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Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979

by Geoff 28 July 2023 No Comments

1979 Elcho Island Revival (Australia)

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Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979

See Pentecost in Arnhem Land, Australia, by Djiniyini Gondarra

Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival:
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Introduction
This revival occurred mainly among the Aboriginal people living in the north and west areas of Australia. The revival continued into the 1990s and beyond as Aboriginal teams would travel from place to place throughout the nation conducting meetings.

Pastor Djiniyini Gondarra
of Galiwini’ku Church

Challenges Among the Aboriginals
The Galiwin’ku church on Elcho Island in 1979 was experiencing many challenges.
► There was persecution.
► Many people left the church and were speaking against it, wanting to shut it down.
► The government was bringing money and other things into the community, causing material possessions to capture the people’s attention (cars, televisions, boats, nicer homes, etc.).
► Alcohol was a major problem, leading to many fights, domestic violence, and deaths.
► Vandalism was common.
► Polygamy was part of the culture.
► Young people were sniffing fuel and drinking a mixture of acetone and methylated spirits.
► Entire communities were in confusion and had no direction.
► Satan had his hand on everything.

In the 1960s there were some very powerful revivals that had caught the attention of the world. These included:
► 1960 Charismatic Movement
► 1965 Timor Revival (occurring in a relatively short distance to the northwest of Australia)
► 1967 Catholic Charismatic Renewal
► 1967 Jesus Movement

With this news, missionaries on Elcho Island and beyond began to experience this reviving influence, and the experiences transferred to Aboriginal people in the Galiwin’ku church.
► Miracles began to occur in the local clinic as the workers prayed for healing.
► Demonic powers were broken as the people came into contact with teachings from Derek Prince and others like him.

Beginning in the Uniting Church (denomination), the revival spread throughout Australia among the Aboriginal peoples. With its Pentecostal features, it caused much concern among the conservative missionaries that were associated with the Uniting Church.

Northern part of Australia

Planning of Special Meetings
To help the Galiwin’ku church take steps forward, after August of 1978 the leaders of the church asked the Pentecostal evangelist Dan Armstrong, of Sydney, Australia, to come and conduct a series of meetings, which were to be held in May the following year.

Extraordinary Prayer
Two Decades of Revival Praying: A small Aboriginal community of about 30 adults with their children, living in the far northern end of Elcho Island, for 20 years had been praying daily for revival in Australia and the world. They met for prayer every morning, during the day, and again each evening.

Prayer in Preparation for the Dan Armstrong Meetings: About six months prior to the meetings that Dan Armstrong was scheduled to hold at the Galiwin’ku church in 1979, prayer groups of 4 people or less were set up throughout the community in preparation for the meetings. Some of them met 3 times per week, some of them met every day at lunch, as well as after church services on Sundays.

Prayer Meeting

Immediate Changes Were Witnessed
The enhanced time commitment to prayer was immediately responded to by the Lord, as He placed in His people a hunger for the Word of God.

The desire to fellowship also grew, so much so, that the church could no longer contain the people, so they began to meet on the basketball court.

A “spirit of love” began to flow between the members of the church.

Services had to be held outside the church building

Offensively Confronting Demonic Powers
Demonic powers recognized what was occurring and they began immediately attacking the leaders with various types of sicknesses. As concentrated prayers were made, praying in homes where demonic manifestations were occurring, the powers of Satan were broken, and things really began to change.

Dream
On March 13, 1979, an aboriginal man named Wirriyi, had a dream of a fire on Elcho Island. In the dream he saw a fire coming down from the northern end of the island and traveling along its length, burning up everything on the island.

He saw the fire coming towards himself and he wanted to run away and jump into the ocean to escape the flames, but he heard a voice speaking to him from out of the fire:

That fire is the life of Yolngu [Aborigines]. That is for the end, for the future. If the Yolngu live like that fire – if your life is like the fire, burnt up – then, after it grows new life, it will be really good.

In the dream the fire burned the entire body of Wirriyi so completely that he became nothing but ashes. After the fire passed, the ashes of everything that was burned turned into new plants that were fully grown with fruit on them. At one moment Wirriyi was burned up, and then the next he was fully alive. The fire was the word of God.

The Revival Starts
Following that dream, the very next day, March 14, 1979, which many say was the start of the Elcho Island Revival, the fire in Wirriyi’s dream was ignited.

Pastor Djiniyini Gondarra, of the Elcho Church in the town of Galiwin’ku, had been on vacation for 4 weeks, and when he came back, having had a long day traveling, with three connecting flights, he was ready for rest.

Upon his arrival at the airstrip there was a large welcoming party that wanted to greet him. Because God had been doing so many things while he had been away, they wanted to tell him about them with a meeting at his home that night.

After the evening dinner, they held hands and began to pray.

Suddenly, we began to feel God’s Spirit moving in our hearts and the whole form of prayer life suddenly changed and everybody began to pray in the Spirit and in harmony.

One elder said:

That was the first time I felt like I was floating.

Some of the people said that God was visiting them to establish His kingdom on earth, breaking free those who had been for so long in bondage to Satan.

On that same evening the word of what God was doing spread like flames of fire and reached the whole community. Djiniyini explained what happened beginning on the next morning:

The love of Jesus was being shared and many expressions of forgiveness were taking place in the families and in the tribes. Wherever I went I could hear people singing and humming Christian choruses and hymns! Before then I would have expected to hear only fighting and swearing and many other troublesome things that would hurt your feelings and make you feel sad.

Open-air meeting

Singing on the Beach
Toward the end of March 1979, Djiniyini assembled the choir on the beach to practice for the Sunday service. With 15 people present, it turned into a very powerful time of worship which they had never experienced before, and it continued from 7 p.m. till midnight.

From that night on, this worship on the beach was held every night, and the numbers grew so rapidly, that by the end of April there were 150 to 200 people meeting every night of the week for 4-5 hours.

As people would pray for lost family members or others, the people prayed for would frequently turn to Christ within a few days.

Visions
Many had visions during this time.
► Some saw fireballs coming down from the sky.
► Some saw the church on fire.
► Some saw flames of fire resting on the heads of the people (Acts 2:3).

Dan Armstrong, Gelung & Djiniyini Gondarra

The Crow and the Dove
It was around April 1979, that the pastor of the Galiwin’ku church (Djiniyini) had his Bible attacked by a crow, tearing it to pieces. This was very meaningful for them, because the crow was associated with the totem for their clan. That night and the following day, Djiniyini and his wife, Gelung, were very disturbed. It led to prayer with a group of others, cleansing their home and property of all unclean spirits.

During the following days the crow would come to their home and would peck on their door. When they would open the door, the crow would fly away, and as it flew away another bird came, a white dove, chasing it and fighting with it as they were flying away together.

Dan Armstrong

Dan & Sue Armstrong Meetings
On Saturday evening, May 1, 1979, the small aircraft carrying Dan Armstrong and his team landed at the Galiwin’ku airstrip, where they were greeted by a group of young men running alongside the plane as it taxied to a stop. There was tremendous anticipation among the people, as they had been praying for this event for 6 months.

The night of their arrival was to be a time for the main leaders and those involved in the preparation for the meetings to meet and become acquainted with the Armstrong team. A feast was planned to be held on the beach for this fellowship time.

As they were sitting on the beach singing songs, people began coming out of the dark, and one by one they came close to the group, kneeling and weeping. Hands were laid on these people, and following prayer, many were slain in the Holy Spirit. For several hours this praising and prayer continued.

Following the first night, word spread throughout Elcho Island and hundreds began coming to the meetings. Never having been exposed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they were amazed when the manifestations of the Spirit of God began to occur.
► Conviction of sin was very pronounced, as one of the most sin-hardened men in the community came forward, kneeled, and cried like a baby. This man was born again and became a health worker.
► Repentance of some of the most prideful and hardened people
► Deliverance from demonization
► Speaking in tongues
► Joy of the Lord: with laughter and giggling
► Prostrations (slain in the Spirit)
► Crying
► Overwhelming peace
► Healings

Open-air meeting

The News Spread
As word of what God was doing spread, and reached neighboring islands and towns, people began coming from those distant locations, and the numbers grew every night.

Daily Bible Studies
Not willing to leave the people to experience emotions without grounding them in the Word of God, they had Bible studies every day to ensure the revival had biblical roots. As the days went on, these daily Bible studies also grew in the number of attendees.

Baptisms

Ministry of Deliverance
As historic revivals are read and studied, it is often found that they were preceded by offensive attacks against the powers of darkness—specifically using the ministry of deliverance. Many of these revival accounts have been rewritten, intentionally omitting those occurrences. But if one looks deeply enough, it will be found that demonic manifestations were often seen and dealt with, prior to or during the revival itself. And this wasn’t only in jungles or among the “heathen”; it also occurred in revivals taking place in Europe and North America in the 1990s and later.

The ministry of deliverance was utilized during this revival as well, and it was what turned the page and opened the door for the power of God to flow.

Discerning of Spirits
The Holy Spirit identified several strong spirits affecting the area and He directed the people to renounce those spirits as they prayed. The main spirits were pride and unbelief. After those spirits were renounced, there was a tangible change in the atmosphere.
► The gift of discernment became profound, enabling believers to recognize what spirit was at work. When these spirits were called out and commanded to leave, there were immediate changes that were recognized in the people of the community.
► The aboriginal ancestral belief in god was shown in reality to be an antichrist spirit. When that spirit was exposed and rebuked, the fire of the Gospel spread even more intensely.

