Praying Medic's Blog, page 116

The Supernatural Hug That Lasted Over an Hour

Original art by mamapranayama

My guest blogger today is Steve Harmon. This message was originally posted here. 

One day me and a few friends were hanging out at a church and we met this guy. You could tell that he was extremely shy and had an issue with low self confidence. I felt the Lord tell me to give him a Father’s hug, so I did. I intended the hug to be maybe about 15 seconds or so, which already is longer than your average hug. Well the guy didn’t let go because I could feel him holding on tight. So, I said to myself that I was going to keep going with this. That 15 seconds turned into 1 minute and then 4 minutes. Then all of a sudden, the guy started shaking. He started to feel a surge of power from the hug. Then my other two friends that were watching joined in and started to hug us. They felt the power too. This went on for 10 minutes. When we were done, the guy had a smile on his face and felt so much better.

Well, he needed a ride home so I gave him one. Apparently, God was not done, because as I was dropping this guy off, I gave him one more hug as he was leaving. It started all over again. His arms locked and they wouldn’t let go. We were sitting in the car hugging. He was feeling the power of God come through the hug and I can hear him yelling with joy saying, “Whoooooaaa!!! Thank you Lord!!!” It sounded like he was riding a roller coaster at times.

That hug passed the 10 minute mark, then went to 20 minutes, 40 minutes then an hour. At around 40 minutes I dialogued with God in my head and said, “God, this is challenging my weirdness meter and it’s becoming uncomfortable for me.”

The Lord replied, “Son it’s okay. You’re fine. It’s just a hug. Keep going because I’m breaking things off this man that don’t need to be there. He will get great freedom from this.”

So I persevered on and relaxed. Then the hug went past an hour and stopped around an hour and 15 minutes. I knew because of the clock on my car dash. The guy was feeling incredible manifestations of the Holy Spirit and had been released from so much shame and self-esteem issues. God did an amazing work through that hug. All I did was be obedient through what He told me. Through my obedience, God used me as vessel to heal that guy’s heart. God took control of the situation when I put Him in control of it. That is how God takes control. We listen to Him and do His will.

You carry the Holy Spirit in you like the Ark of the covenant. Your job is to carry Him places, open the lid and let Him out.

The Normal Christian Life – Street Healing

My Craziest Adventures With God

What do you do when you’ve been writing stories about the supernatural works of God for five years?

Collect the best stories and put them in a book.

I’m happy to announce that my latest book My Craziest Adventures With God is now available for purchase on Amazon.

There are a couple of things I hope to accomplish with this book: The first is to suggest that if God will do miracles through a former atheist like me, He can do them through anyone – even you. My life has not exactly been a pristine path of holiness. I’ve made some bad decisions along the way and I’ve had difficulties in my walk with God. In spite of them, He’s done some incredible things through me.

Another thing I hope to do with this book is to help non-Christians see God in a different light. If you have friends or relatives who don’t believe in God or if they believe that He’s distant and not interested in their personal lives, this book will show them that He’s willing to be intimately involved in every part of their life. They’ll get a up-close  look at what a personal relationship with God can look like; how He gives us dreams, how He deals with us in our successes and failures and the crazy things He’s willing to do through average people like you and me. They’ll learn about His love and compassion, His wisdom, His power and that fact that He has a great sense of humor.

The paperback can be found by clicking this link.

The Kindle version is available at this link.

If you would consider sharing this message with your friends I’d be grateful.

Thank you for your support!

~ PM

Praying for Strangers and Overcoming Fear – Part 2

Here are more responses to my Facebook discussion question about overcoming fear of praying with strangers:

Jane Williams:

God given compassion is a huge driving force. It can compel me to do things I would never naturally do by myself.

I don’t fear God won’t do anything. I know He always does something. If it’s healing prayer, even if healing doesn’t manifest straight away, the person always gets a touch from God – usually they say they feel relaxed or peaceful, at the very minimum. And if it’s a prophetic word, they feel loved and encouraged.

