Are Miracles, Healing and Deliverance "Peripheral Issues?"

A common teaching in the church today is the idea that the working of miracles, healing the sick and casting out demons are "peripheral issues" that can distract our attention away from the "real issues" believers ought to focus on. Some would go as far as to say that anyone who spends too much time learning about them is deceived. But is this true?

The first thing Jesus did after choosing the twelve was to send them out with instructions to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and proclaim the kingdom of God (see Matt. 10: 7-9). And here's something to consider: This commission came before they had any real training in the miraculous. Their training was on the job—they learned as they went.

After the twelve returned, with reports of the great things they had seen, Jesus sent out the seventy into nearby villages, telling them, "Heal the sick that are there and tell them the kingdom of God has come near you." (See Luke 10:9.) The seventy were sent into these cities before Jesus visited the cities himself. They went to announce the arrival of the kingdom and the Messiah, through healing and the working of miracles.

To reinforce what he had already told them—before he ascended into heaven—he reiterated in the great commission what he wanted his disciples to do. You may have doubt as to whether the instructions he gave to the twelve and the seventy apply to you, but the the great commission is widely accepted as the instruction Jesus gave to believers of all ages. Mark's version of the great commission includes these instructions: “These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name …They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17a,18b)

It seems like the issues Jesus wanted his disciples to focus on could not be any more clear. Rather than being peripheral issues, the working of miracles, healing the sick and casting out demons were intended to be central parts of the work he expected his disciples to do. And nothing has changed since then.

In Luke 10:19, Jesus said, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." As one of his disciples, you have all the authority you need to heal the sick and work miracles.  The power you need is provided by the Spirit of God, who lives inside you. You simply need to learn how to release that power. Power is released when we exercise faith. When you're faced with a need, believe in your heart that the thing you desire will happen, do not doubt, and you will see the power of God manifest.

As I've focused on the supernatural manifestations of the kingdom, rather than being drawn away from God, I've been drawn closer to him. I've learned so much about his ways and the incredible love he has for mankind and I believe the same can be true for you.

Related:

Power and Authority for Healing
Healing 101
Deliverance

Keys to Healing and Deliverance - Steve Harmon

Steve Harmon discusses the keys to successful physical healing, emotional healing and deliverance.

 

A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse

This is an excerpt from my latest book: A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse.

On June 30^th, 2015, after suffering years of financial trouble, Greece failed to make a required payment to the International Monetary Fund and entered into a default on its sovereign debt. In light of Greece's default and due to the proliferation of books predicting catastrophic judgments upon America (and the rest of the world) it seemed good to share what I’ve learned about economic collapse and how the kingdom of God responds to crisis.

You don’t need to look very far to find dire warnings of disaster being spoken by secular experts and religious leaders alike. Many financial experts have written books citing the reasons why they believe an economic collapse is quickly approaching. At the same time, many religious leaders have shared prophetic warnings that we’re entering a time a great difficulty; some even arguing that the end of the world is at hand.

While I believe (some) financial experts have given us an accurate assessment of the problems we face, what they lack is a divine perspective on the problem. What religious leaders usually lack is an understanding of how financial systems work. What is most concerning is that neither camp has put forth a clear plan to help us survive such a crisis, much less rebuild in its aftermath.

The approach financial advisers generally take is to sign you up for their investing programs. They warn you that your retirement savings are about to be wiped out and that if you pay them a fee, they’ll tell you where to invest your money. The main reason why many church leaders don’t offer a plan to survive or rebuild after a global crisis is that they don’t expect to be here. The popularity of the belief that the church will be taken into heaven in the rapture before a global crisis hits has prompted many theologians to abandon all thought of what the church’s responsibility might be in a post-crisis world. Their advice is to pray for sinners to repent and pray even harder for the return of Jesus. 

During the last century, hundreds of millions of believers have been certain they would see the return of Jesus during their lifetime. None of them have lived to see that day. At this moment, millions more are convinced that we’re living in the days just before His return, and indeed, we might be. But statistically speaking, the odds of that happening in anyone’s lifetime are extremely small.

After becoming a believer, I sat in a church pew and read my Bible. I learned all the reasons why the great tribulation was approaching, why the Antichrist was ready to be revealed, why the world was teetering on the brink of catastrophe, and most importantly, why we believers wouldn’t be around for all of that. Although I was told that God’s wrath was about to be poured out upon the earth, I was also assured that my King was going to appear and rescue me from it. During this time, I never witnessed a creative miracle, never saw anyone healed or set free of a demon, and although I learned a lot about the church, I learned virtually nothing about the kingdom of God.