Demonization
During the Dan Armstrong meetings, the manifestations of demonic powers were pronounced:
► As people were set free from demonization, the shackles holding back revival were no longer in place.
► Demonic manifestations came whenever the services started.
► Dogs throughout the town would begin howling and fighting. The dogs would even come into the center of the open-air meeting area and begin fighting among themselves.
► Demons would begin to manifest through people (like in the Bible).
► Those with serious mental illnesses became much worse and would throw stones at the people during services, giving evidence that the mental illnesses were misdiagnosed, and these were really cases of demonization.

Meeting at the Ceremonial Grounds
The church scheduled a special meeting with Dan Armstrong to be conducted at the ceremonial grounds, where demonic activity was known to be very strong.

Before they got there, the entire team began to experience severe stomach cramps. Even though they were feeling sick, they went anyways, walking into that area singing the song, “In the Name of Jesus.”

Many strange manifestations began occurring with those who were demonized at this time (plus the howling, barking, and fighting of the dogs). But the Holy Spirit came and cleansed the area. Following this, many lukewarm Christians were revived, and many others came to Christ.

Some of the locations where the revival spread

Vision During Men’s Gathering
There was a special prayer gathering of about 50 men, and during their time together, a passage from the Bible was read—1 Corinthians 1:26-29. Following that, the men began to cheer, shout, leap, and run around, saying:

God choose us!

Some heard angels singing.

A unifying feature of the Holy Spirit manifested itself, as the men began singing in tongues, uniting them all together as one.

An older man then shared a vision:

I saw all of us have a stick in our hand. We put the stick in the fire and the end of the stick was ignited. We all then began running, and wherever we ran, we were able to start fires.

Following the Dan Armstrong meetings, these men formed teams, and wherever these teams went, the revival fires would spread to all of those locations.

Though this church numbered about 200, filled with relatively poor people, they paid their own ways and travelled by boat, plane, or bus, to the entire region, and throughout Australia, spreading the revival’s fire.

Open-air meeting

The Revival Continued
By the end of 1979 the Elcho Islanders received numerous invitations from many parts of Australia to come and conduct or participate in meetings. Beginning in mid-1979, those ministry trips began, and they continued into the 1990s and beyond, igniting revival fires wherever they went. That ongoing story can be read in John Blacket’s book: Fire in the Outback.

Results of the Revival
► During the 6 weeks prior to Dan Armstrong’s arrival at Elcho Island, 200 adults had committed their lives to Christ.
► During the Armstrong meetings, another 200 made that commitment.
► During a short period of time after Armstrong left, another 50 converted to Christ.
► It wasn’t only Aboriginals that were being saved; it was also whites who made commitments to Christ.
► This was a total of at least 450 new Christians out of a total of around 1,200 living on the island, and this was in only 4 months.
► Marriages were restored.
► There was a love for everyone, and not just for those within their own tribes.
► The community was clean, as people disposed of their trash appropriately and began planting gardens.
► Alcohol use dropped.
► Gambling became almost non-existent.
► Relationships were healed.
► Marriages were reconciled and healed.
► Divisions in the culture began to be healed.
► People were happy.
► People in the community were singing, not just at night, but also during the day in their homes and along the streets.
► Just hearing the stories of what was happening in one place sparked the revival in the location where it was told.
► The health center reported far fewer than normal sicknesses. This was caused by
• Elders praying for the sick, resulting in healings.
• Reduction in substance abuse.
• Inner healing of the mind by the Holy Spirit producing physical healing to the bodies.

Djijiyini Gondarra

Sources
► Arnhem Land Witnesses Controversial Revival by Anne Lim
► Dianne Ethelle Buchanan, Christian Pioneer by Mark the Evangelist
► Early Evangelical Revivals in Australia by Sue Tinworth
► Fire in the Outback by John Blacket
► Fire in the Outback by John Blacket (free Ebook)
► God’s Firestorm by Khesed.org
► Local Revivals in Australia by Stuart Piggin
► Transformation – Revival – God’s Wild Firestorm & Indigenous Tears by John Blacket
► Pentecost in Arnhem Land by Djiniyini Gondarra

Videos
► Free downloads from Christian History Research
► God’s Firestorm 1 – Elcho Island: by John Blacket
► God’s Firestorm 2 by John Blacket
► Twelve Free Videos: by Khesed

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Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979

See Pentecost in Arnhem Land, Australia, by Djiniyini Gondarra

Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival:
www.renewaljournal.com

evangelism, mission, prison evangelism, prayer, Prison

Turkey: When a violent earthquake shook the prison

by Geoff 17 May 2023 No Comments

Turkey: When a violent earthquake shook the prison

Joel News # 1302, May 16, 2023
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“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”
– Acts 16:25-26

Turkey: When a violent earthquake shook the prison

Berik is a church planter from Kazakhstan, called by God to serve in Turkey. When the February 2023 earthquake hit Turkey, he happened to be in prison. This is his remarkable testimony.

When God called Berik to minister among the Turkic people, he first moved with his family to live in a Turkish speaking village in Kazakhstan. Here he learned the language and shared Jesus with the villagers. Sometime into that season they felt called to move to Istanbul in Turkey and sold their belongings. He learned Kurdish to add to his fluent Turkish and Russian, and started working with a radio ministry to follow-up on contacts. He hands out Bibles to Turks and Kurds, and helps them with their questions about Jesus. He disciples them and also encourages them to also disciple others. In fact, he is now into the fourth generation of disciples making disciples.

This is his testimony:

Dear friends, these are difficult times, but we praise the Lord because He gives us strength to not give up! I want you to know that I spent almost three months in a prison in different camps in Turkey.

My journey started in January in the city where we currently live. I bought a fire extinguisher for the church and was going to the church’s building, when a police force stopped me and asked for my documents. I had my passport and some other papers. When I showed these, one of the police officers asked me to come in a police bus for a ‘5 minute check’. When I got in the bus, they took my belongings and phones and said: ‘We are going to check your status, this will take only one hour.’

‘You are now here, and nobody cares’

They took me to an immigration center, actually a jail. I asked: ‘Please, check my documents! Why am I here?’ They replied: ‘You are now here and nobody cares’. They put me in a container with about 15 people, where we spent the night just sitting because there was no space. Early in the morning the guards put handcuffs on our wrists and led us out to buses that were waiting. I got in a bus labeled with a city in the North-East of Turkey. After 16 hours we arrived there and spent a couple of days in a camp in that city.

God gave me the opportunity to serve the arrested people around me. I could give them hope, share the Gospel and pray for sick people. After a few days, in the morning, another big bus arrived. I learned this bus would take us to another city, in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. We spent about 12 hours on the road passing high mountains. God really protected our bus because on one turn in the road it almost rolled over.

When we arrived in the new camp the next day, I noticed we were about 600 people in a four-story building. The rooms were very crowded and noisy. Prisoners started to come to me, asking where I was from and telling me about their lives. Many of them were angry and broken-hearted people, and some were very sick. I started to comfort the people that came to my room, praying for them every day. One man had swollen shins full of water and pain. For 5 days I prayed for him and the Lord healed him and he received Jesus.

‘As I was praying I clearly heard two words: Malatya earthquake’

A lot of bad things were happening every day in the camp: conflicts, fights and and other things. The gendarmes treated and beat people very harshly. There was a yard in the camp where I was praying every day. I prayed: ‘Oh Lord, please bring order in this camp or change the camp managers’ because they were very bad. People couldn’t get the help they needed. One day as I was praying, I clearly heard two words: ‘Malatya earthquake.’ It was three days before the earthquake took place. I knew something was going to happen.

On 6th February at 4 am in the morning I woke up because everything in the room was shaking! The iron door was locked. ‘Oh Lord, save us!’ After the earthquake somebody opened the door to the corridor. I saw big cracks on the walls and the building was split in two pieces from top to bottom. We learned it was a 7.7 earthquake and many people had died in the wide region. However, the guard didn’t allow anybody to leave the building. The outside doors were closed.

‘I put my hands on the concrete and prayed: Jesus, save us!’

One group of prisoners started to force and break the doors. A lot of gendarmes came and beat them. Everyone in the camp was forced to go to their own room, the doors remaining locked. No water, no food, everybody waiting. At 2 pm the same day there was a second earthquake, more powerful than the first one. The building was dancing, the roof fell. I was standing, putting my hands on the concrete column and praying: ‘Oh Jesus, save us!’ Praise God, He saved us! Finally, we were allowed to go out to the yard. It was a snowy and cold day.

As the camp building was not functioning anymore, they transported us to very crowded containers where we stayed for five days. I shared the Gospel with Afghan boys, as we were in the same container. On February 11, we were distributed to other camps. I was sent to a city close to the Iranian border of Turkey. There were about 1200 people in that camp. The Lord touched the hearts of many people there, and we saw many saved, healed and Spirit-filled.

‘We had 10 groups of people reading the Bible’

On the day of my release, 5th April, we had 10 groups of people every day praying and reading the Bible. I thank the Lord for His mighty deeds and miracles! His arm is high, and his muscle is strong! I especially thank my wife and children. They stood with me in faith and prayer. I also thank my praying friends, and Jesus, for everything!

This testimony was shared on 27 April 2023. Berik’s name and the names of the places where he was imprisoned have been changed by Joel News to protect his identity and ministry. Berik asks for prayer for his family and the believers in Turkey.

Source: Harvest Now, Joel News

Joel News – Inspiring stories on the advance of God’s Kingdom around the globe today, delivered once a week in your mailbox. We cover all continents and serve mission-minded Christians in over 100 nations.

