Chapter 12: Applications
SPIRIT OF PRAYER
Perhaps you’ve seen the term “Spirit of Prayer”(SOP) and puzzled how to do it or even what it is. Let’s illustrate with an example: imagine that your spouse is in the hospital with a serious illness, but you can’t stay in the hospital by the bed because you have to go to work. Even though you’re not actually by his side physically, your thoughts are constantly with him. As you drive to work, you’re thinking of him; throughout the day you’re busy with your job but whenever you get a free moment, your thoughts turn to how your loved one is doing; then at the end of the day when you drive back to the hospital, again all you can think of is whether or not he’s getting better. This is just like a SOP; when you’re busy, you’re focused on your work; but during every free moment your thoughts are turned toward something of great concern.
We can have this same degree of focus turned toward receiving the BHS. A SOP is also a gift from God, just like faith and many other things. Pray that He will give you a SOP directed at receiving the BHS. In this way your heart and mind will become prepared to receive the BHS. Once you receive this SOP, you can be confident that the BHS is imminent.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Once you begin pursuing the BHS, you will initially have a lot of personal requests to make: for yourself and for your loved ones. But eventually, after most of your requests have been answered, you may find yourself coming before God with nothing particular in mind. Now it’s time to take the next step. This will be when you may start turning your attention to helping others. This is what God wants us to grow toward doing. This is the attitude of service which Jesus has; and which we will want to develop.
You can widen your circle of prayer and intercession to include more distant family members and friends, and to include the new friends you’re making in your study group. You are growing to know each other in your group and to care about each other’s well being. Besides, you may find it more comfortable at first to do intercessory prayer for those who are already familiar with what you’ll be doing. So you can feel safe there and know that no one will criticize you if you stumble over your words. Use each other in your study group to practice. Then as you gain confidence, you can go out among your larger circle of friends and begin interceding for them.
When your friends see how spiritual you have become and how effective your prayers are, they will ask you how they can find the same level of spirituality that you are enjoying. This will be an open door for you to begin praying with them and to invite them to join your study group.
Some of you may be a bit timid at first because you may think that only those who obviously have the HS should pray for others. Well be assured that you have the HS as well. You have been studying to find how to have the BHS. This desire in itself should confirm that the HS is already at work in you; He IS now with you. You have felt that He is with you and have seen Him working in your life. Trust that evidence, and know He is with you and helping you grow.
It’s not unusual when the HS first comes into your heart to not feel a strong emotion. You know intellectually that He is there but you haven’t yet had a powerful physical manifestation of His presence. Trust this knowledge. Paul tells us in Ro 8:16 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Trust the promises we’ve been given; trust the testimony of the Spirit in your heart; know that He is there with you despite the lack of strong feeling. The emotional experience will come soon. But the HS is already there for you now! Just continue to manifest your faith.
Early in your experience you may have a particular negative event. It will likely be a situation wherein you are first built up, then let down. Specifically, you pray for someone’s healing and you see a remarkable answer to your prayers. This encourages you, so you try in boldness to do it again; only to see no good result, or even worse, the person dies. You’ll get discouraged and may even decide to give up on God and the whole “Holy Spirit thing”.
There are a couple of factors at work in situations like this. One thing that may be involved is that you’re being allowed to be tried by Satan in order to test your perseverance. How easily do you give up? How much do you want to keep your new position? Once you move into a new status in God’s family, Satan claims a right to attempt to dislodge you and return you to your former state. Once you pull out of your depression from the failure, come back to God and keep learning. It’s a long process and it takes a while to learn all “the rules”, so to speak. But you eventually get to where you understand how things work, what you can do, and what to expect.
The other thing that may be happening is that rather than listening to the Holy Spirit you begin unwittingly listening to a satanic spirit. There is a type of demon that specializes in counterfeiting the impressions of the Holy Spirit, and who will try to lead you to listen to him instead. Then as things go wrong you blame God and turn from Him. It is possible to tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and the counterfeiting demon; but you must be careful and alert. Many people early in their experience are so eager to have the Holy Spirit leading them that they become careless in what they accept. Then by being unguarded they are led by the wrong spirit and find themselves disappointed. The counterfeit demon will soon reveal his true nature. You then have the task of recognizing him for what he is and casting him out. It’s an unhappy situation to be in, so be aware that this can happen and be alert to guard against it.
