First of all, besides Walmart being on one of our Treasure Maps as a 'clue', I thought later, actually Walmart really had been a good place to go because of all the years of fusion giveaways - i always remembered the stories that came back from the Walmart parking lot were positive ones, that people were open to receive. So tonight we wanted to go where those seeds had been sown and reap some harvest... and i believe we did...
(Words in CAPS were the "clues" we had on our Treasure Map - see link on the right if you want to download an example of a treasure map to learn more about it)
> Walked in and saw the CLOWN FACE staring at me (on the back of a guy's jacket) - was on Nathan's treausre map - texted him "clown near milk"!
> Then Bob saw the lady in the RED JACKET WITH BLONDE HAIR - texted Nathan! He told us later she had 'all the clues'
> Found a young girl with PINK SHOES and told her she was God's treasure :)
> Showed a woman who was wearing BLUE ON TOP our list (who had a SMALL CHILD with her) and ended up praying with her for her mom's liver problems
> Approached a woman with PINK on, tried to communicate with woman who didn't speak English, made hand gestures to see if she had pain and wanted prayer, she motioned yes pain all over her body, so we prayed
> Bob asked a worker if there was anyone who worked there who had the names on his list, she told us there was a TIM who was a co-manager and he'd be walking around, we found him easily and prayed for his high blood pressure plus gave words of encouragement and blessing, he was quite nicely open to us, smiled and wished us luck on the rest of our treasure hunt!!
> Guy with a COMB IN HAIR - he didn't have any pain or prayer needs, but the girl with him was smiling as we listed off things we could pray for and so she wanted us to pray for their relationship!
> Woman in a YELLOW HAT, her daughter translated and told us about her many failed surgeries for her throat, that they did not have good tools in Romania and damaged her vocal chords when trying to attend to her thyroid. She was supposed to die and doctors gave her one year to live - eleven years ago - and she promised God to pray every morning and night, with her bible, which she has been faithful to. Tonight we got to be God's messengers and to pray for her.
All of these "clues" helped give us confidence and open doors for conversation with people and for them to believe they were being highlighted, special to God. we prayed with every one, left bits of kingdom dust with every encounter.
It was fun!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Old School Nike High-tops
Jennie M. and I are cruising through Ultra Foods (we had a clue for "grocery store") when we spot a guy with a few of my clues: "Old School Nike High-tops," and "Beard." We approach him and introduce ourselves, and then ask if he has any pain in his body. "Yeah, I've got some back pain," he says, which is crazy because Jennie has "back pain" on her list of clues. We pray for him, and when we're done, he reports that his back feels great. He does a few minor stretches, and affirms again that the pain is gone.We thank Jesus for what He did, and then start to offer some prophetic words. Jennie starts speaking about his heart for kids, and that they look up to him, etc., and when she is done, he tells us that he works for an academy that specializes on special needs kids. He is blown away that we came and prayed for him, and keeps thanking us and going over how strange it was that we knew those things about him. We remind him that it's God's goodness not us, and he agrees. We leave him grinning, and with a new appreciation for God's care and love for him.
Attention K-mart Shoppers: Healing is going on in the shoe aisle
It's amazing how even when you have the wrong clue God can still use it for His purposes. I had the clue "Gucci" (as in Gucci hand bag) but was not seeing anyone with Gucci anything on anyone at K-mart, or any of my other clues. Jen and I had been wandering around for about fifteen minutes and hadn't prayed for anyone when I saw three men passing us, and one of them had on a hoodey with the word "Googi" on it. I let them pass. Wrong clue. Then God prompted me to go talk to the guy anyway, and that the "wrong" clue would have to suffice.
Jen and I approached the three guys who were checking out shoes. They were all in their eary twenties, tall, and athletic looking. I didn't give myself time to get nervous and just walked right up to the guy with the Googi hoodey. I told him that we were on a treasure hunt, and that I thought he might be the treasure. He was plenty skeptical until I asked "do you have any pain in your knees?" He did. He said it was about a 7-8 out of ten on a pain scale. "So you would know if it went away?"
"Absolutely. It hurts."
I decided it was really time to push my boundaries, and so I asked if I could put my hand on his knee. Surprisingly, he agreed, and so I knelt next to him and asked for the kingdom to come, and for Jesus to heal his knee. "How is it now?"
I'm starting to get used to the look on his face. An awkward smile, a sort of deer in headlights 'I don't have a clue what just happened to me, but I like it!" look. "It's better!" he said. "A lot better!"
"All the way better?"
"No, but it's better."
"Can I pray again? I want to see it all the way better. So does Jesus."
"Sure.
Again I'm on my knees. "Lord Jesus, bring your healing. No more pain. In Jesus name." I'm really feeling the nearness of God, and his love for this man. I know that Jesus is going to totally heal his knee. I'm praying with authority, while the man's two friends wander at the end of the aisle, unsure if they really want to know what's going on, trying to be aloof, but watching non-the-less.
"What's going on now?"
"Wow. It's like completely fine." He walks down to the end of the aisle and back, a huge smile on his face. His friends are now paying close attention. He does a few knee bends. "There's just a little stiffness left."
"Do you want me to pray for that stiffness? Jesus will take it away."
"Sure."
Third time is the charm. He's really testing the knee now, doing a calf stretch, and more walking.
"It feels great!" he says, almost laughing.
"That's Jesus." I say. "He loves you. He loves you a lot."
Friend number one has wandered over and is checking things out, so I turn to him: "Do you have any pain in your body?"
"No."
"Nothing at all? No pain?"
"Well I've got a little knee thing too."
Prayer time. This time I know Jesus is going to heal things. The atmosphere is just electric, and I feel so much confidence in God's authority, so much confidence in His goodness and His love and His power. I say a very short prayer, hand on his knee, and then ask him to test it out. Again I get the look. A little shock, a little joy, and a little doubt intermingled. "I don't feel it anymore."
"It's good?"
"Yeah it's good."
