Prayer-for-the-Sick: Ministering

Prayer and inner healing are receiving an influx of would-be practitioners, well-meaning believers who want to help others through prayer. Despite their good intentions, many are capable of doing more harm than good because of three cautions that are either overlooked or ignored in some of the quickie workshops and introductory training sessions for prayer ministry, namely:

• Do not give advice.
• Do not interject your own personal experience.
• Do not get ahead of Holy Spirit.

Let’s take a look at these ministry points more closely.

Please don’t give advice; and keep your opinions to yourself.

Your role is to assist the recipient through prayer and Scripture only. The focus is to be above the natural because of what prayer is, a transcendant engaging with God.

The time and space are dedicated to an opportunity for the recipient to express, hear from God, and release a burden, or begin to heal, or get higher perspective.

Please don’t interject your own personal experience.

Life is not measured out in cookie cutter shapes and portions. Although some experiences may seem similar, no two are alike because each individual is unique and their responses to the events in life are unique to them. Ministry is not a time to talk about you, even if you should happen to be an authority.

Because of the capacity in which you are serving, you are only a conduit for the Savior’s Holy Spirit. He is in charge. Listen.

Please don’t get ahead of Holy Spirit; and don’t draw conclusions.

Because we need supernatural wisdom and insight, we must be especially sensitive to promptings from Holy Spirit. You might receive a word, or phrase, or some type of impression.

If you give sufficient preparation for this to happen, then it is OK to tell the recipient, calmly and simply, what you have sensed; then ask if it might mean anything to them.

How to Pray for the Sick – Inner Healing

It is preferable to pray in a team of two or three, nevertheless:

• Do listen carefully to the prayer recipient.
• Do keep your eyes open. Watch and pray.
• Do use the Scriptures.
• Do invite and wait for prompting from Holy Spirit.

Many good pointers can be found in Mark Virkler’s Prayers that Heal the Heart. And your purchase through this link helps to support this site.

Other trusted organizations that are training believers to help others heal are:

SOZO – richmondhillva.org
SOZO – daystaratlanta.org
Healing Seminars – Hunter Ministries
School of Healing Prayer – Christian Healing Ministries
How to Find Healing – Order of St. Luke
Scriptures on Healing – Healing Rooms MInistries

SOZO Seminars – ibethel.org

These are only a few, and if you know of any others, please add them by way of comments. We’d like to hear from you.

Prayer-for-the-Sick: Grief

At holiday times of the year, it seems especially difficult to deal with sickness and loss. Some of us have had loved ones to pass on, and others are reminded of events that were once shared with dear ones. It was in December that two of my close relatives died; one of my grandmothers when I was a child, and my father only seven years ago.

It seems we were shielded from our grandmother’s passing, though she briefly convalesced and expired in my parents’ bedroom. I remember hearing my mother’s anguish as my brother and I waited in the apartment next door with neighbors. The end had come. It also marked an end for me, the end of a dream.

I enjoyed dancing very much, and I looked forward to dance classes and dance recitals, but my grandmother’s dying request was for me to stop dancing. This dear soul had taught me to pray and took me to church. I promised her that I would stop dance school, and because piano lessons were no consolation, I turned my back on them also. That year, however, we discovered Santa’s secret hideaway under our parents’ bed. Grief was somehow tucked away until later years.

My dad’s passing was connected to an unexpected impact. Though I was in process of returning to my hometown to monitor his care, his end came haltingly, and “assisted” by a morphine drip. When I arrived and viewed his body at the mortuary, I got the impression that he was miffed by the ordeal. His funeral, however, was a celebration of home going. I was close to my dad, but tears never came, and no holiday blues. Then, my brother’s grief manifested as a sudden, violent verbal attack against me, followed by intentional isolation and strained communication. (He is closer to our mother.)

That brings me to date and the prospect of grieving a matter with yet another relative. I have previously posted an article about mother-daughter relationships. Now, counseling through prayer ministry has brought me to a realization that addresses my own personal grief in this holiday season, and brings closure to the end of a different dream.

Somehow we endure certain things through hope, and that can be unhealthy. The Bible clearly states that hope deferred makes the heart sick [Proverbs 13:12 [show] Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
]. Then, in spite of ourselves, events sometimes trigger a turning point. So I can surely testify that I am now turning for good.