But even having done street prayer with others for a few years, and seeing some wonderful things, I’m still not good at approaching people if I’m out on my own! I’m asking God for more boldness – I’m very serious about it. I’m just naturally much more at ease with a prayer partner or small team. I get quite frustrated with myself, to be honest, because I’m not afraid to pray at all, and I don’t doubt God. I’m probably just not extroverted enough for conversation starters out there on my own!

I personally think praying for people is easier if you have a forum – Healing on the Streets banner, stall at a psychic fair or at an outdoor sale, etc. Because then the conversation starter is simple – Need any healing? Want a destiny reading or a dream interpretation? Etc.

If approaching someone on my own, I’m more likely to offer to pray if I’m having a regular conversation with someone, where they volunteer information about their need for healing. But I want this to be more of a normal lifestyle, not just an event, so I’m following this thread with interest!

The praying is the easy bit. Approaching people is harder. If I had an extrovert person to team up with, I would be praying for people all the time! But I’m not going to be using that as an excuse!

 

Kaylani Steele:

Most important lesson I’ve learned was from a journalist, teaching on interviewing techniques. “Don’t be afraid of silence,” she said. “Don’t interrupt because you’re uncomfortable. Silence is almost always followed by the meat of the interview.” When I apply this to prayer, the same is true. When laying hands, I’m learning not to be afraid of silence. I can take the quiet time to engage with Holy Spirit and get direction, to line up with Dad’s will. I can take as long as needed until I’m given clear words to speak. I’m learning not to jump in with formulaic prayer just because you’re worried its getting awkward.

Clarity is also very important for me, especially with people I don’t know. I’m learning that if I’m extremely open and forthcoming with my intentions and beliefs, leaving nothing to mystery, I’m more well received. It’s when I’ve been shy, worried that mentioning Jesus or healing will be offensive, that I’m either rejected or don’t see much happen with our prayer. If I’m going to pray to Jesus, I tell them. If I’m going to speak to their body, I tell them why. If I’m going to be silent for a while, I let them know.

 

Helle Stock:

Personally I like going out on the Streets together with my friends.

Unless a divine encounter happens then I just have to go after it and Holy Spirit totally takes over and put His words in my mouth.

But we have good experience just approaching people… We keep it simple.

Ask them if they know Jesus is alive. If they need prayer for anything, sharing the gospel.

If we see a physical ability we ask them about it and pray for it.

If I receive a word of knowledge I ask the person about it. Again. I keep it simple.

I never use the phrase: “God says!” though. (because if my word of knowledge is wrong that’ll freak them out and maybe cause worry)

About fear.

If the enemy tries to sneak in fear when I’m about to pray, I still pray, not listening to that voice. Fear is a liar.

I don’t know if this is relevant to this post but sometimes people don’t experience healing right away. If that happens when I pray I always make sure to tell the person that it has nothing to do with them. If someone’s to blame it’s my own faith.

 

Ginger Salton:

It depends. Sometimes I ask Holy Spirit for a treasure map, with clues like description of person, color of clothing, location, etc…then when I find them I show them the map, tell them they are the treasure God wanted me to find so He could bless them, and go from there.

Other times, God will highlight someone to me. I ask Him for a word and after sharing it I ask the person if that means anything to them, and go from there.

If I see an obvious injury, crutches, walker…I ask them what happened, then ask to pray for healing.

I always try to have some conversation and get to know them a little. Gathering information to gauge what kind of belief system they have and how open they will be to healing. If I know I’ll see them again, sometimes I wait till God gives me more and He has time to soften their heart.

Every situation is different. The most important thing is staying aware of Him and discerning what’s going on in the atmosphere around me.

As far as overcoming the fear that God won’t do anything, that is not low-self esteem. That is low-God esteem. The only way to overcome that is getting to know Him and building your confidence in His character and His ability.

That’s why God gave us a covenant….so we could have confidence and faith.

