In 1986 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I have through all the years believed that God would heal me, and I kept a distance to everybody who attempted to remove that faith in me.

I was, however, wrong in my conviction that I should learn something from the illness, that I should become good enough in the eyes of God before I was worthy to be healed.

On May 15, 2002 I attended a meeting with Pastor Charles Ndifon in Aarhus, Denmark.

Still not feeling good enough, it was no wonder at all that I was terrified when I stood up in the front asking to be healed. Initially I told Pastor Charles that I was afraid of the power of God. He answered, "But he’s your Daddy", and he looked at me with the most caring and loving eyes – so loving that I believed him. I could feel God’s love deep into my soul.

In that moment, the fear left me – a heavy, dark cloud was lifted off me. Then I told Pastor Charles that I had multiple sclerosis. He said that all my sins were forgiven, and again he said it in a way making me really believe his words. And at that moment my physical pain disappeared.

I noticed that a little later Pastor Charles mentioned that we had to do something in order to keep our miracle. Fortunately I heard it and acted on it. I signed up for an Alpha course that started shortly after. I also went to counseling once a week in the church and I attended the meetings on Sundays.

Fortunately enough – because since then Satan has made one attack after the other to win back what he had lost, namely all the energy my fears and physical illness gave him, and he worked through my doubts and fears – his most effective tools. He had lost a large-scale supplier of pain, doubts and fears, and it was not surprising that he reacted.

The first couple of months, when I felt some physical symptoms, it was almost as if I leaned into the pain, into the fear as a well-known embrace, and I was caught in a trap because I didn't know better. And often I had the need for somebody to pray for me, maybe several times a week in order to get free of Satan’s draining grip again.

Satan would also say to me, "Your faith ought to be strong enough. You don't need others to pray for you!" Cunning, isn’t he?

When things were difficult or I had physical symptoms, he has even been sitting on my shoulder in church, whispering that surely I could not step forward to ask for prayer again as I did so last Sunday, and perhaps also the previous Sunday … But he lost because I did step forward, and received help to get further away from fears and doubts, and still closer into the embrace of God.

I continued to have pain in my back because several vertebras in my spine often got locked – this had not yet changed. But when I attended Pastor Charles’ meetings in Copenhagen in September 2002, I said to him on the first day that I really wished that also my back could be healed, and that it was necessary to enable me to attend all the meetings during the week. Pastor Charles asked, "Where is the pain now?" The pain had disappeared!

Satan returned to me several times while I stayed in Copenhagen. He even used what I would call common sense.

One evening – the meeting had just begun – I had severe pain in my arms and legs, and I was so tired that it was difficult for me to just sit in an upright position on my chair. Common sense told me that being tired after more than 15 hours of activity per day was nothing exceptional, and that consequently it might be a good idea to lay down on the sofa one evening for a rest. Even people that hadn't been ill would be tired. But when Mark Cole began to play, I discovered something, which I now call the un-common sense. It told me to begin to dance!

I was sitting in the front row that night. It was an advantage as I had sufficient space to move on, but I had to overcome the idea that everybody in the audience could see me. But I began to dance, and the more I danced, the better I felt. That evening I did not leave until midnight.

The next morning Satan tempted me again with physical pain and common sense: That it would be good for me to rest until noon. But I had begun to recognize the temptations and consequently I asked myself what I wanted most of all – and the answer was clear. I asked Jesus to help me, and the moment I opened the door to go to the meeting with Pastor Charles, my physical pain disappeared completely. That day I also kept on going until midnight. I had got the idea that if Pastor Charles could keep on going by the power of the Holy Spirit, so could I!

I felt pain in my back and thought: "Oh no, not again." I had been completely free from pain since I had asked Pastor Charles for help a week earlier …

But fortunately enough I remembered that someone else was living inside of me now. Someone who is immensely more powerful. And I also remembered that Pastor Charles had pointed out that we should use our authority to command the devil to leave.

Consequently, I spoke out loud to him in the car, and said with a firm voice that Jesus now lived in me, and that he did not have any chance, and that he should go away. The pain in my back disappeared.

Shortly after, he was there again – I experienced pain in my right wrist. A well-known pain from multiple sclerosis. Again I had to use my authority and explain to him once more that compared to Jesus he had no power, and therefore had to go. I laughed with joy because Jesus is in my life, and found out that a heartfelt laughter really discourages the devil. He sneaked away and left me alone for the rest of the trip home.

It is important to turn all my attention towards Jesus when I have commanded the devil to go. Because sometimes I have fought and fought to make the pain go away by focusing on the devil. It left me completely exhausted without the symptoms going away. In those situations it has always helped me to ask somebody to pray for me. And it is evident that when Jesus has a place in my heart again the joy returns.

Nehemiah 8:10 says: "… for the joy of the Lord is your strength!"

But Satan can knock at your door in the most surprising ways. It can be well-intentioned people asking you, "Are you sure that you are healed?" "Has it been scientifically proven?" or "But what happens if you become ill again?" Questions almost designed to reinstate doubt and fear in my life.

The pitfalls can be numerous – fear of the devil is also fear and thus originating from the devil. Fear cannot keep the devil away – recognition and rejection of him with Jesus in my heart will do.

Pastor Charles often says, "Follow the instructions". He might say, "Do what you could not do before", and for me it means not only physically but also things I used to be afraid of doing.

In fact one can save money by following the instructions from God. One morning I got the idea that I should go to church as early as 9.30 a.m. My common sense argued against it as the meeting with Pastor Charles did not start until 11.00 a.m., so why should I go that early? Well, I went out of the door anyway and got to my car just in time to prevent getting a parking ticket, which I would otherwise have received because I had parked the car too close to a corner.

Some weeks later I needed prayers again. The symptoms were back and I was severely disheartened. (Once again I had a discussion with myself whether prayers were really needed … but I stepped forward). It did help – once again – the pain and depression disappeared, and God’s peace filled my heart again

The physical rehabilitation is also important. But most important of all is that I place God first 24 hours a day.

It is a learning process to discover how to let Jesus fill my heart and my life. And to discover the best way to be open so that God’s grace may do its work in me.

October 2002

Today, 14 months after the miracle, it is very rare that I have any pain. And the joy is in me every day! The rock I am standing on feels more and more solid under my feet as my belief that I am loved turns into solid knowledge – that I am God's child.

And now I know that it was the word of God that healed me and it is the word of God that keeps my miracle. I have to skip religion and let the living word of God work in me. It is wonderful to discover what the Bible actually says. And to discover how the word of God very powerfully transforms things in me and in my life – when I let it.

Jesus, the Word, lives today – no doubt about that.