Jun 21, 2014

Spirit-led Healing


I was asked by a friend whether we should always wait for the Holy Spirit to show us who He wants to heal before praying with a stranger. This is one of the most common questions people have about healing.
Being led by the Holy Spirit is always our goal, and we need to cooperate with Him in every healing or deliverance encounter. 

While it's true that He will sometimes highlight certain people for healing that we are not aware of, it is not necessary to always wait for Him to highlight people for healing. The question of whether we should wait for Him to show us certain individuals arises when we are uncertain about whether it is God's will to heal all people or only certain ones.

It is difficult to pray with faith when we are uncertain about God's will for healing. We can know with certainty His will toward healing by looking at the New Testament. The gospels give us a clear understanding of the Father's will through the ministry of Jesus who healed multitudes of people of every kind of disease and demonic oppression:

"When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick." (Matthew 8:16)

Jesus never refused to heal anyone who came to him, in fact, it is likely that He spent entire days doing nothing but healing people until He was exhausted. The will of God for healing was further revealed when Jesus commissioned His disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons making no exceptions about who was to be healed:

"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

We see the disciples doing this exact thing in the book of Acts after Jesus ascended into heaven:
“Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed." (Acts 5:16)

The scriptures give no indication that there were any exceptions to healing in the ministry of Jesus or the disciples. If it is the will of God to heal all who are sick and demonized, then being Spirit-led is not an issue of who can be healed, but how they should be healed.

Looking at the model Jesus gave us, we see that with one person, He told them to arise and walk. For another it was a touch that healed their blindness. For someone else it was a little mud in their eye and with another, He told their friend to go home because they were already healed. Jesus used different methods for healing each person based on what the will of the Father was for their unique situation. This is what He meant when He said, "The son only does what He sees the Father doing." (John 5:19)

Being led by the Spirit has to do with the particular method God wants us to use to heal each person. Sometimes it will be a touch, sometimes a command, sometimes we'll ask them to get up from their wheelchair and attempt to walk. Just as Jesus was led to do certain things to release a miracle, we must learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in how He wants us to bring healing to each person we encounter.

Jun 14, 2014

Power, Love & Truth - Steve Harmon


My guest blogger today is Steve Harmon

Two years ago I met a Satanist on Haight/Ashbury in San Francisco where the start of the hippy movement began. God taught me a lot in that experience about how people get set free. It basically works with three components, and it was these three components that Jesus used in His ministry.

So this guy asked me for a cigarette and I told him I don't smoke. I began a conversation with him. He told me he was an Iraq war vet, in the marines. He's homeless and apart of the "Occupy Oakland" movement. We talked for about 20 minutes then he told me that he had a torn rotator cuff that needs surgery. I asked him if I could pray for it to make it well. He said, "No, no...I'm a Satanist bro". He proceeded to tell me all of his beliefs about God and the world. I just listened to him. I then said, "I'm not like other Christians you've met. I love people and I see value in you. There's love in you. There's a big heart that has been covered and people don't see it, but I see it."

He then told me that he has two daughters living in Oakland and that last week he celebrated his 12 year old daughter's birthday. He gave her a birthday cake which was "hash brownies" (Marijuana laced brownies). She got so excited and was jumping up and down saying  "You're the best dad in the whole world!", and he said he started crying when she said that. I actually started crying myself just because the situation was so messed up, but in that, his daughter showed him a form of love and it moved him so much. Up to this point, I just wanted to hold this big guy because he was starving for love.

He told me that he nearly beat a man to death for raping his daughter's friend. He served 5 years in prison for it. He was pouring out his life to me. I asked him again if I could pray for his shoulder and at this point, he felt more comfortable with me and he said, "Sure". So I laid my hands on his shoulder under the signal light on the corner and started to command the infirmity to leave. I prophesied as well, then I told him to check out his shoulder. When he moved it, the pain started leaving. I prayed again and it was completely gone. He was swinging his arm and couldn't get it to hurt. He was shocked because he also had been a shaman and he would heal people, but could never be healed himself.

