Power of Prayer: Kayla Knight

This article was first published by KLTV 7 News in Tyler, Texas. The original article can be found here

It's hard to see anything different today in little 11 year old Kayla Knight.

It was just three weeks...three weeks ago that doctors told Amy her little girl had a tumor that cover almost a quarter of her brain.

"I think it was like being in another world. Because I just stood there. I mean it literally took him... Amy, Amy because I thought... You just don't believe it," remembers Kayla's mother Amy Knight.

For months Kayla had been having severe headaches. The frequency and severity kept growing until one night in May they became so unbearable they went to the E. R. Doctors said an x-ray showed some kind of abnormality in Kayla's head. It would take another month before Kayla could get in to see a doctor in Tyler. They took an MRI, which showed a large white spot on Kayla's brain. A tumor that doctors feared was spreading quickly around Kayla's brain.

"We prayed," said Amy. "We both hit our knees and we were praying. That was actually on a Wednesday so when we got to church we had a good 30 people or more lay hands on her and it just.... you could feel God. I can't say we prayed as much before. I mean we did...but not like this. Not like we do now."

Two days later Kayla was sent to Baylor Hospital in Dallas. Same routine. Another MRI. But this time...

"I don't know how to read it so I was okay...to me it looked like it had expanded because all you see in the picture is nothing. So I thought okay maybe its just taken over the whole brain. And he said no, it gone. And he said its got to be a mistake, it has to be. We are going to schedule another test, there is no way its just gone and just the whole time he is stuttering and there is just this look on his face like I don't understand. I don't know. We did another one and it was gone and his words were it was truly a miracle, this has to be the act of God," said Amy.

In just 48 hours all that this single mom had known was turned upside and back again. Just yesterday they went for another follow and still no signs of the tumor. But there are plenty of signs say Amy, of the power of prayer. That not only saved Kayla but changed this family forever.

"I don't know because I'm 30 years old and I just come to grips with that a couple of months ago and I have never been as comfortable in my faith as I am right now. And I think I have a lot of people standing behind me. Its hard to explain, I just know whatever happens to me apparently God wanted it to happen or it would not happen in the first place. I know He is in control of our lives," says Amy

"Well its been kind of scary but kind of fun. Because your like knowing God is going to do something about it," says Kayla

"The best way to describe it, I was a mediocre Christian. To be honest. I mean I went to church, the mundane thing. You do this and you do that and you think okay I'm going to heaven. Looking back now I don't know that I would have. I know I will now. I know this has opened my eyes and I think maybe God used that to make us better believers. To make us fully depend on Him. I mean that's what its all about anyway," says Kayla.

Clint Yeatts, KLTV 7 News.

Circling The Drain

She spoke little English. But with a heart rate around 40 and a B/P in the 50's, I'm surprised she was awake. Her potassium was critical. The normal range is 3.5 to 5. Hers was nearly 7. Hyperkalemia is a silent killer. It usually comes from kidney failure, but she had no history of it. Nurses frantically did what they could to keep her alive. I was taking her some place bigger. A place where they have dialysis; her only hope.

That...and prayer.

So I prayed on the way and spoke healing into a body gone mad. I kept an eye on the pumps and watched her vitals, which steadily improved. When we dropped her off in the ICU, her heart rate was clipping along around 100. Their first B/P was 118/ 70.

And that was amazing.

It might have been the anointing.

It could have been the dopamine.

I'll let you decide.

Healed Heart & A Word of Knowledge

Happy St. Patrick's day!

This would make a great valentine's day post.

Oh well.

If you haven't noticed, we're in a season of new things. Some are painful. I was on duty yesterday getting lunch at a deli. I felt a sudden pain in the first knuckle of my middle finger I've never had before, so I wondered if it might be a word of knowledge for healing. I asked the person closest to me if they had pain in their hands, but they said no.

