Praying Medic's Blog, page 122

The Gathering – Meet us in Tacoma

We have times and dates to announce for our meetings in Tacoma, Washington.

When: July 25th-27th 2014


Where:  Liberty Inn – DuPont, Washington (10 minutes west of Tacoma)


Cost: $15 (includes all sessions except Saturday morning brunch)

Friday: The opening message will be at 6:30 pm. Unless the Holy Spirit changes my game plan, I will be speaking on the current state of healing in the body of Christ; where we have been, where we are now, and where we’re headed. 

Saturday: There will be an optional brunch with me and my wife on Saturday morning. The cost for the brunch is $21 per person.

There will be 2 messages on Saturday; one by me and one by my wife. I plan to speak on seeing in the spirit. My wife will probably speak on inner healing and obstacles to healing.

Sunday morning:  I plan to speak on traveling in the spirit.

Registration:

Go to this link. It will take you to the “Events” page for The Gathering.
Register as a new user or login with your social media ID.

There are two events you can resister for:

The Gathering with Praying Medic & wife (this registers you for the meetings.)
Brunch with Praying Medic & his wife on Saturday morning.

The Liberty Inn is offering a discount rate for conference attendees.

See you there!

The Roar of His Voice – Jeremy Mangerchine

This is an excerpt from Jeremy Mangerchine’s  book The Longest Bridge Across Water

It was 4 a.m.  I had a quiet house and two full cups of coffee steaming next to me—a perfect recipe for a fun time with my best friend. During the silence of the early mornings while the city enjoyed its sleep, I discovered a life-altering treasure. I began to encounter God in ways I didn’t know were even possible. Quite literally, I had no grid for what He had begun to show me. It didn’t take long for those sacred times to become my favorite thing to do in the entire world. While I sipped my coffee, my Father sat and talked with me. I had begun to hear His voice regularly and often, but the mornings were unique. He spoke so loudly and with such clarity that it really was like conversing with Him as He sat on the sofa next to me.

One morning, He started telling me about His voice and how He talks to people. All of the sudden, He appeared in front of me in an open vision (when your eyes are open and an image appears before you). I saw a square frame like a television screen, with His face smack dab in the center of it, except His person was only light. It looked like a box on a website where there is supposed to be a picture, but the picture is not there yet. It was just a blank frame from the chest to the top of the head.

“Jeremy,” He said, “people need to understand that I am always talking.”

I knew He talked often, and all people have the ability to hear Him, but I never considered that He might be always talking.

“Yeah, watch this,” He said. Immediately, He started saying over and over and over again, “I’m talking, I’m talking, I’m talking, I’m talking…” And as He repeated those words, His voice was crystal clear, and nothing was drowning it out.

Picture a window frame with a head, from the shoulders up. In the area around His outline, there was nothingness. Then, as if a curtain was being rolled upward, images began filling the surface area around His outline from the bottom up, things like cars, trees, buildings, roads— basically city life. All the while, He was repeating, “I’m still talking, I’m still talking, I’m still talking…”

The images came with sound, too. As they scrolled up the screen from bottom to top, the corresponding sounds of cars driving by, birds chirping, and so forth also increased. Still, He kept saying, “I’m still talking, I’m still talking, I’m still talking…” But as the pictures moved higher and the sounds grew louder, His voice became fainter, drowned out more and more by the additional noise, until it was completely indistinguishable.

Then the reverse happened. The images began descending on the screen, and their noises began decreasing in volume. As they did, gradually, in proportion to the fading of the other noises, the voice of God increased in volume. And there He was: “I’m still talking, I’m still talking, I’m still talking…”

Once it was only Him again, He said, “See, I’m always talking. You just need to learn to tune into My voice in the midst of loud, chaotic lives.”

“I never want to let Your voice be tuned out,” I said. I was determined to maintain this closeness and dialogue the entire day. However, by the time I got ready for work, got out of the house and into my car, and was headed for work, I was nearly completely tuned out.

Hearing the voice of God is a lifestyle that is practiced and cultivated over time. I obviously still had some growing to do. This began a season in which God taught me a great deal about how to hear Him and how to deal with the things that so often crowd out His voice in our daily lives. This is something He desires to do for each of His children, to walk us through the process of learning what His voice sounds like and how to decipher it from the noise and endless stimuli of our modern world.

