"For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love."
(Gal 5:6, Amplified)
Last week, Ashley, myself, and two friends named Caleb and JD all drove down to Arkansas to see Curry Blake teach a Divine Healing Technician training course. As a group, we had all been working to take on the Jesus-life (a life of continual outreach) already. Going to the training was more of a fun field trip than anything else.
As soon as we got to the hotel, the receptionist knew we were there for a Divine Healing Conference (they had contracted special rates) and asked about what it was. I told her, and then found out that her coworker had back pain. They came around and sat down in the lobby, and God grew her coworkers legs out. They were shocked, and didn't know how to react. We told them (and a few other folks in the lobby) that God loves them.
The morning of the first day of the conference, JD ran into a guy named Jonathan who had flown into the states from Singapore, and had been travelling around going to various conferences. He was looking for a ride, so we took him on. He was a really good fit for our group, and grew from an acquaintance to a friend over the few days we spent with him.
On the first day of the conference, I prayed for two people and God grew their legs out. God is good! After the first day was over, we went back to the hotel, took naps, grabbed some food and went over to Walmart to pray for some people. JD and Caleb, Ashley and I, and Jonathan formed three different groups and took off to go look for sick people. We walked through the store and didn't see many people with obvious problems. Ashley and I approached an Indian man, and started conversation with him. After a few minutes, we asked him if he had any back pain. He said that he did from time to time, however, he didn't want prayer for it.
Some time later, as we were about to leave, Ashley saw a man with a boot on his leg hobbling towards the pharmacy section. She bravely approached him, and we found out that he had broken his big toe, and his middle toe about 4 AM that morning. They had been shut in a door. In addition to that, he had some broken blood vessels on the side of his face that bulged out. It looked like he had been punched in the jaw, but he said that the blood vessels broke a few years back and the doctors couldn't do anything about it.
First, we prayed for his toes. Before we prayed, he could barely move his toes, and beyond that, he had pain. After we hit it a few times, a lot of movement came back and he had no pain, except when he bent his toes as far as he could. It looked like the only thing keeping him from bending his toes was the swelling, which we commanded to go down. He was pretty surprised. He said that he had a prescription for pain pills but that he wasn't going to get them filled since he wasn't in pain anymore. We also commanded his blood vessels to heal and dissolve and to return to normal. We talked for a moment, exchanged contact information, and parted ways. The next two nights in a row, we received calls from him, testifying that the blood vessels had shrunk down so small that all he had to do was put a finger over it to cover it up now.
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The next night, we hit Walmart again. Only this time we brought along three others we met at the conference. We split up to go look for sick people. Ashley and I walked around the store, and didn't see anybody. We called JD to see if they wanted to leave, and JD said that they were praying for some people in the back of the store. We went back there and found them praying for a lady driving around a scooter. She had been in pain, but after they prayed for her, the pain left.
There were two other hispanic women there, so I started talking to one (the mother) and Ashley started talking to her daughter. Her mother said that she had back pain, so I prayed for her and God grew her leg out. After that, she told me she also had pain in her hips, but after her leg grew it was gone!
Ashley was talking to the lady's daughter, and she said that her ankle hurt. Ashley prayed for her ankle, and the girl said that she felt like her ankle was moving and the pain was gone!
After that, I prayed for Keith and his wife (they were part of our group, just getting into the healing stuff) and God grew out both of their legs.
Then I saw a man walking by with a limp. I approached him, and he said that his ankle hurt. I told him that we were praying for folks, and God was healing people. He didn't know what to make of it, so I told him that we'd pray for his leg to grow out first, and after that, we'd hit his ankle. That's exactly what we did, and God healed his ankle and the man no longer had a limp. JD said that later that night he saw the same guy doing this dance-jig with his shopping cart, hopping from one leg to the next. God is so awesome! After God healed him, we prayed for his girlfriend and God grew her leg out.
Then another man walked by with a limp, and Caleb took off after him. God healed him too!
Meanwhile, the lady in the scooter exchanged contact info with JD, and invited us to come to her house to pray for her husband. After that, we parted ways.
As we were about to leave, Ashley saw a lady in a scooter and took off after her. She began to talk to her and ask her what happened. The lady began to tell us a long story, and talked nearly non-stop for 45 minutes. While she was talking, I tried to listen but I really just wanted to pray. But Ashley listened closely and showed interest the entire time. Finally, at the end, the old lady began to cry and said that it was good just to have someone that listened to her for once. I suddenly felt convicted,... it's all about love, isn't it? The time we spent listening probably did more for that woman's heart than any physical healing that could have taken place. This encounter really changed my perspective on what we were doing.
Anyways, we prayed for her, but we didn't see much change. She did mention that Ashley's hands were hot though!
After that, we left.
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The next morning we got up and went to the old lady's house. Her husband had pain in his feet, so we prayed for him and all the pain left. Then we prayed for the old lady again. She had back pain, so Caleb grew her leg out. After all the pain was gone, she began to do a jig and dance around. She was excited. She had been walking around with a cain, because polio had messed up one of her legs. She asked us to pray for strength in her legs. We did, and after that, she began to walk around her house without her cain and told her husband that she didn't need it! At some point, while we were praying for her, she started crying because she felt heat flowing through her body. Holy Spirit is amazing!
After that, a friend of theirs came by. She had been going through a lot, and was stressed. We prayed for her, and then Caleb and Ashley prophesied over her and she began to cry.
God rocks the casbah!
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What I really learned throughout all of this, is that we can't forget to love. Love is the most important thing that we can give to a person. Healing is great, and we're commanded to do it. But if we forget that we're dealing with people who need love, and all we see are bodies that need healed, we're missing the mark.
Jesus sends us on a mission to love. Proclaim the Kingdom of God, and heal the sick, but let it all be done from an attitude of love.
Bless you.
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