Some take you up on it, and some don’t, but it very rare that they are not appreciative of the offer.

 

Praying Medic:

I’ve found that it’s much easier for an extrovert to do street ministry than it is for an introvert. If you happen to be an introvert – you might consider teaming up with an extrovert who is more comfortable talking to strangers. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. I don’t know, but maybe he teamed up the introverts with the extroverts.

One thing that has helped me recently is having an awareness of the different ways in which God relates to us. I used to (probably still do) get most of my revelation from God in the form of visions. I’ve been learning to hear Him more in the thoughts that wander through my head that are not mine. But most recently I’ve been tapping into His emotions for others. This is probably the trickiest way in which God speaks, because it’s so easy to mistake the feelings He gives you as your own feelings.

I don’t normally have a ton of compassion in my heart for homeless or drug-addicted people. But lately God will give me this unusual feeling of compassion for them. When I feel that compassion and love – I know it isn’t coming from me. I also know it’s not coming from the enemy; so by process of elimination I know it’s God giving me His heart for them.

Knowing that God’s heart is to bless people makes it so much easier for me to pray for them with confidence.

God often reminds me that even when I pray for healing, the healing itself is a secondary issue. The main issue is that they feel His love. He can show His love to them in a lot ways that are personal and tangible, and that’s the main thing I try to focus on.

I prayed with a man last week with a bad hip and knee. He didn’t show any signs of healing after I prayed with him but as I had my eyes closed, God showed me a silver chain and I gave him a prophetic word about God’s plan to redeem his past from all the heartache and persecution he had suffered. The prophetic word carried a lot more weight than the physical healing could have and who knows…. maybe he ended up receiving both.

One helpful thing to remember is that we’re not the one ultimately responsible for what comes out the encounter. If we can’t take the credit for the healing when it does happen – we can’t shoulder the blame when it doesn’t happen. Although in a sense we act as His hands and feet, it’s not really about us. It’s about Him.

People are usually concerned about making a scene when you offer to pray with them at work. I try as much as possible not draw attention to what we’re doing. If an out of the way spot is available, I’ll use it instead of a high-traffic area. I try to speak in a low volume and I usually place one hand on the person’s shoulder in a casual way. The last thing you want is to make it seem like you’re at a Benny Hinn crusade.

Jesus Meets Arpan

My guest blogger today is Jeremy Mangerchine who is on a mission trip to India. This message was originally posted here.

Friends, meet Arpan. I met Arpan today when we were taken to a slum to minister. The visit was life altering for me. I immediately feel in love with the people. During our visit, many people were healed, but I was most blown away by a particular way in which God chose to creatively demonstrate His love and affection.

Our Indian partner David was praying with Arpan in Hindi when I walked up. I joined in. After that, I began to prophecy over the boy and David translated. Arpan is destined for great things and God told me to speak to the calling that Jesus was speaking over Arphan’s life.

As soon as I was finished, David told me that just before I walked up, he asked Arphan if he had heard of Jesus. Arphan told him that he had heard of Him, but knew little of Him.

David then asked Arphan if he wanted to see Jesus. Arphan shook his head in interest and agreement. What happened just after that, set the course for the next hour and impacted me for life. When we prayed and asked Jesus to appear to Arpan. He did just that!

Jesus, Himself, appeared to Arpan! I repeat: JESUS, HIMSELF, APPEARED TO ARPAN!

We asked him what Jesus looked like. He told us that the Jesus who appeared to him was a white man wearing white cloths of loving fire. I then asked Arpan if he wanted to have the Jesus that he just met become his King and accept the gift of life the Jesus died to give him. Arpan said yes. He prayed with me and will never be the same.

Two other people had the same encounter with Jesus as Arpan, and were healed of their infirmities and realized their salvation in Christ.

I love when Jesus does that, become I He is who people need to meet and I would much prefer Him personally minister to people than me.

