Healing Prayer Initiative Targets Hospital Patients

This article was originally published here by Charisma News Online

Like clockwork, patients, family—and even medical staff—gather for healing prayer in the Penn State Hershey Medical Center chapel every Friday. And God is also showing up.

Abby Abildness, president of Hershey Aglow Lighthouse and founder of Healing Tree International, has led a team of prayer ministers in a weekly healing prayer service there for the past six years. Healing Tree International is a local non-profit organization that networks churches and leaders from around the world to bring positive change to the nations.

"Combining healing prayer with medical care can bring God's healing care to society around the world,” says Abildness, who received supernatural healing from endometrial cancer 32 years ago. Abildness took God at His Word that He is, indeed, the God who heals according to Exodus 15:26. Now, she’s taking that Word—and the power of prayer—to those in need.

Here’s how it works: The hospital makes an announcement over the PA system every Friday at 11:45 a.m. that a healing prayer service is taking place in the chapel. When patients, family members (and sometimes hospital staff) arrive, a team of prayer ministers is there to meet them. They simply ask for prayer for divine direction or wisdom in making the right healthcare choices. According to Abildness, lives are transformed and healings take place.

On the eve of the National Day of Prayer, a new book is heralding the power of healing prayer in medical care. "Healing Prayer and Medical Care" chronicles the true stories of miracle healings and transformation. Abildness hopes the book will inspire others to work with their local hospital or clinic to hold healing prayer services.

In her new book, Abildness shares a blueprint for establishing a healing prayer ministry in a hospital or medical setting. She reveals how the community of Christian believers and medical professionals can work hand-in-hand to achieve total healing, which is, as she calls it, “God's Original Healthcare Plan.” As she sees it, this pattern of healing is a continuation of the joint ministries of Dr. Luke and the apostle Paul in the Bible.

Healing Tree International, headquartered at the historical Londonderry Inn Bed and Breakfast, is located near Hershey, Pa. The Christian Broadcast Network, CBN, will be on site May 11-12 to conduct interviews and document the healing miracles at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the Londonderry Inn. In the spirit of the "Luke 10 Good Samaritan," who took the wounded to the inn for healing, the Londonderry Inn offers healing prayers weekly on Wednesday morning, and quarterly healing weeks for those who need concentrated intercession for medical recovery.

Marketplace Healing 101

We’ve been making a lot of trips to the hardware store since moving into our new home. This trip was a big one. We need a special light bulb for my daughter’s new lamp and a bolt and a couple of nuts for one of our beds. We hadn’t been in the store two minutes when I saw a woman approaching. She was riding in an electric cart for people with disabilities. I noticed she had an immobilizer on her left foot.

I walked up to her, asked her name and introduced myself. I told her that I noticed that she had an immobilizer and asked what happened. She said she had a severe sprain and was going to see her doctor after she was done at the hardware store. Her teenage son was with her.

I turned to him and asked if he knew about Jesus and his ministry. He said he did. I talked about how he went around Israel healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and casting out demons and told him that he gave his disciples the same authority. Then I asked if he’d ever seen a miracle. He said no. I told him that healing the sick is something any believer could do and I believed his mom’s foot would be healed.

I asked if I could pray over her foot and she agreed. I put my hand on her foot and had her son get in a position where he could see what I was doing. I asked the Holy Spirit to bring his power and presence and touch her then commanded the pain and inflammation to leave. I explained to her son everything I did as he looked on with interest.

After the first time I commanded pain to go, she felt heat in her foot. After the second time, it began to spread to her ankle and lower leg. After commanding it to leave a third time, she said the pain was pretty much gone. I asked if I could remove the immobilizer and have her stand up and check it out. She agreed, so I unfastened the Velcro straps and took the immobilizer off. She stood up and said she felt a little pressure on the sides of her foot, but the pain was gone.

I gave her some instruction on how to keep her healing, encouraged her son to consider learning more about healing, left them with a card for the website and told her to contact me if she had any questions or wanted to share her testimony.