I got in the rig and told my partner about it. He shot me a puzzled look and asked, "where's your pain?" I repeated, "first knuckle, middle finger." He smiled and said he's been having terrible pain in that exact spot for a week - ever since our last shift. The pain woke him up this morning. So I put my hand over his and commanded healing into the joint. He felt a tingling sensation like pins and needles. A little while later he was pain-free. To someone who has words of knowledge like this often, it might not be a big thing - but to me it's a major breakthrough. I've been wondering for a long time if I'd ever feel the pain of a friend as a sign that God wants to heal them.

My wife had an episode of tachycardia two nights ago. She was sitting at the computer when it started. Suddenly, her heart began beating about 150 times a minute. She's had PSVT for many years. I felt her pulse to confirm it. We decided to pray for healing. I put my hand over her heart and spoke healing into her. I asked for a new heart. Within a few minutes her rate was back to normal.

No bearing down or holding her breath. No drugs. It just returned to normal as we prayed. We'll have to wait to know if she was healed permanently. We're trusting in God for that.

Raised From The Dead in Africa

This is part of the film The Finger of God, by Darren Wilson. After the short discussion on preaching the gospel, we hear the testimony of a man named Francis, who was brutally beaten to death. At the hospital he was resurrected and healed of his injuries. Heidi Baker and Bill Johnson discuss miracles of healing following his story. If you haven't seen the entire movie, I strongly suggest buying copy. (Or two) After you see it, you may want to give a copy to a friend.

Healing From Intimacy With God

Bill Johnson teaches on healing out of intimacy with God.

Miracle Healing in China

Professor Hermilo Jasso took 30 college students to China. He became ill and was admitted to a Chinese hospital with a ruptured appendix. God sent two mysterious strangers to get him the help he needed.

Back From Death After Fatal Pulmonary Embolism

This video is the testimony of a woman who suffered cardiac arrest from a pulmonary embolism. The ER doctor testifies of a two -hour resuscitation attempt, which failed. One of the nurses involved tells of her part in the resuscitation. While hospital staff worked to bring her back to life, her church interceded for her. Friends and family visited the ER and prayed at her bedside. After the decision had been made to stop resuscitation, she came back to life. Within hours, she regained full neurological function.

Home Show Response

We received this e-mail today:

Just wanted to check in to let you know I have been feeling better and better since you prayed for me at the Home Show. Thanks again for being there!

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Joan

Treasure Hunt Testimonies

This young man shares his story about going on a treasure hunt with his friends. They followed clues given to them by God.

In our second video, a group of believers testify about their experiences while attending Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry.

Indonesian Muslim Healed & Cloud of Glory Appears

This is the story of an Indonesian Muslim woman who developed breast cancer. Her Christian husband and the Indonesian branch of the 700 club began to pray for her. A short time later her cancer vanished.





The video below was filmed somewhere in Asia. I don't know where, exactly. It seems to be an authentic video revealing the appearance of God in a cloud of glory during a prayer meeting.

Heart Attack Healed

This is the testimony of David Khoury. He and his wife spent hours studying Andrew Womack's teaching on healing. David developed chest pain and suffered a heart attack. He was taken to a hospital, diagnosed, and scheduled for bypass surgery. But before the procedure was done, he and his wife continued to believe God would heal him. To the amazement of the cardiologist, subsequent blood tests and EKG's showed that his infarct had been healed. He left the hospital the following day. Andrew is the man in the red jacket on the left - smiling while the story is told.

Honor and Heresy

This post has the potential to hurt a few people, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. I've written this because I love my friends.

I have some acquaintances that I correspond with on occasion. They present a challenge to me. They often post passages of scripture after making a comment on something I’ve said. It’s rare for these brothers and sisters to make any comment without some kind of reference to the bible. They frequently request others to provide ‘chapter and verse’ when they make statements having to do with spiritual life.

I’ve become increasingly concerned with this behavior and I have a confession to make. I was one such person, not long ago. I’ll describe this from my own experience.