From this point, I just laid into him the good news of Jesus in a way he had never heard. He was no longer objecting to it. I told him "God has a plan for your life." He started crying  because his mom used to tell him that when he was once a pastor! His mom told him recently that all the seeds he sowed into people's lives, (ten or fifteen of them) had gotten off drugs and were walking with God now. He cried telling me all that and said, "Now look at me. I'm homeless and an alcoholic?"

I told Him, "The Lord is still saying 'yes' to you," then I asked if I could pray the Holy Spirit on him. He said "yes".

I told him, "When I touch you, you're gonna feel something that cannot be compared to any other drug you've had." I put my hands on him and prayed for fire and love. His eyes were closed and tears were coming down his face.

After I was done, he opened his eyes and said, "That was intense!" We talked more and I just kept pouring the love of God into him. After I was done, God told me to tell him that tonight Jesus was going to visit him in a dream. He said, "Okay!" He told me that 16 years ago was the last time he felt God. I told him "16 years from that day God came and touched you again because He loves you".

On the corner where rebellion against the establishment was birthed in the 60's, God showed up in love and in power to tell a prodigal son to come home.

I didn't engage with him and argue all of his outlandish ideas about Jesus and the Father. I ignored it, changed the subject, and told him about the love that I saw in his heart. I kept hitting that point until he finally softened. He was changed from a hardened Satanist into a sensitive puppy dog. Here's how it worked:

Love brings down the walls. Power brings validity to truth. Truth sets the person free. When I first met the guy and he found out I was a Christian, he immediately put up a wall to me. My goal was to get the truth into him, but I couldn't because of that wall. So what did I need?

Love.

Love brings down the walls. It makes the person realize you're not a threat. Once the wall was down, he let me in and then I could display God's power through the healing. Once the power was shown to him, when I spoke truth, he was more open to believe it because the miracle testified of the truth. Many people have walls up and it's because they've been hurt. Trying to display God's power and speaking truth to them can be difficult. Love should be the thing that begins every encounter.

For some people, you'll have to display love to them for a very long time before you'll have a chance to display God's power or speak truth to them. This is because their walls won't come down easily and until the wall is down and they feel safe with you—there's no way they will receive the truth. At the same time, you can't only work in love and expect that everyone will change. Mother Teresa did a lot of loving throughout her life and yet thousands died in her loving arms, scared, depressed and fearful. When love and truth is shown without the power, you can have a person who believes in the existence of a supernatural God, but they have very shallow faith that is shaky and can waver.

The moral of the story is: you need all three.



Jun 6, 2014

Divine Healing Made Simple - Free on Kindle


My book Divine Healing Made Simple is free today (Friday June 14th) 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

May 8, 2014

Unicorns are Awesome and so is Jesus

We were early for the transport so I stopped at the nurse’s station to get a report on our patient. Annette was a 16 year old girl who had spent the last three days in the hospital after trying to kill herself. We were transporting her to a mental health facility for evaluation and treatment. There was just one problem. Annette’s mother was addicted to drugs and at the present time she was homeless. Before we could get her admitted to the receiving facility, her mother had to be there to sign her in. And with her being homeless, there was no guarantee she would be there. I’ve had to wait several hours for a parent or legal guardian to show up before a minor patient could be admitted, so when I hear that the parent’s whereabouts are unknown, it always makes me a little uneasy.

I walked to her room and peeked inside and was surprised to find my partner already joking around with her. I watched them for a few more minutes then introduced myself. Annette’s long hair was a layered with a deep red and electric pink. The pink was the same color as the stuffed unicorn she clutched in her hands.

We talked for a while and as I got to know more about her, I took an instant liking to her. She reminded me of my daughter; happy, smiling often and full of life. She didn’t seem like the type of person who would be depressed or suicidal. It was time to leave, so I told her to get her personal belongings together. Holding up her cell phone and her unicorn she said, “This is all I have. I’m ready."

I looked at the unicorn, then at her and said, “Unicorns are awesome. And you’re awesome….therefore you are a unicorn.”  She busted up laughing and I helped her to the gurney.

