This last week has been a fun week in regard to physical healings. I would like to share a few highlights with you.

TUESDAY JAN 7

I was running several errands and in the process, I had to run into Longs (a pharmacy/department store) to get something. They had this sale going on of Christmas supplies they did not want to have to inventory -- all at unbelievable prices -- like spools of Christmas ribbons for ten cents each, etc. So I loaded up on about 30 of the sale items (for about three dollars) in addition to items I originally came in the store for. Since I had so many of those little 10 cent sale items, it took the cashier a while to ring me up... and we got into a brief discussion. She mentioned that she had a terrible migraine headache that hit as she was driving to work that morning. She planned to pick up her paycheck and then go home sick, but three others had called in sick that day leaving them short staffed, so they would not let her go home sick. She was clearly in pain. I offered to pray for her. I told her that I could not promise anything would happen, but I shared some of the neat healings I saw God do in Brazil and some other places. She said "Sure."

So I reached over and touched her shoulder. There was a line that had formed behind me, so I kept the prayer really short. I basically thanked Jesus for healing her, commanded the pain to leave, prayed that the pain would begin to go away within 1/2 hour and not return for over 48 hours (not sure why I said that but it felt right at the time) and then prayed the Lord would bless her and show her His love for her. The prayer did not take more than about 1 to 2 minutes.

Then I told her that I hoped she felt better soon. She said "me too!" and finished the sales transaction. She had a genuine warmth in her voice towards me when we finished and said goodbye to each other.

WEDNESDAY JAN 8

The item I had purchased at Longs (not the Christmas sale stuff) was defective so I had to take it back. I got in line someone else waited on me. On my way out, I saw more (different) Christmas stuff on sale at ridiculously low prices, so I bought a few more items. This time when I got in line, it turned out to be the line with the lady I'd prayed for the day before. So when I got to the front of the line, I asked her how she was doing and if the headache had gone away. She told me the headache disappeared about 40 minutes after I prayed for her and "Migraines don't go away that fast, so it must have been the prayer." She said her coworkers had noticed the change in her shortly after it left, that she did not appear to be in pain any more. They asked her what happened. She told them some customer had prayed for her and then the headache went away. All of her coworkers were amazed.

I wanted to invite her to church or witness to her, but I felt a check in my spirit. I felt like God just wanted me to love on her for now and that later on I'd have a chance to witness to her, but that instant was not the right time to do it. So we had a short pleasant conversation and I told her I'd see her later.

"Good," she said, "I would like that."

This store was not where I do my usual shopping in. I plan to shop there from time to time so that I can run into her more often. I believe that the Lord will allow a relationship to form and that through this relationship she may come to know the Lord.

THURSDAY JAN 9

It was a crazy busy day that left me feeling frazzled. I had to go to a small group meeting at my church that evening. I tried to run a few other urgent errands en-route. It was raining terribly and that caused some really bad traffic. Instead of being 15 minutes early I ended up stuck in traffic again (twice in one day) and was 15 minutes late. By the time I got to the small group meeting, I was tired, frustrated and I did not feel very spiritual or anointed.

One of the ladies at the meeting was having some serious back pain. The leader asked me to pray for this lady. So I did. At first the pain got worse, so I rebuked a spirit of infirmity. Then the pain went away and she felt better. God healed her -- I did not have to be in a good place to pray for her. I did not have to "feel" anointed. I did not have to hear from God to pray for her before praying. I simply prayed for her when the leader asked me to, and God healed her.

It really is supposed to be that simple - the healing anointing is not based on our own righteousness or sense of well being. It is not based on seeing or perceiving an anointing for healing. Our hands don't have to tingle or get hot. The healing anointing comes from what Jesus did on Calvary. We don't heal based on our own authority -- Jesus has the authority and He delegated it to each one of us. So we simply heal because of what Jesus has done. It really is meant to be that easy.

SUNDAY JAN 12

Today I taught adult Sunday School because the usual teaching had a military reserve weekend. I planned to teach on the difference between praying under the anointing (for healing) and praying from the authority to heal that Jesus has given us. However, folks in the class had a lot of questions and we never got to most of the material I'd prepared. One of the questions led me to talk about ministering in love and how a person can have a positive experience being prayed for (in love) even if they are not physically healed at that time.

That led me to draft someone to be a "volunteer" for me to demonstrate right versus wrong healing prayer ministry (e.g., harsh versus ministering in love). I was not expecting her to really be healed cuz I was only demonstrating the "in love" part of the prayer and only did a partial prayer, keeping it pretty brief. To my surprise, she experienced a noticeable but partial healing from the demonstration. That was neat!

After the morning service, I talked with some friends of mine. One of them had back pain. She'd been praying about it and rebuking it on her own, but the pain was still causing her a problem. So Linda and I prayed briefly for her. As I prayed, I had the impression that her legs were not the same length and that was what was causing her back problem. So I had her sit down and we checked the leg length. One leg was noticeably shorter. I knelt next to the chair she sat in, and her raised legs rested on the palms of my hands.

I felt prompted to ask Linda to use her authority in Christ to command the shorter leg (the right leg) to grow. She stood in front of the lady with the shorter leg, and she lightly touched the soles of her shoes with her fingers. It was not possible for either of us (Linda or myself) to pull on the leg from our physical positions. Linda began to pray for the leg to grow. It did until both legs were the same length! It was rather exciting to watch!

I am not sure which is more fun -- praying for the sick and seeing God heal them or instigating others praying and seeing healing. Both are a lot of fun! It is always neat to see God heal a person and glorify His name through their physical body.