Lots of people were healed and met Jesus in the slums today, but somehow I feel as though I am the one who was blessed. It is beyond humbling to see how relational God is and how eager He is to touch people. It is also humbling to see people respond and get zapped with the Glory!

Thank you all for the prayer!

Praying for Strangers and Overcoming Fear – Part 1

These tips on overcoming fear of praying for strangers came from a Facebook discussion question that I asked to my friends.

Daniel Cook: 

When you are first starting out in this its good just to be as simple as possible.

One obstacle that seems to present itself is the fear of being rejected or the fear of approaching the person in the first place.

Learning that in MOST cases to love that fear and use it as motivation during the approach is a very good key.

When that presents itself, that can be a great indicator that the person is really I need of your prayers, the word you have for them, or the blessing you want to give them at that very moment.

Keeping this in mind will often serve as a positive motivator as well.

Be yourself, always.

We live in a culture where everyone has been trained to keep to themselves. Breaking through that barrier in the USA can really bring positive changes to the community.

One other approach I have found effective is to approach the person and plainly state, ” This is weird for me, but I feel like I have something on my heart that’s positive I would like you to know. Really I know this is a bit odd, but lets just go with it. Lets embrace the weirdness lol!”

Normally that will also help it move along.

For me, I love praying with strangers!

In fact, at times I find that easier than praying through more difficult well know issues with people I may be close to.

No matter what the results are I try to leave people with a good taste in the mouth from the encounter.

 

Craig Adams: 

The easiest way I know of to overcome the fear that nothing will happen is to confront the fear, step up, and pray for folks.

A lot.

Like, every chance you get.

It’s amazing how fast that voice is silenced when you see God doing cool stuff….and seeing it happen in greater and greater proportion the more you practice.

Experience will put that fear down, for those who dare to confront it.

I’ve found that asking what happened, expressing interest in the stranger and listening until they finish their response makes it pretty easy to offer folks healing.

 

Bryan Anderson:

Whats helpful for me in street or public ministry especially is Paul’s words in the context of the gifts of the Spirit, “Follow after love….”.

When someone, a stranger or whoever catches my attention and I find myself feeling the Lord’s love and compassion for that person, I follow that. Jesus was moved with compassion and healed the sick and when I feel more than my own compassion for someone I’ve learned to recognize that as the Holy Spirit’s heart for them.

The question of overcoming fear isn’t too difficult because when I’m sensing His compassion and love for a person it gives me great confidence that what He started He’s got a plan for and will complete it. I find often He doesn’t give us the whole plan, so each step I take opens the way for me to see and know the next thing to do. Where I think myself and most people struggle is approaching the person. Small talk is always safe and once I begin talking with them is when the Holy Spirit gives me the words or info on what to do next. Or the person out right opens the door by talking about a need for healing or some other issue in their life which the Lord is wanting to use me to minister to.

People have asked when I share about this, “What if see someone in need or in pain and I really want to see them healed or pray for them but don’t feel God’s compassion in any special way?”

I tend to think anytime we feel that strongly about wanting to see someone healed or blessed that is the Lord’s compassion for them and sometimes it just doesn’t “feel” all that dramatic. The only caution I exercise with myself in that situation and encourage others to do the same, is to check my heart and motives to be sure it’s not really that I want people to see me helping a homeless person, or that I want others to see how spiritual I am when praying for someone or some other self centered motive not based in love. Those are sneaky and can creep in so we all need to check our motives no matter how mature we think we are.

Even if they have an obvious physical need not everyone I feel led to approach out of His love is going to be healed. It could be any or several gifts of the Spirit or simply kindness or something practical they need like a ride or help in some other way. I do often simply ask Him, “Show me what’s going on in this persons life and show me how you want me to be a part of what you’re doing.” But following after love, His love, will give us great confidence that since He’s initiating things, He will be in the middle and the details and the results rest with Him. I see our role more to follow His leading to love on, show kindness to people and speak what He gives us or do what we see Him wanting to do.

