My Heart Was in My Hands by Richard Roberts

RICHARD: Dad, before you started this ministry in 1947, the year before I was born, you put a “fleece,” or petition, before the Lord, asking Him to give you a clear sign that you were to leave the church you were pastoring and go into the healing ministry fulltime— as you believed He had told you to do.

You said to the Lord, “If You’re not the God who saves, heals, and delivers people, then I want out of this.” And you had a job waiting for you in a men’s clothing store, didn’t you? Can you share a little bit about that?

ORAL: Well, I rented a building in downtown Enid, Oklahoma, where I was pastoring, to hold my service, and I asked God to heal someone in the service in a way that they would know it, and I would know it. In the service, there was a woman who’d had a prob­lem with her arm for 38 years. When I walked past her, she reached out and touched me. The movement in her arm became loose and she could freely move it. She began to raise her arm and praise God, crying at the top of her voice…and it really stirred the audience to want my prayers. I prayed for the sick that after­noon from 3:00 until 6:00, and I went home knowing that God had answered my prayer. I was to go to the ends of the earth with His healing power.

First we moved to Tulsa for a more central location to airline travel. Then a friend asked me if I would preach for him for two nights. By the second night, the crowd was beginning to grow, and by several days later, you couldn’t get a seat in the tent; you had to bring your own chair and sit outside the tent. The power of God had begun to heal the people, and it was marvelous what was happening!

RICHARD: Something else happened in those services that caused your name to become known around the world.

ORAL: Yes, there was man who had a gun, and he had anger in his heart. He stepped across the street and shot at me, and the bullet missed me by about 3 or 4 inches above my head. The headline in the Tulsa paper read, “Evangelist Shot At,” and it was carried on the front pages of newspapers across America. Pastors saw it and began to phone me and see if I would come and pray for the sick in their areas.

RICHARD: God took what Satan intended for your harm and used it for your good. You became known across America for the healing ministry. But it wasn’t without persecution and criticism. There were times you even had to stand before a judge and swear that you didn’t have some type of device that you were us­ing when you prayed for people.

ORAL: Yes, in one particular experience they were say­ing that I had electrical things up my arms. My answer was that if electricity healed people, then everybody should get an electrical current! So that answered that.

RICHARD: Dad, I never knew when there would be a miracle in your services, but I’d stand right beside you as you prayed. You’d often say, “Now, Richard, you touch them,” and I’d do that. I remember going with you to the invalid tent, where the people were too sick to come to the prayer line in the main tent. You’d let me tag along. I’d put my hand on the back of your coat and I’d be there with you as you laid hands on those des­perately sick people. There were some tremendous miracles in that tent.

ORAL: Yes, the greatest miracles of the crusades were often in the invalid tent where most people couldn’t see them. People got out of wheelchairs and out of beds. They were shouting and rejoicing and crying. And I prayed for every one of them by laying my hands on them. As I laid my hands on people, God showed me that my heart was in my hands…that my heart was moved toward the people, as Jesus was moved toward people, and through my hands I took the power of God to them. When God put His power in me to pray for people, I felt His presence in my right hand. I’ve al­ways touched people. I’ve always laid hands on people because that was God’s Word to me.

RICHARD: Mark 16:18 says that as followers of Jesus, [we] shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

ORAL: Yes, and Hebrews 6:2 speaks of the doctrine of laying on of hands, and I believe many of God’s preach­ers are neglecting that today…and it’s very important, according to Scripture. God put His power and presence in my right hand, and for nearly 40 years I took my big tent all over America and throughout the earth. I prayed for the sick in a simple, honest way, as I laid my right hand on them and asked Jesus to heal them. And I remember today how it felt then—as I prayed for a million and a half people. I poured my heart into their lives.

RICHARD: Even though you traveled all over the world, you still could not touch everyone. So God gave you another method to use, and that was through the Abun­dant Life Prayer Group that you began in 1958. They’ve been on duty now for more than 50 years. And today we receive almost 3,000 phone calls a day for prayer.

ORAL: Well, I personally trained a group of prayer part­ners, showing them how to use their voices in praying for people’s needs. And the calls came in by the thousands. And to pray for 3,000 people a day now is an honor beyond telling, Richard…to know that you’re touching that many hurting people. It’s just a joy of the Lord to pray for the healing of the sick.

RICHARD: This is a great day, Dad, to have you back in Tulsa, and to see that the Oral Roberts Ministries is continuing strong in the healing power of Jesus.

ORAL: I remember laying my hands upon you some years ago and feeling the power of God coming upon you, and watching you begin to pray for the heal­ing of the sick—and Lindsay with you. The healing ministry of Jesus is so real to us. We feel it in our bod­ies, in our spirits, in our hearts…and we love praying for the sick. You pray for people…and many can be healed. Praise God!

RICHARD: Dad, would you pray over Lindsay and me and our ministry right now? And then I want you to pray for our friends and Partners.

ORAL: Lord, I am so honored to have a son that not only walks in my steps but more importantly in the steps of Je­sus and His healing power. I thank You for his dear wife Lindsay, for her faith and her love. I thank You that she has heard Your voice many times, and she obeys You and prays for the sick alongside her husband. As they travel the earth, I pray that Your healing power will flow into their lives, and through their lives into the lives of sick and hurting people.

RICHARD: Thank you, Dad. We receive that, in Jesus’ name.

ORAL: You know, Richard, we have the best medical care today that we’ve ever had, and yet people are as sick today as they were when I began this ministry in 1947. They have pain in their bodies, and nothing has been able to stop the flow of sickness in human beings. But God says in His Word, the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up ( James 5:15).
As I pray now for our friends and Partners, I encour­age you who need healing to touch yourself, or to do whatever you can do to release your faith for a miracle. In the name of Jesus, Son of the living God, in my heart is the love of God…my heart is in my hands for you. I ask Jesus to heal your body, heal your heart, heal your throat…your limbs, your lungs…heal your family, your emotions, your fam­ily problems…I ask Jesus to heal you inside and outside, and let you feel His healing power. Be healed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Amen.