Healing Is the Dinner Bell

And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.
(Luke 9:6)
As a young pastor, just before my twenty-fourth birthday, I remember hearing Rev. Raymond T. Richey (a man who was used mightily by God in the area of healing) say, "Divine healing is the dinner bell." I knew exactly what he meant when he said that.

At that time people living out in the country had a big bell on their back porch, and when dinner was ready, someone would ring the bell to let everyone in the fields know it was time to eat.

When I heard Rev. Richey say that, I wasn't having healing services at my church on a regular basis. But I said to myself, "I'm going back home, and I'm going to start ringing the dinner bell."

We had Wednesday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night services. I told the congregation, "Every Saturday night is divine healing night. I'm not going to preach on anything but divine healing." So I started ringing the dinner bell.

Initially, the crowd on Saturday night became smaller, and, as far as I could ascertain, no one was getting healed. I would anoint them with oil and lay hands on them. I would have a healing line every Saturday night.

Still, no one was getting healed. But I kept on ringing the dinner bell! Finally, after six months, things started happening. People started getting healed.

I didn't understand it then, but I know now that when I first began teaching on healing, I was planting seed. I had to keep watering that seed, and that takes time. I could have become discouraged and stopped holding healing services. Or I could have resigned the church and left. But when the harvest came, I wouldn't have been there to enjoy it.

Confession
I plant the seed of God's Word in my heart. And I continue to water that seed. Eventually, I will see a harvest of health and healing.
Source: Health Food Devotions by Kenneth E. Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications