Praying Medic's Blog, page 118

How Far Will God Go to Stop Suffering?

I was reflecting last night on a story that was shared at The Gathering that illustrated the lengths to which God will go to stop suffering and evil. Before I share that story, let me highlight some of the beliefs people have about this issue

Many people believe that God is indifferent to the pain and suffering that we go through. After all, if God is all-powerful and if He opposes evil and suffering, then why does He allow them to happen?

It seems only logical that if He allows them to happen He must approve of them, and if God approves of suffering and evil then He cannot be good. This reasoning about the nature of God developed as a response to teaching from the church that God is in control of everything and that everything that happens is His will, including suffering and evil.

The idea that suffering and evil are the will of God is an ancient philosophy that was given new life during the Protestant reformation. Drawing on a few passages from scripture like Romans chapter nine, men like John Calvin developed a view of God that has Him in control of everything. Romans nine states that God has predestined some to be saved and others to be objects of wrath. This chapter essentially teaches that all the outcomes of life are predetermined by God and we cannot change any of them. This teaching completely ignores the fact than man has a responsibility to exercise his free will.

Is God in Control of Everything?

I’ve thought about this question for years and here’s how I finally settled it:

The bible views life from two perspectives; ours and God’s. Most of the passages of scripture view life from man’s perspective and teach that we have choices to make. When the Bible says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,” it is obviously speaking from man’s perspective. Romans nine, which sees God in control of our choices views life from His perspective.

The view that God is in control is a valid perspective to live from, but only under one condition: It is a valid if you happen to be God, and if you happen to know all these things. While I can accept the fact that God’s perspective is valid for Him, I can only view life from that perspective if I happen to be God. Since I’m not God and I don’t know who has been predestined to be saved or healed, I must operate from the perspective that I have free will and I must make choices.

The Reality of Free Will

God could have made us in such a way that we would always do His perfect will. In such a world everyone would always do what was just, right and fair. If that were the case, there would be no evil or suffering. But if we always did what was right, we would not have the ability to choose to do evil. And without the ability to choose between good and evil, we would be nothing more than robots, devoid of free will.

We would also not have the capacity to love, because love is a choice. In order for us to be able to choose to love, we must be able to choose not to love. We must be able to choose to hate and to hurt others. Suffering and evil are permitted, not because God wants them, but because their very existence gives us the freedom to love others.

God wants us to have the freedom to make choices; whether for good or for evil. Evil is a necessary consequence of allowing us to have free will, and allowing us to have free will is God’s top priority. But the fact that He allows evil and suffering to exists does not mean He is not actively opposing them. It’s just that He cannot force people to refrain from doing evil without removing their free will.

God will never over-ride a person’s free will, so He won’t force an abusive father to stop beating his son. If He did, he would remove their ability to choose and negate their free will. So He must oppose evil and suffering in another way. Rather than directly negating the free will of those who want to do violence, He opposes them by recruiting  people who are willing use their free will to accomplish His divine purpose.

How God Opposes Suffering Through Us

We’ve been given the ability to partner with God as He enforces His will in the earth. By bringing healing to those who suffer illness and injury, deliverance to those who are tormented by demons and by interceding for those who suffer violence, we are God’s hands that do  the work that accomplishes His will. If we refuse to partner with God, we are to blame for the continuation of suffering and violence. God opposes tyranny, injustice, abuse and violence through us when we submit our will to accomplishing His work.

At The Gathering a man told me of an experience he had one night after drifting off to sleep. He was taken in the spirit to a place in the heavens where he met about six other people. Gauging by how they were dressed, he had to assume the others had come from different time periods spanning thousands of years, including one person who looked as if he had come from the future. They had all been brought there to interceded for a boy who was being beaten by his father. The group spent time praying for the boy and when their prayer time was done, they departed. The man who had this experience found himself back in his bed.

To answer the question I asked at the beginning of this message: “How far will God go to stop evil?” He is so interested in stopping evil that He’ll find people scattered over different time periods in history and bring them together in one place in eternity to pray in agreement for one boy to be spared the beatings of  an abusive father. That’s how much He loves each of us.

New Testament Prophetic Ministry – Bryan Anderson

My guest blogger today is my friend Bryan Anderson.

A commonly misunderstood concept that has grievous consequences, and often causes needless wounding and confusion is the idea that it’s the primary purpose of those in prophetic ministry to prophesy. Prophecy is not the primary purpose for the New Testament prophet, and yet many budding prophets fall into this commonly held expectation.

The greatest purpose of each ministry be it pastor, teacher, prophet, apostle or evangelist has not changed since God’s mandate in the garden, which was to be fruitful and multiply. We are to reproduce after our own kind.

New Testament prophets may and do prophesy but our greater call is reproducing in others a heart burning with a passion for intimacy with the Lord; to multiply this fiery love and to see others ignited and ablaze with hearts whose greatest joy, delight and treasure is being with, loving on and worshiping Jesus, the Lover of our souls.

Ephesians 4 says these ministry callings are for the purpose of equipping the church to do the work of the ministry. More than winning souls en masse, evangelists equip us to have a passion to see others come to Jesus and impart spiritual gifts to supernaturally aide us to that end. They also lead and teach by example, the practical “how to’s” they have received from the Holy Spirit to skillfully be “fishers of men”.

Similarly,  prophets equip others to hear the voice of God themselves. Just because we know things by the Spirit or “have a word” or vision doesn’t mean it’s advantageous to share it. Sharing too much can rob others of learning to hear for themselves. True prophetic ministry aims to strengthen your walk and relationship with the Lord, so that you accurately have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying for yourself, others and situations, with greater and greater clarity. We want our heart and giftings reproduced in, and imparted to you and we want to help you learn to steward, to grow, and to mature in them.

Giving personal prophetic words and ministry is but a small part of a New Testament prophetic call. This post is really more for like-hearted prophetic ministers as encouragement; a freeing reminder to not feel pressure to give everyone who wants to hear from God “a word” or share the visions and dreams, words of wisdom and knowledge etc. with them unless the Holy Spirit says to. Rather – give yourself the more to intimacy with Jesus, to worship, to doing only that which you see the Lord doing and saying what you hear Him saying. Equip others. Impart. Teach. Inspire. Lead by example. Find your joy in seeing others foundation and floor equal your current ceiling so they can go higher than you have.

Above all, clothe yourself in humility, esteeming others better than yourself. We seek the lowest place both out of self-preservation and out of the wisdom which understands the “greatest among you will be the servant of all”; the last will be first.

Even so, it doesn’t matter since we are called to lift and complete others, not to compete with them; their success is ours as well. It’s our part to “humble yourself under the mighty hand of God” and up to Him if, when and how He decides to “exalt you in due time”.

He is the potter, we are His clay and we exist simply for His glory however He sees most fit 

The Gate – Healing Testimony

Your Identity in Christ

Pink Glasswing Butterfly by CloverKane

When Jesus walked the streets of Galilee, His acts of healing created division among those who watched Him. Some rejoiced at the miracles they witnessed, while others criticized Him. The same attitudes exist today. Healing, deliverance and miracles are ways in which the kingdom of God is made manifest through us. When we bring the kingdom of God to earth, we invite criticism, because wherever the kingdom goes, it destroys belief systems that are opposed it.

The greatest criticism of healing during the first century came from religious leaders. They had followers who admired their shallow spirituality. The miracles of Jesus drew people away from them and turned their hearts back to God. The kingdoms these men had built were beginning to crumble. Their response was to criticize the new thing God was doing. Little has changed today. Most of the criticism of healing today comes from religious leaders who are building their own kingdoms.

To have success in healing, you must deal with the issue of what people think of you. If you have fear of what others think of you, it may prevent you from realizing your full potential. You must learn to put aside the criticism of co-workers, church leaders, family and friends. Jesus wasn’t popular with religious leaders or his family. He was despised by many people, but the sick loved Him like crazy because to them, He was the fragrance of life. And I believe that kind of life is worth pursuing.

When I became interested in healing, I noticed something in the gospels that I’d never spent much time thinking about. Jesus healed a lot of people. If you don’t think healing is for today or you don’t think it’s your calling, it’s easy to overlook just how many people He healed. As I studied His life, I realized that there wasn’t much else He did that could be called “ministry.” He taught in the synagogues and preached the kingdom as people followed Him. But He spent an enormous amount of time healing the sick. The more I studied His life, the more I knew there was something missing from mine.

The Bible reveals many things about us. When we read it we tend to identify with someone. I might see the heart of King David and identify with him. You might see yourself in Deborah or Ruth. Some identify with the apostle Paul. We all see someone whose life is similar to our own. But almost no one looks at Jesus and says, “I can see myself in Him.”

The people we strongly identify with become our role models. Ironically, we aren’t called to become like the apostles or prophets. God’s plan is for each of us to be conformed into the image of Christ. If we never identify with Jesus, we have a big problem. God wants us to become like Him and that means He must become our role model. But many of us have used a pastor or one of the disciples as a role model instead. If we are to be transformed into His image, we must begin to identify with Him. He must become our model in everything we do. We must allow Him to live His life through us.

The first message Jesus preached was, “Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (see Matt. 4:17). The message of repentance has become well-known, even among those who are not religious. But its true meaning has become distorted over the years. The word repent, which is used in most English bible translations, comes from the Latin translation of scripture. It implies a change of action in an attempt to gain favor with someone. The Greek word used in this passage is the word metanoia, which comes from two words; one refers to a change; the other refers to the mind. The instruction of Jesus was not for people to change their behavior to gain favor with God. He wanted them to change their way of thinking, because the kingdom of God had arrived.

Jesus changed the emphasis and tone of the spiritual conversation. Rather than focus on keeping the law by our own strength of will, He emphasized the love that the Father has for us. He taught and demonstrated through His life and death that the Father loves us more than we can ever comprehend. The good news of the gospel is that God is in love with you. It is only when the heart is gripped by the affection of the Father that our outward behavior begins to change in a real way.

When I became a Christian, I listened to preachers who drilled into my head the idea that God saw me as a worthless sinner. I was taught that He really didn’t like me very much, but He decided to save me, despite my wretchedness. I accepted this view of myself and after a while the word “sinner” became my identity. After years of living a powerless, defeated life, God said He didn’t see me that way. He said that my true identity was a beloved and cherished son – not a worthless sinner.

The more you accept God’s love for you personally – the more your identity as His child will be established. And the more your identity as His child is established, (and your false identity is removed) the greater the power of His kingdom will become manifest through you. Manifesting the miraculous power of God is a matter of understanding and accepting your identity in Christ.

Through many different dreams, God began to show me things that I would do which seemed impossible. He showed me how I would affect people’s lives around the globe. His plans for me were so much greater than the ones I had for myself. Rather than a life of mediocrity, He showed me the inheritance we have as heirs of His kingdom. As sons of God, we have truly been given exceedingly great promises.

Many of us are afraid of becoming prideful. In an attempt to remain humble, we prefer to see ourselves as less than how God sees us. When we see ourselves this way, we destroy the work He wants to do in and through us. True humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself exactly the way God thinks of you; not more and not less.

The key to operating in the power of God is knowing your identity in Christ and knowing how He wants to work in you. You must shed the false identities you’ve accepted from man and receive the identity

given to you by God.

This is an excerpt from my book Divine Healing Made Simple . 

Related Articles:

The Biblical Basis for Healing

Healing Ministry Flows Through Relationships

Motives For Healing

Freeing The Prisoners

Authority To Heal

God’s Healing Presence

Healing 101

Street Healing

Healing In The Workplace

Deliverance

Raising the Dead

Making Disciples

The Word of Knowledge

The Kingdom of God Revealed – A Dream

I’ve Received Prayer – Why Am I Still Sick?

Fasting

My Emotional Healing – Cynthia Keller Dowling

This testimony was written by Cynthia Keller Dowling about what transpired during and after The Gathering in DuPont, Washington the last weekend of July 2014. This story is being re-posted with author’s permission.

So, I wanted to share what’s been going on in me since the non-conference. I have been going through the ringer, I’m not going to lie, it’s not been easy…but God is so good and so consistent. Jesus is so alive & the Holy Spirit is in such constant contact with me, speaking to me in every emotion I deal with, giving me clear & concise communication .

The Lord had been moving me toward emotional healing long before the conference, but honestly, I was afraid. Not because I enjoyed being in pain, but because at least I knew what the pain held for me & I had no idea what real freedom would be. Christ came to set us free, but I had been choosing to walk in bondage, only allowing portions of the spirit to work through me. I also knew that my healing was deep & it would be a process. At worship that Saturday night I was on the floor; Jesus was breaking down the last of my self-protection reserves when He said, “This is going to be easy.” And I said, “Okay.”

Over the last two weeks I have met with Anna two times…and guess what? It’s pretty easy…and guess what? God won’t make you go anywhere you are not ready to go. He chose what I needed to deal with in that moment, He chose what emotion needed to be reckoned with, what behavioral problem needed to be cast out, laid at the feet of Jesus…and He knew exactly what He was going to give me to fill & heal my soul, to restore me to my righteous self…not because He didn’t already say I was righteous, but because even though I talked it & didn’t really understand it or feel it. Now I can feel portions of righteousness alive in my being, almost like it’s seeking out in me other places of needed restoration & confidently calling them out of their hiding places, but now I’m not afraid, now I’m confident that I can & will be totally healed.

Now remember, I’ve only had two sessions, but I understand that God really can do a quick work. Emotionally I can go back to those formerly wounded places & it’s as if I’m seeing them through someone else’s eyes. My heart cries out for healing for everyone else who contributed to those situations, understanding that they were living from their wounded places. This is true forgiveness & healing.