The trip would take about 30 minutes. I got a set of vitals and started asking about her medical history, prescription medications and allergies. She said she had scoliosis and was supposed to be taking a pain medication for it, but she didn’t have a way to get the prescription filled.
“Scoliosis?” I asked. “How bad is your pain on a scale of one to ten?”

“About a seven most of the time. My back bones pop and make this crunching sound whenever I turn to the left or right.”

I became silent for a few minutes, thinking about my next move. I wondered if she’d be open to prayer and of course, I wondered if she’d actually be healed if I prayed with her. “I’m afraid you might be one of those people.” I said.

She turned to look at me. “One of what people?”

“One of those people I pray with who gets healed.” 

“What do you mean healed?” 

"Well….I pray with a lot of my patients and a lot of them are healed. And you have back pain and I’m pretty sure that if I prayed with you, it would be healed. Have you ever seen a healing miracle?” I asked.
“Yeah….once,” She replied. “When my gramma got sick and she lost the feeling in her left leg, the doctors said they would have to amputate it or else she would die. We all gathered around her and prayed and asked God to heal her. She got all the feeling back in her leg and they never did amputate it.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” I said.

She looked at me. "I don’t just have scoliosis.' She said with a serious look on her face. "I have a problem in my knee, too. Pointing to her fibula and her tibia, she said, “There’s nothing between these two bones in my leg. It’s bone on bone. My knee hurts all the time.”

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

“It’s about a nine.”

I sighed, looked at her and said, “Well, do you want to be healed or not?”

“Yeah. That would be cool.” She said, smiling.
I moved to a different seat in the ambulance so I could be next to her and explained what I was going to do. Starting with her knee, I commanded spirits of pain to leave then commanded ligaments, tendons, bones, nerves and muscle to be healed. Since the pad between the upper and lower bones of the leg is called the meniscus, and it seemed like her meniscus had deteriorated to where it was no longer doing its job, I commanded a new one to be created.
“What do you feel?” 

“Wow! It feels great!” She exclaimed.

“Go ahead, move it around. Test it out. I guarantee you that thing is healed,” I said with a smile. She moved her leg and flexed her knee joint several times trying to make the pain return, but there was none. It was completely healed. So I asked about her back.
“Are you ready to have your back healed?”

“Yes!”

I asked where the pain was located and when she said it was near the middle of her back, I placed my hand there and commanded the bones of her spine to come into alignment. I commanded scoliosis to leave and commanded ligaments and nerves to be healed.
“What do you feel?” 

“Heat.” She said, grinning. It feels really warm and it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Well that’s because God is healing you.”

I prayed again, but this time I spoke to her destiny. I declared God’s identity over her and asked the Holy Spirit to remove painful emotions and memories and to heal her soul. I declared God's protection and provision. I figured a kid like her needed as much help as she could get. She became very relaxed and in a few minutes she was sleeping on the gurney with her unicorn clutched tightly to her chest. I let her sleep the rest of the way and my fears about her mom never materialized. She was waiting for us when we got there

Unicorns are awesome... and so is Jesus.

Feb 12, 2014

Divine Healing Made Simple - Kindle Sale


My book Divine Healing Made Simple is on sale this week for Kindle users in most locations.
In the US you can download it on Kindle for $2.99.  Click this link to get your copy in the US.
Click this link to purchase it in the UK.
We have temporarily lowered the price in all other locations to allow as many people as possible to take advantage of the discount. If your country does not have a Kindle distributor - you may be purchasing it from the US site at a higher price. We're sorry, but the discount  from the US site is only valid in the US. Please check for the current price in your location.
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 cheap 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.
The book has done much better than I expected. Sales have been brisk, and the reviews have all been positive. I owe a huge thank you to all my friends and readers for helping spread the news about the book. We haven't spent more than $15 on advertising and the book has been selling extremely well. Thanks for your support.
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 very grateful. I'll explain in a future message why reviews are so important to authors.
~ till then, happy reading

Jan 11, 2014

Healing In Health Care

StethoscopeThis is an excerpt from the book Divine Healing Made Simple.
I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to see many people healed in the setting of emergency medicine. I think healing and medicine make a wonderful partnership, though not everyone agrees. There are many issues that need to be considered if you want to use divine healing in your medical practice. In this message, we’ll discuss the most common problems and look at some solutions. 

Before I began operating in divine healing, one of the things that bothered me about claims of healing miracles, was the apparent lack of credible testimonies from medical experts. The few stories I’d heard were reported in such a way that made their verification impossible. Symptoms were poorly described, no diagnosis or mention of medical treatments was given and little was provided in the way of diagnostic testing afterward to verify the claims of healing. I found these stories hard to take seriously.
Since then I’ve learned that a lot of clinical research has been done on healing prayer and much of it suggests that the power of prayer can be observed and predicted through clinical trials.
In 1988, Randolph Byrd shocked the world with the results of a study he had conducted five years earlier on the effects of prayer on cardiac patients. Byrd studied 393 patients admitted to a coronary care unit in a San Francisco hospital. The patients were “statistically inseparable,” meaning their conditions and symptoms were all similar.
Patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups – those who received intercessory prayer and those who didn’t. Neither the doctor nor the patients knew who was in which group. Byrd gave the first name, diagnosis and condition of patients in the prayer group to different groups of three or four active Christians from several denominations.
These groups prayed for their patient daily throughout the patient’s stay, away from the hospital, without meeting the patient. They prayed for a timely, easy recovery and one free from complications.
When the study concluded, Byrd found that there was indeed a significant difference in the quality of recovery among patients who received prayer: The prayer group fared better on average than their fellow patients who did not receive prayer. Almost 85 % of the prayer group scored “good” on the rating system used by hospitals to rate a patient’s response to treatment. They were less likely to have a heart attack, need antibiotics or require interventions like ventilation or intubation. By contrast, only 73.1% of members of the control group scored “good.”
Research on prayer has nearly doubled in the past ten years, says David Larson, MD, MSPH, president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, a private nonprofit agency. Even the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which refused to review a study with the word “prayer” in it four years ago, is now funding one prayer study through its Frontier Medicine Initiative.
Advances in traditional medicine will continue, but they will eventually plateau. Research in the field of divine healing is just getting started. Duke University, John Hopkins and other medical centers are building programs to study and harness the full potential of spiritual healing. The landscape of health care is rapidly changing. Here is a glimpse of what it may look like in the future:
In February of 2011, I had a dream in which I watched a new hospital being built. I walked to the construction site every day to check on the progress, taking a different route each day, trying to find the shortest one.
One day I arrived as the building was nearing completion. I walked to the street corner and began walking up a steep sidewalk next to the building. There was a handrail, so I used it to climb the long, steep slope. I met a man coming down the sidewalk. He was tall and austere in appearance. He was one of the hospital staff. As we met, he glared at me and kept walking.
There was one more element in the dream; in the beginning of the dream, I watched hospital employees standing around a bed, speaking curses that were damaging a patient. They seemed to be unaware of what they were doing. At the end of the dream, when the hospital was completed, the same group of people stood in the same room and prayed for a patient, who was healed by their prayers.
Let’s do some interpretation:
I believe the new hospital represents a new model of health care that God is “building.” My trips to the construction site reveal my involvement (and probably the involvement of people like me) in “seeing” the new model of health care as it is built. The fact that I took a different way each day, trying to find the shortest route would suggest there are longer and shorter paths to seeing the project completed. Our influence is intended to get it done in the most expedient and efficient way possible.
The steep sidewalk is a reminder that we have an “uphill battle” in helping the medical community see the value of divine healing.
The austere man is a representative of the existing medical paradigm. While they may be left “speechless” by what they witness happening, they may not react favorably.
Finally, the group of people who cursed the patient in the beginning and prayed for their healing in the end, could reveal a present problem and the solution to it.
