In 2006 I visited Rev. Dr. Michael Asenso in Tema, Accra, Ghana. I held meetings there from Friday to Sunday. This post contains two stories from that weekend.
Healed from Blindness
On the first evening, a woman named Agnes comes forward for prayer. She is blind in one eye. There is a distinct white "thing" in the eye. It looks a bit like a ceramic eye with glaze, where the glaze had run during firing.
I pray for her, and nothing happens. I get the impression that I should tell her she will be healed during the weekend. It was a rather vague impression. So I am quite nervous about it. Was it from God? Or is it just because I have heard similar stories before?
I spend the 3 days fasting, and one of the things running through my mind while I pray is what I "promised" Agnes.
On Saturday evening she comes forward for prayer again. This time she is healed and regains her sight. The photo was taken while she was dancing and praising God. I had a video of it, but I have lost it.
The Paralysed Woman
On Sunday the church is packed. It is obvious that people have heard about the miracle. There is no room for more people, and the usually lively African worship is a notch more lively.
On the left side there is a paralysed woman. To me she appears paralysed from the neck down. She is not in a wheelchair — she is more or less laid across a plastic chair.
The worship thunders on, and I experience something I have not experienced before. The power of God comes upon me on the outside, a bit like getting goosebumps. I have no doubt about what it is. It is so that I should lay my hands on the woman and heal her.
I have been taught that as a guest one should submit to the place one is visiting, and that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (1 Cor. 14:32). That is correct, but my understanding of this and the meeting causes me to wait for the worship to end and for Mike to hand the meeting over to me.
I think it cannot be long before that happens, but the worship continues and continues. Suddenly the power disappears. I had been thinking that as soon as Mike gives me the microphone, I would lay my hands on the woman and pray for her.
But now that I am finally called up on stage, the power is no longer there, and I do not know what to do. So I preach my sermon, and afterwards I pray for those who want it. Including the paralysed woman. Nothing happens. She is not healed.
I spoke with Mike about it after the meeting — that I did not pray for her when I felt the power upon me. He was surprised that I did not just do it. It is one of the greatest regrets of my life.
Follow the leading of the Spirit. Sometimes you will be wrong. Then take responsibility. But the times you get it right outweigh the mistakes you make. You will also learn from your mistakes. You learn nothing if you do not try.
If you are sceptical of accounts like this, I understand. I would encourage you to approach it with an open mind. A Dutch research team has examined 14 cases of medically remarkable recoveries associated with prayer. The study is peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Religion and Health (2023). It concludes that these healings cannot be fully explained within a purely biomedical framework, and that different forms of knowledge — medical, biographical, and spiritual — together provide a more complete picture.
Read the study: A Dutch Study of Remarkable Recoveries After Prayer (PMC)