EXAMPLES
* Brother W’s father-in-law, Mr. Z, went to the hospital to find out why he was passing blood in his urine. Mr. Z underwent many tests then was told he had a tumor inside his bladder and he also had kidney cancer. They said that the bladder tumor was operable but considering that he also had kidney cancer there really wasn’t any point in going through an operation on the bladder. They explained that kidney cancer is an inoperable type of cancer and there is no treatment for it. Further, the cancer was well advanced so there was nothing to do but go home and get his affairs in order; the most he could count on was maybe six months.
Mr. Z informed Brother W of the prognosis and asked for prayer. Brother W began an intensive session of intercessory prayer. After several days the Lord gave Brother Wa sense of peace and assurance that his father-in-law would be healed. At the urging of his family Mr. Z went to a different hospital and asked for an exam, explaining that he had kidney cancer and a bladder tumor. The second hospital then put him through an extensive series of tests. Afterwards they told him that “Yes”, he had a tumor in his bladder, but it could be easily removed. However, they didn’t know why he said he had kidney cancer, because according to all their tests his kidneys were healthy. There was no trace of cancer!
A few days later a procedure was done which removed the bladder tumor. He was then told to come back in three months for follow-up tests. When the tests were repeated the results were the same — no trace of kidney cancer. Two years later, Mr. Z remains cancer-free.
* Miss J, a 14 year old girl in good health, was having a routine physical for school when the blood tests showed very unusual hormone levels. An ultrasound was done which revealed a large tumor on her right ovary. She was referred to another hospital for more tests and scans in preparation for surgery as soon as possible.
Prior to going for the additional tests, Miss J and her father asked Brother W to pray for her. He did and very quickly received an assurance from God that she was healed. Miss J went to the second hospital and had the scans and X-rays done, only to be told that there was nothing to be found on her ovaries. She was then sent home with a clean bill of health.
* Ms. F’s 4 year-old son C went to school one Wednesday feeling fine, but by the time he came home he was pulling on his left ear and complaining that it hurt. By bedtime it was bothering him a lot, and Ms. F began suspecting that he may be coming down with an ear infection, but she didn’t know what could be done for him. By 3:00 am he was screaming in pain, and it hurt so much that he couldn’t be consoled. She knew there weren’t any doctors available at that time of night and she was reluctant to go to the hospital.
As she began thinking about the possibility of praying for his healing a strong feeling came over that seemed to tell her, “I want to heal him; just say it!” Ms. F then began praying, “Lord, I need faith; I need forgiveness.” She prayed for her own forgiveness and for her son’s; then proceeded to pray for the forgiveness of everyone in her household, including their visiting guest. C said, “Mommy, it still hurts.” She answered, “Yes, I know; I’m not finished praying yet.” She then rejected all evil spirits from her house. Finally she felt an overwhelming sense of joy and felt it was time to say, “In the name of Jesus, you’re healed!” C then said, “Mommy, it still hurts.” She knew that this is what he would say, but she still felt confident. So she told him that it would be better very soon. She then went to the kitchen to get him some juice. When she got back C said, “Mommy, the pain is gone now.” She asked him about it, and although there was a little bit left, it was almost all gone. He began sipping on his juice and before he finished it all he had fallen asleep, and slept through the rest of the night. The next morning when he got up he told her the pain was all gone!
When she took him to school that morning (Thursday), the teacher told Ms. F that the little girl that sits next to C had been out a whole week with a bad ear infection.
* Brother W’s brother-in-law, Mr. F, began having difficulty breathing one day. At first he dismissed it as something in the air. But within a few days he felt such excruciating pain in his chest that he went to the hospital. They checked him in, put him on strong pain killers, and began a series of tests that took several days. At last they informed him that he had “small cell lung cancer and it was already in stage 4!”
(This type of cancer is very aggressive and grows rapidly. It’s incurable even with chemotherapy; treatment only slows it down for a while Also, in this case it had already spread out of his lungs, and had surrounded his heart and abdominal organs, and had even gone into his spine.)