We never know the long term effects of an encounter with someone. But since love never fails, if we have loved someone with His love and been as obedient to His leading as we knew how, then no matter the visible results, we have not failed. My only “failure” (if there is such a thing) is sometimes not following after love and loving on those who cross my path.

People in obvious pain rarely refuse prayer and often I’m just really direct, saying something like, “Wow you really seem to be in pain” or “It looks like your knee (back, whatever) is really giving you trouble! Would you mind if I prayed for you?”

I always assure them no one but the two of us will even know we are praying, which lessens their fear of some overly demonstrative prayer. When they sense our genuine concern for the pain they’re in; I’ve almost never had anyone say no and usually they’re eager for prayer.

Healing and Miracles – John Paul Jackson

John Paul Jackson compares and contrasts healing and miracles.

Am I Dying? – Matthew O’Reilly

Matthew O’Reilly is a paramedic who has seen many people die. He shares his observations on what people want to know just before they step into eternity.

If Houston Subpoenaed my Blog Posts

A recent topic that’s causing a lot of debate in the media and indigestion in the body of Christ is the city of Houston’s decision to subpoena the messages of preachers who live inside the city limits. The decision came after the city elected an openly lesbian mayor. There was of course a great push back by church leaders who felt like their constitutional rights were being violated. Like many people, I initially felt like this decision was unconstitutional and that it violates our right to free speech. I still view this action as being unconstitutional and I’m confident that in time, the order will be struck down.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this could actually be a great opportunity to advance the kingdom of God. The opportunity these pastors have been given becomes obvious when you consider this fact:

God’s kingdom is advanced whenever His ambassadors successfully take the good news to a group of people who receive it as the truth.

One of the factors that determines where God’s kingdom is advanced is the access we have to groups of people. Christians have had poor results in their attempts to advance the kingdom of God in their local governments, largely because elected leaders are not interested in hearing our message. But in Houston we have city leaders who are actually demanding that church leaders send them their messages. I can’t think of a better opportunity to advance God’s kingdom than to be asked to send your sermons, blog posts, and videos to City Hall in the hope that someone will read or listen to them and the Holy Spirit will transform their heart.

The fear of having our messages scrutinized by public officials come from the fear that we might have our messages censored or be charged with a civil rights crime such as hate-speech. If we were to be perfectly honest, we must admit that some of the blame for all of this political wrangling falls on our shoulders. Politicians would not be interested in censoring our messages if they were messages of love. But because some of us are not preaching messages of love but hatred, our messages are being categorized as hate-speech. Christians would like to think that the gospel should never be considered hate-speech. But not all “messages of the gospel” stand on equal footing, and not all of them convey the gospel as it was revealed by Jesus.

The only reason one should fear that their message would be deemed hate-speech is if it conveys the idea that God hates a group of people, or that we should hate them. If this is your message, you ought to be fearful, and it’s very likely that you are not preaching the good news of the new covenant, but the law. The apostle Paul gave a nice summary of the ministry of the new covenant:

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:18-19)

The good news of the gospel is that we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, and God is no longer counting our sins against us. This message would come as good news to anyone who reads it. There is no way it could be considered hate-speech.

If I lived in Houston, I might just gather up 20 or 30 of my favorite blog posts, pray over them and send them to City Hall in the hope that someone’s heart would receive them as good news and that they would be drawn closer to God because of what they read. Divine opportunities don’t always look the way we expect them to. What the enemy intends for evil, God can use to advance His kingdom, but only if we’re wise enough to see the opportunity for what it really is.

Like Sheep Without a Shepherd

I forgot one thing on the trip to took to Sedona for our wedding anniversary; shaving cream. We had about an hour before we could check in to our hotel room and my wife had been having leg cramps the last two nights so we decided it would be a good idea to pick up a potassium supplement. My wife entered Walgreens pharmacy into her phone and give me directions how to get there. It was less than a mile from where we were. As I pulled into the parking lot I said, “You know what I like about Sedona? Every time I come here I feel like Jesus must have felt when he was looked over the city of Jerusalem and wept for them. He had such a heart of compassion for the people. He said they were like sheep without a shepherd. That’s how I feel about the people here. They’re looking for the true light, they’re looking for the right path… the one that leads to truth and life, but they don’t always find it. They really are like sheep without a shepherd.”