Todd White says, "it’s a show and tell gospel". We give people information about God and his love for them and demonstrate it by displays of power. It’s not complicated.

One light bulb - $3.59

One bolt and two nuts - 32¢

Releasing the power of God and discipling his children - priceless

Street Miracles - Miami

This video was shot on the streets of Miami, Florida as a young man healed the sick and led people into the love of God.

Miracles Still Happen - John Snook

This the testimony of John Snook, who's story was originally published here on Facebook.

As most of you already know, last Thursday night I was admitted to Summereville Medical Center after two days of unsuccessfully battling an illness here at home -- Connie pushed me to go and I am so glad I finally listened to her -- After going through triage and the emergency room thing I was finally taken to a room and because of the hour, I promptly sent Connie home to look after our baby & family -- What happened next I would never have expected - PERIOD!



I don't know if it was a dream a vision, an out of body experience, I really do not know but I kind of woke up in a huge blue room, gorgeous with varying shades of blue everywhere -- To describe it all I can say is it was beautiful. In the middle of the room was a blue haze of some sort with a shape moving inside the haze, a shape I couldn't make out but seemed to be gliding rather than walking -- Anyway, at that point I thought I was dead and didn't know what to expect--So I asked the only relevent question at that time, "Am I Dead?" There was a moment of silence and then, I promise you, a littlesnicker of a laugh from within the haze and a voice, which I recognized, answered "No, that's not why you're here".

Then there was a pause and a complete calm engulfed me as the shape spoke again -- "John, you know who I am and I know you -- It seems you have made some mistakes in your life but that's okay, my memory isn't so good and I have forgotten all about them -- What I know right now is that you have chosen to be obediant and that's all I ever asked anyway -- John, I am giving to you a clean slate, a clean body and a new ministry -- Now, go out and do what I have asked!"

At that moment I shivered like I was freezing cold but when I opened my eyes I was still in good old room 201 at the hospital -- But something was different somehow, and then I realized -- NO PAIN -- For the first time since April 1, 2007 there was absolutely no pain in my body, nowhere, zero pain! I passed it off for s second and then throught back to my dream, vision or what have you -- And I realized, all the pain is gone, not just some of it -- Only God could do that -- I wanted to go back to that blue room and thank Him but an audible, calm and quiet voice from within the room said -- "Thank me by doing my will--Tell everybody that My Son is getting ready to return and when He does, I want ALL my children to come home."

I don't know what it was, but I do know that it was very real and even today, 4 days later there is still such an absence of pain that I feel like I am missing an old friend (LOL) -- Truly, God has given me that clean slate, and the clean body and I can't wait to share His love to the world --

Sorry, those of you looking for a spectacular story, to me, it doesn't get any better!

May God bless you all real good!

Brandon Lee on Authority For Healing

On a recent trip to Mexico, Brandon Lee took a few minutes to instruct a group on the basics of our authority to heal the sick. During the trip many people were healed. For more on Brandon and what happened on the trip, check out his blog post here.

Street Healing in Denmark

The word is getting out. Healing is for today and for all Christians - not just special ones. In this video, shot in Denmark, believers release the healing power of God on strangers wherever they are found.

You can do it too!

Safe Way or Extra Bold?

We went out last night for a drive and stopped at Sonic for dinner. I love their coney dogs. On the way home we stopped at Safeway for groceries. At the check stand, I saw a familiar Face.

It was Bryon.

When we first moved to Mesa a month ago, we met Byron at the same check stand. I struck up a conversation with him then about the immobilizer on his left wrist. I asked if he'd considered having anyone pray for it to be healed. His reply came from a man who had to be a Christian. But there was a line of customers and I didn't want to delay them, so we left. Until tonight. And there was almost no one else in the store.

"It's going to take me a minute to enter all this with my right hand, so I appreciate your patience", he said as he rang up our stuff.

"Well, why don't we get your left hand healed so you can use both of them", I replied.

He shot me a grin... "With faith the size of a mustard seed..."