Then one night I had a dream. In the dream, I met God, and He had a few things He wanted to share with me. He said He wanted me to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and proclaim His kingdom.

The nerve of Him.

If He weren’t the Almighty, I might have given Him a piece of my mind. He spoke not a word about waiting for the rapture, witnessing to sinners or handing out tracts, which were things my pastor told me were top priorities. Since that day, I’ve had hundreds (perhaps thousands) more dreams and the subject of our conversations hasn’t changed. Few, if any of them have portrayed the end of the world, the rise of a one-world government or world-ending disasters. Nearly all of them have to do with battling the kingdom of darkness, setting captives free, and using my time and energy to advance His kingdom.

I think we need to ask a few questions of those who predict catastrophic events:

If the coming events are believed to be because we’ve rebelled against God, what happens if we don’t repent?

And what if the coming events are not actually the result of God’s wrath, but instead, the natural outworking of our own poor choices?

What if a global crisis strikes and the church is not removed from the earth beforehand?

Is your pastor teaching you what to do if the church survives a global catastrophe, or are all your hopes pinned on Jesus rescuing you from it?

It’s certainly more pleasant to think that we won’t be here when things get ugly, but we have no guarantee of that. 

I don’t see any reason to fear the future. Whatever is coming, God can make us aware of it, and if He can make us aware of it, He can prepare us for it. I would encourage you to rest in the knowledge that God has a plan that He is working out in these events. If you're positioned in Him, and prepared mentally for the challenges that lie ahead, you may find all of this to be a liberating experience, and not a terrifying one.

My intent with this book is to examine the topic of economic collapse from various perspectives. The book can be divided roughly into four sections: The first is a primer on economics and finance. My goal with this section is to describe (in terms the average person can understand) how the financial systems of the world operate. In the second section, we’ll look at historic cases of economic collapse and the things that caused it. We’ll also identify which nations are at risk of experiencing economic collapse today. In the third section, I’ll share the dreams I’ve had that provide a prophetic overview of the days ahead and I’ll discuss what I believe to be God’s purpose for these events. In the last section, we'll look at how the  kingdom of God ought to respond to crisis.

This book is available only as an e-book. It can be found by clicking on this link or the image below.

God's Perspective on Excellence

 My wife and I were entertaining friends when we got on the subject of writing books. I told our guest I was not the best healer in the world. "If you want to see a really gifted healer," I said, "Go hang out with David Hogan."

I'm not the most knowledgeable or the most proficient healer, but with the little knowledge I do have, I was able to write a decent book on the subject, because in all honesty—I'm probably a better writer than I am a healer. There's still so much about healing I don't understand. Sometimes I feel unworthy of the questions people ask me. That night I had a dream:

 

In the dream, I was taking care of patients with a strange medical condition I didn't know anything about. They had this fluid in some kind of container that was somehow attached to their body. I was supposed to monitor this fluid. I didn't know what the fluid was and I didn't know how to monitor it. I felt very uncertain about how I was supposed to take care of these patients. So I did the best I could and tried to make sure nothing bad happened to them while they were in my care. At the end of the dream, I was given an award for providing excellent care for my patients. That was the end of the dream.

 

When I awoke, I was a little shocked. How could anyone give me an award for providing good patient care when I had no clue what was wrong with my patients, what that fluid was, or how I was supposed to monitor it?

 

It didn't make sense.

 

Later that day, as I thought about the dream, I also thought about the book I wrote and how I still don't have all the answers to the questions people have about healing. And then it dawned on me what the Lord was saying in the dream. (This is a word of instruction for all of us):

 

It doesn't matter to God if you have things all figured out. It doesn't matter if you can answer people's questions correctly. It doesn't matter if you feel pretty clueless about healing or deliverance, or anything else He's asked you to do. It doesn't matter if you feel incompetent or incapable. What matters to God is that you do the best you can with the little information and talent you have.

 

Be a good steward of what resources and knowledge He's given you and He'll fill in the gaps of your knowledge and skill. Excellence doesn't require complete understanding. All it requires is diligence and a sincere desire to serve in whatever way you can.