The problem is that many health care workers speak words to their patients that rob them of hope and cause them to agree with sickness and death. We have enormous power in our words and people hold our views in high esteem. When we tell a patient there is no hope for survival, they tend to believe it. They give up hope, even ruling out the miraculous. If we neglect to tell patients that God wants to heal them, we’ve concealed from them what is perhaps the most important fact of all.
The solution is to speak frankly about their chances of survival from a medical standpoint. If medicine has nothing to offer, tell them so and point them to the fact that God isn’t limited in the ways that we are. We need to give them hope that a miracle is always possible, even if we don’t believe it’s likely. That option should never be taken from them. If we truly want the best outcomes for our patients, I think that includes praying for them to be healed.
Divine healing and medicine may seem like strange partners. Divine healing is a matter of faith. Medicine is mostly a matter of science. Our culture has at times identified these two as being in conflict with one another. But the truth is, divine healing is an excellent complement to the practice of medicine. There are many conditions for which medicine has little to offer. The power of divine healing has virtually no limitations. While patients have a high degree of trust in the medical community, most patients also believe in a higher power.
When God challenged me to begin praying for my patients, I had some anxiety over it. I wasn’t afraid to pray silently for patients. That doesn’t take a lot of faith. It was the idea of asking a stranger if they wanted me to pray with them that terrified me. I was also afraid someone would complain to my manager.
In the last few years I’ve prayed in public for several thousand people. About half of these were on the job and half were at stores and other public places. I have prayed for very few people in church settings. That’s right – I pray for many more people outside of church than inside. Of all the patients I’ve asked, I can only remember a few who declined. Keep in mind that I did all this in the pacific-northwest where church attendance is the lowest in the US.
My observation is this: if you’re afraid that your patients don’t want you praying with them – you’re probably wrong. More people are willing to receive prayer than you might think. This is especially true when a patient believes they are seriously ill or on the verge of death.
Operating as a divine healer in health care is rewarding but it does come with challenges. I have met a few people who objected to a paramedic praying with his patients on duty. I had a discussion with a doctor who was offended when she learned that I talked to my patients about God. In her mind my actions were unethical. She believes patients are vulnerable, seeing medical workers as experts. Her fear was that I would abuse my “expert” status and push a vulnerable patient into accepting a religious point of view, without having time to fully consider it. Sadly, Christians have developed a reputation for using high-pressure tactics to convert people to Christianity. While some people may operate this way, it can be a subtle form of manipulation. Is there a reason why discussions can’t occur that allow us to share ideas about faith and God without crossing the lines of sound ethical practice?
When I ask a patient if I can pray with them, I have only two things in mind. One is to get them healed; the other is to introduce them to God in a way that is personal and memorable. I simply invite God to touch them in a way that will allow them to know He is real. And they are fully aware that’s what I’m doing. I allow them to hear me as I ask God to touch them. I don’t preach to them and I’m not in the habit of asking them to believe in Jesus as their savior.
If your motive for praying with a patient is to convert them to your religious belief, people have a right to question your motives. If on the other hand, your desire is to see your patients healed, your motives will be seen as less selfish and more consistent with the goals of sound patient care.
If medicine is about delivering the highest level of care and the best customer service possible, then divine healing should be a part of what we do, at least for those interested in the realm of faith. Yes, there are cultural obstacles to overcome. But at the time of this writing, I am aware of no legal restrictions (in the US) that prevent us from pursuing this avenue of care. Please consult a legal expert in your area to determine if there are restrictions where you live.
Weighing the Risk