Friend number two is talking to the first guy God healed, and so Jen and I ask him if he has pain. "No, I'm fine," he says, but he does have pain, it's just in his eyes and heart, not his body. Jen and I learn that he is looking for an office job and that he would really like to be working. So we pray that God will open doors, and for His favor, etc. Then Jen begins to call out the gold in him, and prophesies about God's heart for him. When she is done, I add a few things, and before we leave, Jen gives friend number two a hug.
Then the first guy comes over with a massive smile and gives me a hug. "Thank you so much," he says. "Thank Jesus. That's His goodness all over you. I can't heal anyone."
We leave the three guys to pick out their shoes, each of them knowing in a new and real way that their Father loves them. God is so good. Acting on a 'wrong' clue led to the most powerful encounter I've ever experienced on Treasure Hunt.
Jen and I approached the three guys who were checking out shoes. They were all in their eary twenties, tall, and athletic looking. I didn't give myself time to get nervous and just walked right up to the guy with the Googi hoodey. I told him that we were on a treasure hunt, and that I thought he might be the treasure. He was plenty skeptical until I asked "do you have any pain in your knees?" He did. He said it was about a 7-8 out of ten on a pain scale. "So you would know if it went away?"
"Absolutely. It hurts."
I decided it was really time to push my boundaries, and so I asked if I could put my hand on his knee. Surprisingly, he agreed, and so I knelt next to him and asked for the kingdom to come, and for Jesus to heal his knee. "How is it now?"
I'm starting to get used to the look on his face. An awkward smile, a sort of deer in headlights 'I don't have a clue what just happened to me, but I like it!" look. "It's better!" he said. "A lot better!"
"All the way better?"
"No, but it's better."
"Can I pray again? I want to see it all the way better. So does Jesus."
"Sure.
Again I'm on my knees. "Lord Jesus, bring your healing. No more pain. In Jesus name." I'm really feeling the nearness of God, and his love for this man. I know that Jesus is going to totally heal his knee. I'm praying with authority, while the man's two friends wander at the end of the aisle, unsure if they really want to know what's going on, trying to be aloof, but watching non-the-less.
"What's going on now?"
"Wow. It's like completely fine." He walks down to the end of the aisle and back, a huge smile on his face. His friends are now paying close attention. He does a few knee bends. "There's just a little stiffness left."
"Do you want me to pray for that stiffness? Jesus will take it away."
"Sure."
Third time is the charm. He's really testing the knee now, doing a calf stretch, and more walking.
"It feels great!" he says, almost laughing.
"That's Jesus." I say. "He loves you. He loves you a lot."
Friend number one has wandered over and is checking things out, so I turn to him: "Do you have any pain in your body?"
"No."
"Nothing at all? No pain?"
"Well I've got a little knee thing too."
Prayer time. This time I know Jesus is going to heal things. The atmosphere is just electric, and I feel so much confidence in God's authority, so much confidence in His goodness and His love and His power. I say a very short prayer, hand on his knee, and then ask him to test it out. Again I get the look. A little shock, a little joy, and a little doubt intermingled. "I don't feel it anymore."
"It's good?"
"Yeah it's good."
Friend number two is talking to the first guy God healed, and so Jen and I ask him if he has pain. "No, I'm fine," he says, but he does have pain, it's just in his eyes and heart, not his body. Jen and I learn that he is looking for an office job and that he would really like to be working. So we pray that God will open doors, and for His favor, etc. Then Jen begins to call out the gold in him, and prophesies about God's heart for him. When she is done, I add a few things, and before we leave, Jen gives friend number two a hug.
Then the first guy comes over with a massive smile and gives me a hug. "Thank you so much," he says. "Thank Jesus. That's His goodness all over you. I can't heal anyone."
We leave the three guys to pick out their shoes, each of them knowing in a new and real way that their Father loves them. God is so good. Acting on a 'wrong' clue led to the most powerful encounter I've ever experienced on Treasure Hunt.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tattoos on Fingers
Dan and I went out on a little 'treasure hunt' (asking God for clues to help lead us to His treasures: those who need to hear about his Love, be healed, encouraged, etc.) Thursday night. We have a lot of clues, but were not really finding any. One of my clues was "tattoos on fingers," and one of Dan's clues was for a location: 7-11. This was our last stop, and while we'd been pretty bold for most of the night, we'd not really found anyone who specifically matched our clues. Then at 7-11, Dan spotted a store employee cleaning one of the coffee stations who just happened to have tattoos on several of his fingers.
We struck up a conversation with the man and learned his name was Hugo. I showed him my treasure map with the tattoo clue, and he was visibly surprised. Then Dan had a word of knowledge that he suffered from back pain. Hugo said he did have back pain regularly, but not at that specific moment. He did however, have a swollen thumb with a black nail that has been caused by being slammed in a car door. We asked if we could pray, and Hugo said sure. Dan opened up with prayers for his back and asked that Jesus Christ heal his back and repair anything that was out of whack.
Then I decided to pray for his thumb. I started praying, and I felt God direct me to put my finger tips very near his thumb; not touching it, but as close as possible. As I did this, I felt my fingers tips get very hot, and felt that heat transfer to Hugo's thumb. I prayed, and when I was done, I asked Hugo "Did you just feel that heat?"
"Yeah!" he said, and I could tell that again, he was very surprised. Then I felt God giving me a prophetic word for him. As I talked, I saw he was totally engaged and that the words were drawing him out. The Lord was loving him in that moment, reassuring him that he was not a castaway, not a screw-up. That he was a son and that his Father loved him. There were some specific details that he seemed to relate to, and so when I was done with the word, Dan had the insight to ask Hugo if the words made sense.
"Totally," he said. Dan then reinforced that it was because of God's goodness and His love for him that he had given me those words. Then I told Hugo that God was working on his thumb: that tomorrow he would be able to move it, and that in seven days the color would return to the nail and that he wouldn't have to lose the fingernail. I'm not sure what he thought about that, but when we left, he was visibly more at peace than when we arrived.
