This blog is going to take you through my encounters with healing since I first became a part of the World Race. It might be long (8 minutes of reading to be exact) but if you are interested in real-life encounters with healing just like the stories in the Bible take the time to read my accounts.
The devil doesn't want these accounts to make sense in your mind, some of you might find ways to justify the things I am going to write about but in reality that is not the case. I lived each one of these encounters and they don't seem natural, that is because they are not natural. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the name of Jesus all Christians have supernatural abilities. So if you find yourself trying to justify anything you are reading, know those thoughts are from Satan and not of your own mind.
Before signing up for The World Race in July 2011, I was living a life that was apart from God. I was working at Apple Corporate office in Austin, drinking with friends on the weekends and just starting to become involved in a local church. After coming back from Passion 2011 in Fort Worth I knew that I needed to change my life, that I was living a lifestyle that had no real joy, just temporal joy. If you are confused about what I am talking about, try the living the radical lifestyle Jesus lived out, for real, instead of getting drunk on the weekends. If it hadn't been for my friends at Austin Ridge Bible Church in Austin, I don't think I would be where I am today. My first encounter with healing took place at training camp in the woods of Georgia. Spiritual healing that I encountered at training camp blew my mind, the Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way. Through declarations, prophesy, cutting soul ties and having people speak truthful words into my life, I encountered the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a new radical way. A way that I had never seen and in a way that seemed like a complete stranger to me compared to what I had grown up experiencing. Spiritually, I knew there was no turning back after this experience. There was no way I would let my experiences with God stay at such a constant. From this moment on each time I encountered the Holy Spirit, I wanted it to be in a new and powerful way. I knew that He had more to offer than I had been requesting so I began requesting more from Him. From training camp until launch, God blew me away with radical encounters. The biggest moment of growth was when Aaron, Chase and I slept two nights on the streets with the homeless of Austin. The second being a mission trip to the Mexico-Texas border and the ways that God provided, one of which was feeding the people of the community. We had a pot of stew that everyone said would never last, but I prayed with faith and the pot never got below three quarters full. Another experience was the way the Holy Spirit moved in my dad's youth service, the shift that took place there and the prayer for healing a boy's arm that happened later.
After reading stories from the field, I didn't want to wait until the later months to encounter radical moves of the Holy Spirit, I wanted them the first month. I read around 15-20 books plus half of the New Testament over the course of two months in preparation for launch and because I had an unreal craving to know and learn more. Heading into Guatemala I was expecting God to move in ways I had never seen before. We met a man named Marco Tuelo who blew my mind with the healings he had witnessed and performed through the power of the name of Jesus. As he was showing us the true power Christians have in the name of Jesus he healed my squadmate Alys' legs and arms that were different lengths. Then Marco had Casey pray for my knees to be healed. When she prayed all she said was, "In the name of Jesus your knees are healed" then she got up and Marco moved onto the next person who needed healing. I didn't feel a thing in my knees but in my soul something clicked. My mom and grandmother had prayed for my knees hundreds of times, but in my heart I don't think I ever fully believed that they could be healed. I knew that healing was possible, my sister had been healed from cancer in her chest as a young girl. I remember being in an old lady's house with my mom and them anointing her with oil and praying for her. It was something that seemed pretty freaking weird at the time. But when Casey prayed for my knees, I believed, and it was like God unlocked a new level of my faith. Like something in my soul just made sense, and I had faith that I was actually healed. I didn't realize that I was healed until about five hours later after we just got done walking the town. A time when normally my creaky knees would have cringed as I sat into a chair but instead there was no pain in either of them. (Read More)
The faith that was unlocked in my mind cannot be explained through my words, and sometimes I don't even know if I fully understand what God did in my mind at that moment. I just know that through that time I have been experiencing more and more healing.
In El Salvador I was able to be a part of healing a lady's leg, a lady's back and a lady's eyes. The first took place in a lady's home in a small community outside of Apastepeque. Wes, Emily Hix, Sammie Jo and I were invited into her home and asked to sit down. Though none of us could speak much Spanish, I could understand a little of what she was saying by communicating mostly through single words combined with sharades. As we talked with her for about thirty minutes we finally asked her if we could pray for her. We asked her if anything was sick or wrong with her. She showed us that her foot was messed up and each time she stood up from a chair she would stumble on it. So we prayed for her foot and when we said, "Amen" she arose from her chair. Fully believing that she was healed, she stood up and didn't stumble. A huge grin came upon her face and she ran over to us and hugged each one of us. As our time had run out, we told her goodbye and I walked away in amazement of what had just happened.
The second encounter was when Hosanna, Julie, Sammie Jo and I were on a rural road in Apastepeque. Walking to what seemed no where on the prompting of Hosanna and the Holy Spirit, when I saw these little girls playing in a field and Julie yelled for them to come over. As we began talking with them they shared that their mother was sick and needed prayer. So we entered the small farm house of the elderly lady and prayed for her back to be healed. Julie is fluent in Spanish so we were able to communicate with her and hear her full account. She told us of how her back was feeling and that she felt the pain lift from her back. Even as I write this the devil is trying to tell me that this story is fake because how am I supposed to know that a lady's back was healed. I know because of the look on her face when she told us that she was healed, it was real and genuine. She felt relief and you could see it in her eyes. (Read More)
The third encounter with healing was with Katie Winistorfer in another small community outside of Apastepeque. We were sitting on the street waiting on more people to come to our street evangelism that was about to start. As we were sitting there an older lady comes up to us, takes our hands and asks for prayer for her eyes. We were confused at first but Victor was there to translate for us. We prayed for her for about three minutes before we were finished praying but she wasn't done. She kept praying, more and more. Which in turn made us keep praying with her. It wasn't until she finally started shouting and clapping that we were finally done praying. After we came back from her house we asked Victor to ask her what happened and she said that she had new eyes. She could see again. If it hadn't been for her faith in demanding that we keep praying for her healing, I might not be able to write this right now because I had said my prayer and nothing happened. It was her, her faith, that kept us there praying until she was healed.