Jeremy’s book The Longest Bridge Across Water is available on Kindle for $0.99 this month.

 

 

Grocery Store Healing

I went with my daughter to the grocery store. I’m not deliberately trying to influence her in the direction of healing. It just sorta happens. While leaving the store, next to a beautiful display of flowers I noticed a middle-aged woman limping toward the parking lot. I felt like I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Go get her.” As I approached I gave her my best smile. “Good morning ma’am. I couldn’t help but notice you were limping. Do you mind if I ask how you injured yourself?”

“I don’t know you sir and I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”

“I’m a paramedic. I work in Tacoma. I’m not crazy and I’m not a stalker. I just like to see people blessed by the healing power of God. You can ask my lovely daughter….honest, lady!”

“You’re a paramedic huh? Do you always go around asking strangers about their personal problems?”

I was a little embarrassed. She didn’t brush us off completely, but she wasn’t exactly welcoming us into her life. I looked at the flowers sitting happily in their pots in the entrance to the store. “Look Ma’am. I don’t always do this with strangers. I try to obey the Lord when I feel like He wants me to talk to someone.”

“Well I’m sorry if it seems like I’m being defensive. I’m just not used to people I don’t know asking me things like that.”

“I’m sorry about that. I know this must be terribly awkward for you.”

She looked at my daughter. “You seem like a nice girl. Does he always do this kind of stuff?”

My daughter smiled. “Well actually, yes he does. We do pray for a lot of strangers.”

We were creating a scene in the entrance to the store and I wanted to take the conversation somewhere more private.  “Why don’t we walk to your car and talk about it on the way there?”

She limped pathetically toward her car and let me push her shopping cart. As she walked I could see that it was her knee that was giving her trouble. She couldn’t bend it.

“Looks like your knee is in pretty bad shape. Can I ask what’s wrong with it?”

“Well if you must know – I have a torn meniscus and I need surgery. And because I don’t have insurance right now I can’t afford the surgery. But if I don’t have the surgery and my knee gets worse I may not be able to work. So I’m in a bad spot right now and I’m not real happy about it.”

“May I please try to get your knee healed? What is it going to hurt if I just try?”

“Well it looks like you aren’t going to leave me alone until I say yes, so go ahead.”

I placed my hand on her knee. “I command this knee to be healed in the name of Jesus. I command the meniscus to be healed. Inflammation leave right now!” I asked how she felt.

She bent down and felt her knee. “It feels a little better.”

I placed my hand on her knee again. “Meniscus I command you to be healed right now. Pain and inflammation I command you to leave.”

I asked again how she felt.

“Well what do you know…it doesn’t hurt at all.” She looked at me like I was crazy and asked, “Are you for real?”

“Jesus is more real than you know, and He’s the one who healed you. He loves you and he has a great plan for your future.”

I asked if she had any other conditions I could pray for. She let me pray for back pain and high blood pressure. We talked for a while about the goodness of God. She gave me a hug and we left her with a huge smile on her face.

I learned an important lesson that day. This woman had a lot of stress over her injury and my insistence on talking about it probably brought up worries she didn’t want to think about. There’s a fine line we must walk when dealing with the personal problems of a stranger. If you become too aggressive, they may never develop trust toward you. I had to let the trust develop at a pace she was comfortable with and many times that can only be done by patiently talking with them about their concerns and putting them at ease.

This is an excerpt from my soon to be published book My Top 100 Craziest adventures with God. To receive a notification of when the book will be available — sign up for my updates through the widget in the right-hand sidebar of this website.

Faith, Identity, Compassion & Intimacy

This is part of an interview I did with S.J. Heald for Heaven Connect. There are 21 questions in this interview. This is my reply to one of the questions. The entire interview can be found here.

S.J. Heald :

Is divine healing all about faith, or are there other criteria?