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GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 4: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

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Turkey: When a violent earthquake shook the prison

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evangelism, revival, revivals evangelism, prayer, revival, revival movements

American revival reports – 2023

by Geoff 2 February 2023 1 Comment

American revival reports – 2023

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American revival reports – 2023

Whole Native American Communities touched by “Fire of the Holy Spirit” experience powerful revival

Mark Martin : Jan 31, 2023 CBN News

One southeast Montana tribe passed a 2013 legislative resolution “to honor God for His great blessings upon the Crow Tribe and to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of the Crow Indian Reservation.” They also fly the flag of Israel next to the sign.

[CBN News] – In some respects, the plight of Native Americans hasn’t changed. They face troubling circumstances with issues ranging from substance abuse to a massive COVID-19 impact, to an alarming number of missing and murdered women. (screengrab Image)

“There’s a lot of broken areas, broken communities, and our communities are rampant with drugs,” Crow Tribe member Donna Stands-Over-Bull told CBN News.

God is Moving

Yet, in the midst of the suffering, Stands-Over-Bull and her husband Russell say God is on the move.

“We can feel and sense the rumblings of revival, and when I say revival I mean people’s hearts turning back to God,” she shared.

“We’ve been having healing revivals over the online Church. God’s been healing people through social media. People are giving their hearts to the Lord,” explained Russell Stands-Over-Bull.

The senior pastors of Arrow Creek TV e-church said God called them to start the online fellowship in 2018.

“We couldn’t even comprehend what that would look like, but God put it on our hearts, and we began to establish Arrow Creek TV,” Russell told CBN News. “And Millennials started coming to the church, and I’m so proud of my congregation. We’ve got the best. We’ve got five continents represented.”

“We probably represent the biggest church in the Indian community throughout the U.S.,” he continued.

Deep Revival Roots

Russell said the Pentecostal roots of revival run deep in his family and the Crow Nation. His mother, Sharon Stands-Over-Bull, is also a pastor and Crow elder. She recalled how in 1906, her grandmother attended the Azusa Street Revival in California.

“While they were there, they were privileged to receive the Holy Spirit, and they came back to the Crow Reservation, proclaiming that God is Lord over the Crow Reservation,” Sharon told CBN News.

“Whole communities were touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the Crows eventually became known throughout Indian Country as the center for Pentecost,” explained Russell. “This was the capital for Pentecost, and still is considered that by many neighboring tribes.”

‘Jesus Christ is Lord’

Leaders of the Crow Tribe have even put up a sign which boldly proclaims that “Jesus Christ is Lord on the Crow Nation”. It also has a Scripture that reads, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.” – Psalm 33:12 KJV

In addition, the southeast Montana tribe passed a 2013 legislative resolution “to honor God for His great blessings upon the Crow Tribe and to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of the Crow Indian Reservation.” They also fly the flag of Israel next to the sign.

“The Scripture says that as we stand with Israel, we are a blessed nation, so we held that,” Sharon Stands-Over-Bull said. “And so today, there are ministries throughout the reservation, and people have been saved and healed and shouting the victory.”

“So, I’m just so glad that in my lifetime, I got to be a part of it, and it’s still ongoing,” she added.

‘Please Save Me’

On Montana’s Blackfeet Reservation, Windy Cross Guns shared how God delivered her of meth addiction.

“I had a little granddaughter born. One day my house got busted. It was surrounded by cops, and I stood by, and I watched,” she said. “I didn’t care about anything except for the drugs in my hands.”

“And just once, I turned around and looked and remembered that little baby was in there, and that was the beginning of me thinking of my future, my family, my community, and what I wanted to do,” she continued.

“And basically, I just looked to the sky and asked God to help me – if He was real, please save me,” Windy shared.

Cross Guns said she, too, and her family is experiencing a revival.

“Them, and friends and fellow addicts in this community have seen my recovery, and they believe what I believe in now. I mean they saw it,” she explained. “My whole family converted; they’re now Pentecostal Christians, too.”

Sustaining Revival

Patrick Matt, Jr., is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Reservation in western Montana. A preacher’s kid, he calls himself a product of a 20th-century Pentecostal Christian movement.

“If I can shine as a light to my people, to say God is doing something with me. God is changing me. God is doing mighty things in my life, in my family’s life, He can do it for you!” he exclaimed. “Then, amen! Amen and amen.”

Russell Stands-Over-Bull said the goal now is teaching his Church to “sustain revival” through fasting and prayer.

“So, when we host the Presence of God, Heaven comes down, and there’s no sickness in Heaven. There’s no poverty in Heaven. There’s no lack in Heaven,” he explained. “So, when we invite the Kingdom of God, that’s how we sustain revival, and that’s our quest, is to keep this revival fire going.” Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

https://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=36849

Revival fire continues at rural Kentucky church

January 27, 2023

By Mark Ellis –

Revival at Kentucky Church photo: S. Phipps

For over 88 nights in a row, a small country church in Kentucky has been the site of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as many are being saved, baptized and set free from addictions and bondages.

The North Main Community Church in Heidrick has been packed with roughly 300 hungry people every night, which has left Pastor Scott Phipps searching for ways to expand their facility. The town of Heidrick has a population of about one thousand, according to Pastor Phipps.

“The aisles are full every night,” Pastor Phipps told God Reports. “It was the end of the 54th night when I really realized things had changed. Last night you could also feel a shift come in the church. A man was praying for healing. We were praying for him, and I went numb all over. You could feel the power of God in such a way and even the lead evangelist looked at me at the same time.”

Pastor Scott Phipps and his wife, Tammie photo: Facebook

Pastor Phipps and his wife, Tammie, were saved out of drug addiction 29 years ago. “I was deep in drug addiction and trafficking in drugs and had a store with a 24-hour game room and a lot of other illegal activities going on,” he recalled.

“A backslidden preacher come in one night and lost all his money in one of the poker machines,” he says. Somehow, Scott and Tammie ended up with the preacher’s rusting Chrysler LeBaron convertible, leaking through the roof. They found a rain-soaked Bible in the back of the car.

“My wife was drying the Bible out and she started reading it,” he reports. The power of the Word and the Spirit grabbed Tammie’s heart and she visited a church nearby. “She went one night and God delivered her of almost seven years of opiate addiction and saved her.”

Phipps was shocked when Tammie returned from the church and said, “Honey, God saved me. I don’t want to do drugs anymore, and I love you now.”

He didn’t like the change. “I got upset over it. She wouldn’t get high on drugs. I mean, that was our life and I thought, Well, I’ve always been the leader in her life; she’d been with me since she was 13.”

After a few sleepless nights, Phipps made his way to a church, fell to his knees at the altar, and was born again. “I realized I was blind. Looking back now, I didn’t know how miserable I was. You’ve got to realize that me and my wife had no experience in church. We wasn’t raised in Christian homes. Her dad was shot and killed when she was three in a bar that got robbed. I was introduced to drugs by my own father. And so, we were the opposite of being raised in a Christian home.”

They left their old life behind and went to Lexington, temporarily homeless, living in a Super Eight motel with their twin, one-year-old boys.

After he found work, they lived in Lexington for two years, then returned home and felt called by God to plant a church. “It had one his and hers outhouse, a potbelly stove in it for heat, and held about 40.”

“We planted the church in 1998, which wasn’t long after we found the Lord. I knew nothing…I had flashcards many times, with a story you hold up and you read them off the back. I knew nothing about preaching.”

After several years, they moved into their present location. They also run one of the area’s largest addiction recovery centers, Hope City and Redemption Road Recovery,

“It’s a dark hour and a lot of people are just lost,” he observes. The area is inundated with drugs, mainly cheap Methamphetamine and heroin. “Now an ounce of meth is $200. People are trading their lives for it.”

Many filling the church are escaping the emptiness of drugs. “Eighty percent of our church is people coming out of addiction like us and then other people that just didn’t know a lot about church, and others who lost that first love,” he says.

“I’ve been blessed with a group of people that truly love much because they’ve been forgiven much. They love much, and they feel they owe their life to Christ. The world says there’s no hope for people like this, there’s nothing for them. People are just coming from everywhere. A lot of them say they’ve been waiting for this.

“Only God can take the ashes of a life and make something beautiful out of it. Only God can do that.”

https://www.godreports.com/2023/01/revival-fire-continues-at-rural-kentucky-church/

Fresh Outpouring at Asbury University

Livestream from Asbury University – February 2023

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Fresh Outpouring at Asbury University

A ‘surprising work of God’ in Asbury chapel

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Revival reported at Asbury University in Kentucky 50 years to the month after the previous outpouring.

Kim Roberts : Feb 10, 2023 Ministry Watch

“I just received word that what started yesterday at Asbury University has now also spread to Ohio Christian University! Students started praying and worshipping in chapel yesterday at 11 am and it’s continued! Asbury cancelled classes today and there are still dozens of students in the chapel leading non-stop prayer and worship! Those who remember will tell of the revival that broke out there in 1970 exactly to the week of what is happening now! There is a hunger in America for the move of the Holy Ghost with a tangible manifest presence of God!”

(Kentucky) — [MinistryWatch.com] Reports from Asbury University say that a revival has broken out in the chapel of the small Christian college campus in Kentucky. (Image: Facebook-Matt Barnes)

On the morning of February 8, a seemingly normal chapel service took place at the campus’ Hughes Auditorium. It included a message about confession and repentance, according to reports. After the service was over, a group of students stayed behind to continue worshiping. Then more joined them.

According to reports being shared on social media, students have been in the chapel for over 24 hours reading Scripture, praying, singing, and sharing personal testimonies.

