Gosh, the past 10 days has just been amazing. Like really.
God has just opened my eyes to so much more of His Kingdom, a true
understanding of sonship and of the Father’s love. I’ve always only heard of
healings and miracles and signs and wonders in the Bible, heard that it happens
to other people, but this week God showed up and healings and signs and wonders
happened right in front of my eyes. We had 4 days of crusade up on the mountain
of Kilimanjaro, in a town where there hasn’t been a crusade for a while. The
people are hungry. Every night, without fail, the Holy Spirit showed up and
healings broke out – headaches gone, stomach ulcers gone, broken bones healed, knees
and feet healed, deaf ears opened, blind eyes opened, witchcraft denounced,
demons cast out. I saw how powerful the Kingdom of God can be when we truly
walk in an understanding of the Father’s heart and of who we are in Him. The
supernatural is not just for the ‘spiritual giants’, but it’s available for
every single believer.
Truth be told, I was
scared on the first night of the crusade as I knew that we would have to go up
and pray for healings. But I think I finally grasped the ‘key’ behind healing.
The name of Jesus is not magic nor is it something to hide
behind.
Healing was already done at the Cross. It is our inheritance.
When we pray, we pray from our identity as a son or daughter, it’s like
spending our inheritance. We don’t have to keep begging and asking for
something that has already been given to us. Just command the sickness to
leave.
Do you understand what that means? Let me give you an
example.
Let’s say my father owns a big grocery store. When I see
someone who needs food, I don’t just yell “Daddy!
Daddy!” hoping for food to show up. I go behind the counter, get some food,
and give that away. Because all that my father has is mine. It’s my
inheritance.
In the same way, the name “Jesus” is not magic. Just because
I yell “Jesus! Jesus!”, it doesn’t
mean that some super power magic is going to show up (not to say that God
cannot do that). But it’s understanding that because I am a daughter, I have
access to the Father and the healing inheritance, and I can spend it on people.
That’s when healing comes.
Here’s one my favorite stories that happened to somebody
that I prayed for during the crusade.
Mama Maleli was one of the people standing at the front of
the stage waiting for a prayer of healing. She asked for prayers for her right
knee which she broke 80 years ago while carrying luggage and falling over. It
had gotten better but now because she’s old, the pain came back.
I prayed and commanded the pain to go away, the
bones/tendons/knees to heal. Nothing happened.
Ok….
I prayed again. Some of the pain went away. Thank you Jesus!
Prayed again. She moved her knee and said that the pain was
completely gone. Hallelujah!
Then she told me that the whole right side of her face all
the way down to her right arm was numb.
We prayed and she had feeling again.
She then said that she had problem controlling peeing. Pee
would come out before she got to the bathroom.
I prayed and asked her to please come back again the next
day and let me know if that was healed.
I then went on my way to pray for others.
The next morning while we were in church just waiting for
the day to start, Mama Maleli walks in. I didn’t really recognize her because I
had prayed for so many people the previous night and she didn’t stand out to me
then. She starts talking to me in Swahili and I wasn’t sure what she wanted.
Turns out she wanted more prayers. Inside my head I was thinking, “Ok, the team that’s staying back at the
church this morning can pray for her cos I’m going out and doing door-to-door.”
And then the translator told me that she wants ME to pray for her. Immediately
fear came into me. It’s one thing to be praying for healing at the crusade when
everyone is praying at the same time and there’s an anointing of the Holy
Spirit, but it’s another thing to be praying when you’re alone. (Although I
know that this should not be the truth).
“Luckily” Peter our ministry contact says, “Ok, we’ll pray for her after chai (tea).” (In
African culture, people are used to waiting, and it’s not offensive at all). In
my heart I was going “Good! Now I can get
out of this cos I’m sure we’ll head out right after chai and other people can
pray for her.”
We take our morning tea and as soon as we were done, Mama
Maleli walks in and says again that she wants me to pray for her.
By this time I knew that I was not getting out of it. So I
swallowed my fear and I said ok. Somebody went to get a translator.
As I stood there, the fear just started getting bigger and
bigger and I was so scared. This woman is
trusting me! OMG! Finally I went to Dan (our trip leader) and he prayed
over me and just spoke life into me.
So now comes the interesting part when the Holy Spirit
showed up.
Lucy the translator showed up and we (Mama, Lucy and I) went
to a back room in the church. Mama said that her knee was hurting again. I
prayed and just told God that it’s really not about me anyways and He doesn’t
need me for the healing, but He chose to use me at this time. Incredibly, the
pain went away! To be honest, I was just relieved that God had healed her. Faith
started to build up in me again.
Mama then said that there was pressure on her chest and it
caused difficulty in breathing. She had gotten many pastors to pray for her
before but it had never gotten better. I told her that it’s neither the pastors
nor me that heals her. It’s Jesus. She said that she understands. We prayed and
I asked her to take deep breaths. For about 30 secs, she just took deep
breaths. And then I asked her if the pressure went away.
She said “No.”
I said “Ok, let’s pray
again”. Lucy then told her to pray too at the same time. So all 3 of us
prayed. Mama’s prayers went on long after I stopped. Although I didn’t
understand what she was saying, Mama’s prayers were so heartfelt, filled with
trust and desire and passion for the Lord, I could just hear it in her voice.
And as she was praying, the Lord reminded me of the story of the woman who had
a bleeding problem for 12 years.
Luke 8: 43-48
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with
constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she
touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus
asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is
pressing up against you.” But Jesus said,
“Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not
stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him. The whole
crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been
immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
I knew that the Lord had healed her because of her faith as
she was praying. So I asked her if the pressure was gone when she was done
praying. “Yes” was the answer.
Hallelujah! It wasn’t even because of me praying, but her praying and faith and
trust in the Lord.
Mama then said that she had stomach ulcers and was causing
her lots of pain. We thank God for the healings that He had already done and
began to declare that the ulcers be gone right now. Holy Spirit’s presence was
so tangible in the room that tears started flowing down on all three of our
faces.
Mama said that she felt the ulcers going away as we were
praying, almost like a stripping away, and the pain was gone! Hallelujah!
Mama really stretched my faith that day. She obviously had
no doubt that Jesus can heal her and came back for more prayers the next day.
And the Holy Spirit showed up. I, on the other hand, was so scared and was
thinking that there were all these spiritual giants around me that could pray
for her instead of me. But I obeyed. And praise Jesus He showed up and Mama got
healed! Hallelujah!
Matt 10: 5-8
Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these
instructions …… “Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons.
Give as freely as you have received!”
We have an inheritance from the Lord and we are called to
give as freely as we have received. I pray that you will grasp this truth and
that you will go out and do power
evangelism!
“I don’t live
in pursuit of power, but in the pursuit of releasing His power.” – Chris del Santo.