I finished his sentence, "That mountain will be tossed into the sea."

I'll admit it. I wasn't feeling like taking the safe way tonight. I was feeling extra-bold.

"Byron, why don't you let me get your wrist healed tonight."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Let me pray over it for you. It should take about ten seconds."

He agreed, but by now there was a customer in line behind me, so I offered to pray after he took care of them. I waited with my daughter and wife. I asked the young lady who was helping Byron if she'd ever seen a miracle.

"Yes, when my baby was born!"

OK, she had me there.

"What I meant was, have you ever seen a miracle of healing?" She said she had not.

"Well, you're going to in a minute."

This naturally made her ask what I had planned. "So do you know some kind of trick or something?"

"I know Jesus and He heals people everywhere I go."

If you're wondering why I can be so confident in the area of healing, it's not because I have some ability or knowledge of my own. It just the fact that I've seen the work of Jesus heal so many people of the exact same thing, I no longer have any doubt that carpal tunnel will be healed. God's faithfulness has given me faith that allows me to boldly tell people they're going to be healed.

I don't have the same level of faith for every type of condition. I have a lot of faith for torn rotator cuffs, carpal tunnel, torn ligaments, and such things. But I don't have the same level of faith for blindness or deafness. I hope one day that I will.

Byron came over. I confirmed his diagnosis and asked how bad the pain was. I told the few people gathered around that Jesus still healed and because it was Him doing the healing, it's actually very easy.

I asked the Holy Spirit to come in and commanded the carpal tunnels to open, for ligaments, tendons and nerves to be healed and the spirit of pain to leave then asked what he felt. He said he felt pressure in two of his fingers. I explained to the group that in healing, after you command the healing to happen you should check the progress. I commanded the healing one more time then asked what he felt.

"The pain is all gone."

We rejoiced together and I gave one of the employees a card to this website and told her to e-mail me if she had any prayer requests.

I know I'll see Byron again. If he's having problems keeping his healing, I can teach him how it works and maybe send him here for some info.

That's how we make disciples.

Jason McCoy Testimony - Part 3

Jason is a friend I met on Facebook. He has seen hundreds of people healed. Here are some observations about the power of words and a testimony of vision restored from a story he shared with me.

I’m finding that the vehicle or context for healing doesn’t matter. It can be in person, over the phone, on email, chat, skype or just at a distance. Once, I was praying in a chat for a woman who was about to have eye surgery to repair her cornea. She had lost a significant amount of her near and far vision.

I had been thinking about the study Dr. Masaru Emoto did on the effects of words on the structure of water. When words of “cursing” or negative statements were placed against the glass of tanks of water, when frozen it produced chaotic, erratic patterns in the ice structure. Conversely, when words of blessing were placed against the glass, the frozen water produced beautiful, harmonious, symmetrical patterns.

I thought about how our universe was created by words and that God’s LIFE transfers through them. As I typed words into the chat window, I was aware that this was no different and that my words of blessing would carry the LIFE of Christ into her eyes. I asked her to try reading and her near vision was restored!

The Word of Knowledge

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom, through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another the gift of faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit...."

(1 Cor. 12:7-10 )

The word of knowledge is supernatural revelation, by the Holy Spirit, of certain facts in the mind of God about something we do not presently know. It is information about a past or a present situation that is true. The word of knowledge is considered by some to be one of three revelation gifts, which serve as spiritual eyes and ears for the church. The others are the word of wisdom and discerning of spirits. It’s important to note that the word of knowledge is given to benefit others, as are all the gifts of the Spirit, except tongues - which edifies us.

Just as a word is a fragment or part of a sentence, a "word" of knowledge is a fragment or a part of God's knowledge of a situation. He gives us a piece of information to aid in bringing something to pass concerning that situation. Once we receive God’s revelation, it’s our responsibility to ask what He wants us to do with it. If we lock it away in our hearts we hinder the work He wants to do. His desire is to bless us so that we, in turn, might bless others.