Soon after her healing I was in a drama where Jesus was healing people's infirmities when God painted a picture in my mind. He told me, "She has received temporary healing in her eyes, but she needs eternal healing in her heart." It wasn't five minutes after God spoke that to me, that she received Jesus as her savior. It is something that is easy to forget in the exciting craze of physical healing, that after that huge miracle they have seen God's glory reign in their lives. It's a time when they can truly see God for the true all mighty savior that He is, and they are desiring to know more about the wonderful life He offers. (Read More)
As a couple months passed by, I continued to pray for people to be healed but out of all of those prayers I didn't see anyone healed. It wasn't until I was at an eye glass clinic in Ukraine that I was able to see Jesus name heal someone again. It was a lady's eyes in Ukraine. I was sharing my testimony and sharing stories similar to this blog. After I shared my testimony I asked for anyone who wanted prayer for healing to come meet us up on the side of the stage. This lady ran up to us in an excited state and asked us to pray for her eye to be healed of cataracts. So we prayed for her eye, believing that it would be healed, leaning on God's promises that Jesus name has power. After we got done praying, I asked her a couple times if her eye was healed and each time she responded with a resounding, "Yes." Again, I could see it on her face that she truly was healed. I wanted to see it some how, I couldn't see any healing because it was her eye. So I had to trust her. The next day at church when she was sharing with everyone, she got up on the stage crying and telling her story of how she can see again, like she could in her youth. As I heard that testimony recounted from our contact Bruce, I was encouraged and blown away again by God's power. (Read More)
A story that is new to everyone was the healing that took place during our team prayer a couple of nights ago. We were closing out our feedback time with prayer, and the Holy Spirit swept down and fell onto our team like rain. God often moves in the most powerful ways when you are least expecting and this encounter was no different. As we were praying, I just felt an overwhelming sensation envelop my body. It felt like a pulse radiating through my entire body and that is often the feeling when I encounter the Holy Spirit. Other's in the team also have their own, unique way that the Holy Spirit physically manifests in their bodies. We started to pray for healing, healing of Mark's shoulder and Naomi's eyes.
Mark and I had a conversation earlier that day about the healings I have experienced on the Race. A conversation very similar to this blog that caused him to realize he could also be healed from his shoulder pain. So we were praying that God would heal him and Mark said in a emotional prayer to God, "I am not lowering my hands until you heal my shoulder."
This is Mark's account of his healing experience:
My heart was in a place of worship first of all… During my prayer I was running different scripture through in my head, as sometimes happens, and the passage in James about expressing my faith through actions came to mind. So I was lead to raise my hand in submission to God and started to pase around the living room. I kept thanking God for being my healer and sustainer. Then, out of my new realization of God's goodness toward me, it came into my mind to make that about not lowering my hands until I was healed. Knowing that He would give me strength enough to hold up my hands and beleiving He would honor my actions as my expression of faith.
My hands were raised for I dont know how long, I would say an hour, before Hugh came over and layed hands on me. He prayed to our Father that I would have the faith that he had when his knees were healed in month one. From that point on I didnt feel any pain in my shoulder. Usually when I raise my hand in prayer or worship I have a sharp pain in the outside of my shoulder, and this pain was gone! (Read More from Mark)
From all of my experiences, it seems, the person who received the healing had full faith that they could be healed. It was their faith that healed them. In each account, including my own, the person receiving healing had full faith that Jesus name has power to heal. Sure, each of us praying had faith that God could heal but there are times in my own heart where doubt creeps in. There have been times when I wasn't sure if God would heal a person and was shocked when they told me they were healed, but they were healed by their faith.
It's often debated that if you (the person praying) have faith, they have faith (the person receiving healing) and if God's will is to heal them, with all three of these combied they will be healed. This is where my experiences are leading me in a different direction. I believe that God's will is always "on earth, as it is in Heaven." When He created the garden, that was His will, to walk with us hand in hand. Satan ruined his perfect plan by convincing Adam and Eve to eat of the tree, but Satan did not ruin His will. God is good all the time and I cannot believe that sometimes He chooses not to heal. He always wants to heal, He always wants to be glorified and He always wants to provide for His perfect creation. There isn't sickness, cancer, or any health problems in Heaven, and I believe that it is the Father's will for none of these things to be on Earth. Of course, there have been times when I have prayed for healing but healing has not happened. I believe this is tied into doubt or skepticism inside of the person receiving the healing or the person praying for healing. In my own personal healing, it wasn't until I fully believed that I was actually healed. In the past when people had prayed for me, I was skeptical but then finally I believed without a shadow of a doubt that I would be healed and I received healing.
As Mac Mitchell once said in a prayer, "Father you said if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed that we can moved mountains, but you are opening my eyes to the other side of the picture. That if we have doubt the size of a mustard seed…"
I am not a Biblical scholar and I know that quite possibly my thoughts about healing might not add up 100% of the time. What I do know has been revealed to me through personal experience and revelations from the Father. I encourage everyone to keep praying for healing, even for the smallest things. God will continue to open your eyes and you will experience the name of Jesus being glorified through you.