“God began pouring out his love among the students in a profound way. The students continued praying and worshiping even though chapel had concluded,” Asbury Theological Seminary Vice President of Formation Matt Barnes wrote on Facebook. (Screengrab image: Facebook-Matt Barnes)

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Europe: 5 signs of Christian revival

by Geoff 8 December 2022 No Comments

Europe: 5 signs of Christian revival

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Post-Christian. Secular. A prodigal continent. These are some of the words often used to describe Christianity in Europe. Yet, a growing number of voices believe God is not done with Europe.

“Renewed spiritual hunger, new stirring of prayer, fresh expressions of the church, and migrant churches restoring faith” are signs of hope in our continent today, writes former YWAM Europe director Jeff Fountain.

It would certainly not be the first time that God changes the narrative of a continent. Only decades ago, Protestants described Latin America as a mission field. Today, it’s become a mission force, and the Brazilian church sends the second most missionaries in the world. In 1900, Africa was home to about nine million Christians. Who could ever have imagined that by the 2020s there would be half a billion Christians on the continent?

But the missional challenges for Christians in Europe are overwhelming. The old continent has a complex and unique history with the Christian faith. “No other continent has been exposed to Christianity for such a prolonged period and in such an extensive way,” wrote Jim Memory, the Lausanne Europe co-regional director, in the Europe 2021 Missiological Report. “Yet just as Europe was the first continent to be Christianised, it was also the first to be de-Christianised.”

Even so, in our day, an extraordinary re-evangelisation of Europe is taking place. Here are five ways we are seeing God move throughout the continent:

1. Diaspora churches
Latin-American migrants have planted thousands of churches in Spain, Portugal and beyond over the last thirty years. It is difficult to find a major European city that does not have a large Spanish speaking and/or Brazilian congregation. Similarly, Chinese churches can be found almost everywhere. African-initiated Pentecostal churches number in the thousands in Britain alone.

2. Church planting
Church planting has been also accelerating in Europe through various networks, denominations, and mission agencies. In France, for example, the National Council of French Evangelicals (CNEF) has set a goal of establishing an evangelical church for every 10,000 people. The church planting movement in France saw, on average, one church be planted every seven days over the last few years. “We want to move the church in Europe from decline and plateauing into growth,” said Øystein Gjerme, leader of M4 Europe, a movement with a vision to see one church planted every day in Europe.3. The prayer movement
The late revival historian J. Edwin Orr wrote that “whenever God is ready to do something new with his people, he always sets them to praying.” For the last two decades, the 24/7 prayer movement has seen the birth of 22,000 prayer rooms in 78 nations, the majority of them in Europe. One house of prayer in Augsburg, Germany, has had continuous prayer, day and night, for 11 years, or 110,000 hours.4. Increased Christian unity
The war in Ukraine has fostered unprecedented collaboration between mission agencies. Networks like the European Leadership Forum, the European Evangelical Alliance, and the Lausanne Movement have strengthened unity and collaboration. In charismatic circles, a historic coalition of 29 denominations and mission agencies in Norway brought together 9,000 young people, the largest Christian cross-denominational gathering in over 20 years, for The Send Norway.

5. The next generation
This May, 13,000 teens and young adults from all over Germany came together for Christival, a conference organized by a nondenominational network with historical roots in the Jesus Movement. Revive Europe brought together 3,000 university students from 68 nations to pray for a revival among their peers. God is raising a new generation of Europeans longing for authentic encounters with Jesus. They are increasingly open to spiritual conversations, prayer, and especially looking for a community to belong to.

Source: Sarah Breuel, Revive Europe

Jowl News # 1283, December 8, 2022

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Miraculous Answers to Prayer at Pine Ridge and Whiteclay

by Geoff 8 September 2022 No Comments

Miraculous Answers to Prayer at the Pine Ridge reservation and Whiteclay
Stories from a new Transformations video by The Sentinel Group

An edited report from George Otis Shares God Stories.

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Miraculous Answers to Prayer at Pine Ridge and Whiteclay
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Our next documentary, The Gates of Whiteclay, depicts God’s intervention in a small town nestled up against the sprawling Lakota Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge. Notorious for selling over 11,000 cans of fortified malt liquor a day to bootleggers and emotionally-broken Natives, the New York Times dubbed it “the Skid Row of the Plains.”

The Times can have their headline, but my own takeaway from eight visits to the area in recent years is decidedly different. God is at work in this place! I have honestly lost count of the myriad redemptive testimonies that have graced my ears during field research and filming. I just know that hearing about the loving deeds of our Heavenly Father has been a sheer delight — something I will never tire of.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your

wondrous works, I will meditate. (Psalm 145:5 ESV)

Many people know about the poverty, alcoholism, and suicide in places like Pine Ridge and Whiteclay. They may even have heard stories of human trafficking, domestic violence, and dark shamanic rituals. That these things exist as a clear and present danger is beyond dispute.

But is this all we know? Is this where we leave the conversation?

Having read countless articles about Pine Ridge in the course of my research for The Gates of Whiteclay, it was the rare author who made his way past the area’s chronic misery and hopelessness. When it came to reporting even a sliver of good news, few could find it… and most didn’t even bother to look.

It is curious behavior that calls to mind the experience of Elisha’s servant at Dothan (2 Kings 6:8-18). When this young man noted with dismay that ruthless Syrian troops had surrounded his city, Elisha responded by asking God to “open his eyes so he may see” (verse 17). This was not out of a concern for the young man’s natural vision. What he claimed to see was really there. The problem lay with what his servant did not see.

When the blinders were removed from his spiritual eyes, Elisha’s servant discovered the Syrian army was itself besieged by a fiery angelic host. Armed with this new perspective he was able to reach a very different conclusion about his prospects.

It is easy to conclude that Pine Ridge, like Dothan, has no discernable way out of its predicament. This is the view of an overwhelming percentage of the reservation’s inhabitants and neighbors. Sadly, it is also a prevailing attitude among local Christians.

I have witnessed this in scores of pre-transformed communities over the years. Christian stakeholders become hyper-aware of longstanding obstacles, and, in the process, lose sight of a far more consequential reality — namely the promises, power, and presence of the Living God.

Evidence of this unperceived reality is present in both Pine Ridge and Whiteclay — and it is as supernatural as the fiery hosts witnessed by Elisha’s servant.

There will always be a handful of individuals who see the works of God before they are fully manifest to others. This has nothing to do with the luck of the draw, but is rather the consequence of earnest tears and importunate prayer. They assume this posture because they are already convinced of God’s willingness and ability to come in delivering power. They remain in this posture until there is evidence this readiness has transitioned into action — a moment intercessors sometimes call the assurance. At the beginning of their petitioning, all things were possible. Now they have become a certainty.

In recent months, a small band of Pine Ridge Natives has been stepping out in this bold confidence. God is present! And he is telling them exactly what he wants them to do.

Not surprisingly, this divine partnership has focused on notable areas of concern for the Lakota people — a list that includes substance abuse, witchcraft, and youth traumas.

Drugs have been a growing scourge aided by organized gangs and corrupt tribal officials. While desperate parents, concerned social workers, and stretched law enforcement want to get on top of the problem, many feel overwhelmed.

Believing that God was ready to step into the breach, two Native women leaned into him for instructions. The assignment was simple and direct: They were to make a list of the top fifteen known drug dealers on the reservation.

Armed with their list, the women then made their way to each house and trailer that was pumping Meth and other poisons into communities like Oglala, Manderson, Porcupine, and Northridge. Standing in the first driveway, one of the women asked God how he wanted her to pray. His reply was instant: “Command the works of the enemy to be destroyed.”

“Then,” she told me, “I commanded the works of the enemy to be destroyed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.”

For the next forty days, the ladies prayerwalked each location before punctuating their efforts with a late night prayer session. Though few in number, they were opening the very gates of heaven.

Within days, fourteen of the fifteen names on the target list were in jail. The women were jubilant, but they were also confident God intended to complete the task.

A few nights later, the women were out near the last drug runner’s house to retrieve a car — and to pray. The dealer, an ethnic Mexican, was big trouble. Cautiously walking up to his driveway in near-total darkness, the women were startled when floodlights kicked on around them and men dressed in blue jumpsuits and carrying semi-automatic weapons suddenly appeared.

The men asked the ladies to identify themselves and explain their business at the drug house. Given the hour and location, their presence was understandably suspicious.

However, at precisely that moment, additional blue-clad men emerged from the drug house with a heavily-shackled Hispanic man. The ladies recognized him as the notorious narcotics dealer Monito. Suddenly, it clicked. The armed men were not there for the intercessors, but because of them. While the women were quietly praying in the darkness, a drug task force was busy arresting the fifteenth, and last, drug dealer on their target list.

On another occasion, one of these same women was asked by a Christian neighbor to join her in prayer for the drug-ridden community of Northridge. Of specific concern was a dealer who had recently set up shop in a trailer house down the street — an area where lots of young children played.

As before, the women waited upon the Lord for instructions as to how they should proceed. It was not long before they sensed a clear leading to walk down to the trailer house. Then, as they stood silent and yielded in the driveway, the Lord once again commanded them, “Destroy the works of the enemy.”

Responding in confident obedience, they called upon the power of the Holy Spirit to rid the neighborhood of this grave danger. And that was it.

A few days later, one of the women was returning home from classes when she heard her neighbor call out to her.

“Come over here, Norma. I want to show you something.”

As they walked toward a group of kids at play, the woman said, “You know that trailer house we have been asking God to remove? Well, guess what. It burned down today! Just look at it! There’s nothing left but the frame.”