We went inside and I asked an employee where I could find the shaving cream. She directed me to the end of aisle one and I picked up the brand I always get. Finding the potassium supplement would not be quite so easy. We wandered around the store for a while looking and finally decided they must be near the vitamins and supplements. My wife located a bottle but because the bottle was opaque she couldn’t tell if the pills were too big for her to swallow. She has trouble taking large pills so I tried to encourage her. “I’ve taken potassium before and if I remember correctly the pills are pretty small. I don’t think you’ll have a problem with them.” The bottle she found was larger than we needed so I looked for a smaller one. “Hey honey…here’s a smaller bottle and it’s a lot cheaper.” It was about that time that a thin, elderly woman interrupted us. Sticking her face a few inches from mine she said, “Excuse me sir…my sister has this kitty and I want to buy a gift for it. She lets the cat play with those little stuffed mice.” She held up a stuffed snowman about 6 inches tall and asked, “Do you think this little snowman would be okay for her cat to play with?”

My brain was reeling at the fact that someone would bother to ask a stranger whether they thought it was okay to give their sister’s cat a stuffed snowman as a toy. It’s not like I’m some kind of feline toy expert. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings but I didn’t know what to tell her. Thankfully my wife had some advice for her. “The thing that concerns me,” she said “Are those little felt arms on the snowman. The cat might tear them off and choke on them.”

“Well it’s on sale and it’s only a few dollars, so I might just get it for her little kitty and if she won’t play with it, that’s okay. Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate your time.”

“No trouble at all, ma’am,” I replied. It was my turn to roll my eyes. I thought to myself, “They really are like sheep without a shepherd aren’t they?” With shaving cream and a bottle of potassium gluconate in hand we headed for the checkout stand, but we didn’t get far. The aisle we chose to get to the checkout happened to be the same aisle the odd lady with the snowman was shopping in. As I walked past her I noticed she had an immobilizer on her left foot; a fact that had escaped me a few minutes earlier, probably because I could not see her feet with her face pressed up against mine.

“Excuse me,” I said. “May I ask you a question? Why do you have an immobilizer on your foot?”

She looked down at her foot. “Oh that. I was walking down the steps at my apartment and I thought I had reached the last step but there was one more and I landed with my foot in a strange position and injured it.”

“Did you go to the hospital and get x-rays?”

“I don’t have insurance, so I didn’t bother.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“Oh yes, it hurts all the time.”

“Well you know what… If you let me pray for your foot I know God will heal it.”

Her mouth hung open for a few seconds. “Do you really think so?”

“I’m pretty sure of it. Can I ask what your name is?”

With a huge smile she replied, “My name in Lynn!”

“Well Lynn, my wife and I just saw a man healed of back pain about an hour ago at Montezuma’s Castle National Monument. He was sitting outside playing the flute and he had back pain. I prayed for him and his back pain is gone. Now, the way I see it… if God healed him, I’m sure he’ll heal you.”

“Well I would just love that!”

We happened to be in an aisle that had folding lawn furniture so I pulled out a chair and unfolded it. “What are you going to do with that?” she asked.

“I’m going to get your foot healed, but I need to you have a seat.”

She took a seat in the chair and undid the Velcro straps on her boot then took off her sock. As she did she whispered, “Do you know anything that works for foot odor?”

I sat down on the floor next to her. “I like Gold Bond powder myself…the green bottle. It works pretty well.” I held my hand about an inch above the arch of her foot for a few seconds. “Lynn, do you feel anything happening?”

Her face contorted slightly. “Yes…I do feel something. It feels like…Oh, what do you call it… I can’t remember the word.

