Sonrise Magazine

by Rick Michels

John Gilbert came to the 2021 Christmas Miracle service needing one. He had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and the doctors were making preparations to remove it, along with much of the apparatus around it. But a complication threatened to make this an even more dangerous procedure. John has COPD. There was a good chance his lungs wouldn’t be able to handle such a radical surgery, and that he wouldn’t survive the procedure. John came to the Saturday Christmas Miracle service for prayer.

From left: Josh Nelson, John Gilbert

I had met John earlier that summer. His best friend Josh Nelson brought him to our Jesus Community home meeting. Josh had been pestering his best friend to join the group, and he finally agreed to show up for a backyard barbecue. A few weeks later John showed up a second time. I greeted him and Josh at the door. With a shaky voice, he told me,

“Rick, the doctors have diagnosed me with bladder cancer… and I’m scared.” He broke down in tears. 

I brought him into the living room and sat him on the couch. The community gathered around him as he explained how bad the situation was, and his fear he wouldn’t survive the procedure. Moved with compassion and filled with faith, the Jesus Community laid hands on John, prayed, and prayed hard. A level of faith for healing rose in the living room as we claimed healing in the Name of Jesus. We believed something powerful transpired: that God was indeed healing. We then went about the community meeting of fellowship and prayer and John began coming more regularly.

A number of weeks came and went. Josh and John escaped for a couple days of vacation in a house in the mountains, where God met them powerfully. The two came back to Everett so excited they couldn’t wait for the next meeting but came directly to our home, where John told my wife Cheryl and me how God came upon them and took away his fear of death. John later came with me to the Christmas Miracle service, and again received powerful prayer, not only for his bladder, but also his lungs.

John became a regular member of our Jesus Community. Going through the Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care book, we watched asGod did a deep healing in his heart. And one day, John came to the community with the news: his doctors met with John to prepare for the surgery, took X-rays, and reported that …well, they couldn’t explain it, but there was no cancer in his bladder anywhere!

God continued to work in his life. He moved John, a former meth addict, to a new halfway house. The doctors, still perplexed, ordered another set of Xrays, and brought a top specialist in, who thought he noticed a small spot in the bladder the rest had missed, and said that, unless the bladder was removed, and chemo therapy commenced, the cancer could spread. But the likelihood of death by the cancer and procedure was gone, and John was no longer fearful. He accepted the loss of the bladder and bag replacement as a good deal.

I remember feeling a bit differently. God had healed the cancer, dagnabit, and we were going to petition God again to confirm the healing and save John’s bladder. John continued to bask in the peace of His Lord and Savior, while we went to prayer to claim all cancer gone and confirmation by the specialists.

Shortly thereafter, John returned to group for the very latest of what was becoming the weekly ‘John Gilbert Praise Report’. The doctors took another set of X-rays and all agreed there indeed was absolutely no cancer in his bladder. John was completely healed. His doctor merely recommended John undergo chemo to make certain it did not come back.

In the meantime, John’s lungs took a grave turn for the worst. When he showed up at University Hospital for a checkup regarding his bladder, he collapsed at the front desk from an inability to breathe. John was immediately taken to a room and the doctor found the lungs filled with fluid. The doctor turned to the nurse and quietly told her he didn’t think he would make it through the night. John however heard the prognosis and criedout to his God.

For the rest of John’s remarkable Christmas story, including a visit by Angels… grab your favorite beverage, strap in, and click here