(From the book ‘Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage’ by Kenneth E. Hagin, pp 160)
In the last church I pastored, there was a family who had just gotten back to church. They’d been out of church for years. The father came to the altar, got back in fellowship with God, and was filled with the Holy Spirit.
The youngest daughter was eleven years old. That little girl never developed right. She was small, like a seven-year-old, and it seemed that she also had the mentality of a seven-year-old. In fact, she played with our little girl who was seven years old. The little girl was a slow learner and couldn’t make it in school. But she got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. And it actually seemed like her mentality increased. She was a very sweet girl.
Well, we resigned and left the church. About three years later, they had to put this little girl in the hospital in Dallas. They wanted us to come and pray for her. She was under an oxygen tent and in a coma. The doctors thought that she had a tumor on the brain. They said she wasn’t going to live longer.
So I prayed. Then my wife and I went to our meeting. But they called us again because the girl took a turn for the worse. So we prayed again.
We finally closed the meeting and drove home. When we got home, our phone was ringing. They wanted us to come to the hospital in Dallas and lay hands on this girl.
I went to the hospital and pulled the girl’s oxygen tent up. I laid my hand on her forehead and started praying.
While my eyes were shut, I felt a warm hand on my hand, so I just took my hand off her head. I thought that maybe I was pressing too hard. I thought that maybe her mother took my hand off her forehead. So I shut my eyes again and put my hand back on her. Again, I felt that warm hand. So the third time I kept my eyes open. I felt the warm hand, but I couldn’t see any hand.
I said to the Lord. “Why did you take my hand off her head?”
He said, “Because she’s going to die.”
“Lord,” I said, “she loves you. I saw her when she got born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. Why is she going to die?”
He said, “She has one kidney about the size of an English pea, and the other kidney is only about half the size it should be. She doesn’t have a tumor. She has functioned all her life with only half a kidney. Finally, this poison has spread all over her body and poisoned her brain. That’s why she’s in a coma.”
“Well, couldn’t you heal her?” I asked.
He said, “Her parents should have done something about it before she was born. While her mother was carrying her for nine months, her father left the church because he didn’t like something the pastor said. He backslid and wherever he went, he cussed the pastor. And her mother was running around spreading gossip about everyone in the church, instead of praying for her child. They opened the door for the devil. Just let the child come on home. I want to take care of her.”
The husband and wife were spiritually responsible. They didn’t have to backslide and speak badly about the pastor. They were not going to get their prayers answered if they were cussing out a preacher. They were not going to get their prayers answered if they were running around spreading gossip. They should have been praying for that child. They should have been praying that every organ, cell, and tissue would develop normally and that she should be perfect physically.
Parents should have the best interests of their children at heart. Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” I know some children who got saved, but their parents weren’t Christians. Their parents forbid them to go to church. That doesn’t mean the children should obey their parents if they are told to do things that are sinful and wrong.
Notice Paul says, “…in the Lord.” Children should obey their parents in the Lord.