On that note I would also like to share that as I’ve been going through this process the Holy Spirit has been awakening to me my forms of communication. These are the automatic ways of thinking I’ve developed over the years, my habitual fall back reactions, designed by a young girl to make sure that no one ever got close enough to hurt her again. They are so subconscious, my subtle ways of emotionally manipulating myself and others to ensure that no one ever got “close enough” to me, the enemy’s way of making sure I never felt loved. The problem with this is that it is emotionally crippling, not only to me, but to the ones I love. Not only keeping away the unsafe people, but also creating barriers with my husband & my children. The Lord has been showing me how I’ve taught my kids that you have to be careful with love, you can’t freely give it, because what if you don’t get it back? Then you’ll be hurt…and you need to protect yourself. Wow!

I can’t say I never saw this in myself, although I see I had myself pretty convinced I wasn’t passing it on to my kids, but now He is helping me change all that. He’s showing me that I can help heal my kids’ wounds if I’ll just change the way I communicate with them, the way I love them. The Holy Spirit has been faithful to tap (or sometimes bang) on my head when I fall back into automatic and I’m being called to the carpet to reset my mind throughout the day; to chose to be aware of how I speak or the look on my face…do I look like love or do I look judgmental, or threatened, or angry? Jesus has kind of re-vamped the saying ‘what’s in your heart is what comes out of you” to “what’s in your mind is what comes out of you”, even in the subtlest of ways.

These last two weeks of choosing to venture into complete healing has been an eye opening one, and no I’m not done, but God is doing some deep healing in me. When I left my last session I saw that I was floating, not asleep but in a deep rest. As I was floating He was near my feet gently rolling me in circles as if He was turning me, but not actually touching me. As He spun me He was also wrapping a very thick blanket around me, not like when we were kids and someone would roll you up in a rug & it would get fatter and fatter, but I was actually absorbing the blanket into by body as He turned me. In fact, I’m still there, absorbing…focusing on what He wants to give me today before I move on to another session. I am a wounded soul but I don’t want anything more right now than to get better, that is my sole mission. God created us in His image…He is All…we are created to do All things…so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do All things.

So Lord, I want a renewed mind to go along with my renewed soul & spirit. I don’t want to go on automatic, I want to love fully & freely without fear. I want to see every way that you want to change me, to take back every thing that Satan has had dominion over that has hindered anything in my life, and I want your body, your people, to not be afraid to become who you created them to be. Thank you Jesus that you love us so much that you are patient, that you don’t force us into something we can’t handle, but you encourage us to move forward, gently motioning us into place. Amen.

We are the clay on the potter’s wheel, being gently spun until we are perfect. Yay.

Let’s Talk Books podcast – Praying Medic & His Wife

In our very first podcast my wife and I discuss my first book Divine Healing Made Simple and the progress we’ve made on our second book My Craziest Adventures With God.  I read one of the stories from the second book, we discuss whether or not you need to have the “gift of healing” to see people miraculously healed, and we briefly discuss what God is doing with emotional healing.

If you have a request for a future episode, whether it’s a discussion of a topic or an interview with someone, leave your request in a comment below or send it to us by e-mail.

A Word on Obamacare

On the night of November 15th, 2013, I had a very long dream where I was with a group of people. We were beginning to learn how the new Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) would affect us.  We were checking out the different options on the program’s website and looking at prices for insurance coverage. What we found gave us concern. The price for insurance coverage ranged between $600 and $700 per month, with some coverage being more expensive and some being a little less expensive, based on which options were selected. This was the basic content of the dream.

I’ve been asking the Lord for more clarification on this dream as I felt like He wanted me to write about this subject, but based on a single dream I didn’t understand His heart for this situation yet. During June and July of this year I received several more dreams that help reveal His heart about this issue, but before I discuss them, I’d like to take a brief look at the current state of health insurance in the US.

Statistics on the cost of health care coverage in the US are widely available from various sources. The numbers differ slightly depending on the source.  According to one report that was typical, the average family in the US spends a little more than $400 per month for health insurance coverage with an annual deductible of about $3,900. A typical single person spends $183 per month, with a deductible of $2,900.

The cost of health care has skyrocketed in recent years. There are many families and individuals who have no health insurance at all. Lack of adequate insurance coverage has forced people to stand in long lines at county hospitals, where people cannot be turned away for lack of insurance. But the limited resources that emergency departments have can’t effectively treat chronic conditions, much less offer preventative care. There is little doubt that we are in the midst of a health care crisis. The Affordable Health Care Act was proposed as a solution to this crisis.

There is no shortage of other proposals that claim to be able to fix the problems with our health care system. Some states allow health cooperatives to function as an alternative to private health insurance.  Co-ops are non-profit organizations that put earnings back into the system to enhance services to patients. One of the largest health Co-ops in the nation is the Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative. Aaron Katz, of the University of Washington Health Services, says the reason co-ops are successful, is because they employ their own doctors, specialists, and pharmacies and they can reduce the amount of tests and procedures that are done, which keeps costs low.