I plan to go back to 7-11 in a week's time and see how Hugo's thumb is doing, as well as again let him know that his Father loves him. I will post again once that happens and provide an update.
We struck up a conversation with the man and learned his name was Hugo. I showed him my treasure map with the tattoo clue, and he was visibly surprised. Then Dan had a word of knowledge that he suffered from back pain. Hugo said he did have back pain regularly, but not at that specific moment. He did however, have a swollen thumb with a black nail that has been caused by being slammed in a car door. We asked if we could pray, and Hugo said sure. Dan opened up with prayers for his back and asked that Jesus Christ heal his back and repair anything that was out of whack.
Then I decided to pray for his thumb. I started praying, and I felt God direct me to put my finger tips very near his thumb; not touching it, but as close as possible. As I did this, I felt my fingers tips get very hot, and felt that heat transfer to Hugo's thumb. I prayed, and when I was done, I asked Hugo "Did you just feel that heat?"
"Yeah!" he said, and I could tell that again, he was very surprised. Then I felt God giving me a prophetic word for him. As I talked, I saw he was totally engaged and that the words were drawing him out. The Lord was loving him in that moment, reassuring him that he was not a castaway, not a screw-up. That he was a son and that his Father loved him. There were some specific details that he seemed to relate to, and so when I was done with the word, Dan had the insight to ask Hugo if the words made sense.
"Totally," he said. Dan then reinforced that it was because of God's goodness and His love for him that he had given me those words. Then I told Hugo that God was working on his thumb: that tomorrow he would be able to move it, and that in seven days the color would return to the nail and that he wouldn't have to lose the fingernail. I'm not sure what he thought about that, but when we left, he was visibly more at peace than when we arrived.
I plan to go back to 7-11 in a week's time and see how Hugo's thumb is doing, as well as again let him know that his Father loves him. I will post again once that happens and provide an update.
One Hand In My Pocket...
If you want to have someone agree to let you pray with them, there are a few things to remember. The first is that developing some rapport with them first is a great idea. The second is that you should introduce yourself and let them know why you are there (to pray for healing) and where you are from (a local church). The third is that you shouldn't come charging up to them with your hand jammed in your jeans pocket and demand to know if "they're in pain or here with someone who is having pain."
I learned each of these valuable lessons after choking down my sickening level of anxiety and rushing up to the first man I laid eyes on in the Loyola Hospital ER waiting room. A light skinned African American man in a red Comcast jacket, he looked at me standing over him, stood up, and said 'no, but that man over there does." I could tell from his demeanor that he wasn't really enjoying my presence, and I felt I needed to let him know I was 'ok.' I explained that I was there to pray for anyone who wanted it. He nodded, laughed, and relaxed. It was clear he was a nice guy and that I’d just surprised him a bit.
Five minutes later, after learning that the second man's mother was in the ER after suffering a minor stroke, and that he was related to the larger family that Jen had already befriended and was making small talk with, we got down to praying. Jen and I prayed for the woman to be fully restored and to have no repercussions from the stroke. We asked for the Kingdom to come, and for Jesus to heal her body.
When we were done, a curious thing happened. The entire family, and the man in the Comcast jacket, began to give me pointers. "Don't just come running up to people without introducing yourself first!" said one the three women Jen had been talking to. "You've got to let us know who you are and why you're here."
Then, Comcast jacket guy stared in, and as he talked, I felt my face growing red. "You come up to me with your hand in your pocket. Your hand in your pocket! You certainly got my attention. And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, man I'm not even on my feet. You know, that's not really going to put anyone at ease."
There's not much I can say except "You're right." I'm feeling embarrassed, but it's the good sort of embarrassment that comes when you realize you've made some silly mistakes, but that you can learn from them. Comcast guy is being very polite, and he's not exaggerating things. He's actually doing me a favor. He's pointing out that if you want to do the work of Christ, if you want to contend for the Kingdom, and if you want to pray for healing, you've first got to convince the person that you're talking to you're not there to shoot them in the face.
I'm thankful to Comcast guy. He gave me the opportunity to see how my spectacular level of nervousness which led to me shoving my hand into my pocket and approaching him far to directly out of fear that if I didn't, I never would, had created walls that never needed to be there. He showed me, and explained in detail, what I already knew: that developing rapport is essential. What I knew, but what I couldn't apply because I let my fear get in the way of expressing the love of Christ. It's clear to me that God put that man in my path and not someone who would have taken offense, closed themselves off (or worse!) so that I could learn some valuable lessons.
I learned each of these valuable lessons after choking down my sickening level of anxiety and rushing up to the first man I laid eyes on in the Loyola Hospital ER waiting room. A light skinned African American man in a red Comcast jacket, he looked at me standing over him, stood up, and said 'no, but that man over there does." I could tell from his demeanor that he wasn't really enjoying my presence, and I felt I needed to let him know I was 'ok.' I explained that I was there to pray for anyone who wanted it. He nodded, laughed, and relaxed. It was clear he was a nice guy and that I’d just surprised him a bit.
Five minutes later, after learning that the second man's mother was in the ER after suffering a minor stroke, and that he was related to the larger family that Jen had already befriended and was making small talk with, we got down to praying. Jen and I prayed for the woman to be fully restored and to have no repercussions from the stroke. We asked for the Kingdom to come, and for Jesus to heal her body.
When we were done, a curious thing happened. The entire family, and the man in the Comcast jacket, began to give me pointers. "Don't just come running up to people without introducing yourself first!" said one the three women Jen had been talking to. "You've got to let us know who you are and why you're here."
Then, Comcast jacket guy stared in, and as he talked, I felt my face growing red. "You come up to me with your hand in your pocket. Your hand in your pocket! You certainly got my attention. And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, man I'm not even on my feet. You know, that's not really going to put anyone at ease."
There's not much I can say except "You're right." I'm feeling embarrassed, but it's the good sort of embarrassment that comes when you realize you've made some silly mistakes, but that you can learn from them. Comcast guy is being very polite, and he's not exaggerating things. He's actually doing me a favor. He's pointing out that if you want to do the work of Christ, if you want to contend for the Kingdom, and if you want to pray for healing, you've first got to convince the person that you're talking to you're not there to shoot them in the face.