Mr. F was advised to start chemotherapy immediately. He was told that even with treatment, he would have at most one year to live. But without immediate treatment, it was doubtful if he would live another two days. Mr. F agreed to the chemotherapy treatments.
Prior to the first chemotherapy injection, Mr. F asked Brother W to pray with him. During the prayer Mr. F felt a change take place within himself, and afterward was convinced that he would be completely cured. Although he then accepted the full course of chemotherapy treatment, he attributed his healing to the power of God.
* Brother N and Brother W prayed for Mrs. EF, a young lady in her mid-20s who was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. The disease had been progressing since childhood and she was now experiencing nearly constant pain. Within a few days after the prayer the MS went into remission. The young lady remains pain-free more than a year later.
* Brother N, Brother W, Sister D & Sister K prayed for Ms. GL, a lady in her 50s who was suffering from breast cancer in its fourth stage; there was even an open wound where the cancer had eaten away the flesh to the surface. The prayer warriors told Ms.G that during the prayer she would feel a warmth in the affected areas. After the prayer Ms.G reported that she had in deed felt a warm sensation for a few minutes and that she believed she was healed. However, the next day during a phone conversation with one of the prayer warriors Ms.G began expressing doubt about the healing and even expressed doubt about the warm sensation she had felt since it had been so quick. The prayer team made an appointment and prayed for Ms.G again. This time she felt the sensation much stronger and longer — it wasn’t just warmth, it was a hot sensation; and it didn’t last only a few minutes, it lasted 45 minutes. Ms.G was satisfied. The next day Ms.G was again talking with a prayer warrior by phone, and again she expressed doubt about the healing. She dismissed the sensation as just being a “hot flash”, even though the feeling lasted 45 minutes and even though she had never had any hot flashes before. The prayer team made a third appointment. By this time Ms.G was in the hospital because of a large build up of fluid in her lungs. The prayer warriors prayed not only for healing but also that Ms.G might have faith this time; again the Holy Spirit came and the healing was declared. The following day her doctor noticed a change in her condition and ordered tests. He then reported that there was no longer any trace of cancer in her body. He wanted to do one or two treatments of chemotherapy as a precaution, but that she could expect to have a long life.
UNDERSTAND THE FACTORS
When praying for others it is important to understand a few factors that can affect the outcome of your prayers. You don’t want to have an incorrect understanding of what will happen, or else by being surprised you may experience a negative impact on your faith.
It is incorrect to think that when praying for someone else, once you’ve gotten an assurance that the prayer has been answered, that then the healing is guaranteed. This is not the case! There are other factors that also come into play; such as the sick person’s faith, understanding, and relationship with God.
When we receive an assurance it is only letting us know that our request has been approved and the healing is available; from that point the other person needs to claim it. Let’s use an analogy to help you understand the distinction. Imagine the healing as a gift-wrapped package that’s placed on the table in front of the person. When we pray for them God sends them a gift of healing and it is there in front of them. That’s why it can be affirmed that they already have the blessing even though no change is seen. For there to be a change they have to reach out and take the gift and open it. Unfortunately some people leave the gift on the table unclaimed.
Another thing to understand is that the act of claiming the gift is not always instant. In some cases, Yes, as soon as you reach out to claim the gift it is instantly yours. But in other cases the act of claiming takes time. It may require claiming the gift for many hours or even days before a change is seen. So once you start claiming the gift it’s important not to give up too soon.
In general, our generation is both faithless and impatient. Even when some people are able to whip up enough faith to bring a blessing within reach, they may then fail in claiming it because they don’t persist long enough to take hold of what’s been approved and placed before them.
REFORMING
I’d like to give a hypothetical situation to illustrate a principle. Imagine a man who has smoked heavily for 40 years. At last he comes down with lung cancer, and the doctors take him for surgery. Afterwards they tell him he was lucky; they managed to remove it all. He is now cancer-free! But they advise him that he must stop smoking or the cancer could easily return. Then the next time you see him, there he is smoking as much as before. What do you think to yourself? Why didn’t he learn from his experience and change his ways? He was cured once; does he think he can be that lucky again if the problem comes back? You would think that man was very silly; and that’s putting it kindly.