In this season when the Hallelujah chorus of Handel’s Messiah garners the delight of many listeners, I acknowledge a more recent Hallelujah that captures the painfulness of praise in the midst of chaos and confusion and dysfunction.

‪KD Lang sings Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’

Songwriter Leonard Cohen’s Lyrics

I heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
You don’t really care for music, do ya?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I’ve been here before,
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked the floor,
I used to live alone before I knew ya
But I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch,
Our love is not a victory march,
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above,
But all I’ve ever learned from love,
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya,
It’s not a cry that you hear at night,
It’s not someone who’s seen the light,
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

I had set out to do a creative grief ritual, not to commemorate, neither to celebrate, nor to mourn a loss, but to release a dream that may never happen. This post is like a prayer that accomplishes that:

I am grateful to God for his abounding goodness and mercy toward me.
I am grateful for the love of Christ and His shed Blood for all of us. [John 3:16 [show] "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
]
I am grateful for the grace to forgive others and myself.
I am grateful for healing, strength, and resolve.
I am grateful for the freedom to say ‘No more.’ in love.
I am grateful for freedom from condemnation. [Romans 8:1 [show] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
]
I am grateful for SOZO and the Healing Ministry at Richmond Hill.
I am grateful to Glory of Zion for their prophetic ministry: God delights in me!
I am grateful for Chanukah, Christmas and this season of miracles.

The oil of joy . . . is Hallelujah! [Isaiah 61:3 [show] to grant to those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
]

‪Handel – Messiah – Hallelujah Chorus‬

Recommended Resource: Prayers that Heal the Heart

Prayer-for-the-Sick: Lament

What is it that causes us to have regrets? a broken heart? wishes that we could do things over again? desire to prevent the past? A lament seems to sum that up, and yet this seems more like a forboding, and here’s why:

For several weeks now, a song has been cycling through my thoughts for no apparent reason. One morning it began to play in my mind, and it keeps coming back. Perhaps this is a test, or at least an opportunity for me to cast down imaginations [2 Corinthians 10:5 [show] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (ESV)
] because I have no connection to Tennessee or waltzing at this time.

The Tennessee Waltz is so memorable that it’s been claimed as the state song, (sad as it is). I have sought out clues. First, I wondered about the lyrics themselves. You see, when I was growing up, this song was made popular by Patti Page.

I was dancin’ with my darlin’ to the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin’
My friend stole my sweetheart from me.

I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz
Now I know just how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darlin’ the night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz.

Then I wondered about the term little darlin‘. Sure enough, I discovered the song had been written by a man.

It is regretable that the person’s love was stolen away. Jesus says very clearly that the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy [John 10:10 [show] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (ESV)
]. The lamenter’s joy died and and his relationship was destroyed.

So, what is at risk of being stolen from me? I have given it much consideration, and now I am beginning to see that it is quite possibly something very dear to me – my freedom. And not only that, but my dreams and destiny as well, even my own personal concerns. And the Devil is using a relative to attempt to do it.

But, “Bless God!” for His faithfulness because Jesus added that He came that we might have life more abundantly. Thank God! Do I ever thank Him that he is prompting me to see the light. Growing up, I had to endure this python, controlling force that was born out of an orphan spirit; but God has blessed me to learn about generational influences. Yet contending with them seems another matter altogether. Fortunately, the battle is not mine, only the standing [Ephesians 6:13 [show] Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (ESV)
].

It is faith that keeps lamenting from turning into self-pity and despair. Not my faith, which is surely being tried, along with other fruit of the spirit [Galatians 5:22 [show] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (ESV)
], but the faith of Christ [Galatians 2:16 [show] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (ESV)
] the Anointed One. I have decided to be free despite appearances to the contrary. I shall NOT be moved. I am holding fast to my redemption and I refuse to be tricked out of it, naturally or spiritually.

Have you ever lamented over something? How were you delivered from it? Please share in comments. And though you’ve probably landed here in search of prayer, say a little prayer for me, also. Thanks!

* * *

Today across the land, we recognize veterans who served on many fronts to preserve our freedom. God has blessed America through their sacrifice.