I'm thankful to Comcast guy. He gave me the opportunity to see how my spectacular level of nervousness which led to me shoving my hand into my pocket and approaching him far to directly out of fear that if I didn't, I never would, had created walls that never needed to be there. He showed me, and explained in detail, what I already knew: that developing rapport is essential. What I knew, but what I couldn't apply because I let my fear get in the way of expressing the love of Christ. It's clear to me that God put that man in my path and not someone who would have taken offense, closed themselves off (or worse!) so that I could learn some valuable lessons.
first time out
[FROM JEN] hi all. i'm new at this. well, not really. praying for people is something that's been a part of my life for a while now, but now i'm pursuing physical healing with more boldness and intentionality. and my eyes are being opened to more need around me, knowing i have something to offer that can change things. oh, and the other big difference is we're going outside the walls of the church...
so tuesday night a group of six of us gathered at church to worship ('get filled up') and then go out and pray for people ('leak'). we split in two groups and headed opposite directions to visit a few ER waiting rooms at nearby hospitals. it was a learning night for us (it was our first time) and a night of encouragement and blessing for those we had interactions with. once we got past the awkwardness of the conversation (who are you and why are you here?) we were able to simply share the love of God. we didn't see anyone physically healed that night, but many individuals had love encounters through words spoken from the Father's heart or even just that we showed up to bring some comfort. We also noticed a visible atmosphere change in each ER we visited that night from the time we walked in to the time we left (more peace in people's interactions with each other, more smiling, no longer isolated). so, although we didn't see healings, we believe God was with us and many were touched by His love that night as we went to step out and take risks, speaking in the name of Jesus, as He has commissioned us to do.
so tuesday night a group of six of us gathered at church to worship ('get filled up') and then go out and pray for people ('leak'). we split in two groups and headed opposite directions to visit a few ER waiting rooms at nearby hospitals. it was a learning night for us (it was our first time) and a night of encouragement and blessing for those we had interactions with. once we got past the awkwardness of the conversation (who are you and why are you here?) we were able to simply share the love of God. we didn't see anyone physically healed that night, but many individuals had love encounters through words spoken from the Father's heart or even just that we showed up to bring some comfort. We also noticed a visible atmosphere change in each ER we visited that night from the time we walked in to the time we left (more peace in people's interactions with each other, more smiling, no longer isolated). so, although we didn't see healings, we believe God was with us and many were touched by His love that night as we went to step out and take risks, speaking in the name of Jesus, as He has commissioned us to do.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My power week - Part 4
(Please start at part 1 if you haven't.)
Thursday 2/5/09
Thursday was another day that I had an encounter with someone that I was showing an apartment to. I was showing the apartment to a grandma, mom and child. The apartment was for the mom and child and the grandma had a cane. As soon as I saw this I said, “Alright God, here we go!” After showing them the apartment I pulled out an application and as I was talking to them I realized that this lady did not have enough income for the apartment to meet our requirements. I tried everything I could think of so that this lady could get the apartment but there just wasn’t enough income. And all this time my excitement level was getting lower and lower. I would say that even my faith got lower.
So when I ran out of things to try, we said goodbye and they started to walk down the street. At that moment I remembered that they pulled up in a taxi and that they just lived a short distance across town. So I asked them how they were getting home and they said that they were going to walk to the store and call a cab. At this point I am thinking, “Oh that’s real great; the grandma with a cane walking four blocks to the store and then standing there waiting for a cab to show up. So I offered them a ride and they accepted. On the way to their house I said, “If you don’t mind me asking, what is the cane for?” She responded by saying, “Well you are going to laugh at me, but Christmas of 2005 (three years ago) I was waiting at the front doors of Wal-Mart for them to open and when they opened the doors I got knocked over and tore the ligament in my knee.” She continued saying, “The worst part is that I have to have surgery on it but can’t because I live on the third floor and if I had the surgery I would not be able to get out of bed for six months to a year and I have no one who can take care of me.”
So I explained that I am a Christian and that I have seen a lot of people healed by God lately and that I would like to pray for her. She kind of gave me the old-yes you can pray for me as soon as I leave. To which I said the magic seven words, “Can I pray for you right now.” She accepted. I prayed and asked how her knee felt. She told me that she wouldn’t know until she got out of the car. I asked if she would mind if I got out of the car with her to see how it was and she said that it would be ok. So we both got out of the car and she started to test it out. With a very puzzled look on her face (remember to always look at the face not the injury) she said, “It really feels better.” I asked if it was 100% better. It wasn’t so I prayed again. This time she started walking without her cane. I asked her if she was able to walk without the cane before and she said no. We praised God and she went in her apartment with a miracle from God.
After this I was totally pumped up. I went back to the office and as I was getting out of the car I saw a gentleman walking down the street and I knew he was going to ask me for money. I had already decided that I was going to give him money but I also thought, “If I am going to give you some money, you are going to humor me for a minute. So of course he asked me for money and I started to tell him about Jesus. I got to pray for him. He had just gotten out of jail and was faced with some serious depression. I got the privilege to pray for the depression to be broken off, for hope in his life and to release God’s love on him. As I was praying I noticed that his eye was a little yellow and a watery. When I brought it up he said that he had surgery on his eyes when he was a kid and now they were very sensitive to light. I prayed for his eyes and he wasn’t healed but I know that he had an encounter with God.