Please realize that we face the same decision as that man. We have all asked God to heal us of various afflictions. So we need to keep in mind that once He has worked to heal us — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually — we must then take care not to continue or repeat the situations which led to the problem in the first place.
For example, if we’ve been healed physically: we must take very good care of our body. We’ve dedicated ourselves to God, and once He has touched us to heal us, we must consider our body to be holy unto Him. Thus we must take care of it just as we would if we were in Heaven.
Or if we’ve been healed mentally or emotionally: we must change our attitudes; we must not hold grudges; we must not engage in self-destructive behaviors. We need to learn to be as forgiving and loving of others as Jesus is. When He was here on Earth He was treated very badly, yet He continues to love us. And aren’t we grateful that He does? We need to become the same way.
As He works with us and gives us understanding to grow spiritually: we need to cherish the enlightenment we’ve been given and act on it. Yes, it goes against our human nature. But isn’t that exactly what we’ve been praying for? — A changed nature! As you receive guidance, don’t neglect it. You must want to grow more each day; not lose what you’ve already gained.
CLAIMING A PROMISE : “Opening a Gift Wrapped Package
Earlier we referred to the need to open the gift wrapped packages that are placed before us. That is, to “claim” the blessings that God is offering to us in order to actually gain the benefit that we desire and that He wants us to have. Occasionally people have difficulty doing this for a couple of different reasons. Some people are afraid that doing this might seem pushy to God, and so they hold back and say, “I’ll just accept whatever His will may be.” Other people accept the concept that a blessing must be claimed, only they don’t know how to do it.
If you have ever had occasion to use a coupon to make a purchase then you understand the concept of claiming an offer. The manufacturer or the merchant is inviting you to make use of their coupon because they recognize that if you redeem their coupon it is mutually beneficial; it helps them as well as you.
Imagine going into a store with a coupon that offers “buy one, get one free” for a product. You pick up two of the items and head to the check out counter. You then have this conversation: As your purchase is rung up and you hand the cashier the coupon she says, “You can’t use this.” You ask, “Why? Is it expired?” She answers, “No.” “Did I pick up the wrong item?”, you continue. “No”, she says. You then ask, “Well then, what’s the problem?!” She replies, “You didn’t ask me for permission to use the coupon. In order to receive the offer you have to ask us to let you have it, and you must also say that whatever we decide is okay with you.” Imagine your surprise at such a condition. You would likely think that the store was pulling some kind of dirty trick on you, and you would leave upset. You were only trying to take advantage of the offer they made. If they didn’t want to give it, they shouldn’t have issued the coupon.
This scenario is ridiculous; and yet this is what some people think of God — even though He made an offer for us to claim a blessing that He wants to give us, they think we must be careful when trying to accept it just in case it isn’t really His will for us to have it. By making the offer He is letting us know that He wants to give that thing to us. Accept the sincerity of the offer and don’t try to second guess Him.
Perhaps you accept that He wants to bless you, but you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. Just follow some easy steps and the promise will surely be fulfilled.
* First, find a promise that you want to claim. There are hundreds of promises throughout Scripture that cover a wide variety of needs and blessings.
* Second, carefully read the context of the passage. You want to see if the circumstances given match your circumstances. If not, then this may not be the promise for you to claim.
* Third, check for the conditions given for claiming the blessing offered. Every promise from God has some kind of condition to be met. Most conditions are easy; but there is always something to be done on our part in order to receive the blessing.
* Fourth, let God know that you wish to claim His promise. Once you are certain that this promise applies to your situation, and that you have met all the conditions, state your intention to receive the offer that was made.
* Fifth, watch for any signs from God confirming that you have correctly made a claim and the blessing will be fulfilled for you. This step can be tricky. If you have the Holy Spirit within you, He will manifest His answer in a way that you’ve learned to understand. But if you don’t yet have the Holy Spirit within, it’s easy to misunderstand the signs. Take great care on this step.