American Sniper: Lessons in Spiritual Warfare

This is an except from my latest book American Sniper: Lessons in Spiritual Warfare.

The main character of American Sniper is a Texas-born redneck named Chris Kyle. The film opens with a scene of Kyle perched on a rooftop in the city of Fallujah, Iraq. U.S. troops have been told that the city was ordered to be evacuated and any military-aged men they find are assumed to be enemy combatants, until proven otherwise. Kyle is checking out the path of a U.S. military convoy through the scope of his sniper rifle. He sees a man on a rooftop in the distance talking on a cell phone. The man appears to be watching the convoy, which Kyle reports to his command through his headset. The man then disappears from the rooftop and a few moments later, a woman and a young boy exit the doorway of the same building and begin walking toward the convoy. Kyle reports the woman and boy to command, and notes that the woman is not swinging her arms as she walks and that she appears to be carrying something. Kyle watches through the scope as the woman removes something from her cloak and hands it to the boy and he realizes it’s a grenade. He reports what he sees and again gets the green light to shoot, but his marine guard warns him that he’ll be sent to prison for shooting a child if he's wrong. The film then cuts away and the next 20 minutes are vignettes of Kyle growing up as the son of a religious father who stressed the ever-present threat of evil, the virtues of aggression, and the supremacy of the hunt.

As a child, Chris learned to watch over his younger brother, Jeff. When someone picked on him, Chris came to his defense and in one scene, he gave the bully a beating he wouldn’t forget. As an adult, he spent most of his time riding bulls, drinking beer, chasing pretty girls and getting into fights.  In the same way that Chris drifted from one misadventure to another, many Christians find themselves drifting, spiritually. We go to church on Sunday, read our Bibles, and try to avoid getting into trouble, but inevitably, trouble seems to find us. We wrestle with various problems and seem to make little progress, no matter what measures we try.

The first seven years of my life as a Christian I traveled down a dozen different paths leading nowhere. Though I felt at the time I was a passionate believer, I had very few victories over the enemy. I lost more spiritual battles than I won. And perhaps more importantly, I never felt a great sense of significance; I felt like I was just another believer. In many ways I was drifting spiritually, with no real course or destination in mind, other than getting into heaven when I died.

No child dreams of growing up to be insignificant. We all want to do something great. God doesn’t create us to be ordinary. He’s placed a desire for significance in our hearts—a desire to do something to change the world for the better. It’s apparent early in the film that Chris Kyle knew he was destined to do something extraordinary.

The film cuts away to a scene of Chris and his brother watching TV. They saw the news of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Chris was infuriated that U.S. citizens were being attacked and felt compelled to do something about it. His anger over the attacks compelled him to visit a Navy recruiter’s office. The recruiter suggested he might be interested in the SEAL program and handed him a pamphlet, but Kyle remarked that he wasn’t much of a swimmer. The recruiter took the pamphlet out of his hand and said it wasn’t for most men. Kyle grabbed the pamphlet back and proudly replied “I’m not most men.” He didn’t envision himself in a routine job as a sailor. That would be too safe. He set his aim high and endured the brutality of Navy SEAL training.

A new Christian has very little that they bring to the spiritual battlefield from the world. We learn all kinds of ways to defend ourselves and attack our enemies as we go through life, but the Apostle Paul taught that the weapons of the believer’s warfare are not like the weapons and tactics of the physical world. Spiritual weapons are spiritual in nature and it’s only these weapons that can be used effectively against spiritual strongholds. Because spiritual weapons are so different from the weapons we’re familiar with, they require special training and practice before they can be used effectively. My introduction to spiritual weapons was illustrated by the following dream:

Dream
In the dream, I drove my car to a pawn shop with my children. I took some old things that I owned into the pawn shop and traded them in for a strange type of handgun. My kids waited a long time for me to come out. I left the shop with my new gun, but didn’t want my kids to see it, so I walked around behind my car, then took it out and examined it. The gun had a laser sight built into it. It was wide, with a round bulge that seemed to be for the ammunition, though it wasn’t a revolver and it didn’t have a magazine. I didn’t know how the ammunition was loaded. I began trying to figure out how it worked and decided to aim it across the street at a vacant lot. The gun fired two rounds, which I wouldn’t have known, except that I saw puffs of dust rise from the ground where I pointed the gun. It made no sound and didn’t seem to have a trigger, but seemed to fire by my thoughts. I put it in the trunk of my car and that was the end of the dream.