Some purposes for the word of knowledge:

• To lead people to Christ
• To give direction in ministry
• To reveal sickness to those operating in healing
• To restore the believer back to fellowship with God
• To provide encouragement

The word of knowledge can come in a number of different ways. Some hear the voice of God speaking, while others receive a word through dreams or visions. A word of knowledge for healing often presents as a sudden pain in our body that we don’t normally have. Learning to receive a word of knowledge comes by developing sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The revelation gifts are relational – as we develop a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit, we grow in our awareness of how He communicates with us.

Examples of the word of knowledge from scripture:

Jesus frequently operated in the word of knowledge. He told two of his disciples to go into a village and get a donkey that no man had ever ridden before, telling them where to find the donkey. (Luke 19:30,31) While talking with the woman at the well of Samaria, Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband...” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. (John 4:16-19) In this case, the word of knowledge revealed the identity of Jesus to the woman.

Peter received a word of knowledge in a vision, when God revealed that the gospel was for Gentiles as well as Jews. As he pondered the first bit of information, the first Gentiles arrived at his front door. God told him that three men were looking for him and that he should meet with them, doubting nothing. (Acts 10:9-20)

Ananias received a word of knowledge in a vision concerning a new believer named Saul of Tarsus: “And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias… so the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” (Acts 10:10-12)

There are words of knowledge recorded in both Old and New Testaments. Through a word of knowledge, Samuel told Saul that the donkeys that were lost had been found. (1 Sam. 9:19,20) When the king of Syria was making war against Israel. The Lord spoke to Elisha through a word of knowledge to reveal the enemies plans. (2 Kings 6:9-12)

The word of knowledge can encourage us. Jezebel was out to kill Elijah. Out of fear, Elijah ran and found himself sitting under a juniper tree, begging God to let him die. Thinking he was the only prophet left, God encouraged the prophet by telling him, "I have 7,000 in Jerusalem who have not bowed their knee to Baal." (1 Kings 19:18)

In the realm of healing, a word of knowledge isn’t a guarantee that the individual will be miraculously healed. It serves to make us aware that a condition exists, and that God would like us address it. Until we take action, it’s just information. If we don’t enforce God’s will concerning the word given, nothing will change. One of the first words of knowledge I received was for a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease. I believe he will eventually walk again, but after two years of prayer, he’s still paralyzed, living in a nursing home. Some things require more persistence than others.

Some of us see individuals that God wants to focus on as they become highlighted in a spotlight, making them stand out from the crowd. I sometimes receive words of knowledge in dreams. Some are very specific, with the name of the person and their condition being revealed. In some dreams I’m discussing the condition with them on Facebook.

A word of knowledge may be given to encourage us to pray for a condition we wouldn’t normally have faith to heal. I received a word of knowledge in a dream about healing people with birth defects. When I returned to work after two days off, my first patient was a girl with Down syndrome, which I wouldn’t normally have faith to heal. One day I developed a sharp pain in the back of my hand, but I had done nothing to injure it. I began to ask people around me if they had pain in their hand, but no one did. I finally told my EMT partner about it. He told me he had pain in the exact same spot in his hand for a week after falling out of a tree when the branch he was holding onto suddenly broke. I prayed for his hand and it was healed.

One of the more unusual words of knowledge I received was about a problem I had while replacing the timing belt on my car. After putting everything back together, it wouldn’t start. I checked the service manual and looked at the timing marks again, but couldn’t find the problem. I closed my eyes and asked God what the problem was. In a vision, I saw the camshaft gear and noticed it had two timing marks. I was aware of only one. The mark I used was the wrong one. After locating the other timing mark and making the correction, the car ran perfectly.

If you’d like to operate in the word of knowledge, ask God to reveal things to you and spend time getting to know His ways. The revelation gifts are relational and time is the commodity of relationships.

The Case of The Missing Tumors

Imagine you're a surgeon. Now imagine that your next case is a patient diagnosed with an unknown type of tumor. You are asked to expose the tumor and either biopsy or remove it if possible. Prior to the procedure you review the CT scans to verify the size and location. But when you open the patient up, you find no trace of the tumor, which was there a few days ago.