* Sixth, don’t waver in your faith. Once you’ve received an assurance from God that the blessing will be given, don’t doubt! Sometimes blessings are delivered right away; sometimes there is a waiting period. If you face a time of waiting, don’t let yourself succumb to doubting. Doubt is offensive to God. Ja 1:6-7, “He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind; that man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.”
* Seventh, keep from sinning while waiting; and if you sin, quickly ask forgiveness. Holding onto sins can cause a delay in the arrival of the blessing. The longer you hold onto a cherished sin, the longer your wait will be.
Once a claimed blessing starts coming, it may come in stages. This statement doesn’t apply to all blessings, only some; because there are so many different things we might claim. But in order that you might be aware of the possibilities, we will describe a common occurrence.
Perhaps you’re claiming healing. You correctly claim a promise, you receive an affirmation that the blessing is to be given, and you even begin seeing improvement; but you don’t yet see complete healing. This is a test of your faith. Don’t fail here, or you can lose it all! You are being tested to show whether or not you truly have faith in God’s willingness to help you. Someone or something is going to cause you to question what’s happening. The result of this testing will decide the fate of the blessing. The doubts can come from within you, inspired by Satan; or they can come from someone near you who doesn’t have the belief you have that God really helps those who call on Him.
It may be a well meaning family member who says, “You’re not well yet. Get back in bed; you need to rest. Someone as sick as you shouldn’t try to get up!” Even worse, it may be a skeptical friend who says, “Oh, this is bad. I’ve seen it before. Sick people often feel a lot better just before they die!” Or worst of all, it might be a faithless pastor who says, “No, God doesn’t heal people this way. That was only in the Bible. These days we’re supposed to bear our ailments and accept them as His will.” Don’t even listen to negative statements, much less dwell on them.
You’ve prayed for healing, the pain has diminished 80%, there are even several signs of improvement, but there yet remains some pain and certain aspects of the affliction are still present. You are now at a crossroad, and what you choose to believe at this juncture is crucial to what will happen next! You can believe that the improvements are just coincidence and that you aren’t really healed; in which case the improvements will disappear and you’ll quickly worsen. Or you can believe that God has agreed to heal you and that you’ve been given proof of that healing, and you only need to continue in your faith and thanksgiving; in which case the remaining symptoms will soon be healed as well. The choice is now yours, and what you believe will determine your outcome.
FAITH NEEDED FOR HEALING
Faith to be healed is not a matter of saying, “I believe Jesus can heal anyone of anything, if it’s His will.” This is only a general statement that is held in common by nearly every Christian. Faith to be healed requires saying and believing, “I believe that Jesus is willing to heal me of this disease today.” This is the faith that God is looking for in order to give a miracle. It has to be a personalized faith addressing the relationship between you and God.
DELAYED ANSWERS TO PRAYERS
There is a strong and direct correlation between our sins and Satan’s ability to harm us. That is, by sinning we open the door for all sorts of bad things to happen to us. Also by sinning we block many of the good things that God wants to give us. We typically sin so much that most people don’t see the connection between sins and Satan’s touch; but there is a very definite “cause and effect”. However, once we develop spiritually to where we don’t sin often, then on those occasions when we do sin, we can see much more clearly Satan gaining access to harm us.
For example, when Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land he went 40 years with only one recorded sin; that was when he struck the rock with his staff rather than just speaking to it (Nu 20:8-12). Yet as a result of that one offense Satan went to God and demanded that Moses not be blessed and instead be given to him. Moses was not allowed to lead the people into the Promised Land, as he had aspired to do for 40 years; Moses was also laid to sleep rather than living longer and even being translated to heaven; and when the Lord came to collect Moses’ body Satan was there to resist God, claiming that because of that one sin Moses couldn’t go to heaven and instead must be given to him (Jd 9). Fortunately God rejected that claim. Even so, Moses lost what he desired, he lost his life, and he nearly lost his salvation as a result of one sin.
We should learn from this to be much more careful about sinning. We must reject the attitude that says, “I have so many sins, one more little one won’t make a difference.” We must get rid of all the sin we can. Even if we have a big sin that we can’t seem to overcome, we shouldn’t give up and fail to remove those little sins that we can overcome. Instead, resist all the sins you are able to resist; and the ones you’re not, turn over to God to remove for you.