InterpretationIn the dream, I traded in a bunch of things I had obtained from the world for a new, spiritual weapon. I believe this speaks of acquiring a new way of thinking and living. I had to leave behind the way of thinking I had acquired from the world and learn the way of thinking used in the kingdom of God. I also had to learn how to defend myself and wage an offensive attack differently. I had no idea how my new gun fired. I didn’t yet understand how spiritual weapons operate, though I had obtained one that could be used effectively, once I was trained to use it.

You can read more by clicking the link to American Sniper: Lessons in Spiritual Warfare, or click on the image below.

My guest blogger today is Steve Harmon.

My sister had Neuroblastoma as an infant. There were 13 lumps on her body. My mom was a new believer at the time. The church she was going to didn't believe in healing. My dad's brother talked to her and said that his church believed that God heals today. His pastor prayed for her and the baby over the phone. When she hung up the phone, my mom felt the sensation of heat going over her head and down her torso. From that point on, she knew the baby would be healed. She told her mother over the phone that Jesus was going to heal her daughter. There was this silence on the other end. She said to my mom, "Cynthia, can you put your husband on the phone?" My dad got on the phone and she said, "You need to watch Cynthia, she's losing it."

One day, at LA children's hospital, my mother told the doctor that the baby would be healed by Jesus. The doctor said, "Mrs. Harmon, you don't understand how serious this is." My mother was praising God down the hospital hallways. When they left the hospital, they parked their car in a parking structure far away from the hospital. They were leaving the structure and came to the arm gate that requires a token to leave. As they were pulling up, a black man was sitting on the wall right next to the arm. My dad is thinking he is going to ask for money. As they pull up, instantly, the guy asks my dad, "How's your kid?"

My dad looked at him puzzled. And said, "Huh?"

The guy replies, "Well, you don't have to worry about a thing because the Lord is going to heal your baby." My mom's heart skipped a beat,  and my dad blanked out because he really wasn't a believer.

My mom said to herself when they left, "I think that was an angel."

A few days after, my grandmother noticed the lumps were getting smaller. Within two weeks they were completely gone. There was no trace left. They did every test to check. It was so healed, it looked like it never existed. My dad asked the doctor what happened. The doctor replied, "I guess you just call it a miracle" and shrugged his shoulders. On the paperwork, the final note said, "Unexplained."

My Interview With Mark Rayner

Mark Rayner interviews me on the first episode of the new SBNR Show. We begin with a discussion about my early years as an atheist, how I became a believer and how God called me to healing the sick. Next we talk about keys to success in healing, and what it means to operate in the supernatural from a place of rest. We move on to a discussion about why anyone can see in the spirit and I share a few of the craziest things I've seen God do. We wrap up with a look at some future book projects me and my friends are working on. The SBNR Show is hosted here.

Lee Stoneking - My Resurrection

Lee Stoneking addresses the UN General Assembly and, after sharing his resurrection testimony, proposes that Jesus is the solution to world violence.

Can Everyone See in the Spirit?

This is an excerpt from my latest book Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple.

Although many good teachers have taught that seeing in the spirit is a gift that is only given to a few people, the thesis of my book is that seeing in the spirit is really an innate ability that we all possess, which for many of us simply needs to be developed through exercise. (I realize that some people are born with a fully-developed ability to see in the spirit, while others are not. I explain why this is so in the book.)

Visions, dreams and trances are but a few of the ways in which God speaks to us. Although  some of us find it hard to recognize His voice as He speaks through visual language, the problem isn't that God is not speaking. The problem is that He is a Spirit, who speaks in a spiritual language that is received by our spirit, and many of us have not developed our ability to perceive this spiritual language yet. Most of us have had our spiritual senses dulled by sensory input from the physical world, which makes it difficult to recognize input from the spiritual world. The key to perceiving and understanding spiritual communication is having our spiritual senses trained and refocused.

I believe everyone receives revelation from God, including revelation in the form of visions, but many of us are not aware that what we’re  seeing is from Him. We tend to attribute it to our imagination, or we pay no attention to it at all. The problem for many of us is our awareness and sensitivity to God's voice.

