I ask in all earnestness. When was the last time you opened your church up to a healing ministry? For that matter, when was the last time you felt compelled to let Jesus heal in your church? If these are tough questions (and I know they are for many), then why deny or ignore them?
Jesus is here NOW, in this day and age to bring healing and comfort to those who don't otherwise have it. Do we keep Jesus to ourselves, or do we take Him to the streets? I ask because I fail, and I ask because I yearn. But what of you? Are you intimidated or uncomfortable with bringing the wondrous healing of Christ to people in your world?
I vow to bring the healing powers of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to any, and all who ask. Where do you stand? Are you timid...or bold in the Holy Spirit. I ask you!
6 comments:
Timid!
Flyawaynet,
I too am timid until God gives me a slap, knocks me to my knees, and tells me to pray like I mean it. Unfortunately it mostly seems to be in response to difficulties in my personal life.
I keep praying that instead of my prayer being reactive, it be proactive. I'm working on that. Writing these blog entries helps me wrestle with my timidity.
I support healing ministry. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to heal.
I don't know if this is exactly what you're talking about, but I have held services where we prayed over someone and annointed them with oil before a surgery. I have had a couple where we came to the church when someone had a terrible accident and prayed for them. We had one on that fateful 9/11 day.
I even had a lady ask to stand in and us annoint her on somebody elses behalf.
These are not every week occurences, but I am never opposed to doing so. I may not promote this enough. And I might have to place an article in the newsletter or something. Or I may just continue to try to listen to the Spirit.
On a related topic, we have had a lot of support in working with a brand new soup kitchen here in town. I think that this will be a healing ministry for both workers and the homeless or poor.
Greg,
That's exactly what I was talking about. In my church the healing services were always in response to a request for healing prayer until our pastor was led last November to just have the service. Nobody asked but she felt led by the Holy Spirit to have it for anyone so led to come. That was the most powerful service we'd had!
I think it would be a good idea to occasionally give the invitation in your newsletter for anyone who seeks a healing to contact you. That invitation would certainly help somone who is wishing there would be such a service to make it happen.
Thanks for your input. I'm going to ask my pastor to consider putting the same in our bulletin.
And regarding the soup kitchen, a friend of mine had worked for years at such a mission and he shared that it had a healing effect in the spirits of both the workers and the recipients.
In the past, this church has held a couple of healing services for a young girl in the congregation with cancer. This was several years ago.
I have been mulling over a regular healing service perhaps once a month on a Sunday evening (or another time). But nothing concrete at this point in time. Don't know if it is the result of being timid or just not wanting to introduce (too much) change within my first year...plus I'm having to develop people to assist with the planning and execution of our worship experiences, something that I have had to do all by myself during this first year.
Marty, this may be just the "shove" that I need to take the step from pondering to doing.
Wayne,
I've found that when we step out of our comfort zone and risk...nothing can be taken away from the idea to risk for the sake of Our Lord. May not be a well attended service, but if only one comes, and that one is comforted, it is worth it. Just my two cents...but I've gotten quarters back for these two cents.
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