Can we expect a few complaints? I suppose we should. Not long after I began praying with my patients I was called into my manager’s office. A nurse in one of the emergency departments saw me praying with a patient and filed a complaint with her manager. Her manager and mine had a talk about it. I found it a bit ironic that this happened at of all places, a Catholic hospital. I worked for one of the largest private ambulance services in the country. In asking his supervisors what he should do about the complaint, my manager discovered some surprising news. None of the managers in our company could recall ever dealing with an employee caught praying with a patient.
In our meeting, I explained that God asked me to pray for the people I transport. I told my manager I always ask permission before praying and I always respect the wishes of those who say no. He said our company had no policy regarding prayer on the job and there were no plans to change that. My manager’s position was very reasonable. His only concern was that I avoid behavior that might generate complaints from our customers. He respected my convictions about prayer. He said I would be allowed to continue praying for patients under two conditions: first, I had to ask permission and second, I agreed to confine it to the back of the ambulance.
Most fire departments and hospitals have some type of chaplain service for their customers, including hospitals with no religious affiliation. Becoming a part of the chaplain’s service may open doors for you to pray with patients and family members, perhaps even staff. The fact that we have these services demonstrates a belief that the spiritual needs of our patients are real and that meeting those needs is a legitimate part of the service we provide.
I would like to know how an organization that advocates spiritual care in one sense, could reprimand an employee for providing it in the normal duties of their job, merely because they don’t have the title of “chaplain.” There is no reason why we should receive disciplinary action because we pray for patients who request it. And there is no reason to believe that any special training or certification is needed to provide spiritual care. Although western culture holds college degrees and ordination in high regard, there is no biblical basis for believing that they qualify us for service. Jesus used simple, uneducated people to work miracles of healing and raise the dead. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t follow that example today.
One fear we have is that of suffering discipline for praying with a patient. I had that fear and it proved to be unfounded. I’m not saying you won’t catch some flak from your supervisor – it’s certainly possible. But for citizens of the US, our constitution guarantees certain rights that we don’t surrender when we come to work.
I don’t advocate a militant or defiant attitude toward prayer in health care. Romans chapter 13 tells us to respect the authorities placed over us and that includes supervisors at work. Humility and a spirit of cooperation will go a long way. God opens doors and changes people’s hearts. I do a lot of prayer in the area of asking God to grant me favor with people as I step out in faith and pray for the sick. If God wants you to heal your patients, He’ll make the way safe, though you’ll almost certainly encounter a little opposition.
I had a dream about this situation shortly after I began praying for my patients. In the dream, I was on the run from the enemy and took refuge in a hospital. I wore scrubs and blended in with the staff. I slept in a bedroom on the top floor where the doctor’s dorms were located.
I was there for many days. Occasionally an agent of the enemy showed up at the hospital looking for me. When I saw them, I’d pull a surgical mask over my face and duck down a hallway or get on an elevator. As long as I didn’t draw attention to myself, the enemy didn’t notice me.
This was a dream of major revelation. It was God’s way of telling me that I was protected and given favor in the setting in which I worked. I could pray for my patients with confidence as long as I didn’t make a scene or draw attention to myself. I think we’re a lot safer than we believe in the realm of praying for our patients and I believe God will reveal strategies to overcome obstacles if you ask Him.
I’d encourage you to pursue God’s heart for your situation. Ask the Lord if you’re supposed to be praying for your patients. Begin looking for opportunities to test the waters. When you start praying with patients, expect to see a few miracles. But don’t be discouraged if you don’t. It was only through months of praying that I eventually saw see people healed.
The nature of our job doesn’t always allow us to follow up with patients. Some people are healed immediately, but they don’t realize it until being tested. Some are healed weeks or months later. Don’t give up. God is faithful. He will honor your obedience, in time.
The book Divine Healing Made Simple can be ordered here: http://bit.ly/DivineHealingMadeSimple
Other excerpts from the book:

Dec 25, 2013

Thoughts on Christmas - 2013

I know that many of my friends struggle to cope at Christmas time. While others are out celebrating and making merry, you try to keep your mind from dwelling on the dark thoughts that haunt you.
My grandfather died on Christmas day when I was 10 years old. I remember the following year bringing the Christmas tree to gramma’s house with my dad and hearing her say there would be no tree this year. The presence of a tree would bring back painful memories… memories that were too much for her to bear.
I know it can be hard during the holidays for some of you and I want you to know that I understand. I can’t remove your pain – but I hope and pray for your peace this year.
I’ve found one thing that brings me joy this time of year. It’s the courtesy and kindness people have shown me and others around Christmas over the years.
Yesterday a stranger gave me a coupon for cup of coffee at Circle K. People who would normally ignore me were greeting me as I walked through the hospital. Everywhere I went people seemed to be a little happier and a little more giving. It may sound cliché, but there really does seem to be a spirit of generosity and love that grips some people this time of year. Perhaps there really is a “Christmas spirit.”
It’s easy to see the commercialism that surrounds Christmas; the greed of corporations, the stress of meeting people’s expectations, the discomfort of family gatherings and other negative things the holiday brings. If you want, you can make those things your focus and believe they’re the only thing happening at Christmas time. I’ve chosen to look past them.
I’ve decided to look instead for the lovely things; the smiles, the giving, the warm hugs and pats on the back and the thank you’s from people out doing their holiday errands. When I look for the good in others, something inside of me wants to be one of those people, if only for a day.
Kat Kerr was taken into heaven once, and transported to a snow-covered village where the trees were adorned with living ornaments that sang praises to God. In the village, children played and sang. She asked her escort the name of the place. She was told it was called “Christmas Town.”
She asked why God would create such a place. She was told that the town was a memorial to the one time a year when people showed the kind of love to each other that God wanted them to show all year round. His heart was so warmed by the way we act this time of year, He decided to make a place in heaven to keep the Christmas spirit alive for all eternity.
Here’s to another Christmas season, my friends. I hope yours is filled with peace, love and hope. Thank you for allowing me to be your friend.
~ Praying Medic

Oct 29, 2013

Why Are Some People Not Healed?

Ever since the Azusa Street revival in 1907, which spawned the Pentecostal awakening, the church has been continually growing in its understanding of healing and deliverance. In the last 100 years we’ve uncovered some valuable information that has helped provide a clearer picture of how healing and deliverance work.

I’m grateful for the contributions made by leaders of past movements in healing. The revelation they’ve received has moved us closer to the goal of seeing everyone healed and set free. But as much as the leaders of former generations have uncovered some fundamental truths, if we were to be completely honest we’d admit that their understanding (and ours) is incomplete – particularly when it comes to the question of why people are not always healed.

Leaders of former generations brought forth their best theories about why some people are not healed or set free of demonic oppression. Those theories became the standard answers the church has given for these questions. The answers generally involved issues like generational sins or curses, a lack of faith on the part of the person who is sick, unforgiveness, etc. Despite their widespread acceptance, the fruit borne from these explanations has been pretty poor. I don’t wish to invalidate all of the current explanations for failed healing, because I think there may be some validity to them but I believe time will prove that these explanations are not the true cause of failed healing or deliverance in most cases.

The revelation of yesterday served the generation for which it was intended. But today’s leaders must come up with better answers that bear fruit worthy of the kingdom. I’m challenging all of today’s leaders to go to the Lord and seek a better understanding of the issues involved in failed healing and deliverance.


why?

Steve Peace Harmon is a great example of a current leader who has evaluated the practice of deliverance as it’s been done for the last 100 years and found it to be inadequate. Rather than using the same old methods everyone else has used, he’s taken a bold new direction in deliverance. He’s doing things that leaders of the former generation would never have done. He’s considering possibilities no one else has considered. And he’s getting the kind of results none of the former leaders has gotten - because he’s rejected the traditional approaches and explanations that frankly, haven’t worked very well.

A key part of Steve’s success and a foundation to his different approach to healing and deliverance is his THEOLOGY. Steve sees God differently than most of us do – at least when it comes to healing and deliverance. (I’ll go out on a limb and speak for Steve, because we both see God in a similar way. I’m going to try to explain his theology in a way that he and I haven’t discussed yet, but I think it represents his views accurately.)

Most of us believe that if God wanted us to be healed or set free of a demonic spirit,He could simply do it now (sovereignly) and that would be the end of it. Most of us have been taught that this is how God heals. He does whatever He wants, whenever He wants to do it and if He wanted us healed, He would just do it. When healing doesn't happen, we tend to assume God doesn't want us healed for some reason.

Most people view healing and deliverance as a completely sovereign act of God that cannot be changed or altered by any created being. We completely remove the participation of demons and man from the equation. Some people hold to this view of God, but they place God’s sovereign actions in time – allowing for His “perfect timing” for healing to happen, but they still believe that God does whatever He want, whenever He wants as a sovereign, almighty God.