After coming to the Lord in 2000, I began a 7-year journey; relentlessly devouring everything I could find to help me understand the bible. I became an expert of sorts. People used me as a resource for theological questions. I was always quoting chapter and verse. I questioned (and sometimes criticized) ideas, statements and positions that didn’t square with scripture…or rather, my understanding of it. If there were a banner over my life it would have said, “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.” It was the word, not the spirit that was leading me. The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

It was during this time that God showed me how dead I was. I had been born again, but not baptized in the Holy Spirit. I had a dream in which Luis Palau was present at a meeting. A woman at the meeting informed me I was spiritually dead and told me I became spiritually alive when I registered for a Kim Clement concert. That gave me reason to re-evaluate a lot of things. One of them was my obsession with biblical accuracy. I heard pastors say you could be so right that you were 'dead right'. Who knew they were talking about me?

I began having experiences that were hard for me to understand in the context of biblical Christianity. Although the bible has much to say about dreams and their interpretation, I’d never had a dream I remembered as an adult and never hear a sermon on dream interpretation. Suddenly I was having many dreams. God showed up in a few and He had a lot to tell me. Some of the experiences I've had while sleeping defy explanation. I have no memory of seeing, hearing or feeling anything. When I wake, I have an awareness that something 'spiritual' happened. But I can't find words to describe it. I know my spirit man was up to something, by my natural mind had no clue what was going on. I retained no memory of it. I have no chapter and verse for something like this.

It was also at this time that God began speaking new words to me, like 'prophet' and 'healer'. I had no grid for these things. But this was my new identity, like it or not. I reluctantly began the process of transformation, and in this new life I moved from servanthood, to sonship. Having my identity confirmed from the Lord freed me from the insecurity that compelled me to prove to men who I was.

I began having visions, visitations, angelic encounters and seeing miracles. Some of the images I see in visions aren’t found in the bible. Am I supposed to ignore them? How can I interpret them? This is where we have to lay the bible aside to come before God and ask what He’s saying, what it means, and how to apply it. As I hear the voice of God and declare His rhema word for a person, group or season, much of what comes from my mouth doesn’t have chapter and verse attached. Biblical principles should be found in it and the heart of God should be revealed through it. Prophecies must be judged. The question then comes – how do you know you’re hearing from God?

This is a case where relationship must have priority over the written word. I'm not suggesting experience trumps the logos. But God isn't a book. As His children, we must believe that we’re hearing the Spirit of God and trust that He is revealing the truth to us. Unfortunately, there have been errors in the past and there’ll be more in the future. I’ve missed my share of interpretations, and learned from the mistakes. I’m new, and making mistakes is part of the process of maturing.

I see problems in always demanding ‘chapter and verse’ to support statements. The first is, not all ideas and experiences have biblical references. The second is the fact that we don’t all have the same familiarity with the word of God. Most of the people who do this are very skilled in handling the word and know how to use electronic bibles to gather a mountain of verses to support their idea. They scan people’s blog or Facebook posts, looking for ideas that seem out of harmony with their understanding of the bible. When something hits their radar – they make a corrective observation, insert an adequate supply of bible verses and wait for a response. They are not intimidated, but seem eager to engage in a battle of words. They seldom back down. And that bothers me. Remember, I once did this myself.

I know there is much exhortation in the word to avoid false doctrine. But this behavior resembles what a bully does on a playground. Bullies look for those who are weaker and beat them up. It’s usually done out of a weakness or insecurity that torments them. When bullies grow up they become thugs who terrorize everyone around them. The people I’m referring to in this post could be called intellectual bullies. They go around looking for people who are intellectually weaker and beat up their ideas with a superior set of ideas. The references to scripture are nothing more than an iron bar or a baseball bat that says, “Don’t mess with me.” Is this the kind of life Jesus would have us live?

In a continual search for error they have become known as ‘heresy hunters.’ Bill Johnson made a profound statement that forever impacted how I see heresy. (I’ll paraphrase) He said that if you react to error, you won’t arrive at truth – but another error of a different kind. As long as error is your starting point – you can’t arrive at truth. The truth stands on it’s own ground, independent of and in no relation to error. Man wasn’t designed to react to error, but to respond to truth.

God wants us to be a culture that honors its members. Intellectual bullying dishonors everyone involved. This behavior needs to end. In some, a lack of identity may be the cause. Allowing God to tell us who we are can begin the healing process.