Just as our physical body is aware of things happening in the physical world continually, our spirit perceives things happening in the spiritual world continually. Any spirit being can interact with any other spirit being at any time, and these interactions never cease, even though we are often unaware of them. And it is our awareness, or where our mind is focused, that determines our perception of what is happening in both the physical and spiritual worlds.

When the physical body dies, the spirit and soul interact with other spirits and see things in the spirit world with ease. It is not as if at death, our spirit is suddenly empowered with abilities it never had before. It is simply that at the point when our physical body dies, its shell is removed, revealing the true nature of our spirit and soul as they always were. The spiritual body has no difficulty seeing in the spiritual world, and communicating with spiritual beings, but when the physical body is out of the way, it's easier for the soul to focus on the realities of the spiritual world. Every spiritual being has the ability to see in the spiritual world.

If we are spirit beings that are created with spiritual eyes that can see in the spiritual world, then the problem with seeing in the spirit is not that we don’t have the visual apparatus to do it, or that we lack the proper anointing or a spiritual gift. The problem is that our soul has not been conditioned to correctly perceive what our spiritual eyes are already able to see. The goal of this book is to help believers become more aware of what is happening in the spiritual world.

For more information, check out the book Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple.

Why You Shouldn't Visit Me to Be Healed

I occasionally receive requests from people who either want me to travel so I can pray for them to be healed, or who ask if they can travel to see me to receive prayer. While some people have a list of reasons why you should let them take a crack at getting you healed, I'd like to tell you why I'm not that person. In order to illustrate a problem some of us are wrestling with I'd like to share an exchange typical of the ones I have with someone who needs healing:

Them: Is it possible I could come to your place and get healed? I'm really suffering.

Me: Where do you live?

Them: Canada.

Me: I need to ask you a question and I need an honest answer: How would you feel if you came to Phoenix and I prayed for you and you were not healed?

Them: Honestly, I'd be disappointed, but it doesn't matter. Many people have prayed for me and I haven't been healed.  I know that Jesus will heal me, so I'll keep looking for the right person.

---

I don't want to seem insensitive to the suffering of others. I feel deeply for anyone who suffers. I also don't want to play the "You don't have enough faith" card, because the problem we're dealing with has nothing to do with having enough faith. The simple fact is that people like me can't travel all over the world to pray for the sick, and it seems like a waste of money for the sick to have to travel the world in search of healing.

In the majority of cases where someone desires to receive something from God and they haven't received it, (including things as diverse as dreams, the gift of tongues, or healing) the problem is actually one of how we view God and how we view ourselves. Let's use the gift of tongues as an example:

Many people aren't speaking in tongues because they believe that God is the one who controls the process. They believe that if they're going to speak in tongues, God will take over their body and make it happen. If you believe God is the one in control of the process, it gives you no reason to try speaking in tongues yourself. The truth is that God does not take over your body and force you to speak in tongues. You are the one in control of the process. All He does is inspire the things you say. So many believers are a stalemate; they're waiting for God to do something that they must do themselves.

This wrong view of God prevents people from having what they desire. In a similar way, many people have not been healed because of wrong views they have about God, themselves or the healing process.

Some of us see healing as something like opening a combination lock. We might believe in healing and we may even believe God wants us to be healed. So far, so good. The problem (or so we think) is finding the right combination, and with healing, it seems to be a matter of visiting as many people as you can until you get the right person to lay hands on you. Many of us embrace this model of healing because we've heard of people who have been healed after having hundreds of people pray for them. Such stories make us think healing is a game of numbers. You just need to play the game long enough and receive prayer from enough people until you hit the jackpot.

What we fail to consider is that in most of the cases where someone was healed after receiving prayer from hundreds of people, something was uncovered in the final prayer session that was unrecognized, and once it was exposed, the person received their healing. It isn't a matter of finding the person with the right anointing as much as it is discerning the root of a problem and removing it. (Go here for an example.)

I usually tell people that if they've received prayer from many believers and they haven't been healed, the chances of me getting them healed are rather slim. It's likely they're going to spend a lot of money buying a ticket to visit me and be disappointed when they aren't healed.

Failed healing can be due to a number of reasons. Success in healing difficult cases is generally a matter of finding out what's preventing people from receiving their healing and removing it. For most of us, finding the right combination is a matter of making ourselves just as able to receive healing as God is to give it.

And this is where things get interesting...