This view of God is fundamentally flawed. This is not how God operates when it comes to healing and deliverance. This flawed view of God is the foundation upon which are built all the misunderstandings and misconceptions about why people are not healed. Contrary to popular belief, God does not operate out of complete sovereignty when it comes to healing and deliverance. I’d like to illustrate the work of God in a related subject and draw some parallels to healing, because I think it might reveal our flawed theology a little better.

While most of us would have no problem asking “Why are some people healed, while others are not?” It’s unlikely that we would ask, "Why are some people saved while others are not?" Most Christians know the answer to this question:
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet. 3:9)

God’s will is that all people would be saved. God could sovereignly save everyone if He wanted to, but He has decided not to do it that way. Men and women are saved by the preaching of the gospel. If the gospel is not preached, no one hears it. If they do not hear it - they are not saved. Salvation comes when men and women cooperate with God in preaching the gospel and when their hearts are open and receive it. If men are not saved, it is not because God doesn't want them saved, but because man has not effectively preached the gospel or he has rejected it.

In the realm of salvation, God’s sovereign will is not forced upon us. His work in our hearts requires our cooperation. The same is true for the process of being transformed into the image of Christ. This is not a sovereign work where God overrides our free will and forces us to comply with His plans for sanctification. We must yield ourselves to His work. It’s a surrendering on our part and a work of the Holy Spirit in response to our surrender that creates holiness. It is not a sovereign act.

The same exact principles at work in salvation and sanctification are at work in healing, because healing like salvation and sanctification is an act of God’s grace.

For some reason, most of us understand that we have a responsibility to participate with God in working out our salvation and in being conformed into His image, but when it comes to healing and deliverance, we expect that we can just sit back and let God sovereignly keep the demons out of our lives or keep us from having any pain or sickness. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. We must stop placing all the responsibility for healing and deliverance on God and start asking what our responsibility is in the process of receiving and keeping our healing.

Healing is released by believers. It must also be received by us and I believe one of the reasons for failed healing is our own inability to receive God's work in our lives.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus illustrated the word of God as a seed and the human heart as four types of soil. The effect that the word has upon the individual is not dependent upon God's sovereign will, but upon the type of soil the seed falls upon. If it falls among thorns, it springs up, but produces no fruit. If it falls upon hard ground, it is snatched away by the enemy. If it finds good soil, it produced a harvest. This parable applies to many things of the kingdom including healing. God's work of healing in our lives is primarily a matter of the kind of heart we have cultivated. If our hearts are stony, the enemy will take away what God gives us, but if our hearts have been made ready to receive His grace and healing power, His work will produce a harvest that results in sustained healing and deliverance.

I believe that if we’ll allow ourselves to see healing differently from the way we’ve seen it in the past, the old worn-out explanations will be seen for what they are and better revelation will come forth that speaks more to the truth of the matter. God wants to give us the answers we're looking for, but we have to develop a mindset and a view of God that allows us to receive the revelation He wants to give us.

This is a subject I discuss in depth in my soon to be released book, Divine Healing Made Simple.

Jun 7, 2013

Moving - My Last Post



In May of 2013, I decided to invest the time and money in a new website that I would host through my own domain name. I did this because I wanted a site where I could write about subjects other than just healing and this site has from its inception, been about healing.

The new site gives me greater flexibility in appearance and function. By using menu tabs, I can point readers to the the different subjects they're interested in, and keep all my articles in one place. I have tabs for healing, deliverance, prophetic words, dreams and a lot more - all in one place.

The new site can be found at: prayingmedic.com.

Thank you for your support. I hope to see you there.

Praying Medic


May 31, 2013

Stage 4 Bone Cancer Healed

This is the testimony of a man healed of stage 4 bone cancer. The healing was verified by his doctor.

May 27, 2013

Pizzeria Healing

Tom Fischer and his wife Ahava release the power of God on a woman in a pizzeria.