Friday 2/6/09
Friday was coming to a close and I hadn’t prayed for anybody yet. I was waiting for Lauren to get finished with work, sitting in my car with the window half way down, playing on my iPhone. When all of a sudden this guy walks up to the car, speaking broken English, who needs $1.80 for bus fare. My first reaction is “Just go away. Can’t you see that I am playing Superball 2?” You know…that godly reaction again. Then God hit me over the head and I woke up. All of a sudden I had that thought again, “If I am going to give you some money, you are going to humor me for a few minutes.” So I got out of the car. I start talking to him and find out his name is Andy. He just starts opening up to me, telling me about how his parents split up, and his dad remarried and was never there for him, and how he is a 32 year old man still living at home battling depression. I began prophesying over him about how he is the son of a King, which makes him a prince and about how much God loves him. And then I got to pray for him. Man, that was a power encounter. When I was finished both Andy and I had tears in our eyes, and he gave me a huge hug and said, “Thank you, Dan. Thank you.” And he started walking backwards saying Thank you over and over. That was awesome. I did however loose my game of Superball 2…but it was so worth it.
Thursday 2/5/09
Thursday was another day that I had an encounter with someone that I was showing an apartment to. I was showing the apartment to a grandma, mom and child. The apartment was for the mom and child and the grandma had a cane. As soon as I saw this I said, “Alright God, here we go!” After showing them the apartment I pulled out an application and as I was talking to them I realized that this lady did not have enough income for the apartment to meet our requirements. I tried everything I could think of so that this lady could get the apartment but there just wasn’t enough income. And all this time my excitement level was getting lower and lower. I would say that even my faith got lower.
So when I ran out of things to try, we said goodbye and they started to walk down the street. At that moment I remembered that they pulled up in a taxi and that they just lived a short distance across town. So I asked them how they were getting home and they said that they were going to walk to the store and call a cab. At this point I am thinking, “Oh that’s real great; the grandma with a cane walking four blocks to the store and then standing there waiting for a cab to show up. So I offered them a ride and they accepted. On the way to their house I said, “If you don’t mind me asking, what is the cane for?” She responded by saying, “Well you are going to laugh at me, but Christmas of 2005 (three years ago) I was waiting at the front doors of Wal-Mart for them to open and when they opened the doors I got knocked over and tore the ligament in my knee.” She continued saying, “The worst part is that I have to have surgery on it but can’t because I live on the third floor and if I had the surgery I would not be able to get out of bed for six months to a year and I have no one who can take care of me.”
So I explained that I am a Christian and that I have seen a lot of people healed by God lately and that I would like to pray for her. She kind of gave me the old-yes you can pray for me as soon as I leave. To which I said the magic seven words, “Can I pray for you right now.” She accepted. I prayed and asked how her knee felt. She told me that she wouldn’t know until she got out of the car. I asked if she would mind if I got out of the car with her to see how it was and she said that it would be ok. So we both got out of the car and she started to test it out. With a very puzzled look on her face (remember to always look at the face not the injury) she said, “It really feels better.” I asked if it was 100% better. It wasn’t so I prayed again. This time she started walking without her cane. I asked her if she was able to walk without the cane before and she said no. We praised God and she went in her apartment with a miracle from God.
After this I was totally pumped up. I went back to the office and as I was getting out of the car I saw a gentleman walking down the street and I knew he was going to ask me for money. I had already decided that I was going to give him money but I also thought, “If I am going to give you some money, you are going to humor me for a minute. So of course he asked me for money and I started to tell him about Jesus. I got to pray for him. He had just gotten out of jail and was faced with some serious depression. I got the privilege to pray for the depression to be broken off, for hope in his life and to release God’s love on him. As I was praying I noticed that his eye was a little yellow and a watery. When I brought it up he said that he had surgery on his eyes when he was a kid and now they were very sensitive to light. I prayed for his eyes and he wasn’t healed but I know that he had an encounter with God.
Friday 2/6/09
Friday was coming to a close and I hadn’t prayed for anybody yet. I was waiting for Lauren to get finished with work, sitting in my car with the window half way down, playing on my iPhone. When all of a sudden this guy walks up to the car, speaking broken English, who needs $1.80 for bus fare. My first reaction is “Just go away. Can’t you see that I am playing Superball 2?” You know…that godly reaction again. Then God hit me over the head and I woke up. All of a sudden I had that thought again, “If I am going to give you some money, you are going to humor me for a few minutes.” So I got out of the car. I start talking to him and find out his name is Andy. He just starts opening up to me, telling me about how his parents split up, and his dad remarried and was never there for him, and how he is a 32 year old man still living at home battling depression. I began prophesying over him about how he is the son of a King, which makes him a prince and about how much God loves him. And then I got to pray for him. Man, that was a power encounter. When I was finished both Andy and I had tears in our eyes, and he gave me a huge hug and said, “Thank you, Dan. Thank you.” And he started walking backwards saying Thank you over and over. That was awesome. I did however loose my game of Superball 2…but it was so worth it.
My power week - Part 3
(Please start at part 1 if you haven't.)
Tuesday 2/3/09
So on Tuesday Nathan and I were going to go out on a treasure hunt but he ended up having a fever and not being able to. The real catch for me was in the morning I was praying and I saw a picture of myself praying for a neck problem of one of the people who worked at Lalos restaurant. I now had a decision to make, do I stay home and watch Heroes or do I go for it on my own? I went for it. After a short worship session in my car outside of Lalos I went in. As I walked in the lady asked me if I needed a table for one, to which I said, “No. Actually this might sound a little weird but is there by chance anyone that works here that has any kind of neck or throat pain or sickness?” She looked at me like I was a nutter and told me she didn’t think so but asked why. So told her what I was doing and she told me that she would check with her manager.
I have to be honest. I thought I would have been kicked out by this point, but I am still there. So the manager came to the front door where I was and I explained everything to her. When I was done asking her she said, “No there is not anyone who I can think of but you know what is strange…” (Oh boy do I like that line.) “…I was at the dentist this morning and there was a guy doing exactly what you are doing, praying for people to be healed.” I thought that was crazy. So we talked a while and I got to share a bit about Jesus and how cool He is. She told me about her mother-in-law who is in Mexico and has cancer. I prayed for her mother-in-law and left.
I have to say; I am amazed at how open people are once you say you are a Christian. I feel like I have heard more life stories and intimate details about people’s lives. People are just hungry.