Unless you're willing to investigate the possibility that your healing is being blocked by something like emotional trauma or a mental stronghold involving your thinking (or any number of other things) you're probably not going to be healed no matter how many anointed men of God pray for you. In these cases, it's not a matter of anointing. It's a mater of getting to the root of an issue the enemy is exploiting, bringing it into the light and letting Jesus deal with it. Most of the time, the problem is that we're believing a lie that is empower the enemy. These lies are nearly always things we believe about ourselves, about others or about God.

We tend to think that because we have the Holy Spirit in us, we're less prone to believing lies than non-Christians, but the truth is that because we listen to more teaching about God (some of which is true and some of which isn't) we're more likely to have wrong ideas about Him than non-believers by virtue of the fact we're exposed to more theology. It's surprising how many lies Christians believe about God and about themselves. The good news is that once the lies we believe are exposed and removed and the truth is allowed to take their place, we can receive healing just as easily as anyone.

Here's one last reason why you shouldn't visit me to be healed:

It isn't my calling to heal all the sick and injured people I encounter. While I love seeing people healed, and watching the power of God at work, and I rejoice every time a demon is made homeless, my main calling is not healing the sick, but training people to heal the sick.

This calling involves writing blog posts and books and connecting with the few people I come across who are passionate about healing and miracles. If I had to choose between seeing 100 people a day healed through my prayers or seeing 5 people a day trained in healing, I'd spend my time training. Those 5 people, once they're trained, are going to heal thousands and some of the people they minister to will learn to heal as well. While it's good for me to spend time healing the sick, it's better for me to develop materials that train and equip the saints for ministry. That is my real calling and it's the main reason why I seldom travel or pray for people in person upon request.

So before you buy a ticket to Phoenix, why not spend a little time with doctor Jesus and ask Him what lies you believe about yourself or about Him? Let Him reveal the lies and ask Him to show you the truth. Believe what He tells you and ask Him to heal your body and soul. Then send me your testimony. And maybe when we meet it will be to celebrate your victory.

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

For more information on healing, check out my book Divine Healing Made Simple.

I Am Your Tower - Rob Coscia

Photo by Adam Schallau

My guest blogger today is Rob Coscia.

I had a dream a few nights ago in which Jesus took me to a stone tower, somewhere between a city and the edge of a desert. We climbed the stairs about 50 feet to the top windows. I could see miles farther than I imagined. The wilderness was beautiful, from mountains and mesas to canyons and rivers, and was dotted with gorgeous oases. From this window, I could see most of the roads connecting them. He asked me, "What is a tower for?"

I thought about it a moment and said, "Historically (yeah, I used the word 'historically' talking to God in a dream- I know, I'm such a nerd), a tower has been used to watch for the enemy."

He didn't speak, but part of a scripture popped in my head. "You are my strong tower. You are my rock." I looked at Him.

"This tower is Me. It is a manifestation of My presence in your life. Every stone represents a time in your life in which I demonstrated My love, grace, and glory to you." As soon as He said that, I could see it. I also knew that the tower was continually being built up, stronger and taller.

Then He said, "You have been taught that intercession and prayer are a watchtower in which you must keep a constant lookout for the enemy. You have built your own towers to guard yourself against all that you believe will hurt you." I nodded. "This is My tower. It is the only one you need. My people are more concerned with what the enemy is doing than what I am doing. Like Elisha's servant, they are panicked at the weak forces of the enemy, instead of living in My glory that surrounds them. This must change." The truth of that crushed me.

"Look out this window. What do you see?" He pointed to an area far away. At first I saw nothing. But as I stared, the image came closer into view, like a telescopic lens. There was a young family I did not recognize, struggling to walk down an old path. The parents were each carrying a child. They were exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. I looked at Jesus.

"What else do you see?" I could see that they were very near an oasis, a gorgeous one with clear water and fruit on the trees. But there was a hill blocking their view, and they were heading away from it.

"What do I do?"

"Intercede." At first I had no idea what to say, but another scripture popped in my head. "Every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth."

"Lord, I agree with that scripture." I put my hands on the stone of the window sill and leaned out. I could feel His love for this family, and His joy at what was about to happen. "I pray that the hills around them shall be brought down."

There were streaks of light in the sky, which I assumed to be angels rather than lightning. They flew to the family, and a moment later there was a small earthquake. I could see panic on their faces, but they were completely shielded from harm. When it was over, the hill blocking their vision was gone. They could see the oasis, and headed straight for it.