Praying Medic :

There are (in my opinion) many other factors to be considered. Faith is important to healing because it is usually by the exercise of faith that healing is released. In that sense, faith is like the trigger of a healing gun, to use a crude analogy. Another element that is important to healing is knowing and fully embracing our identity in Christ. This is a bit of an enigma, so allow me to explain what I mean by that:

Many people “know” they are sons of God in some sense of the word, but the knowledge they have is only an intellectual agreement with the idea, and nothing more. Most of these people have adopted something else as their functional identity; which is to say – the identity from which they operate most of the time. For some people the role of being a mother is what they have assumed as their functional identity. Others have taken on their job title or their favorite hobby as their identity. When you ask them who they are – they generally reply that they are a stockbroker, a nurse, a mother or a race car driver. The identity that we hold highest above all others is the one from which the issues of our life flow. Sadly, when people who identify themselves by their occupation enter retirement, they frequently suffer severe depression. They feel as if they have lost their identity and this sense of loss causes many of them to attempt suicide.

When you find someone who without knowing your agenda answers the question “Who are you?” with something like, “I’m an ambassador of the King of heaven” or “I am a son of the most High God,” you’ve found some one who has probably adopted their true identity in Christ and more than likely they are seeing miracles happen regularly.

I once saw myself as a worthless sinner saved by grace. That was the identity I had taken on. I never saw anyone healed when I saw myself this way. It took about a year for me to go from that identity to seeing myself as a beloved and empowered child of God. Once I finally accepted my true identity, I began to see miracles pretty regularly. The change in identity brought a change in the way I impacted the world around me.

In addition to faith and identity – love and compassion are important keys to healing. It was said of Jesus that “He saw the multitudes and had compassion on them.” Love and compassion were the things that motivated Him. The motives of your heart determine the direction of your life and the direction you travel determines your ultimate destination. Unless you develop love and compassion, you’ll be motivated by something else such as fame or greed. Motives other than love and compassion drive us in the wrong direction and will always lead to ruin. The key is to allow the love that God has toward us and others to be the motivating force behind everything we do.

Intimacy with God is one more key to seeing healing and miracles released. While it’s possible to release healing without knowing God very well – it’s difficult to operate in the fullness of His power without being familiar with His ways. When we set our minds to healing the sick, we not primarily about the business of healing; we are ambassadors representing the King of heaven to people who may not know Him. Having a strong relationship with the Holy Spirit is the foundation of healing. Knowing what God wants to do and how He wants to do it can only come through a strong and active relationship with Him. Time is the commodity of relationships and spending time with Him is how the relationship grows.

Divine Healing Made Simple – Free on Kindle

My book Divine Healing Made Simple is free today (Friday June 6th) on Kindle in all locations.

US – Click this link.

Canada – Click this link.

UK – Click this link.

You don’t need a Kindle device to read Kindle books. If you want to read them on an i-Pad, i-Phone, Android phone, PC or Mac computer – go to this link to download the program or app for your device and you can enjoy free Kindle books, too.

I’ve received many testimonies from people who have tried the things I suggested in the book and guess what? They worked.

I owe a huge thank you to all my friends and readers for helping spread the news about the book. If you’d like to do me a huge favor, let your friends know about the sale so they can pick up a copy. Post a link or send it to anyone who might want to know about it. If you’ve read the book, and you have time to leave a review on Amazon, I would be grateful.

Thanks,

PM

He Broke Her — He can Fix her

Kris Vallotton shares a humorous story about a couple and their healing.

What If You Saw Jesus Healing Today?

By Brian Fenimore

Let me explain something about the gift of healing to help you understand something.  One of the main ways that God represents Himself in scripture is to bring redemption to mankind. Your destiny will have an element of redemption in it consistently. God wants you to prosper in fulfilling your destiny. It is God’s desire to explain and show mankind the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. God wants you to enjoy life, but He also wants you to find your destiny and fulfill it because He wants to show the redemptive nature of who He really is.

One of the main themes of God being redemptive is God being a healer. Do you know that when Jesus Christ showed up 80% of what Jesus did in His earthly ministry was healings and miracles? 20% of it was teaching. Now, our culture has flipped that around and we make 80 to 95% of what we do teaching, and maybe once in a while we will pray for a sick person. That is not how the Lord did ministry. He has healed for a whole day and then He would say, “Oh, I’ve got a parable for you.”

That is a lot different than what we do toady.

What if you went to a church on a normal Sunday and they prayed for sick people for 4 hours? We would watch them get healed. And they go okay, now we don’t have any time to do the sermon, so I am going to tell you a real cute little story about a master with two servants. That would be completely different than what we experience.