Wednesday 2/4/09
For those of you who don’t know, I am a leasing agent for a property management company. So a large part of my job is showing apartments. On Wednesday I had a 5 pm appointment and so at 5:15 pm when I am still sitting in front of the building waiting, I’m getting very mad. I’m thinking things like, “If this person was on time I could be home by now.” The gentleman finally shows up. As we are walking up to the building he asks if this is the apartment that is on the third floor, to which I responded yes. He said, “Well I guess my knee will be ok if this is just a short term lease.” Instantly I said to myself, there’s not a chance am I praying for this guy, he was late. He deserves to be in pain. You know, it was one of those real godly reactions.
So all the way up the three flights of stairs I am having an internal battle with God. It’s no big shock that by the time we got to the top of the stairs I gave in and said, “Fine God. I will pray for him.” As soon as I said this, all of my anger left and I felt a peace come over me. I ended up finding out that he was a chaplain and I got to pray for him. He did not get healed but I think I stretched his faith a little bit that day. More than that, God freed me from my own personal junk. Ever since that day, I have had much more patience for people and in general felt God’s peace in a new way. All because I lost an argument with God.
To be continued...
Tuesday 2/3/09
So on Tuesday Nathan and I were going to go out on a treasure hunt but he ended up having a fever and not being able to. The real catch for me was in the morning I was praying and I saw a picture of myself praying for a neck problem of one of the people who worked at Lalos restaurant. I now had a decision to make, do I stay home and watch Heroes or do I go for it on my own? I went for it. After a short worship session in my car outside of Lalos I went in. As I walked in the lady asked me if I needed a table for one, to which I said, “No. Actually this might sound a little weird but is there by chance anyone that works here that has any kind of neck or throat pain or sickness?” She looked at me like I was a nutter and told me she didn’t think so but asked why. So told her what I was doing and she told me that she would check with her manager.
I have to be honest. I thought I would have been kicked out by this point, but I am still there. So the manager came to the front door where I was and I explained everything to her. When I was done asking her she said, “No there is not anyone who I can think of but you know what is strange…” (Oh boy do I like that line.) “…I was at the dentist this morning and there was a guy doing exactly what you are doing, praying for people to be healed.” I thought that was crazy. So we talked a while and I got to share a bit about Jesus and how cool He is. She told me about her mother-in-law who is in Mexico and has cancer. I prayed for her mother-in-law and left.
I have to say; I am amazed at how open people are once you say you are a Christian. I feel like I have heard more life stories and intimate details about people’s lives. People are just hungry.
Wednesday 2/4/09
For those of you who don’t know, I am a leasing agent for a property management company. So a large part of my job is showing apartments. On Wednesday I had a 5 pm appointment and so at 5:15 pm when I am still sitting in front of the building waiting, I’m getting very mad. I’m thinking things like, “If this person was on time I could be home by now.” The gentleman finally shows up. As we are walking up to the building he asks if this is the apartment that is on the third floor, to which I responded yes. He said, “Well I guess my knee will be ok if this is just a short term lease.” Instantly I said to myself, there’s not a chance am I praying for this guy, he was late. He deserves to be in pain. You know, it was one of those real godly reactions.
So all the way up the three flights of stairs I am having an internal battle with God. It’s no big shock that by the time we got to the top of the stairs I gave in and said, “Fine God. I will pray for him.” As soon as I said this, all of my anger left and I felt a peace come over me. I ended up finding out that he was a chaplain and I got to pray for him. He did not get healed but I think I stretched his faith a little bit that day. More than that, God freed me from my own personal junk. Ever since that day, I have had much more patience for people and in general felt God’s peace in a new way. All because I lost an argument with God.
To be continued...
My power week - Part 2
(Please start at Part 1 if you haven't.)
Sunday 2/1/09
So on Sunday back at the VOP we had a healing service; naturally after a healing conference. At the end of the first service, the prayer team called out some words of knowledge (things they believed God wanted to heal) and the people with that pain or sickness stood up. My wife Lauren was one of those people. Anybody that did not have a pain or sickness was to pray for those who were standing. So I was praying for Lauren and as I was doing so I looked over at someone else praying for a gentleman who had legs that were about an inch different in length. As I was looking at them I saw the gentleman’s shorter leg grow, in front of my own eyes, to be the same length as the other leg. Without realizing it I had stopped praying for Lauren and out loud said, “holy cow!” At this point Lauren is asking me what is going on and I am just standing there with my mouth wide open.
Interestingly enough, the night before I felt that God was telling me to pray for Lauren’s leg to “grow” out. To give you a quick background, Lauren fell and hurt her hip about five years prior. She actually fell on it twice and it has never healed properly. So in between the two services I had Lauren sit down with her back flat against the back of a chair and I held her legs out and sure enough one leg was about a half inch shorter than the other. (As a side note, I don’t believe that one leg was actually shorter than the other, I think that things in her body were out of alignment.) So I prayed and instantly I watched as God “grew” the shorter leg to be the same length as the other. Lauren is sitting there asking what is going on because she didn’t feel anything or see anything. Later, though, she said that something was definitely different in her hips. It was hard for her to say that things were better because she is pregnant and this in it’s self has thrown things off a bit.
So again at the end of the second service the prayer team came up and gave words of knowledge. Now I am looking around for someone to pounce on and pray for. Lo and behold the lady next to me stood up. She had sharp pain in her stomach and when she was a child she broke her ankle and it never healed right which always caused her pain. So I first prayed for her stomach and instantly God healed it. Then I prayed for her ankle and again God instantly healed it. We took a minute to rejoice in God’s goodness but I wasn’t done yet. I turned around to the lady behind me who was also standing. This lady did not speak any English so I had to do everything through a translator. I found out that she had constant pain in her ankles, back and hip. First I prayed for her ankles. After I finished praying I asked her to check it out to see how the pain was. She gave me that face that said yea I think it is a little better. So prayed again and this time she gave me the face of holy cow the pain is gone. I then prayed for her hips and back. After I finished praying I asked her to check to see how the pain was. This lady bent over and touched her toes to which her daughter yells out, “Oh my God, I can’t remember the last time she was able to do that.” The lady stood up, still not realizing that God had healed her, lifter her knee almost to her chest and then it hit her. She burst into tears, threw her arms around me and wept. Now that is what I call a power encounter with the Living God!!!