Around this same time, George Dreamer, the adult son of one of the prayer warriors, was driving his mother to an appointment in Denver. As they approached the southern boundary of the reservation, he made a sudden, unannounced detour off Route 87 near Whiteclay. Glancing over at his surprised mom, he said: “I’m gonna show you where the biggest drug dealer lives.”

Driving about a half mile down a dirt road, he pulled up at the perimeter of a sprawling salvage yard. At the center of the property, easily visible from the road, stood a corrugated steel building and two adjacent trailer houses.

“Those buildings right there,” George said, “are the front for the drug dealer. That’s where they weigh the drugs before loading them into kid’s backpacks so they can go sell them at school.”

His mother, Norma Blacksmith, was having none of that. As an Oglala Sioux elder and frontline intercessor, she had witnessed more than her share of death and heartbreak. And she was angry.

“Stop the car!” she barked.

“What are you going to do?” George asked with a measure of concern.

“I’m going to pray!”

Suddenly the air was filled with the same passion that had proved so effective in removing the other drug distributors: “God, destroy the works of the enemy!”

If Norma’s time in Denver was routine, the same could not be said of the days following her return to Pine Ridge. And it all began with a phone call from her son George.

“Mom,” he said with a tone of amazement, “I want to show you something.”

After loading Norma into the cab of his red pickup, the two of them drove back out to the salvage yard. As they pulled up to the spot where just a few days prior Norma had asked God to move in power, the scene looked like a war zone. The buildings that had served as the Meth Lord’s operations center were simply gone – crushed into scraps of tarpaper, wood, and twisted balls of metal.

Something extraordinarily powerful had happened here. It was jaw-dropping.

George said, “Mom, you’re not going to believe this, but right after you prayed, a tornado set down on these buildings and flattened them to smithereens. It didn’t touch any of the surrounding properties. And, Mom,” he said, “tornadoes don’t come in November!”

As breathtaking as it is to see a drug dealer’s property wiped off the map by a tornado driven by divine GPS, Native intercessors report this kind of supernatural display has been on the rise. In addition to targeting ruthless poison pushers, God has also taken aim at those who would harm innocents through witchcraft, religious sexual abuse, and the facilitation of self-mutilating rituals.

In the Fall of 2021, a team of six prayer warriors decided to take a stand against the spiritual darkness plaguing the community. Despite the Lakota’s tenacious adherence to traditional spirituality, violence and youth suicide were getting worse. Medicine men feigned concern, but many were compromised.

In some cases, competition for followers led these self-appointed “holy men” to prey upon the grief-stricken families of suicide victims by claiming a psychic connection with the deceased. Others attempted to lure larger crowds to their Sun Dance events by purveying cannabis and peyote.

There were also financial entanglements with drug dealers, with some even consuming narcotics themselves. The more unscrupulous placed curses — with very real consequences — on individuals they perceived to be challenging their craft or reputation.

God, however, was not intimidated.

As the intercessors made their way out to various ritual sites on the reservation and in the nearby Black Hills, the Lord instructed them how to pray. Touching nothing but the heart of their Heavenly Father, they got down to business.

The last stop for the team was a ritual site situated on a volcanic mountain the Lakota call Mato Paha, or Bear Butte. Long known as a place of power, Native traditionalists journey there both to hear from the spirits (through vision quests and Yuwipi ceremonies) and to covenant with them (in sweat lodges).

Unaware of this, many non-Native visitors report having disturbing experiences on the Butte. One man climbed halfway to the top before turning back because the mountain felt hostile to him. It is certainly no place for the unprepared.

The 2021 prayer team, however, was ready for the ascent. After several days of prayer and fasting, they set off in a spirit of worship.

A forty-minute hike brought them to a clearing where they could see a sweat lodge nestled among pines bedecked with colored prayer cloths and tiny bundles of tobacco. Lifting their hands to the heavens, they called upon the Lord to manifest his authority.

Two days later, a precision lightning strike obliterated that shamanic high place. Within a week, the medicine man who erected the lodge was dead.

Although the prayer team did not request or wish for anyone’s demise — nor was it ever God’s desire (see 1 Timothy 2:4-5 & 2 Peter 3:9) — the Almighty will not sit idly by when so-called holy men deny his sacrifice and exploit his precious children through fabricated stories (see 2 Peter 2:3).

It is hardly surprising then to hear reports that God has left his calling card at various Sun Dance sites across the reservation.

Of all Lakota religious rituals, the Sun Dance is arguably the most important, and is certainly the most public. Those who participate in the four- to eight-day ceremony — typically held in the late spring or summer — do so for a variety of reasons. Most, however, are there to covenant with the powers of the unseen realm.

The entire process begins with the selection and felling of a large cottonwood tree that will serve as the all-important center pole of the Sun Dance. Selected trees are typically 40 to 50 feet tall and about 30 inches at the base – sometimes larger. It takes many men to carry the trunk to the ceremonial site after it has been stripped of its branches.

Upon reaching its destination, the tree is dropped into a deep hole and connected to forked rafters to give it enough stability to withstand the weight and energy of dozens of tethered dancers. As one Native medicine man explains, this is the nexus of power.

It is you who will join us to all the powers of the universe. The power will be placed

on you. The medicine fathers will be there on the center tree, and the Sundancers

will place their hands on you and say their prayers.

After several days of fasting, the male dancers lie on their backs as shamans pierce the skin on their chests and insert small bones attached to a braided leather cord that extends from the center pole. Then, for hours on end, the dancers move in and out from the center pole to the sounds of drums and chanted songs. Many go into a trance where they see visions or take spirit walks.

Many tribes, including the Lakota, burn smudge pots of sage to conjure spirits and help the dancers. Colored flags and tobacco bundles are tied to the tops of willow switches that form the perimeter of the Sun Dance circle. These are offerings to the 405 spirits they believe interact with humans.

Eventually, as twilight approaches, the dancers lean back on their tethers until the bone fasteners are torn out. The bloody, lacerated flesh is then cut off and offered to the sun.

One eminent anthropologist who conducted extensive research among the Plains Indians in the early twentieth century reported being told, “All who take this ceremony die in a few years, because it is equivalent to giving one’s self to the sun. Hence, the sun takes them for its own.”

The proliferation of these Pine Ridge Sun Dances in recent years — my own informants put the number as high as 100 — is cause for concern. While proponents argue the ceremony is simply an occasion to honor the spirits and ask for their protection and provision, the reservation’s deepening addiction, suicides, and impoverishment suggests the return for the dancer’s torn flesh and scars has not been as advertised.

Native prayer warriors felt they had no choice but to take this crisis to the Lord. Weeping and prostrating themselves before him, they waited for instructions. This was a serious challenge, and they didn’t dare to act presumptuously. God would have to go before them in supernatural power.

Finally, upon receiving an assurance their prayers had been heard, they ventured out to declare the word of the Lord at Sun Dance grounds in each of the reservation’s nine districts. Taking their stand, the group felt locked-in with God. “The enemy can’t interrupt anything,” one woman explained, “because God is talking to me. And whatever He’s telling me is not a lie.”

Though many smaller dance sites are limited to a few dozen participants, some, such as the well-known Thunder Valley, can attract five hundred or more. Because the forces behind this latter event are particularly dark, this was where God made his statement.

As the intercessors gathered at the site, they were joined by a humble man from Papua New Guinea who had witnessed God’s supernatural deeds on numerous occasions. An experienced transformation catalyst, he knew how to pray in situations like these.

And what a prayer! Fueled by a sense of God’s deep displeasure with that place, the group asked him to strike the very heart of its deceptive power.

What happened next would send chills up their spines. Shortly after leaving the site, they learned that a powerful windblast had uprooted the sacred center pole and tossed it aside like a matchstick!

For traditionalists, this was deeply significant as it is forbidden for the center pole to touch the ground. Shocked at what had happened, even the medicine men were forced to acknowledge the Creator was unhappy.

“That’s how powerful He is!” Norma Blacksmith told me with the giddiness of a school girl.

But the story was not over. Across the reservation, several other Sun Dance sites began to close for reasons ranging from landowners pulling permission to the deaths of spiritual organizers. Another longstanding site at Red Shirt Table was badly vandalized, including the total destruction of three sweat lodges. To this day, no motives or perpetrators have been identified.

Of course, not all of God’s interventions involve uprooting and pulling down. He is a creator, and as such, is continuously looking to design, build, heal, and deliver. It is the essence of who he is.

Having spent a good deal of time on Pine Ridge in recent years, I have encountered this side of God’s résumé many times. This has included interviewing both eyewitnesses and direct beneficiaries of supernatural healings, resuscitations, deliverances, and other miracles. The evidence is plentiful.

However, I have also found that such things can be difficult to convey — not only because so few people have encountered them, but also because (in this case at least) of the sheer volume of these stories. Job calls them “marvelous things without number” (5:9 ESV), while David, who wants to talk of them, laments “they are more than can be told” (Psalm 40:5 ESV).

So I have decided to conclude my storytelling with a lovely account of God’s intervention on behalf of a young Native girl facing a life-threatening crisis. I offer it not only because it is beautiful in its own right, but because it serves as a fitting representation of the kinds of things Jesus has been doing on Pine Ridge.

It all started innocently enough.

Eleven-year-old Annetta Littlebear and close friend Charlotte Thunder Horse, looking to add a little excitement to a typical lazy day on the Rez, had decided to navigate a bike into the rough and wooded terrain near Wounded Knee. It was quite the picture: Two girls, one bike, no shoes.