Another choice that’s growing in popularity is the concierge medical service. With this option, an individual pays a monthly fee to enter into an agreement with a local group of physicians who provide check-ups and routine care to their clients including in some cases, house calls if the patient cannot come into the office.

Many Christians have opted to join health care networks where the cost of medical care is shared among a large group of people.  These groups do not provide insurance. Patients must tell health care providers they are self-pay, but the program reimburses the member for covered expenses after an itemized bill is submitted.  Examples of such programs are Christian Healthcare Ministries, Medi-Share and Samaritan Ministries.

One proposal is the adoption of a system of public health care similar to the one Canada has.  According to one study, the average Canadian family pays more than $11,000 a year for their “free” health care, which has numerous problems of its own. (Canadians are terribly fond of their health care system, but even this system, as great as it is,  is not immune from failure and I have reason to believe it’s not as sound as most people think. Go here for more information on that subject.)

On the night of June 7th, 2014 I had another dream. This one had to do with the effectiveness of health insurance policies. New regulations were put into place to ensure that there were no gaps in coverage.

On the night of July 23rd, 2014 I had a third dream. In this dream, I watched as a new system of payment for health care was implemented. The new system was not implemented swiftly, but rather it was done over time. Health care providers were the ones who had the task of telling their patients how the new billing system would work. Traditional private insurance payments were being phased out. In its place would be a single entity that would insure  everyone. It would be responsible for handling all payment for medical services. The focus in the dream was on how the news about the new system would be disseminated, which was done mostly by health care providers.

I believe these two dreams reveal the future of our health care system as it could be if we as a nation, choose to continue relying on the wisdom of man to come up with the solutions to our health care problems. I do not believe this scenario necessarily represents God’s desire for us as a nation. I believe it illustrates one option out of several that have been set before us. But as always, the choices we make will determine our fate.

Although the White House has officially denied it, I’m concerned that Obamacare will eventually turn into the kind of single-payer system illustrated in the third dream. Some people have suggested that the end-game all along has been a single-payer system. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. But a few things are clear regarding such a system:

There are costs to letting the government do anything for you. History has proven  that when you involve the government in anything, you can expect to greatly multiply the cost compared to what it would cost to do it privately, due to bureaucracy, graft and waste. The cost of health care under a government run single-payer system would come with an extremely high price tag. The current debt that US taxpayers are responsible for is approaching 18 Trillion dollars. If you consider the total unfunded liabilities the government is responsible for, the number is a staggering 127 Trillion dollars which equates to $1,012,000 per taxpayer. (Source: usdebtclock.org ) This debt must eventually be paid, or else the Fed must default. A default on the federal debt would throw the world into an economic tailspin that would take decades to recover from. Right now the cost of Federal programs is being placed on the backs of our children and grandchildren. Is this the kind of stewardship that you think God would approve of? Will the added cost of a single-payer insurance system be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back?

If we go down the road to a single-payer system, we’re going to give one entity the power to make life and death decisions for all of us. That entity will ultimately have the final say on every issue related to health care. The second cost we’ll pay to receive universal coverage is that we’ll surrender all control over how the system works.

We live under a system right now that gives enormous power to one entity—Medicare. Because Medicare is the single largest payer for health care, it has the ability to make policies that determine the rules by which the rest of the medical community must live by. Yes, it provides medical coverage to a large population, but it gives health care providers migraines and ulcers because of its regulatory red-tape. If you don’t believe that a single entity can have the kind of power, ask your doctor or nurse practitioner the next time you see them, how much influence Medicare has on the health care system.

The question we still haven’t answered is: What is God’s plan to solve this crisis?

On the night of June 10th, 2014, I had a fourth dream. In this dream I observed different people as they worked in healthcare. I saw nurse practitioners, surgeons and physical therapists as they performed their work. I could read the thoughts of each person and hear what they were saying to one another and to their patients. In each case, when they were done with treating their patients, they said something that clearly showed they were placing all their hope in the miraculous power of God to be the solution to the problem they faced with their patient’s course of treatment. Even the most hardened skeptics had for some reason, come to an understanding that the only real hope for their patient’s survival was the power of God. They all spoke about this fact openly and unashamedly. It had clearly become the new hope for medicine and the solution to every healthcare problem.

God has always wanted to be our healer and our provider. That desire has not changed over the centuries. What has changed is our tacit acceptance of something other than God as the ultimate answer to our problems. Rather than allowing God to be the one to whom we trust our health, many of us have learned to place our trust in the hands of a surgeon, a chiropractor, or a politician who has the power to grant us insurance coverage. Few of us actually trust God to be our final answer. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that medical practice should be tossed out, though it could certainly benefit from a few changes. Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, I believe the Lord would have us to continue using medicine, but we must learn to see Him, and not the government, an insurance company or a doctor as the ultimate answer to our problems.