As a side note, if you are one of those people who pray for healing and can never tell whether the person is really healed or if they are just trying to make you happy, here is a hint: don’t look at the body part they are testing, rather, look at their face. As soon as they realize they are healed (or not) they cannot hide the truth in there reaction.
So after church Lauren and I were hungry, it was lunchtime after all, and partnering with God can use a lot of energy. So we decided on a restaurant that we hadn’t been to in a while. As we were sitting at the table I felt like I received a word of knowledge that there was someone who worked in the restaurant who was missing a tip of their finger and God wanted me to pray for them. Towards the end of the meal I asked the waitress if there was a cook or someone who was missing the tip of their finger. She gave me a puzzled look and said no. At that point I was going to drop it but she asked me why. So I explained to her that I was a Christian and that I believed in healing and I felt like God wanted me to pray for that person. After that I asked her if there was anything she wanted prayer for. She said that she wanted prayer for her broken heart and proceeded to tell us about her long-term boyfriend who cheated on her and that they had just broken up. Lauren and I prayed for her and when we were done she said, “You know I didn’t want to say this before but the strange thing is…” (I love when people say this.) “…when I was a child the tip of my finger was cut off and it never grew back.” I prayed for her finger. It got really hot which usually means that God is doing something but nothing happened. But after this, this waitress proceeded to tell us just about her whole life story. Lauren and I got to pray for her and minister to her and at the end she said that she felt like God had sent us in there just for her and I believe He did.
Monday 2/2/09
I got nothing for Monday. Let’s call this my Sabbath.
To be continued...
Sunday 2/1/09
So on Sunday back at the VOP we had a healing service; naturally after a healing conference. At the end of the first service, the prayer team called out some words of knowledge (things they believed God wanted to heal) and the people with that pain or sickness stood up. My wife Lauren was one of those people. Anybody that did not have a pain or sickness was to pray for those who were standing. So I was praying for Lauren and as I was doing so I looked over at someone else praying for a gentleman who had legs that were about an inch different in length. As I was looking at them I saw the gentleman’s shorter leg grow, in front of my own eyes, to be the same length as the other leg. Without realizing it I had stopped praying for Lauren and out loud said, “holy cow!” At this point Lauren is asking me what is going on and I am just standing there with my mouth wide open.
Interestingly enough, the night before I felt that God was telling me to pray for Lauren’s leg to “grow” out. To give you a quick background, Lauren fell and hurt her hip about five years prior. She actually fell on it twice and it has never healed properly. So in between the two services I had Lauren sit down with her back flat against the back of a chair and I held her legs out and sure enough one leg was about a half inch shorter than the other. (As a side note, I don’t believe that one leg was actually shorter than the other, I think that things in her body were out of alignment.) So I prayed and instantly I watched as God “grew” the shorter leg to be the same length as the other. Lauren is sitting there asking what is going on because she didn’t feel anything or see anything. Later, though, she said that something was definitely different in her hips. It was hard for her to say that things were better because she is pregnant and this in it’s self has thrown things off a bit.
So again at the end of the second service the prayer team came up and gave words of knowledge. Now I am looking around for someone to pounce on and pray for. Lo and behold the lady next to me stood up. She had sharp pain in her stomach and when she was a child she broke her ankle and it never healed right which always caused her pain. So I first prayed for her stomach and instantly God healed it. Then I prayed for her ankle and again God instantly healed it. We took a minute to rejoice in God’s goodness but I wasn’t done yet. I turned around to the lady behind me who was also standing. This lady did not speak any English so I had to do everything through a translator. I found out that she had constant pain in her ankles, back and hip. First I prayed for her ankles. After I finished praying I asked her to check it out to see how the pain was. She gave me that face that said yea I think it is a little better. So prayed again and this time she gave me the face of holy cow the pain is gone. I then prayed for her hips and back. After I finished praying I asked her to check to see how the pain was. This lady bent over and touched her toes to which her daughter yells out, “Oh my God, I can’t remember the last time she was able to do that.” The lady stood up, still not realizing that God had healed her, lifter her knee almost to her chest and then it hit her. She burst into tears, threw her arms around me and wept. Now that is what I call a power encounter with the Living God!!!
As a side note, if you are one of those people who pray for healing and can never tell whether the person is really healed or if they are just trying to make you happy, here is a hint: don’t look at the body part they are testing, rather, look at their face. As soon as they realize they are healed (or not) they cannot hide the truth in there reaction.
So after church Lauren and I were hungry, it was lunchtime after all, and partnering with God can use a lot of energy. So we decided on a restaurant that we hadn’t been to in a while. As we were sitting at the table I felt like I received a word of knowledge that there was someone who worked in the restaurant who was missing a tip of their finger and God wanted me to pray for them. Towards the end of the meal I asked the waitress if there was a cook or someone who was missing the tip of their finger. She gave me a puzzled look and said no. At that point I was going to drop it but she asked me why. So I explained to her that I was a Christian and that I believed in healing and I felt like God wanted me to pray for that person. After that I asked her if there was anything she wanted prayer for. She said that she wanted prayer for her broken heart and proceeded to tell us about her long-term boyfriend who cheated on her and that they had just broken up. Lauren and I prayed for her and when we were done she said, “You know I didn’t want to say this before but the strange thing is…” (I love when people say this.) “…when I was a child the tip of my finger was cut off and it never grew back.” I prayed for her finger. It got really hot which usually means that God is doing something but nothing happened. But after this, this waitress proceeded to tell us just about her whole life story. Lauren and I got to pray for her and minister to her and at the end she said that she felt like God had sent us in there just for her and I believe He did.
Monday 2/2/09
I got nothing for Monday. Let’s call this my Sabbath.
To be continued...
