I was once in the city of Ufa and had been preaching there for probably two weeks. At the end of one of my meetings a grandmother came marching up to the front of the platform. She was frustrated. “Pray for me,” she said bluntly. “I have pain in my legs; I’ve been coming to a lot of these meetings, and I still have pain. Pray for me!”

I smiled at her and said, “Babushka [that is grandmother in Russian], what will happen when I pray for you?”  She kind of shook her head and said, “Well, I don’t know. Whatever God wants.”

“Babushka, the question has already been decided.” I pointed to her neck. “What’s that hanging on your neck?” She lifted it up and said “A crucifix. A cross with Christ on it.” I said, “Do you see that cross behind me? Do you see that cross at the back of the platform? I walked all the way to the very back of the platform and said, “Babushka, do you see this cross? There is no one hanging on it. Do you know why?” Her eyes got real big and she looked at me.

I continued, “Jesus isn’t there anymore because He already paid the price two thousand years ago, and He has risen from the dead showing you that your sins, your sicknesses, and the devil have been defeated. Do you understand that it happened two thousand years ago?”

I walked back to the front of the platform and looked at her. As I got close to her I said, “Babushka, when were you healed?” She looked up at me with big eyes and said, “Two thousand years ago?”  “That’s right,” I replied, “Now do you want me to pray for you?”

Before I could pray a word, she lifted her hands to heaven and began dancing, saying “Oh, oh, I’m healed; two thousand years ago Jesus healed me. You don’t have to pray for me, the pain is gone; I’m healed!!”