“Tingling?”

“Yes! Tingling, that’s what it feels like.”

“You know…I prayed with a friend a few weeks ago who had knee pain. When I held my hands over her knees for a few minutes she could feel warmth coming from them. She said it was like my hands were two heat lamps. By the way, I want you to know this is all Jesus. I don’t use energy healing or anything like that. ”

“Oh, Jesus is my Lord and Savior!”

“Well He’s about to heal you.” I placed my hand on her foot and closed my eyes. “Alright Holy Spirit, let’s get this done. Lord, bring your presence. I command this foot to be healed in the name of Jesus. Bones be healed, muscles be healed, ligaments, nerves and tendons be healed. Pain and inflammation, get out, now.” I opened my eyes and noticed there were a few people standing around us, looking at us. A couple of them were trying to get past us. I moved out of the middle of the aisle to make room for them to get through. By the looks on their faces I could tell they were wondering what we were doing. “We’re just doing a little healing here, that’s all.” After they went on their way I asked Lynn to stand up and check out her foot. She got up and walked around. “How does it feel?”

“A lot better!”

“Is it one hundred percent better or is there still some pain?”

She sat down in the chair. “There’s still a little pain in my ankle, but these two toes here were very painful,” she said pointing to the two middle ones. Now they don’t hurt at all and look!” She flexed all her toes and spread them apart as wide as I’ve ever seen anyone spread their toes.”

“That’s pretty cool. Let me pray over your ankle one more time.” I placed my hand on her ankle. “Ankle, I command you to be healed in Jesus name. Cartilage, ligaments, bones, and tendons be healed right now.”

My wife leaned over and informed me that one of the store employees was concerned about what we were doing and pointed her out to me. The employee pretended like she was stocking shelves in the same aisle we were in, but she was just there to keep a close eye on us to make sure we weren’t doing something illegal or preying on a helpless store patron.

Lynn leaned in close to me and whispered, “I have constipation. Do you know anything I can take for it? I have Crohn’s disease.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we get you healed of it?”

“Do you think God would really heal me of it? I’ve had it for so many years.”

“There was a woman who had multiple sclerosis for 30 years. On a video, I watched her get up out of her wheelchair and push it out onto the platform and testify of her healing. There was a man who had an infirmity for 38 years who lay by the pool of Bethesda because an angel would come and stir the waters and whoever went into the water first after it was stirred was healed. One day a rabbi came and asked if he wanted to be made well. The man said, ‘I have no one to help me get in the water’.” The rabi I told him ‘Rise take up your bed and walk’, and he was healed.

“That’s in the Bible isn’t it?”

“Yes it is. And it doesn’t matter how long you’ve had Crohn’s disease. God will heal you.” I told her the story of a friend I prayed with who was healed of Crohn’s a couple of years ago.

“So I’ve been in unbelief all these years?”

“Lynn, I wouldn’t worry about that. I only started believing in healing a few years ago. Can I pray for you to be healed of Crohn’s?”

“Of course you can.”

I placed my hand over her stomach. “Crohn’s disease I command you to leave right now in Jesus’ name. Inflammation, I command you to go. Stomach, intestines and colon be healed right now. Lord, give her an awesome testimony to your power and goodness. ”

I got up from the floor and told Lynn that we needed to be going. She thanked us for praying with her and my wife and I both gave her a hug. I picked up the shaving cream and potassium from where I had set them down on the shelf and we headed for the checkout stand. Lynn was at the other checkout stand at the same time so we met once again at the entrance to the store. She gave us one more hug, thanked us for our time and we went to our car.

The world is full of interesting people. Some of them are sick or injured. Some have unknowingly wandered down a path that leads to darkness. But God loves them all and He sends us out into the world to help them. Some need healing while others need a shepherd to point them to the path that will lead them back to Him. As I look back on all the times I’ve run into people like Lynn, in spite of their peculiarities, I’ve never regretted spending time with any of them.