My power week - Part 1
So this is the story of what I have dubbed “my power week.” In actuality it is a bit longer than a week but let’s not go into semantics. Let me give you a little background leading up to this week. For those of you who don’t know, I am the Director of the High School Ministry at the Oak Park Vineyard and prior to this week I had become pretty dry. What I mean is that my walk with God was feeling very draining and heavy. I was hanging in there but was feeling burnt out.
I needed a jump-start and the perfect opportunity came up in a healing conference held in Valparaiso, IN. After a few stumbling blocks I found myself at this conference where God met me in a very tangible way. I was so hungry that at the point in the conference when most people had left, I was still there. I told God that I wanted to be there if there was even the slightest chance that He was going to do something or even if He was just going to be there. Anywhere that there was someone praying a blessing, I wiggled my way to the front. If a mantle was being passed, I wanted it. I was just plain hungry.
Friday 1/30/09
So getting started on this “power” week. It started on Friday, which was the last day of the conference. Everyone from the conference was going out on a “treasure hunt.” What you do on a treasure hunt is, first you ask God to give you clues for your treasure map. These are things like red shirt, Starbucks, back problems…or anything that could possible lead you to a person that God wants you to pray for. Then you partner up with one or two other people and you put your treasure maps together. I ended up going out with Ian and Rachel Carroll. So you use your treasure map to go to where you think God is telling you to go and you pray for people. It is really quite simple when you think about it…and/or completely terrifying.
So Rachel, Ian and I ended up going to an outside mall. We started by going to Starbucks because Rachel and I both had it on our map. Well I guess God had given that word to a lot of people because when we walked in there were about twenty people from the conference and three that were not. So we moved on with the assumption that God had Starbucks covered. (Who knows, maybe everyone just needed a little pick me up after sitting in the conference all day.) Anyway, so that I don’t just go on forever let me get to some highlights. Through clues on our treasure maps we blessed a young man working at a Sherwin Williams Paint store, blessed a woman shopping at a pet store, prayed for a young woman at Home Depot to be fanatically blessed and receive a raise, and…now for the most exciting part. Let me say, I don’t want to down play the three people we prayed for up to this point. All of them were awesome encounters with God, both for us and for them. So at Home Depot Rachel decided that she wanted some chocolate, after all who doesn’t like chocolate. As Ian and Rachel were being rung up Ian said something to the effect of, “If God didn’t want us to eat chocolate, He wouldn’t have made so much of it.” To which the cashier responded, “Yea. I ate a lot of chocolate ice cream after I had a tumor on my tong removed.” **Hold on a minute. Stop the story. How did we go from chocolate to tumors? All I have to say is thank you Jesus.** So Ian asked her how the tumor was doing right now and she said that it had actually just come back. We asked to pray for her and she said yes. Before we prayed we asked how much pain there was on a scale of 0-10, ten being that she needed to go to the hospital. She said it was a 7. We prayed. God came, and the pain went down to a 3. Come on God. But it still hurt a bit so we prayed again and it went down to a 2. At that point she was getting anxious with other customers and such so we told her a bit about Jesus and left.
Holy cow! What a way to start off this healing thing. A tumor. I’m thinking let’s pray for a headache and God says nope, pray for a tumor. God is so awesome.
To be continued...
I needed a jump-start and the perfect opportunity came up in a healing conference held in Valparaiso, IN. After a few stumbling blocks I found myself at this conference where God met me in a very tangible way. I was so hungry that at the point in the conference when most people had left, I was still there. I told God that I wanted to be there if there was even the slightest chance that He was going to do something or even if He was just going to be there. Anywhere that there was someone praying a blessing, I wiggled my way to the front. If a mantle was being passed, I wanted it. I was just plain hungry.
Friday 1/30/09
So getting started on this “power” week. It started on Friday, which was the last day of the conference. Everyone from the conference was going out on a “treasure hunt.” What you do on a treasure hunt is, first you ask God to give you clues for your treasure map. These are things like red shirt, Starbucks, back problems…or anything that could possible lead you to a person that God wants you to pray for. Then you partner up with one or two other people and you put your treasure maps together. I ended up going out with Ian and Rachel Carroll. So you use your treasure map to go to where you think God is telling you to go and you pray for people. It is really quite simple when you think about it…and/or completely terrifying.
So Rachel, Ian and I ended up going to an outside mall. We started by going to Starbucks because Rachel and I both had it on our map. Well I guess God had given that word to a lot of people because when we walked in there were about twenty people from the conference and three that were not. So we moved on with the assumption that God had Starbucks covered. (Who knows, maybe everyone just needed a little pick me up after sitting in the conference all day.) Anyway, so that I don’t just go on forever let me get to some highlights. Through clues on our treasure maps we blessed a young man working at a Sherwin Williams Paint store, blessed a woman shopping at a pet store, prayed for a young woman at Home Depot to be fanatically blessed and receive a raise, and…now for the most exciting part. Let me say, I don’t want to down play the three people we prayed for up to this point. All of them were awesome encounters with God, both for us and for them. So at Home Depot Rachel decided that she wanted some chocolate, after all who doesn’t like chocolate. As Ian and Rachel were being rung up Ian said something to the effect of, “If God didn’t want us to eat chocolate, He wouldn’t have made so much of it.” To which the cashier responded, “Yea. I ate a lot of chocolate ice cream after I had a tumor on my tong removed.” **Hold on a minute. Stop the story. How did we go from chocolate to tumors? All I have to say is thank you Jesus.** So Ian asked her how the tumor was doing right now and she said that it had actually just come back. We asked to pray for her and she said yes. Before we prayed we asked how much pain there was on a scale of 0-10, ten being that she needed to go to the hospital. She said it was a 7. We prayed. God came, and the pain went down to a 3. Come on God. But it still hurt a bit so we prayed again and it went down to a 2. At that point she was getting anxious with other customers and such so we told her a bit about Jesus and left.
Holy cow! What a way to start off this healing thing. A tumor. I’m thinking let’s pray for a headache and God says nope, pray for a tumor. God is so awesome.
To be continued...
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