You notice that the height of what we do in our Christian experience is hear a sermon. The height of Jesus’ ministry is that He just healed all day long and then He said that He needed to tell a parable about the kingdom.

Isn’t that amazing?

Now, also I need to point this out that the scripture basically says that this is the work of salvation. It was not only bringing people to God, but His two themes of what Jesus Christ did was to reveal who God was and also to heal. Those are so connected to each other.

You cannot actually have the gospel without healing being demonstrated. Deliverance is really healing the person. You deliver them so God can restore them.  You don’t deliver them just to deliver them. You deliver them so that they can be healed and brought back to God.

About Brian Fenimore

Brian is the director of the Plumbline Ministries, an organization based on advancing the Kingdom of God. The focus of his ministry is to equip the saints for the work of ministry in schools, seminars and media throughout the World. He is the author of several books and study notes including Foundation for the Prophetic Ministry and Heart Standard for the Prophetic.

Brian’s Teaching Series on Healing

Crohn’s Disease Healed

This woman testifies of her healing of Chohn’s disease.

How I Moved Past My Awkwardness And Changed Lives

By J.D. King. Originally posted here.

Over the years several individuals have asked me to share my thoughts on the ministry of healing. They were particularly interested in learning how to operate powerfully in an evangelistic context. One man said that he wanted to get over the awkwardness and really begin to touch the lives of people.

I understand the questions and even the hesitation that many feel in this area. Ministering healing can appear difficult to those who have never functioned in it. In fact, when I started out, I struggled with this (and often still do).

Most have the idea that it’s overly “mystical” or even the byproduct of a perfect Christian  life. I don’t think that this is the right way to look at it. God often uses regular, everyday believers who are still finding their way. I’m so glad that it doesn’t take “perfection” to touch the lives of others. If that was required, I would certainly be disqualified (and you would be too).

I also want to point out that healing is deeply relational; even “ordinary” in its outworking. It is not taking people out of their “earthly” experiences. Instead, healing is bringing the power and truth of Jesus into a fractured human body. Arguably, it is one of the most incarnational realities imagined. We engage and watch as the glorious God of the universe brings life to broken, corruptible flesh.

I want you to understand that healing doesn’t have to be so complicated. It begins by simply taking notice of ill individuals. You might notice them in the check-out line or standing next to you at the gas station. Reach out and show some genuine concern about their life. People can usually tell whether you’re speaking to them out of a posture of love or not.

In a calm, reassuring voice, say something like, “I noticed that you’re in pain. Do you mind if I ask what happened?” Give them a moment to explain what’s going on. As you’re carefully  listening and interacting, be sure to get their first name and affirm their great value to you.

After they share their diagnosis, be sure to mention that you’re a Christian and that you love to pray for people. Ask, “Is it alright if I pray for you?” Often, they will say, “Yes,” thinking you intend to intercede later. Explain that you would like to pray for them right now – if that is at all possible.

There are a few things to consider when you actually get the opportunity to pray (sometimes you don’t get that opportunity to pray, but you should bless them just the same). First of all, it’s good to be at peace. If you’re overly agitated, it will be hard for them to receive from you. Secondly, keep in mind that you don’t have to be loud or even pray for an extended time. It is not length or volume that brings healing. These things can make a real difference in people’s receptivity.

As you begin to pray, invite the presence of the Lord to come. Pray that His goodness and strength would be manifest. Bless the Lord and thank Him for all He has done! Center everything you are doing in the person and work of Jesus.

Then out of a position of authority, simply command – in the mighty name of Jesus – that the pain leave their body. Be direct and firm against the infirmity! Demand it to go! Throughout the New Testament they prayed prayers of command, not prayers of petition. We should always try to follow the Scriptural example when we pray.

Also, if appropriate, you might ask if you can lay hands on them in the place where they feel the most pain. “Laying on of hands” is a dynamic way of imparting the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

After you’ve prayed for a minute or two, it’s good to ask them how things are going. Find out if the pain has lessened or if they feel anything “different” taking place in their bodies. When a person is experiencing a touch from God, they may feel tingling, coolness, heat, peace, joy, or perhaps nothing at all. Have them provide a little feedback so you can get a sense of how things are going.