I believe that if we allow the government to have even more power to determine how our health care system is run, and particularly if we consent to a single-payer system, we will further empower the agendas and the wisdom of man and we will dis-empower the plan God has for us to come back under His care.

I’d like to wrap this up on a positive note: In case you haven’t noticed, Jesus is still in the healing business, and he’s using ordinary people like you and me to release His power on the sick and injured. Just imagine what our health care system would look like if a few million doctors, nurses, CNAs, x-ray techs, and paramedics were trained to heal the sick by the power of God. That my friends, could be  the future of health care in the United States.

The choice is ours.

Editor’s note: This message is not to be taken as a condemnation of president Obama. My position always has been that we ought to pray for our leaders, regardless of how we feel about them personally, or how we feel about their policies.  

Related:

God’s Plan for Healthcare Reform

The Collapse of Canada’s Health Care System

 

Can Back Pain From a Car Accident be Relieved Through Emotional Healing?

The names in this story have been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved.

As we checked in to the hotel we talked with the woman behind the desk about our plans for the week. I told Susan we were the featured speakers for The Gathering that was being held at the hotel that weekend and gave her some background information about us. I explained that the main focus of The Gathering was supernatural healing. She attends a Charismatic church and wanted to know more about healing so we talked for a while. I was tired from the trip and wanted to get to our room and unpack our bags so I pulled out a copy of my book Divine Healing Made Simple from my one of our bags, autographed it and handed it to Susan. “We’ll be here for nine days,” I said. “We’d be more than happy to answer any questions you have.” She thanked us and we went to our room.

The following day I received a message from a woman named Emily who works behind the registration desk at night. She found Susan’s copy of the book and began reading it. When she was halfway through the book she contacted me through Facebook and asked for prayer. She’s been suffering from chronic back pain from four different car accidents and she asked about emotional healing. We set up a meeting at Anna Wingate’s house for prayer on Sunday afternoon. (Anna is the organizer for the Gathering.)

When Emily arrived at Anna’s house we spent about 10 minutes getting to know her. When you make an appointment for healing or deliverance and evil spirits are involved, it is not unusual to feel fear, anxiety, and an increase of the symptoms you want to be healed of as the appointment time draws near. Evil spirits are aware of what’s going on as the time of healing and deliverance draws near. They know their time is short and they frequently manifest as increased fear, anxiety, and pain just before or during the healing encounter. Their goal is to frighten their host, hoping to get them to cancel the appointment. Emily had been feeling some anxiety that morning. When I asked how her back pain was doing she said, “My back feels like it’s on fire.”

We had Emily sit on a couch with Anna on her left and my wife on her right. I sat in a chair and observed as Anna ministered emotional healing to her. Most people who do emotional healing follow a script, which gives them a pre-planned set of instructions for the healing process. Anna has a script that she uses often and it works for her. I have a different script that I recently developed that I had been using during The Gathering.

Anna’s script includes questions about things like witchcraft and Freemasonry in a person’s family history, as well as discerning generational sins and/or curses. Other parts of her script include walking the person through forgiveness for anyone who has offended them and a meeting with the Father. When Anna was done with her prayer session I asked if I might try my own approach. Emily agreed to have me pray with her.

There are many different approaches to emotional healing. Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses. The script that I use is very specific. My goal is to identify the negative emotions a person is feeling and have Jesus heal them. I began by asking Emily if she had been abused either sexually, physically, or verbally as a child. I started with this question because it seems to be the most common cause of emotional wounds. Emily said she had been verbally and physically abused by her father. Most approaches to inner healing would have her forgive her father. Forgiveness is an important part of the process, but she had already forgiven him. Forgiving others is helpful but does not heal the wound in our soul caused by the emotions we feel toward them. So rather than focus on forgiveness, I focused on the specific emotions she was feeling.

The next step in the process is to have the person recall a specific event where this emotion is strongly felt. When they’re feeling the emotion, I have them tell me what the emotion is. I asked Emily if she could recall a specific event from her past that evoked a strong negative emotion. She recalled a birthday from her childhood where her father promised to take her out for dinner. That night he went to a bar and got drunk and forgot about her. When he came home she asked if he would take her out for her birthday. He grudgingly agreed to take her to McDonald’s, but as she walked to the car he kicked her all the way to the car. “So when you recall your father kicking you, what emotion comes to mind?”

“Worthlessness.” She replied.