Likewise, when Jesus healed people He told them, “Go and sin no more.” He knew that even though they had been healed, by sinning again Satan would come to bring the disease back and, if possible, do to them something even bigger. Satan did this so that it might seem like they hadn’t been healed in the first place, and that by trusting in God things got worse.
We continue to face the same situation today. Many times while interceding in prayer for someone’s healing, God sends His word declaring them healed. Then in the subsequent days there is no improvement seen, and sometimes even a worsening. These occurrences are a result of either lack of faith or continued sin. Both can cause a blessing to be delayed or even lost.
For a blessing of promised healing to be delayed doesn’t mean that the blessing hasn’t been given; it’s there, waiting to take effect as soon as there is nothing to prevent it. But we often don’t take into account that by continuing to sin, we are giving Satan the right to deny us that blessing. Remember what he denied to Moses. Remember what Jesus said about not sinning after being given a blessing. Once we turn to God and ask Him to help us keep from sinning, we then can be made able to receive the blessing that is right there!
PRAYING FOR OTHERS: Misc Points
* When praying for someone’s healing, the first work is to give them “peace of mind”, by helping them receive forgiveness. To receive His blessings, sin must be confessed and forsaken. When we pray for them they are given forgiveness and healing; but in order for them to receive and keep these blessings they must turn from their sins.
* When Jesus received the sick, He turned away none: He knew they had brought diseases upon themselves, yet He didn’t refuse to heal them. Because of His unconditional acceptance and service, many received spiritual restoring as well as physical healing.
* I am not the one who heals people: God is. If a healing doesn’t occur, it is God that hasn’t healed them for some reason. When we fail to see healing we should not get discouraged, we should just go to God to learn what it is that we don’t yet understand.
* When we go to heal someone our prayer must focus on Jesus, and continue until Jesus’ presence is there; then we can speak the word of healing. By focusing on Jesus instead of the patient, we know whether or not He is ready to heal this person at this time. If His presence comes, then we know to speak healing; if His presence doesn’t come, we know to just leave. We should not pray to receive blessings, instead we should pray to become like Jesus; that is, we should focus on the Giver, not the gifts.
* The presence of people with no Faith can work to block a blessing. That is, if there are other people in the room or in the home, their disbelief will hinder the healing. If your faith is exceptionally strong, you can pray past this obstacle. But if you are just an average prayer warrior, it would be better to come back when the skeptic is not there.
* Christ’s children are His chosen channels so that through them He may exercise healing. It is God who does the healing, we’re just His witnesses; however, He is choosing to tell us His plan ahead of time so that His name may be glorified. Am 3:7, “God will do nothing, unless He reveal His secret to His servants the prophets.” Jn 15:15, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you.”
* This is NOT prosperity gospel! There may be those who read the statements that we can claim promises in faith in order to receive all our needs, and see in that an open door to try to take advantage of God. But God is wise enough not to be made gullible by anyone. We won’t be able to claim more than He knows is for our good. On the one hand, our Father is willing to be very generous with us; on the other hand, His main concern is our eternal salvation. When we start asking for blessings our first impulse will be to make our lives here as comfortable as possible, even to the point of luxury. But as our characters are changed to be more and more like Jesus, we find other things taking priority. Our lives in this world are not for pursuing self-interests, but to be of service to others. Jesus, our example, sought nothing for Himself; instead He gave up His riches, position, and comfort in order to minister to us more effectively. As we become changed into His image and become ever more humble, as we die to self and surrender our own desires, we will not be seeking blessing after blessing for ourselves, but will instead be seeking a closer relationship with God and a fitness to truly be of service to others.
* We go through different stages of development as we progress spiritually. After the BHS we become students and pray as righteous men and women. (This is the stage addressed by this book.) After receiving the Initial Pentecost we become young sons and daughters, and are given a limited amount of power; we begin declaring in faith and even prophesying. After receiving the Full Pentecost we come into our full rights as sons and daughters of Heaven and have access to all the power and tools that God has for us in order to battle the Evil One effectively. We, by speaking, can command demons, diseases, and even nature. (This stage is touched only briefly in this book. It may be expanded further in a subsequent book.)
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