If there’s a sense of breakthrough, ask them to do something they couldn’t do before. For example, if pain was in their leg, have them now put a little weight on it and walk. Obviously wisdom must be shown in each circumstance. The ill should only be encouraged to respond in a way they’re completely comfortable with. I’ve found that sometimes the healing comes in a moment of response.

Obviously not everyone will respond favorably to this kind of prayer engagement. Healing doesn’t fit the common understanding of Christianity in North America or Europe. Because of this, some will reject your efforts. This is always disappointing.

Nevertheless, the possibility of rejection is probably not our biggest problem. I believe the greatest impediment to the ministry of healing is our own insecurities and fears. Christians often become their own saboteurs.

It is important that one doesn’t allow the awkwardness and discomfort to dissuade them from making an effort. It is not always easy, but Spirit-filled believers need to press in anyway.

I always get a knot in my stomach when I talk to someone about their illness, but I refuse to let that stand in my way. I have pressed against the awkwardness and have personally engaged hundreds of sick people. To my great joy, many were powerfully impacted by the mercy of Jesus. I’ve seen healing take place in gas stations, restaurants, and department stores. While my sincere efforts are occasionally rejected, most of the time people are genuinely open to an encounter with Jesus.

I think it’s time for Christians to get over the awkwardness and discomfort and start advancing the Kingdom. It is time to be brave. There is a sick world that is desperately waiting for us to advance. Will you join me?

Check out JD’s other articles on his website World Revival Network

Nothing to Worry About

We stopped at the nurse’s station to pick up the paperwork and get report on our patient. As she handed me the envelope the nurse said, “She’s really nervous about the procedure, so I hope you’re ready for a challenge this morning. Oh yeah – she wasn’t supposed to eat anything but there wasn’t an actual order saying that, so she had two cans of soda this morning, but nothing for breakfast. If you’d pass that along, I’d appreciate it.”

I opened the envelope and absent-mindedly flipped through the paperwork looking for a face sheet so I could get her biographic information entered in my computer. “What’s she going in for?”

“She’s having a brochoscopy. She’s been whistling when she breathes and they want to see if there’s an obstruction somewhere. She had an accident riding a horse about a month ago. She had a skull fracture with a cerebral hematoma. She was in a coma for 11 days. Respiratory failure with a tracheostomy that’s capped. She’s actually in pretty good shape considering how bad she looked a few weeks ago. She can walk and talk and she’s alert. Oh…and I gave her a milligram of Ativan to calm her down a little.”

“Did you save any for me?”

“Do your best to keep her calm, okay? She’s really anxious.”

“Nervous Nellies are my specialty. I’ll make sure she knows she has nothing to worry about.”

We pushed the gurney to her room and my partner went in. I stayed out in the hallway to enter her name, date of birth, address and phone number in the computer. After I finished I walked into her room.  Looking her in the eye, I said in my best game-show host voice, “I just want to let you know you have nothing to worry about!”

She busted up laughing. So did her mom who was standing next to her bed. “So the nurse must have told you…”

“They tell us everything,” I said smiling. “Oh, wait. Maybe I should introduce myself.”

We got the introductions out of the way and I asked if she had any questions.

“Yeah, I do have a question. Exactly what are they going to do to me?”

“Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“Not really. They just said I’m going to have a bronchoscopy and I’m not sure what that is.”

“If no one told you what’s going to happen I can see why you’re anxious about it, so let me explain.”

Sahara had a tracheostomy, which is a surgical opening in the front of the neck that goes into the trachea. After the surgical opening is made, a curved tube is inserted into the opening and a breathing device can be attached to it. Patients who have a tracheostomy are usually in respiratory failure and are usually placed on a mechanical ventilator. Sahara had been taken off the ventilator after she came out of the coma. When a patient no longer needs help to breathe, a cap is placed over the tracheostomy.

“The procedure you’re having done is a bronchoscopy, where they take a small fiber-optic camera and feed it into your trachea. They look around to see if there’s something wrong.”

“Am I going to be awake, when they do it, ’cause I swear I’ll freak out if I am.”

“Haha…good question. Ummm… no, actually you’re not going to be awake. They’ll give you some happy juice to put you in la-la land so you won’t remember a thing.”