Charlotte was doing the pedaling while Annetta, snug at her back, dangled her legs on either side of the rear wheel. The carefree girls screamed and giggled as their bike bounced along the makeshift trail. It was sheer bliss.

Then, in a killjoy moment, an unexpected bump caused Annetta’s right foot to become entangled with the wheel spokes. A second later, her screaming lost its lighthearted tone.

As the bike jolted to a stop it was immediately evident Annetta had a problem. Her foot had been skewered by one of the mangled spokes that had broken off. Blood was everywhere.

Charlotte ran off to get help.

“I was home when one of the kids came running in,” Annetta’s mother told me. “Charlotte was out of breath and trying to explain what had happened.”

Hearing the commotion, Annetta’s dad and brother Michael sprinted out the door. When they arrived on the scene, they found the spoke had not only punctured her foot, but had become attached inside. She was one with the bike.

When Michael finally managed to remove the spoke, Annetta’s father scooped her up in his arms and brought her home. Belnita Littlebear, Annetta’s mom, didn’t like what she saw. “It was really a deep, deep gouge. So I took her to the tribal hospital.”

After bandaging her wound and providing crutches, the hospital released a very tired Annetta back to the custody of her mother. For the next week, Belnita kept vigil over her daughter and changed her dressing. As the days passed, however, Annetta’s recovery seemed to have stalled.

By the weekend, Belnita was tight on money but needed to get out to find some food. Someone, possibly a neighbor, told her a group of Christian women were providing food, clothing, and health care just eight miles up the road in the town of Porcupine. Liking the sound of this, she left Annetta in the care of family members and headed north.

In her interaction with the team, Belnita mentioned Annetta’s accident and worried aloud that she did not seem to be improving. Group leader Lisa Nelson, a big-hearted woman who for fifteen years had been making the 12-hour journey out from her home in Illinois every few weeks, offered a suggestion: “Bring her to the service tonight and we’ll pray.

But prayer was not the only benefit the group had to offer. Robin Rose, a trained oncology nurse at Northwestern University who frequently volunteered on missions to Pine Ridge, agreed to assess Annetta.

“When I saw the wound, it was pretty significant. So I cleaned and dressed it, and told Annetta’s mother where I’d be for the next few days. I was also praying against infection because the wound was wide open.”

At one of the evening services, Belnita led Annetta into the building on crutches. Walking over to Lisa and Robin, she informed them her daughter was struggling.

“I could see that she was pale and lethargic,” Robin told me during a late 2019 interview, but I kept getting pulled away by other duties and wasn’t able to get back to her until the worship started.” By then, however, the fever had spiked.

By then, however, the fever had spiked, and Robin was seriously concerned. Annetta was manifesting all the symptoms of sepsis. If allowed to go unchecked, there was a real risk of major organ failure and even death (septic shock). “So I gathered her in my arms and carried her up to the altar.”

After the ladies prayed and sang over Annetta, she went out. The only question in Robin’s mind was, “Is this Holy Spirit, or is it sepsis?”

She did not have to wonder long.

Keeping an eagle eye on Annetta’s breathing, Robin noticed something was changing. Though the young patient remained unconscious, her color was returning.

“I went to this most beautiful place,” Annetta later recalled. “There was a playground with kids all around. I wanted to stay there, but the people told me it wasn’t my time yet.”

Suddenly coming to, Annetta sat bolt upright. The blissful playground delights gave way to a surrounding chorus of prayer. It wasn’t heaven — and yet, there was a connectedness, a sense of compassionate presence and unfolding miracle.

“My foot was uncovered and there was skin growing over the wound,” Annetta recounted with wonder undiminished by time. “It was healing before my own eyes. I never seen nothing like that in my life!”

Belnita was slack-jawed. “I seen that skin growing back over the deepest part of the cut,” she gushed. “I looked at everybody like, ‘Is this really happening?’”

Robin, with her trained nurse’s eye, found it amazing that the skin grew according to a natural pattern — but in fast forward.

“It began with the subcutaneous tissue, the fatty tissue, appearing like little starbursts — chu, chu, chu! Then, in quick succession, came what we call granulated tissue. It’s a very bloody, pink layer if it is getting good circulation. That’s a sign of healing, and we look for it when we change dressings. Last, we watched as a thin layer of outer skin, the epidermis, formed. It appeared kind of shiny. “I’ve seen healings, Robin added, “but never anything like that!

When the process was completed, Belnita looked at her daughter and asked, “Did that hurt? And she just said, ‘No, mom. It was tickling me!’”

When Belnita got home that night, she had Annetta lift up her foot so her unsaved husband could see it. “Look at this!” she said. “Look what the Lord did!”

Stunned at the sight of his daughter’s foot, whole and without even the hint of a scar, he began to weep. It was one of those moments when the heart wants to speak, but the lips refuse to cooperate.

Eventually, surprised and overwhelmed by true majesty, he blurted out the truest thing he had ever spoken: “He’s real! He’s real!”

Ask Annetta about that day and she will tell you the events quickly became a community discussion topic. Genuine miracles will do that. “It’s the best feeling to have someone love you unconditionally,” she says with an ear-to-ear smile. “And its so amazing what He can do!”

I have taken the time to send you this account of God’s recent activity on Pine Ridge for two reasons. First, that you might be encouraged and edified by the Father’s wonderful works, and secondly, to ask you to help me spread this news to others so they might be similarly blessed and enlightened.

As I have often said, If God is shorn of his fullness, our audiences may be informed but they will never be awestruck (see Psalm 145:3-6). Techniques and shortcuts are a poor substitute for divine wonders.

So while a lengthy report, such as this one, may fall victim to the delete key, I have elected to accept the risk. If you are still reading these words it is likely because your heart has been captured by expressions of divine power that you were previously unaware of. And if this has happened, I am sure it has caused you to love him more.

Imagine the hope these stories can inspire in other towns and reservations beset by similar brokenness. I want to see this!

So, again, I am going to humbly ask you to consider sowing into the completion of The Gates of Whiteclay video. The first installment of this two-part presentation is due for release between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Part two is set to follow in America’s late spring or early summer of 2023.

A supportive foundation has generously offered to match all donations up to $40,000. This is a big deal and could provide everything we need to complete this wonderful story — on schedule!

One thing I have learned over a quarter century of documenting revival is that God loves it when we proclaim his exploits.

With deep gratitude for your love, constancy, and prayers.

George Otis, Jr.

Producer

Donate online by credit card or PayPal. Any amount will be doubled and will help in reaching our goal of matching $40,000. When you donate, choose “Projects” to designate your gift for The Gates of Whiteclay video.

Or, mail donations by check to:

The Sentinel Group

PO Box 2255

Lynnwood, WA 98036

You could pass this on to others on your social media.

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God arranged a surprise meeting for a fanatical Muslim

by Geoff 6 September 2022 No Comments

God arranged a surprise meeting for a fanatical Muslim

Edition # 1270, September 04, 2022
view on the web or translate

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Egypt: How God arranged a surprise meeting for a fanatical Muslim

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
– Matthew 5: 43-45

Egypt: How God arranged a surprise meeting for a fanatical Muslim

Yassir and four fanatical Muslim cohorts hid behind a tree on a dark night in the jungle. When a Christian they hated named Zachariah walked by, they jumped out and began to beat him – nearly to death.

After “pleasing” Allah with this attack, Yassir returned home, washed himself, and prayed. “We broke his arm. We broke his leg. He started to bleed,” Yassir says matter-of-factly on a One for Israel testimonial video. “Because he started to scream begging for help, I put my hand over his mouth, so that no noise would come out of his mouth.”

Yassir grew up in a strict Muslim Sudanese family and prepared to join jihad, the fight against “infidel” peoples. His hatred for Jews and Christians began in school. There was only one Christian classmate who was intelligent and talented: Zachariah. “Because I thought as a Muslim I must be better than him, we started to beat him every single day,” Yassir remembers.

Their malevolent hatred festered and grew until Yassir with four other young men agreed to kill him. They knew the path Zachariah took through the jungle on certain nights. They laid in wait for him. “It was like slaughtering a sheep. He was shivering. He was crying. We left him for dead,” Yassir admits. “I felt very proud. You’re actually doing something for Allah. You want to please him.” Zachariah was never seen again.

‘At every mistake I made, the sheik whipped me’

In the meantime, Yassir’s father dropped him in a Koran school, where he was whipped by the sheik. “Every mistake you make, the whip will crack in the middle of your head,” he remembers. “You’re not allowed to cry because in our culture they tell us that men never cry.” But when he was alone in the dark in his bed, it was a different matter. Tears flowed there, unseen by anyone.

He was proud of his ummah, his Islamic people group, and decided to fight for it. “I started to hate everyone who’s not Muslim,” he admits. He began training to join jihad, but deep within his heart, there was fear. Would everything he was doing for Allah be enough to guarantee his entry into Paradise? The Koran establishes that no one can ever know for certain if he will be accepted by Allah into eternity.

‘Suddenly two Coptic Christians showed up’

One day, his dear cousin became gravely ill. Doctors could do nothing. Death was inevitable, they said. Suddenly two Coptic Christians showed up and asked to pray for him. Yassir saw the cross one wore and declined to shake his hand. Still, he let them pray. “The minute they said, ‘Amen,’ the child opened his eyes for the first time in four weeks,” Yassir recalls. “He started to move his hands. He started to speak. He sat up in his bed. He started to walk.”

