My Story Part 3

So now that I could hear the voice of God, my mission was to start praying for people to get healed. Of course, this is easier said than done, mostly because of those nagging thoughts inside your head:

"Well what if they don't get healed? You'll really look stupid then!"

Better yet:

"What if God doesn't want to heal this person and I'm actually going against His plan by trying to get them healed?"

Ok so now its time for a quick side note: God wants to heal everyone! Here's the reasoning behind this. Matthew 10 tells us that healing the sick, etc. should accompany the preaching of His kingdom. Sickness and death came into the world because of Adam's choice in the garden - not because God wanted them to come. Sure, God can use them for good, but that doesn't mean they are His way of working or the best way of obtaining results. Basically, the devil tries to wreck someone's life by putting them in a wheelchair or making them paralyzed or whatever you want to fill in the blank with - and God still frustrates his plans by using even those horrible things to make something beautiful. Make no mistake - God didn't want that person to get hurt and is eagerly waiting for one of His sons or daughters to enter the situation and release His redemption: healing of body, soul, and spirit.

Now, you can imagine how difficult it would be to pray for someone with those awful lies running through your head. So, since I was going to a Christian college at the time, I decided to try first on other believers. It still wasn't very easy, but I finally saw God heal someone through me!

That was another turning point in my life.

It's hard to go back to powerless Christianity when you see the utter shock on someone's face when they can no longer find the pain that was just in their body a moment ago. You want a rush? THAT is a rush! Even the Dean of Students heard the two of us shouting and screaming about what had just happened! So within the rest of that semester, I saw God heal about 10-15 more people (I kept a tally on my dorm room door). However, I still had one problem: I didn't have the guts to pray for someone out on the street. The thought of doing such a thing excited me, but at the same time it scared the bejeebers out of me! I needed to find a large group of people who were running in the same direction as me. This search was mostly unsuccessful, though I did find a faithful few at the college of like mind as I. Then I remembered hearing that Chad Dedmon (speaker referred to earlier) was a graduate of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. It sounded like just the right place for me! So after the (fall) semester ended, I packed up my few belongings and drove to Redding, CA with my mom and older brother.

It turned out that the school didn't take new students half-way through the year, so I found a place to live and got to know some of the students who were in the school. I quickly found out that the people here are very serious about taking healing everywhere; the streets, homeless shelters, malls, stores, and even to the bars! I felt like I was in heaven! Finally, a group of people who loved me enough to push me out of my comfortable shell! I started going out on their Friday night outreaches and got to see many people healed in public places and some of them even received Jesus!

As this was happening, I began to understand a concept I'd heard people talk about before, but really hadn't meant much to me. Read my next blog to find out what it is :)!

John H.