

Dallas, TX 75208

Thank you for continuing to stand with us and the movement of God called H.I.S. BridgeBuilders! And may your own personal awakening become your opportunity to reap immeasurable spiritual blessings from God as He moves in your life in a fresh, new way.

We have all agreed that Jesus is a free gift from God to all who believe, but that the Bible also clearly teaches us that there is a cost to follow Jesus. We have discussed the joy of taking up our “cross” and following Jesus, and the responsibility we each have to own our God-given part of the work prepared for us before we were born.

This third lesson is on the sovereignty of God. This brings great comfort to my soul, for it is here that we can trust in a loving Abba Father to do what is best for us and what will bring Him the greatest glory.

I know we have all tried life on our own terms, and the results have been disastrous. I remember when the Lord told us to sell our alarm business and surrender to the ministry. It didn’t make sense in our minds but it was clearly the work of God. He has been ordering our steps ever since as we seek to know Him more and listen to His voice.

We never thought our obedience to His plan would lead us to serve at Prestonwood with such a great staff and people. We never dreamed that out of this wonderful relationship with Him, He would give us such a wonderful family. We are overwhelmed with joy that our amazing God could take a mixed-up and messed-up businessman and eventually lead him to a relationship with a welfare mom . . . and that it would change both lives forever.

We cannot believe that our great God has allowed us the joy of establishing H.I.S. BridgeBuilders, a ministry that now thrives in seven cities locally and globally. It is clearly a movement of God, and we are humbled to be a part of His plan for His Glory.

We are grateful that the Lord orders the steps of the righteous. We also rest in the knowledge that this righteousness is not based on our ability, but credited to us based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. Our deeds are no better than filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), for we live in continual need of a Savior whose name is Jesus. We do not deserve this life of abundance or the tremendous peace that comes from resting in the arms of our loving Father as we face various trials.

Nowhere in my plan did stage IV lung cancer exist. Even so, it has been part of my life for these past 37 months. But I never would have cared for the sick the way that I do now, and I never would have begun Chemo Church had God not shown me the tremendous need of these dear people whom He loves so greatly. He has opened my heart to the people of Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood, and is working in such magnificent ways to lead people to support H.I.S. BridgeBuilders, as well as the formation of Restoration Community Church.

This all clearly points us to the fact that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). I want to live the rest of my life and ministry under the sovereign rule of Christ and no other. Our journey of faith, which now includes cancer, has taught us to move only at the leading of the Lord regardless of what men may say.

We seek godly counsel and sound advice; we search the Word of God and remain steadfast in prayer. Ultimately, however, it is this same God who has led us to do these crazy ridiculous things in life who has also brought such blessing and joy to our lives. We will not stop seeking and trusting our God now in this season, as He is “good all the time.”

The reports from MD Anderson are that there is a 3.7 centimeter tumor on my cerebellum and a small mass on my upper left front lobe. Doctors are recommending surgery on the rear mass and follow up with Gamma Knife Radiosurgery on the front mass. We are still seeking the Lord’s leading, but we have scheduled this procedure for the 13th of August, if this is the way the Lord leads.

We are trusting in the reign of Christ now and forever. Our prayer is that, as Christians, we will all know that the rule of Christ is the best plan for all of us. No matter how ridiculous His request may seem—He is Love, He is Good, He is Right; He knows what is best . . . His kingdom First (Matthew 6:33!) We are believing our great God for His healing . . . for His glory . . . and for our good!

Thank you for your prayers. And thank you for continuing to walk with us and the movement of God called H.I.S. BridgeBuilders!