One of the men talked to Yassir. “The real miracle is that God wants to change your heart,” he said. “Do you believe that Jesus is alive?” he asked. Muslims believe that Jesus was only a prophet but was taken from the cross and spared death, so he lives in Heaven and is going to return one day. What the Christian said to Yassir was in line with Muslim teaching. What he said next was a bit off for Muslims. “Because He’s alive, you can talk to Him.”

‘My family staged a full funeral for me’

Yassir prayed. He began reading the Bible. The power of the Word and the Spirit led him to salvation. His family was upset. To leave Islam is a grave sin. They didn’t just disown Yassir as a son; they staged a full funeral with a casket and a burial site. Islamic tradition dictates that families of “apostates” treat them as dead. Yassir loved his family and was deeply hurt by being disowned at the highest levels, so he cried out to God. The still small voice of the Lord impressed this on Yassir’s heart: You know the grave where your name is written is empty. Guess what? My grave is empty too.

‘Do you remember me? the pastor asked’

Years later, Yassir attended a pastor’s conference in Egypt. There an elderly Sudanese pastor approached him. “Do you remember me?” he asked, after questioning and ascertaining details of Yassir’s background. “My name is Zachariah.”

Yassir stood there dumbstruck, as if he was seeing a ghost that materialized from the distant past. “Suddenly I remembered him from that dark night. I remembered the way he was screaming,” Yassir recounts. Twenty-five years had passed since that terrible incident. “Suddenly I started to see his broken arms and broken legs. I started to see the scars I caused him. I started to be full of shame.” The day of reckoning had arrived. “I was a bad person. I was terrible,” he admits.

Zachariah looked straight into Yassir’s eyes. “Yassir, because you hated me so much, I was always praying for you.” He opened his Bible, and on the first blank page was Yassir’s name. It was his prayer list. “On that day, God confronted me,” Yassir remembers. “I hated him; he prayed for me. To love those who hate you, you need someone named Jesus.”

Source: One For Israel Ministry

Click to watch Yassir’s testimony

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Science Recognizes the Power of Prayer

by Geoff 5 September 2022 No Comments

SCIENCE RECOGNISES THE POWER OF PRAYER

God’s Word clearly tells us to ‘pray about everything.’ Today, science is beginning to recognize the value and the power of prayer. Researchers investigating the role of faith in health are discovering evidence that’s hard to refute.

For example, a 2014 study conducted by The Mind Health Report confirmed that people who engage in private prayer, intercessory prayer, and church activities are healthier and live longer.

Here are some additional benefits:

(1) Florida State University researchers found that praying for somebody increases your readiness to forgive them. When a group of men and women prayed for the well-being of a close friend every day for four weeks, they were more willing to forgive not only the friend but people in general. Forgiveness is associated with better overall health and satisfaction with life.

(2) University of Miami researchers discovered that prayer and religious practices improve your ability to pursue and achieve long-term goals. Prayer affects regions in your brain that improve self-control, and people who view their goals as sacred are more determined to attain them.

(3) A research study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison concluded that victims of abusive relationships recovered a positive self-image and reduced their emotional pain when their lives included prayer. (4) Columbia University researchers found that people who value religion and regularly attend church are 90 percent less likely to suffer from depression than their non-religious peers. That’s pretty strong evidence in favour of prayer, wouldn’t you say?

Source: The Word for Today

Prayer and Miracles

Christian mission, discipleship, evangelism, Iran, prayer, revival Christian mission, Christian revival, evangelism, mission, prayer, revival

Iran’s Great Awakening

by Geoff 26 August 2022 1 Comment

Iran: Why the underground church takes communion every day

Communion is more than simply remembering that Jesus died for you,
it’s also renewing your covenant with Jesus Himself.

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Iran Alive Ministries has planted a thriving underground church network in Iran. Faithful believers have risked their lives to establish and grow house churches, even in the face of danger.

If a church member is arrested, and in particular a leader, they will face torture and even death because they confess Christ. The entire church community is at risk. If they fold under pressure and give up the names of others associated with the church, there is no guarantee that any of their lives will be spared.

One group whose leader was arrested was asked how they were doing. They said: “All of us are praying and fasting for our captured brother every day. Every night, we gather together in a secure location to pray and encourage one another. After we have a meal together and break our fast, we worship, pray, and take communion together.”

“Why do you take communion every night?” they were asked. Their answer revealed a deep reality about communion.

“We take communion daily to remember what Jesus has done for us. He loved us so much that He died for us with joy (Hebrews 12:2). And we are called to partake not only in His glory, but also in His suffering (Romans 8:17). When we take communion, we remember the words of Jesus, ‘I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ (Matthew 26:29)

That word from Jesus greatly encourages us because, as we take communion, we also say: ‘This could be our last communion as well. If it is, we do not worry because we will take the next communion with Jesus in Heaven.’ With a heart of thanksgiving, we remember the fact that He died for us, but we also renew our covenant with Him, professing that we are willing to live and die for Him as well.”

The persecuted church has much to teach us. Communion is more than simply remembering that Jesus died for you, it’s also renewing your covenant with Jesus Himself.

Source: Hormoz Shariat, Iran Alive

Joel News International: # 1269, August 26, 2022

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Reaching an entire village from your desk

by Geoff 1 July 2022 No Comments

Reaching an entire village from your desk

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Reaching an entire village from your desk
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“What if you could reach an entire village with the Gospel… from your desk? This is what happened to our teammate, Amin,” reports German church planter Jürgen Kramer, who ministers in Hamburg among refugees from Syria and Iraq.

During the lockdowns in Hamburg, Amin asked God: “What should I do? I’m at home and not allowed to go out. How do I reach people with the Gospel?” The answer came quickly with a phone call from a Yazidi friend in Northern Iraq. This friend shared how they were struggling against evil spirits. Black magic is unfortunately part of Yazidi culture, and many Yazidi have also been traumatised by ISIS.

“I prayed that God would release them and bring them freedom from these spirits,” Amin said. I urged my friend: ‘Please accept Jesus in your life, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and be with you forever.’ My friend agreed, and I told him: ‘If you don’t connect with God every day, those evil spirits will be back, and they will be even more powerful.’ After this conversation, my friend in northern Iraq decided he wanted to study the Bible together with me. He also invited a friend and their two sisters. God had answered my prayer.”

‘The two sisters went from house to house to share Jesus’

“For 4 months, we spent 3 hours every day reading and studying the Bible together. We also prayed, and I encouraged them to share Jesus with their friends in the university. During this time, we also decided to fast and pray that the glory of God would go from house to house among the Yazidi people. We would skip one meal each day for 10 days and spend that time in prayer. We would pray that each person in this community would know and experience the true love of God.”

“Two or three months after we completed this Bible study, I started receiving good news from my friends there. The two sisters had been going from house to house to share Jesus in their Yazidi community. I got to know more and more new believers who had learned of Jesus from these two women. When the sisters encountered someone who had questions they couldn’t answer, they would direct them to me, and we would search the Bible together for answers.”

As a result, there is now a vibrant Yazidi house church planted in this community, and more and more Yazidis are coming to know the love of Jesus Christ. This house church has formed a couple of teams that go out and visit villages and camps. “Please join us in praying that this Yazidi church will continue to grow!” Amin asks.

Source: Jürgen Kramer, All Nations Hamburg

Joel News # 1264, June 28, 2022

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The Healing Power of Prayer

by Geoff 24 June 2022 No Comments

The Healing Power of Prayer

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Renewal Journal 4: Healing:
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The Healing Power of Prayer

These Articles are now added to Renewal Journal 4: Healing

The Stunning Science behind the Healing Power of Prayer

Article written by Dr. Don Colbert. Dr Colbert graduated from Oral Roberts Medical School in 1984. Dr. Colbert has practiced medicine in Central Florida and has been board certified in Family Practice for over 25 years.

Even a mere 30 seconds of prayer, acknowledging God and giving thanks for all the blessings in your life, can have a powerful effect on your body, mind, and spirit.

If you have a regular practice of prayer, then you are well aware that benefits are very real and wide-ranging. Many people who engage in these activities report psychological and spiritual benefits such as a sense of greater clarity, purpose, gratitude, presence, sense of connection, and overall well-being. However, these sorts of subjective benefits can be hard to measure scientifically. Interestingly, despite the difficulty in quantifying the spiritual effects of prayer, there have been many studies looking at the physical benefits of this ancient practice. A 2013 Pew Research Poll estimated that over half of Americans pray daily.

A University of Rochester study found that over 85% of people dealing with a major illness turn to prayer.

Every religion or spiritual belief system has a form of prayer or meditation as a foundational principle. This shows that prayer is not merely a cultural phenomenon but a fundamental aspect of the human experience. Yet, many people still struggle to reconcile belief in the power of prayer with a scientific worldview. Duke University’s Harold G. Koenig, M.D, author of several books on faith and healing, says “studies have shown prayer can prevent people from getting sick, and when they do get sick, prayer can help them get better faster. So how does that happen? Harvard Medical School cardiovascular specialist Dr. Herbert Benson discovered what is called the “relaxation response.”

This is the physiological state that occurs during prayer. It involves the autonomic (automatic) nervous system shifting over to a parasympathetic (rest and digest) dominant state, as opposed to the sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) state that most of us spend the majority of the day in. The act of prayer has shown to increase certain helpful neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, which help promote a state of relaxation, focus, motivation, and well-being. But the effects are not confined to momentary relaxation. Long-term prayer can actually rewire and rebuild the brain! With the ability to scan the brain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers have been able to note the physiological changes that occur in the brains of those who pray regularly.