What would you conclude concerning the whereabouts of this tumor?

Did it vanish for no apparent reason? Does scientific research support such a concept?

Did the patient experience spontaneous remission? How do we know this is the right explanation?

What would you think if someone told you that the previous night a paramedic and his friends commanded the tumor to leave?

Here are two such stories:

On Sunday night (September 11) I received a prayer request from a friend. She asked me to post a prayer request on Facebook for her friend who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. So on Monday night, I posted the prayer request. For my part, I decided not to do a lot of warfare for her. I've been hearing God suggest that all I need to do is make a declaration in faith. (Be advised, if you don't have a lot of faith for healing, this may not work for you) I declared that the doctors would find no tumor. Here's the message I received the following evening:

"Update on Jen: There was no brain tumor!!! Yay!!! The doctors did find some abnormal veins that bled which caused her seizures so they removed those and she'll have a complete recovery Thanks for the prayers!" - Steph Kincaid

On Wednesday night I received another prayer request for a person with a tumor. Here is the request and my response (taken from my Facebook wall)

Karen Landis Champaign
Asking for agreement in prayer for my sister Sherry. They found a tumor on her thyroid and she has to go in for a biopsy tomorrow. She has to be awake for the procedure so we are declaring peace and a good report.
Like · · See Friendship · Yesterday at 4:38pm

Beth McDonald Quarterman
I agree with you in Jesus' All Powerful Name!!! amen, all Glory to God!!!!
23 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Karen Landis Champaign
Thanks Beth!!
23 hours ago · Like · 1 person

Praying Medic
Praying and standing on a report of no tumor found.

23 hours ago · Like · 2 people

Here is the report posted on my wall last night:

Karen Landis Champaign
Thank you all for your prayers. I talked to my sister about an hour ago. She said when they took her into the surgery room , there were so many people. The Dr. asked her if it would be ok with her if they could test a new high tech ultra sound machine out on her. What was she going to say ... So while they are doing the ultra sound, They all started whispering among themselves. She got very nervous. When the team left, The Dr. had to make sure the original films where hers. He said .. they could not find a tumor or mass. She was so excited. So she is home and praising the Lord for being her great physician.
2 seconds ago · Like

We must all decide what to believe in these cases. We can only explain these events as coincidence, spontaneous remission or wishful thinking for so long, before the argument loses it power. The most logical explanation is that there must be something supernatural going on, that medical professionals have yet to fully understand.

Stick around and I'll do my best to explain it and help you incorporate divine healing in your own practice.

Bilateral Renal Artery Stenosis Healed

In May 2011, a bilateral renal Doppler test confirmed I had renal artery stenosis. The blockage was considered to be 60%+ in both renal arteries. An angiogram was scheduled for May 24 where a doctor from the Vascular Intervention Center would stent both arteries.

I decided to go to Bethel’s Healing Rooms twice before the procedure was to be done. The first visit was amazing, but the second visit I could feel something happening with warmth in the kidney area, and I really felt the presence of the Lord. The team laid hands on me, even reaching into heaven’s storehouse for new arteries and kidneys. A dancer came to us and said she felt the Lord wanted her and two other dancers to dance around me, too. While I couldn't feel anything definitive, I felt so at peace and calm and ready for whatever the Lord had planned for me.

At 6:30 a.m., May 24th, I arrived at Mercy Hospital for the scheduled eight o’clock procedure. In pre-op, blood was drawn to test my kidney functions. When I was taken into the operating room, the doctor and nurses were looking at the test results in amazement. The kidney functions were normal! They were normal for the first time in months. The doctor decided to go ahead with the angiogram because of the Doppler test done a few weeks earlier.

What the doctor found was simply amazing. The arteries were clear, open and healthy. When Doctor H. went into the waiting room to give the good news to my husband and sister, he threw up his arms and said, “I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that the procedure went well. The arteries are open and healthy. I wish mine were that healthy. The bad news is we don’t know why!”