“Well that’s good to know, because I do NOT want to be awake for it. Wait!” Are they gonna stick any needles in me?”

Well…yes…they will need to start an IV so they can give you the medicine to sedate you.”

“I HATE needles! Isn’t there any way they can do it without sticking me with a needle?”

“Look Sahara, they don’t have to use a big needle. They’ll probably use a small one. Don’t worry…it won’t hurt much.”

“What if I’m not really in la-la land when they do it and I’m actually awake but they don’t know it? I don’t want to feel anything.”

“Sahara, here’s what you need to do. When we get you to the hospital, you need to talk to the nurses and tell them your concerns. Ask them every question you can think of. Tell them what you’re concerned about and make them answer all your questions. Let them know they aren’t doing the procedure until you’re comfortable with their answers. Does that sound like a plan you can live with?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“Okay, well why don’t we get you in the ambulance?”

Her mother asked if she could ride along with us. I said she could. We went to the ambulance, got her loaded and began the 30 minute drive to the hospital. I got my report started and let Sahara and her mother talk for a while. Eventually I had to write down her chief complaint and I didn’t actually know what that was yet.

“Sahara… what’s bothering you the most right now?”

“The back of my head. If feels like someone is stabbing me with a knife over and over.”

“Stabbing you with a knife?”

“Yeah.” She pointed to the back of her head. “Right here. It’s really sore all the time. I have these constant stabbing pains that won’t go away.”

“On a scale from one to ten how bad is the pain?”

“About a nine.”

“How long have you had the stabbing pain?”

“I think I’ve had it ever since I came out of the coma.”

“So… like a few weeks?”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

If I were able to see  in the spirit with the ease some of my friends do, I would have expected to see some kind of demon standing behind her holding a long metal blade, repeatedly jabbing it into her head. While I do sometimes see things that indicate the presence of demons — they aren’t usually very dramatic.

We arrived at the place in our provider-patient relationship where a decision had to be made. I’d built a strong enough bridge with Sahara that she would probably trust me if I asked her about prayer. But the easy way out would be to let her continue talking with her mother the rest of the trip while I finished my report. The thing is — I really wanted that pain in her head to stop. I felt a bit of confidence rising up inside of me as I looked at the back of her head. I knew that if I could just touch her — she would be healed.

“I have a weird question for you Sahara.”

“And what would that be?” She asked innocently.

“Can I pray for you?”

“Of course you can!” She said excitedly. Her mother lit up like a Christmas tree. It was obvious she approved.

“Okay. I’m going to place my hand…”

“Don’t touch it!” She said fearfully. “It’s really sensitive there.”

“Alright, Sahara. I know it hurts. I’m not going to  touch your head. How about if I hold my hand a couple inches away from the sore spot?”

“That’s fine.”

“Cool. I’d like tell you a story about someone who was healed last week.” I shared the story about the girl with the unicorn who was healed of a torn meniscus and scoliosis. As I told the story I held my hand a few inches from the back of her head.

“Sahara, do you feel any different?”

“No.”

I was hoping this would release healing, but it didn’t seem to do anything. It was time to get serious. “I command spirits of pain to leave right now, in the name of Jesus. I command soft tissue to be healed, I command bone to be healed, I command spirits of trauma to leave. Holy Spirit bring your power upon this young lady and bless her with healing.”

“Okay – what do you feel now?”

“Nothing,” she said with a stunned look on her face. “I mean… there isn’t any pain at all. It’s completely gone. How did you do that?”

She felt the back of her head where the pain had been, gently at first, testing it to see if she could make it return, but it would not come back. She was healed and she was pretty ecstatic about it. The look on her face was absolutely priceless and it made me laugh. “How great is God, Sahara?”

Her mother chimed in. “Sahara, when you were little, I remember you would sit  in the front of the TV and watch Veggie Tales and sing that song, ‘How Great is Our God?’ You’d sing it over and over and over. You just loved that song.”

Sahara and her mother continued their conversation and I went back to writing my report. And God…well, He’s still out there doing what He does best. Healing hurt people and loving on them like the awesome Father that He is.

This is an excerpt from my soon to be published book My Top 100 Craziest adventures with God. To receive a notification of when the book will be available — sign up for my updates through the widget in the right-hand sidebar of this website.