THE TOUCH FROM GOD Larry W Peebles February 7, 2020 20.03
I was reminded again that just one touch from God changes everything. My wife and I were visiting a home for the elderly located in a remote rural area of India. It was the first day of our ministry trip. Working in partnership with a local ministry, the plan was to bring the word of God, prayer, encouragement, clothes and food to these precious people. The clients at the home were mostly the poor who were too old to work, and had no place to live and no food to eat. Many walked bent over from years of back-breaking work in the rice fields. Regardless, they were happy to see us again following last year’s trip, and could not hide the joy on their faces.
My wife and I both spoke before the meal was served, but it was while I was speaking I noticed a family was ushered into the room to hear the preaching. The family consisted of an older man and his wife, one of their children and the spouse, and a child, the older man’s grandson. They stood in the middle of the room, and respectfully listened. As soon as the preaching was done, we were escorted toward the family and told they wanted prayer. The grandchild was suffering from pneumonia. My wife and I prayed for the entire family, joined by several others from the local ministry. When my wife prayed for the older man, who was the head of the family, he began to shake and cry. The same thing happened when I laid hands on him and prayed-he shook and weaved back and forth, as though he would collapse, all while tears streamed down his face. I have seen this before, and knew he was receiving a mighty touch from God. What father does not delight in touching his children? God sometimes chooses to use human hands to convey the touch, but other times not. In all cases the power in the touch comes from Him. His power is so great the human body cannot stand or control the emotions, hence the weaving, shaking, and tears from this man.
I left my hands on him for a good long while, praying the whole time. When the power seemed to subside, I asked through an interpreter what the man experienced. “Great happiness” was the translation, which I took to mean he experienced great tears of joy. We embraced and exchanged smiles. His family was invited to share in the meal, a special menu served that day complete with chairs and tables. It was customary for them to eat while sitting on the floor, but this day we literally wanted to lift them up. We served them by dishing the food right onto their plates. Clothes were then distributed to each of the residents.
Sometime after the meal, the family loaded into their vehicle to depart. I made eye contact with the grandfather, who was sitting in the front passenger’s seat holding his grandson. We exchanged smiles, and gave each other a thumbs-up. He seemed very happy as they pulled away. Later in the day our host shared with me something incredible. This was a Hindu family who simply came to see the facility for the old people. They had heard of the ministry and were curious. They had no idea we would be there, or what they were getting into. When they heard the word of God, they asked for prayer. The Hindu religion has many gods, no harm in having someone speaking of yet another god pray for them. What they had not planned for was an encounter with the one true God, and Grandpa actually being touched by Him. This day, and this experience, would become for them something to wrestle with and deal with. I can only imagine their lives will change, and their faith will never be the same.
My life turned on a dime the night I received a touch from God and a healing in my back. No man laid hands on me, but the pastor called out my back condition. He told me to stand and move into the aisle near where I was seated in the congregation. He explained to me what would happen. He said I would feel the touch of God on my body. I felt two fingers touch my forehead. My back was healed, but more importantly, His touch changed my life forever. I knew God was real, and that He knew and cared for me. I had to know Him more. The Hindu grandpa now knew that also. No other Hindu god he had ever prayed to could have possibly touched him in that way. I could relate.
The message or theme the Lord had been emphasizing to me for the trip was 1 Corinthians 2:4-5- “My [Paul] message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” I did not know the grandpa’s name or his problems. We spoke different languages. I could not tell him all about the one true God in a short period of time, and in that setting. A demonstration from the Spirit (a touch) would be much more effective and life-changing. The message I preached that day may have opened his heart for prayer, but he needed something only an actual encounter with Jesus would satisfy. He needed a new faith based on the word of God and His power, not the wisdom of man. His touch from the Holy Spirit early in our trip served as an example of many that would follow.
A pastor in one of the conferences we held later in our ministry trip gave a testimony. After my wife and I had both preached the message the Lord had given us for the pastors, we concluded the conference by praying for all the pastors. My wife waded out into the pastors seated on the right side of the main aisle, while I went out among the pastors on the left side. We laid hands on all of them, praying for a touch from the Lord. We did not know their names, their needs, or their language. One pastor later testified that he was toward the rear on my side, and noticed that I was laying hands on the heads of the pastors. He was having some heart troubles, and asked the Lord if I might lay hands on his heart instead of his head. When I got to his row, I came toward him continuing to lay hands on the heads of the pastors, but when I got to him I laid hands on his heart and asked Holy Spirit to touch him. He said he felt a surge of power come through my hands and into his heart. I can only conclude that was for his healing. Incredibly, I only remembered doing it after he testified. There was no instruction from the Lord that I remember saying to pray for his heart- I just did it. Maybe my spirit heard from the Holy Spirit to pray for his heart, but there was no conscious directive or effort to do so. The pastor came seeking, and he received a touch from God.
His touch was a special touch just for him. The very real God of the universe directed it toward his special need-the need he had prayed about. I knew nothing of the need, and did not pray specifically over his heart. The Holy Spirit must have intervened at that moment of contact. I was merely a conduit, like a piece of pipe, used to let the power of God flow through to this man. His life will also never be the same, because he now knows that God knows him and loves him, and cares about his needs. He will be encouraged. The direction of his life will change forever on a touch from God. His faith from the word of God is now accelerated to a higher level based on a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus touched Peter’s mother-in-law, the fever left her (Matthew 8:14). At the end of that same day, the people “brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying hands on each one, He healed them.” (Luke 4:40). When James tells us to “lay hands on the sick…and they will recover” (James 5:14-15), it is not the hands, or the person they belong to. It is a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. However He chooses to do it, Jesus still touches his children through His Holy Spirit.
These are two examples we saw with our own eyes, but we saw countless examples of people being touched by God, and no one laid hands on them. We saw tears, and people shaking and crying out to God while we preached. The testimonies that were told later bore witness to what we saw- backs healed, elbows and teeth healed, along with severe headaches and vision restored. Fear was defeated. One woman who was barren said she saw a vision of her child that would soon come. All of these were touched by God in a demonstration of the power of His Holy Spirit. That is the goal of our ministry—to know God and to make Him known. In our meetings and in our ministry we want to point the people toward God. The teaching and preaching of the word of God is obviously important in order to make Him known. It is also important for the people to receive a touch from God to back up or demonstrate the word. This is what will propel them into a deeper relationship with the Lord, and change their lives forever. Just one touch from God, and they will never be the same.