Once we’ve identified an emotion, I have the person repeat after me as I lead them through a simple script that asks Jesus for healing.  “Okay Emily, I want you to repeat after me. Jesus I ask you to take this feeling of worthlessness from me.” She repeated what I said. “ I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul caused by it.” Again she repeated what I said. “In place of worthlessness  I ask you to give me honor.” She repeated my words again. “ Jesus, I receive your healing.” She repeated this and when she was done I had her recall the event with her father again.

So there you are, waiting for your father to come home. He gets there and you ask if he’ll take you out for dinner. You’re on your way to the car and he’s kicking you. What emotion do you feel?”

“I guess… It’s just disappointment.”

“Okay, were going to do the same thing for disappointment. Just repeat after me. Jesus I ask you to take this feeling of disappointment from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul caused by it. In place of disappointment I ask you to give me hope. Jesus, I receive your healing.” When she had said these words after me I asked her again to recall the event with her father and tell me what emotion she felt.

“Fear.”

“Okay, were going to do the same thing with fear, just repeat after me. Jesus I ask you to take the feeling of fear from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul caused by it. In place of fear I ask you to give me courage. Jesus, I receive your healing.” When she was finished saying these words I asked her again to recall the event with her father and tell me what emotion she felt.

She paused for a moment and finally said, “Nothing. I can remember it all, but there aren’t any emotions I can really feel.”

“Cool. That means you’re healed of the wounds in your soul from that event. Let’s move on to the next one. You said you had been married twice. Did either of your ex-husbands abuse you?”

“Yes. They both did.”

“What kind of abuse was it, did they hit you or was it verbal abuse?”

“Both my ex-husbands hit me and we got into a lot of arguments.”

“Okay. We’re going to do the same thing. Is there one event with your most recent ex-husband that causes you to feel a strong negative emotion?” She told me about how they would argue and her ex-husband would punch her in the face to end the argument. “Okay Emily, so there you are with your husband and you get into another argument. It escalates into a yelling match and he punches you in the face. Tell me what emotion you’re feeling.”

“Anger.” She replied as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Okay we are going to do the same thing with anger that we did with the other emotions. Just repeat after me. Jesus I ask you to take the feeling of anger from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul caused by it. In place of anger I ask you to give me peace. Jesus, I receive your healing.” When she was finished I had her take a short break because she was crying. After she regained her composure, I asked her again to recall the argument with her ex-husband and tell me what emotion she felt.

“Hurt. That’s the only way I can describe it.”

“Okay. We’ll go with that. Are you ready?”

“Yes, I‘m ready.”

“Jesus I ask you to take the feeling of hurt from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul caused by it. In place of hurt I ask you to give me healing. Jesus, I receive your healing.” She repeated each sentence after me. When she was done we went back to the same event. “Okay Emily, so there you are with your husband and you get into another argument and he punches you in the face. Tell me what emotion you’re feeling.”

“Fear.”

“Okay. We’re going to get rid of fear whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.”

“Okay, repeat after me. Jesus I ask you to take the feeling of fear from me. I don’t want it anymore. I ask you to heal the wound in my soul caused by it. In place of fear I ask you to give me confidence. Jesus, I receive your healing.” When she was done I had her recall the argument one more time. “What emotion do you feel?”

“I’m not really feeling anything this time.”

“Awesome. So those emotional wounds are healed. Thank you Jesus! Let’s move on to your first husband. Is there any event from your first marriage that causes strong negative emotions?” She told me about an event that caused similar feelings to those she had when she got into a fight with her second husband. We followed the same steps as before. She identified each emotion, and asked Jesus to heal them then we went back into the memory of the event to see what emotions were left, until all the negative emotions were gone.

“I have a question for you Emily. How does your back feel right now?”

“It feels really good,” She said with a beaming smile. “It was really bad when I got here, but now there’s just a little pain right here,” She said pointing to a spot on her right side in the middle of her back.

“Now that we’ve removed the rights that the spirit of pain had to afflict you, it should be easy to heal the pain you still have.” I had her stand up and we prayed a quick prayer for her back to be healed and the pain immediately left.

I gave her a short lesson on why back pain from a car accident would require emotional healing, which I’ll summarize next:

Evil spirits are very opportunistic, like most predators. Predators take advantage of weakness because weakness gives an advantage to a predator. A shark becomes aggressive when it smells blood in the water. Vultures gather around dying animals. Demons flock to people who are suffering trauma; both physical and emotional, because trauma weakens us physically and emotionally.

Emotional trauma causes fragmentation of the soul which results in wounds in the soul itself.  It also causes the development of memory fragments and/or alternate personalities, or alters. When we engage in emotional healing, we’re dealing with the fragmented parts of the soul and the emotional wounds.

