God has a funny sense of humor.
Before I even moved here 5 years ago, I heard him tell me to start a healing ministry. I didn't know what a healing ministry was, let alone how to start one. But, I did my best to find a good one to bring to the church. Nothing worked....so in God's funny sense of humor, He had me write a healing prayer training curriculum. We started by holding a weekend training that 13 people registered for and 35 attended. It was a great start.
The next week we started the weekly training and I set the bar really high. I expected half of them to quit by the next class; instead more came.
God has done miracle upon miracle with the Healing Prayer Ministers. They are experiencing revival and healing in many aspects of their lives.
Now we are in our 3rd year. We are training a new group with others who can't get enough of God and being in community with each other.
Once a month, we hold a Healing Prayer Worship Service. People can come and worship, and then receive prayer for whatever type of healing they desire. People are attending now just to soak in the environment, to make space for God, to bring calm to the chaos that swirls around them.
Last night we had a service. As I looked around and saw what was happening, my spirit soared. This is Kingdom of God ministry to see the blind see, the lame walk, the sick made well......
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Just the other day, I had the privilege of listening to Pastor Ed Young, Sr and his sermon on the Birth of Jesus Christ...Our Lord and Savior, King of Kings, the Son of our Almighty God who was born humbly in a stable amongst stinky animals and their excrement. The lowest of the social ladder – the shepherds – were the ones that were heralded by the heavenly hosts of Christ’s birth and were first to visit the newborn King. Jesus is called our Shepherd. This reaffirmed to me His intent to reach out to the down-trodden and poor in spirit, the meek, sick, poor, lowly humanity that even society had cast out and welcome them into His Kingdom, along with anyone else who accepts His free gift of Salvation.
The movie, “The Nativity Story”, opened my eyes to several things surrounding the Holy Birth of Our Sovereign Lord that I had never considered before; the struggles that Mary and Joseph must have gone through simply to travel to Bethlehem; the challenges that they had to endure when Mary, Joseph, and their respective families were faced with being unwed and her pregnancy. I was touched by the unlikeness that the 3 wise men under “normal” circumstances would not have knelt in the excrement of animals, next to shepherds, and yet, all boundaries were done away with as the beginning of Christ’s Kingdom was being established in that lowly stable in Bethlehem. Healing was done that night in a most powerful way, on many levels.
I am not a "Thomas" that I need to see to believe, yet I give glory and praise to our Heavenly Father that I have been blessed to witness God's Miraculous healings during the healing ministry.
The Healing Prayer Service and Ministry helped to reveal an understanding of the depths of my own "ailments" - physically, as well as spiritually and emotionally. Through the powerful and supernatural healing bestowed upon me, I am now able to face incredible odds and stand under buckling weight with joy and peace in my very soul. Where I saw no hope, Christ gave me hope. Where I was weary and overburdened, God traded His yoke for mine. Where my path was fraught with the mire of life’s struggles, Christ laid out a path well lit so that I might not stumble.
Thank you for faithfully opening your arms to our community; for exercising compassionately the healing Christ taught His disciples, and for being a Spirit filled missional church.
Tamara,
My spirit soars when I hear of all of the ways that God is working through you and His church! Dori B. here from MidWinter! Caught your blog from Jesus Creed.
The Healing Prayer Ministry is everything I had hoped for and more!! I am experiencing His powerful, blessed annointing of the Holy Spirit every time we meet for Healing Prayer Service. I feel embraced and filled and uplifted with the sweetness of His Holy Spirit. When I share this with others, I invite them to come just for the experience of being filled and ministered to with His loving Spirit. Like you put it so beautifully, Tamara, the chaos in our lives simply melts away and we are filled with His peace and joy and love!! This alone is healing to our souls, and a spiritual, emotional and physical transforming experience. My friend Gail and her husband came for the first time this last Tuesday night, and she is a devout prayer herself, and she said she has never experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit so powerfully before in her life. She loved the music and time of worship. She was profoundly touched and ministered to and left feeling refreshed, renewed and encouraged by the entire service and our prayers. What a beautiful way to enter this holy holiday season!!
I am so very grateful for this ministry and feel privileged to be used by God in this way as a Healing Prayer Minister. This is what I believe God has been preparing me for all my life with the many trials I have experienced as well as the many blessings He has given me and the many healings He has done for me, all in preparation for such a time as this!!
On the side, I just want to comment about last Tuesday night, and how awesome it was to see so many people come who had never been there before, as well as people returning to be ministered to again!! Laura and I along with Rosemary interceding for us, prayed with 7 people. That is more than twice as many we had ever prayed for before!! God is good!! It is always amazing to me how God speaks to us in unison with one another. What one is praying for silently to herself/himself,the prayer is praying out loud. This is the Holy Spirit at work in us, of course.
God bless you Tamara, for being so faithful and obedient to the calling of the Lord to begin this ministry, when your mortal mind was doubting the possibility. God is good, omniscient and omnipotent and He called into being that which our eyes could not see. Praise you Lord!!
Love,
Your sister in Christ Jesus,
Carra Lee
Tamara...my spirit has been soaring as I as been reading how God is moving in and through your community and beyond! Dori B. here from Midwinter. This is the third time I have tried to post a comment...we will see if it shows up this time...I wonder what I have been doing wrong...blessings, sister!
Hi Tamara,
Yes, God does have a funny sense of humor. The closeness of the Holy Spirit is something to see in action and experience. When he brings something of this nature about, it is not about our efforts - we fall short. He is to be credited for taking us closer to him as we grow in relationship with others. Thanks for your example and dedication.
Dave
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