I looked at Jesus. He was smiling at the family as they reached the desert garden. "Lord, what is this place? Where are we?"

"Don't you know? Look again."

When He said that, I could see. The revelation took my breath away. When I began treatment for cancer, I had a dream of being in the "valley of the shadow of death". It was dark, stormy, red with fiery mountains and very scary. In that dream, Jesus came to me as I sat on the ground weeping. He reached out His hand, and smiled at me as He lifted me up. I had that dream repeatedly, and would see it in my mind when I was awake. We walked together every day. He led me through every dark place until I was healed. He still walks with me like that. As I looked around at the hills and paths, I realized that this tower was on the spot He first lifted me up. But it was so different. It was wilderness, but it was beautiful, alive.

Knowing my thoughts, He said, "Wherever you walk with Me, that place is transformed. That is what you get to do. My people get to walk with Me through the darkest places and change them, to occupy them with My love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, generosity, power, grace, and glory. They get to see Me every day. They get to look out at what I am doing and join me in it. That is what will transform this world, and them.

"You are my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in who I take refuge." (Psalm 144)

"From the end of the earth I will cry to You. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever! I will trust in the shelter of Your wings." (Psalm 61)

Jesus Teaches Me to Relax While Healing the Sick - Ken Nichols

My guest blogger today is Ken Nichols. If you read my book Divine Healing Made Simple, you may remember Ken's dream where Jesus instructed him about His will for healing. This is Ken's story about another encounter with Jesus.

In a dream, the morning of 1/29/15, what I recall was that Jesus and an Angel were teaching and encouraging me in healing the sick. All three of us were standing in an area with lots of green trees and bushes around us. It seemed we had been walking along a path, but at this moment, we all paused so that they could share a point with me before walking on again. They seemed very much in a fun, light-hearted, smiling, manner (almost chuckling as they looked at each other and then back at me) telling me to just have fun while I am here. Their primary point to get across to me was the emphasis on persistence.

"Do you believe it is really My will to heal, ALWAYS?"

"Yes," I said.

"Then just keep going until you get results with each one".

"I know it's Your will always, but what I don't know is if I am in a place to get those results each time, like something is wrong with me, because at times it seems nothing is happening at all. "

Jesus replied, "Well, you are a new creation in Me, all things have passed away and all things have become new and all things are of God, and We don't make defective and broken children. There is nothing wrong with you. A carpenter doesn't hit a nail one time and if it doesn't go all the way in, he throws away his hammer thinking it defective or doesn't think his nails are good enough. He hits it again, and again UNTIL it is all the way in. They know if they hit it over and over, eventually it will go in. Builders use many types of fasteners: screws, nails, rivets, bolts. If they want to remove a rivet, they can't use a wrench or claw hammer. They need to use the right tools to remove whichever item they are working with. Depending on what the person has going on with them, an injury involving simply damaged or dead tissue, a sickness or disease caused by an infection, or body chemistry out of balance, a missing body part, a spirit of some category; you have been given tools which are appropriate for and able to remove any of these condition and bring the healing. Remember how you have been told that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to discover and search out a matter? You have heard it said that these things are hidden for you, not from you. So use your toolbox, of power, authority, gifts of the Spirit such as the word of knowledge, to know what is going on and what to do, and other gifts. Declarations of faith, and all of these working by love, and find which tool is the best fit to remove the problem you are facing. The more serious you get and harder you concentrate, the more it becomes your works, instead of just having fun, relaxing and placing your faith and confidence in My works. If one thing doesn't work, try something else, but always be listening as we may give you clues or guidance that will help you discover the answer. But it's no fun at all if you give up or quit after only trying a short time. Sometimes you may come across a suborn nail or a screw with a stripped out head and you'll have to be ready to do something outside the box. I sent people to wash mud from their eyes. Sometimes I had to deal with a spirit of infirmity first, sometimes I just told them to do something, so don't make it a formula, just do what you know and then if it becomes a challenge, have fun and explore and listen for clues and directions, kind of like the 'Hotter or colder' game you used to play when finding a hidden item." He took hold of my shoulder and rocked me back and forth saying, "You're so tense. Relax and have fun. So many have forgotten how to have fun. It really is easier than most make it. If it seems hard, then you're doing something wrong. Does this help?"

"Yes, it does," I said.