Strong negative emotions in our soul allow opportunities for demons to torment us. I refer to this as a demon’s “legal right” to harass us, though some people object to the use of this term, because they feel demons have no legal rights to us whatsoever. Call it whatever you want; when we hold onto negative emotions like shame, guilt, anger, fear, etc. these emotions provide a place of attachment for demons. Healing the emotional wounds removes the point of attachment for demons. Once demons have nothing to hold onto, healing is much easier and in some cases, the healing a person is seeking manifests as soon as the emotional wounds are healed.

The reason why I ask people to recall a traumatic event is that I’m trying to heal that particular part (fragment) of their soul that is holding onto that emotion. In order for a fragment to be healed, it must come to the forefront of the person’s consciousness. When I have them recall the event and feel the emotion, I’m working with that part of the soul responsible for that emotion.

When Emily had her car accident, she may have suffered physiological damage to her body, but she also suffered emotional damage to her soul. The most likely scenario is that an evil spirit or two attached themselves to her soul at the time of the accident, using whatever negative emotions she experienced as their point of attachment. As time passed and her physical injuries were healed, the pain in her back remained because the emotional wounds were still there, providing a home for spirits of pain. Unlike physical wounds that heal over time, emotional wounds remain in our soul until they are healed by Jesus. As long as an emotional wound remains intact, the symptoms caused by the spirits attached to the wounds will not leave. The only way to have the symptoms healed is to have the emotional wounds healed.

I used this same approach to heal the emotional wounds of several other women during The Gathering and in each case the person was not able to feel the negative emotions afterward.

One woman that my wife and I prayed with had been having a lot of problems with her marriage. She said her husband treats her more like a brother than a wife. There hasn’t been any romance between them in years. We used this approach to heal her of the emotional wounds related to the way her husband treats her. She came to the brunch on Sunday morning with a glowing smile and handed me a gift bag. “Something big happened last night. I thought I’d buy you two a gift to show you my appreciation. There are two gifts in the bag. The first is for you. The second is for your beautiful wife. When I was leaving this morning to come here, my husband said he loves me…TWICE!!” She walked in a new air of confidence that definitely wasn’t there the night before.

God is doing some amazing things in the area of emotional healing these days. I hope you join us and receive the healing you need. I’ll be writing more on emotional healing in future messages, so stay tuned.

Related:

Why Forgiving Doesn’t Heal You

Emotional Healing – 10 Minutes to Freedom

My Emotional Healing

Palestinian Muslim Healed in Jerusalem

Emotional Healing – Dealing With Bombs

This message was written by my friend Northwest Prophetic about a dream he had a few years ago. I’m posting it here as a prophetic word to the body of Christ (that means you should discern it by the Holy Spirit.) It’s also a sobering reminder of what we’re dealing with as we learn to receive healing of the emotional wounds from our past.

I had a dream. In the dream, or maybe it was a vision: I was working my way through the sparse underbrush of a very large hill. I was searching out unexploded ordinance: bombs that hadn’t gone off, and I knew that some of them were nuclear bombs.

My friends and I were cleaning out the area so that kids could play safely in the bushes and grasses there. My job was to find the bombs hidden under the bushes, behind the clumps of grass. There weren’t a lot, but it was more than I expected.

When I found one, I put it into the basket I was carrying (really? Carrying nukes in a basket?), and hand the baskets to others who took them off to other places, and came back each time for more.

As I was dreaming, while I was pulling a shiny silver bomb out from behind a clump of tall grass, Father began interpreting the dream I was still in the middle of for me. (I’ve never had that happen before!)

“You recognize these bombs?” he asked, and suddenly, I knew that these were issues in my life where offenses could grow. These were wounds, lies that I’ve believed, curses, and other detritus in my soul that could explode and cause problems. “Yes, sir,” I replied.

“And you recognize that this dream is just symbolic? That solving these issues in the real world is going to take more than just picking up the bombs and putting them in your basket?” I understood that he was right: these are real issues and they need real solutions.

The dream had prophetically pointed out that there were bombs, danger points (and I suspect we all have some). We can identify the bombs by prayer, by prophecy, by soul-searching, maybe by inviting input from godly friends.

I also recognized that he wasn’t commenting on the solutions that they needed, just that the issues needed something more than “prophetically picking up a bomb” and putting it in my basket. I was welcome to choose the solutions I was comfortable with: repentance, healing prayer, power of God, therapy, washing in the Word, and more.

I observe that God is speaking to a number of his kids in this season about getting rid of offenses, removing the stumbling blocks from our history; in fact, it’s a little freaky how many began hearing this topic at the same time. If you’re in this season, embrace it as from God, and work with him to remove the hindrances to moving forward.

We’re in this together.