Lisa Miller, professor and director of Clinical Psychology and director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University conducted a study on 103 people who were at a high risk of depression. Using MRI, she found that those who prayed regularly tended to have a thicker cerebral cortex which has been associated with less depression and anxiety. Another study has shown that urban children with asthma cope better when incorporating prayer into their lives. Prayer is also good for your heart. Christians have been shown to have lower average blood pressure than non-believers. Prayer also is correlated to less heart attacks and quicker recovery from heart surgery. There is even evidence to suggest that regular prayer will help you live longer! So with all these benefits, you should consider incorporating prayer as part of your daily regimen.

A study published in the journal Sociology of Religion titled “Prayer, Attachment to God, and Symptoms of Anxiety-Related Disorders among U.S. Adults,” looked at the data of 1,714 volunteers. What they found is that those who pray with a loving and protective conception of God experience a more dramatic reduction in anxiety related symptoms compared to those who pray without the expectation of comfort or protection. This shows us just how important faith actually is! The publishers believe that the emotional and spiritual comfort from prayer to a loving and compassionate God offers a sense of hope and security while praying with a more judgmental conception of God breeds resentment, rejection, and detachment. So understanding the character of your God is important.

The most beautiful thing about all of this research is not only that it validates the ancient wisdom behind prayer, but it also shows us how incredibly easy it can be to implement powerful healing practices into our lives. With so many benefits on the physical, psychological, and spiritual levels, there is really no reason to not pray or meditate every single day!

The best times of day are first thing in the morning and right before bed. However you can pray in the car on the way to work, in line at the grocery store, sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, or before you eat your meals. Even a mere 30 seconds of prayer, acknowledging God and giving thanks for all the blessings in your life, can have a powerful effect on your body, mind, and spirit. So what do you think? Have you been inspired to reinvigorate the prayer in your life?

Source: Breaking Christian News (bold font added)

Israeli Research Shows Prayer is Good for the Body as Well as the Soul

An Israeli study has found that praying regularly can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 50%. The study, which was funded by the National Institute of Health in Washington, D.C., found that women, who have a significantly larger chance of developing forms of dementia, could stave off the disease through prayer. The findings confirm earlier studies that indicated religion can play a positive role. “We found that people with higher levels of spiritual well-being had a significantly slower progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” Yakir Kaufman, the head of the neuropsychiatric department at Herzog hospital in Jerusalem said.

The Israeli organization Melabev has ten centres serving about 600 Alzheimer’s patients for whom prayer is part of the daily routine. “If prayer is done in a centre or a religious facility, it is communal and there is a social aspect,” Susan Sachs, the director of public relations and development at Melabev said. “It gives hope and perspective, and for many people it helps retain their dignity. They’re doing something that they did all their lives.” Melabev provides an alternative to institutionalizing Alzheimer’s patients by providing a full day of activities. Sachs estimates there are 100,000 people suffering from the disease in Israel.

The centres provide them with laminated cards with the most popular prayers printed in large type, although many of the patients rely on memory, which also helps strengthen their cognitive function. While prayer has some cognitive elements, it strengthens emotional functioning even more. As the patient’s cognitive function declines, his or her emotional function may be strengthened, according to Leah Abramowitz, the head of the Institute for the Study of Aging at Melabev. She said that, “It’s like a baby who can feel his mother’s emotions and will start crying if she is angry or tense. It’s like the person who is fully blind having more acute hearing.”

Prayer can also lower stress levels – one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s. Other risk factors include high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. As people live longer, there is more chance that they will develop dementia. Israel’s life expectancy – 80 years for men and 84.2 for women – is the world’s fourth-highest, exceeded only by Japan, Hong Kong and Switzerland. Professor Rivka Inzelberg of Tel Aviv University, who led the research, told a conference that the study indicated that 50% more women than men suffer memory impairments. She said “rituals, like prayer, are especially comforting to Alzheimer’s patients. Prayer is something that went into their long term memory many years ago. It is a ritual that is very comforting for them.”

Source: The Media Line
Renewal Journal, 2017

How I Learned to Pray for the Sick

This article is a result of my search for effective ways of praying for the sick. I found it produced results after persisting in hope and faith. At first, it was mostly in hope. I know that God answers prayer, but we don’t always know how. Gradually my faith grew as I persisted in faith, believing that God answers prayer and that God heals. The tide changed and waves of healing blessings flowed more fully.

When I was young, we prayed for the sick in general terms, such as “Please God, heal Mr or Mrs So-and-so. Amen.” Generally the people we prayed for seemed to improve and sometimes we saw rapid improvement.

Then I discovered intimacy with God and the power of his Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, in new ways. Jesus told us to seek this: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). We all need to ask, seek and knock, and Jesus promises that we will receive, find and have the door opened (Matthew 7:7-8).

So my journey in praying for others, including praying for the sick, began to change as I allowed the Holy Spirit to guide me more fully. Instead of praying the same old way, “Please God, heal that sick person,” I began praying the way I was led by the Spirit.

As I read about Jesus and his disciples, I realized that they rarely or never prayed this way, “Please God heal that sick person.” Mostly they commanded healing, and Jesus’ followers always did so in Jesus’ name. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and we have authority as we serve him and pray in his name, on his behalf.

That gradually opened new horizons for me! I began listening more to the still, small voice in my mind and heart, and found I was praying with more authority, in Jesus’ name. Increasingly I found myself led to pray, “Be healed, in Jesus’ name.”

As I persisted, the Holy Spirit quietly prompted me to take authority over attacks against the person. Sometimes (not automatically and not always) I was led to pray something like “Infirmity, get out in Jesus’ name.”

Increasingly I found more people reported that pain had gone or that they felt significantly improved. So then I realized that it helped to ask the person being prayed for how they felt. If some pain remained, I was often led to pray for them again, sometimes more than once more.

As first I was reluctant to ask how the person felt, in case there was little or no improvement! Then, gradually I realized that asking how they felt actually gave more opportunity to pray more if that was needed. When we persisted, we often saw improvement right there and then. A simple way to check is to ask, “How much pain do you have on a sale of 10 to 1?”

Blockages

Many blockages in my thinking stopped me from praying with authority. Here are a few.

Not good enough. That can stop us. We think we’re not good enough for God to work in and through us. “No one is good but One, that is, God” (Mark 10:18). If you wait till you’re perfect, you’ll be in heaven! Confess sin quickly and gratefully move on, because the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, goes on cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Fear of failure. What if the person is not healed? That is a common blockage because sometimes there is no evidence of immediate healing. I began saying, “We’ll keep on trusting God for more healing, however it may come.” As we persisted in faith, there seemed to be more healing, more often.
No healing gift. There are many gifts of healings (1 Corinthians 12:9), and some people have a gift of faith for healing – they just expect it. I think I had more hope than faith. But we can all pray for healing, even if we don’t have healing gifts.
We all experience disappointment sometimes when we pray for healing. Healing does not always happen, or it may be slow in coming. But we can persist, just as we do with medical treatments. We persist till healing comes.
No leading. What if you have no leading on how to pray? That happens at times. You can still pray in faith, knowing God hears and will answer in his way and in his time.

What helped me to overcome blockages?

God’s Word helped me most. The more I read about Jesus and his followers the more my faith grew. God’s Spirit speaks his word into our hearts and lives. We believe it and act on it.

Listening more for the leading of God’s Spirit helped me enormously. Note that “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63) and that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). Often, a ‘hunch’ turned out to be a ‘leading’.

One night I prayed for a young relative who had been getting migraines. Medications had helped, but migraines persisted. I had a hunch we were dealing with an attack, so I was led to gently place my hand on his head and pray, “Affliction, get out in Jesus’ name.” I felt it go, and my young relative felt fine and has not needed medication for that since then. We don’t always ‘feel’ something, but we can pray in faith.

Why lay on hands?

Why do we lay hands on the sick to pray for them? It’s biblical. See Mark 6:5; 7:32; 10:16; 16:18; Luke 4:40; 13:13; Acts 28:8. It’s also a natural way to express care and concern. All parents know that touch brings comfort when a child is hurt.

Biblical passages taught me to persist. Here are some: Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:5-10; 18:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Jesus occasionally prayed for or commanded healing more than once, as for the blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-25) and the wild man of Gadara (Luke 8:26-39).

Ultimate healing and the only total healing is in heaven. Meanwhile, in this broken world we can show compassion and care in many ways, including praying for healing. I know the pain of praying for a loved one’s healing, who died. Sometimes the healing is not here, but hereafter.

Sometimes God may surprise you, as you persist in simple faith. A nurse in one of our prayer groups was led to place her hand on a lady’s back and pray, “L4 be healed, in Jesus’ name.” The pain left immediately. Apparently the problem was in the lumbar (L4 region) of the spine.

A doctor, and my college class, once prayed for and laid hands on a lady student who was scheduled for an operation to remove a growth in her abdomen. Later that same day her specialist could find no growth, so they cancelled the operation.

Recently we prayed as a small group for a man with diabetes problems. When he had a blood test it registered normal, so he testified in church and gave thanks to God.

Healing is not always so quick. But it’s always a blessing to pray for one another. Sometimes it helps to pray in a believing group where those praying contribute their different spiritual gifts and insights. You can pray in the Spirit and often receive the Spirit’s leading on how to pray with authority in Jesus’ name.

Many people discover that God is real and personal, and they believe in him because someone prayed cared and prayed for their healing. We pray – God heals.

I pray that you will find peace and joy as you pray in faith for others, led and empowered by God’s Spirit. Just bless them in Jesus’ name.

Geoff Waugh, Renewal Journal, 2017

Now added to Renewal Journal 4: Healing – renewaljournal.com

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