Day one of our trip and as the plane descended into London, I suddenly felt intense pain and pressure in my sinuses. Yikes, no wonder you aren't supposed to fly when you're sick. Not that I was sick; I was fine before we left. Perhaps I had some sinusitis or something that I hadn't realized. I bought some Sudafed (the good stuff you can't by over the counter in the U.S.) at the London airport and was able to make it on the next flight leg without too much trouble.
The next day I was a little stuffy and had a bit of a headache. By Monday, even though I was taking Sudafed regularly, I'd had no improvement. I could breathe a smidge from one nostril and that was it, plus, I still had a sinus headache. Oy, what a great time to have my sinuses acting up.
Pastor here had been teaching his young church leaders a 30 second prayer model for healing. It's not a magic formula, but simple Biblical truths that are put into a format that can be used by the church body to glorify God and bring others to know His name.
Adam was given dominion over all the earth, but forsook it when he sinned. Jesus died a perfect man, so death had no hold on him. He took the keys of dominion back from hell when He rose from the dead. In the book of Revelations it says that in heaven there will be no more tears or pain. We live in the already, but not yet. Jesus has come and fulfilled somethings, but we won't see the full fulfillment until He comes again. So, right now, we have authority and dominion in the name of Jesus - it is a shadow of what will be > illness and death still exist, but so does healing.
Matthew 28:18-19a "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go..."
John 14:12-14 "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works, because I am going to the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it!"
Mark 16:16a & 18c "Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved... They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed."
The 30 second prayer model for healing is based on these truths. Keep your prayer short and sweet - all the excess, all the extra words are just to help our faith anyway. Pray in the name of Jesus, for that is the name by which we have authority, and so that the person being prayed for knows where the power is from (it's for sure not from these human hands). Bind the affliction specifically and pray that it be gone. Amen. Then ask the person if their ailment was a 10 on a scale of 1 - 10 before, what would they rate it now? Tell them they should be honest. It's not me doing the healing so I won't be offended if there is no change or if something gets worse! Okay, if the person isn't totally healed, perhaps the healing process has just begun. Pray again (or have someone else pray for them). Re-rate the ailment after the second prayer. If the condition is still not fully healed, again, maybe the healing is just started and the person can always receive prayer again next time. But no matter what our faith is that God is faithful to keep His promises and there is hope in Him. Our hope is that the person receiving prayer will see God working. This is a wonderful evangelism tool.
I love this prayer model. I think as Christians, so often we pray and don't expect anything to happen (we pray because we should). We pray and don't ask the person we prayed for if anything has changed. Or we pray and hope for healing, but then if the person isn't totally instantly healed, we're disappointed. This prayer model makes my faith stronger because it looks at the Biblical principles that give us basis for what we ask. And it realizes that healing isn't all or nothing - that there can be progressive healing. God heals in His timing. Some of that won't be realized until we are in heaven, but some of that really can be realized in the here and now. Amazing.
Soooo... we're here for 2 days and Pastor teaches us this prayer model and encourages us to pray for one another. I share my little condition and members of the team pray for me - a simple short prayer. Afterwards, I could breathe through the one nostril and the headache felt a little less, but was still there. They prayed for me again. I could clearly breathe through both nostrils (seriously, the change was instant and I'm sitting there breathing in and out through my nose, enjoying the complete openness of my nasal passages) and again the headache was a bit less, but still there. But man, was it nice to just breathe! About ten minutes later, I realized that the headache was gone. God healed my symptoms that very morning, and I haven't had any more congestion this entire trip. Praise the Lord.
The same happened the next day with some serious tummy trouble. I got Delhi Belly - boo. :( I was rushing to the washroom a lot, even woke twice in the middle of the night to take care of business. The team prayed for me that morning and seriously, from that point on, my tummy was totally fine.
And I'm not the only one. Other people on our team were healed as well.
What a wonderful God who blesses us with tangible ways to see His goodness and faithfulness.
I encourage you, have faith! Greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world.
The next day I was a little stuffy and had a bit of a headache. By Monday, even though I was taking Sudafed regularly, I'd had no improvement. I could breathe a smidge from one nostril and that was it, plus, I still had a sinus headache. Oy, what a great time to have my sinuses acting up.
*************
Pastor here had been teaching his young church leaders a 30 second prayer model for healing. It's not a magic formula, but simple Biblical truths that are put into a format that can be used by the church body to glorify God and bring others to know His name.
Adam was given dominion over all the earth, but forsook it when he sinned. Jesus died a perfect man, so death had no hold on him. He took the keys of dominion back from hell when He rose from the dead. In the book of Revelations it says that in heaven there will be no more tears or pain. We live in the already, but not yet. Jesus has come and fulfilled somethings, but we won't see the full fulfillment until He comes again. So, right now, we have authority and dominion in the name of Jesus - it is a shadow of what will be > illness and death still exist, but so does healing.
Matthew 28:18-19a "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go..."
John 14:12-14 "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works, because I am going to the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it!"
Mark 16:16a & 18c "Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved... They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed."
The 30 second prayer model for healing is based on these truths. Keep your prayer short and sweet - all the excess, all the extra words are just to help our faith anyway. Pray in the name of Jesus, for that is the name by which we have authority, and so that the person being prayed for knows where the power is from (it's for sure not from these human hands). Bind the affliction specifically and pray that it be gone. Amen. Then ask the person if their ailment was a 10 on a scale of 1 - 10 before, what would they rate it now? Tell them they should be honest. It's not me doing the healing so I won't be offended if there is no change or if something gets worse! Okay, if the person isn't totally healed, perhaps the healing process has just begun. Pray again (or have someone else pray for them). Re-rate the ailment after the second prayer. If the condition is still not fully healed, again, maybe the healing is just started and the person can always receive prayer again next time. But no matter what our faith is that God is faithful to keep His promises and there is hope in Him. Our hope is that the person receiving prayer will see God working. This is a wonderful evangelism tool.
I love this prayer model. I think as Christians, so often we pray and don't expect anything to happen (we pray because we should). We pray and don't ask the person we prayed for if anything has changed. Or we pray and hope for healing, but then if the person isn't totally instantly healed, we're disappointed. This prayer model makes my faith stronger because it looks at the Biblical principles that give us basis for what we ask. And it realizes that healing isn't all or nothing - that there can be progressive healing. God heals in His timing. Some of that won't be realized until we are in heaven, but some of that really can be realized in the here and now. Amazing.
*************
Soooo... we're here for 2 days and Pastor teaches us this prayer model and encourages us to pray for one another. I share my little condition and members of the team pray for me - a simple short prayer. Afterwards, I could breathe through the one nostril and the headache felt a little less, but was still there. They prayed for me again. I could clearly breathe through both nostrils (seriously, the change was instant and I'm sitting there breathing in and out through my nose, enjoying the complete openness of my nasal passages) and again the headache was a bit less, but still there. But man, was it nice to just breathe! About ten minutes later, I realized that the headache was gone. God healed my symptoms that very morning, and I haven't had any more congestion this entire trip. Praise the Lord.
The same happened the next day with some serious tummy trouble. I got Delhi Belly - boo. :( I was rushing to the washroom a lot, even woke twice in the middle of the night to take care of business. The team prayed for me that morning and seriously, from that point on, my tummy was totally fine.
And I'm not the only one. Other people on our team were healed as well.
What a wonderful God who blesses us with tangible ways to see His goodness and faithfulness.
I encourage you, have faith! Greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world.
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