I know why, and I give the Lord all the glory. Thank you, Father.

Dee Calvert

First published on the website of Bethel Church, Redding, CA.

When Seeing Is Believing

I thought I had a regular partner at my new job, but he quit. So for now, I have a chance to work with a different partner every day. Some people would complain about that. It is nice to have the same partner. It makes establishing routines easier. But for now, God has something else planned.

Yesterday, we transported a woman who complained of numbness in her right leg from her groin to her toes. Her doctor ordered an ultrasound, suspecting a vascular injury.

She'd had a heart attack and stent placement a few weeks earlier. To insert a stent, they place a large needle and sheath into a blood vessel in the groin and advance it to the heart. Our suspicion was that the insertion site for the catheter in her groin may have developed an aneurysm, compressing the femoral nerve, causing numbness to her leg.

To complicate the picture, she had end-stage kidney failure and is on dialysis. The dialysis fistula in her left arm deteriorated to the point where it was no longer useful. So her surgeon tied it off and following the surgery, she developed pain and some loss of function in her left hand. She also had complete blindness in her left eye and partial blindness in her right eye from detached retinas.

The facility she lived at was across the parking lot from the hospital. I had a few hundred feet of blacktop in which to work a miracle.

As we wheeled her toward the elevator, I asked if she'd let me pray for her to be healed. She agreed, so I started with her left hand. She reported the pain as 6 out of 10. As we got on the elevator, I commanded the pain to leave in the name of Jesus. After the door closed, I asked how she felt.

"I don't feel anything, now"

"Do you feel any pain in your arm or hand?"

Smiling, and flexing her wrist and fingers in amazement, she said, "No pain at all. It feels normal."

We wheeled her toward the ambo and loaded the gurney. I needed to get vitals and some more information then call the receiving hospital. I asked my partner to get in back for a few minutes. I did a brief neurological assessment of her right leg. She felt nothing when I ran my finger along the sole of her foot. I did it several times to make sure. I pinched her skin above the ankle.

"I can feel you touching me, but I can't tell if it's dull or sharp."

Just below her knee, she could tell I was pinching her skin. The neurologic deficit was slight at the knee, progressively getting worse toward the foot, which had no sensation at all.

I placed my hand on her leg and invited the Holy Spirit to touch her, then commanded the nerves and blood vessels to be healed in the name of Jesus. I asked if she felt anything.

With a smile she replied, "My whole leg is tingling."

I rubbed the bottom of her foot again and asked if she felt anything.

"Yes, I can feel you touching the bottom of my foot." I pinched the skin above her ankle. "I can feel you pinching me." All the numbness in her leg was now gone.

My partner looked on in quiet amazement, finally breaking her silence. "I think you may have just made a believer out of me."

I turned to her and said, "This is the kind of healing Jesus did when he walked the streets of Jerusalem. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and opened the ears of the deaf. And he gave his disciples authority to do the same things. "

Finally, I began praying for her eyes. Each time I commanded her eyes to see, she reported more light coming into her right eye, but no improvement in her left. Not every healing is instant; some take a little more time. I made the call to the hospital, but continued praying over her eyes until we arrived.

We transferred her to the ER and gave report. When the nurse left the room, I thanked the patient for letting me pray with her and said, "I'm glad you're being healed, and I believe you will eventually see normally out of both eyes. This was important for my partner. She's never seen a miracle of healing and it's changed her beliefs about God."

After we left the hospital we found a shady spot to park while and waited for the next call. We talked about healing and God. I shared some testimonies and she let me pray for her back to be healed.

Someone once said, "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." Today, my partner (a complete stranger, no less) saw the gospel in action. I never said a word to her about God until after our patient was healed. No preaching was needed. We didn't talk about creation or evolution or even sin. A simple miracle of healing compelled her to confess a change of heart.

For some of us, seeing is believing. If that's true, perhaps we ought to let the world see more of our Jesus in action.