The sermon for May 21st 2023 is now available on the New Life web site.
In this sermon, which is based on James 5:13-20 and 1 Peter 2:22-25, I talk about “God Heals Us”
Click here to listen in your browser, here to download the mp3
healing
‘I Saw Jesus’: In Christmas Miracle, Paralysed Athlete Walks Again
‘I Saw Jesus’: In Christmas Miracle, Paralysed Athlete Walks Again
Those are the words of Naomi Bogale, an Ethiopian runner who moved by herself to Colorado filled with visions of athletic renown. That, though, was before everything changed.
“All my body was paralyzed, my legs, nothing, zero,” she told CBS News, recalling the horrific accident she was in just seven months ago, when the car she was riding in wrecked, leaving her with a broken back and a severe spinal cord injury.
For the first time, the center of her universe — running — was no longer possible, a heartbreaking setback that came just after she suffered an Achilles-tendon injury and lost her partnership with Nike.
Bogale had moved to the U.S., dreaming of a comeback. She had access to world-class training and equipment, working herself into the best physical shape she’d ever been in, until it all came crashing down.
Many of the medical professionals Bogale spoke with told her the chances she would walk again were very slim and, if it was even possible, it would take years to achieve. Doctors gave her a projection of two to three years and, even then, it was always no more than a “maybe.”
Bogale’s devout Christian faith led her to a different conclusion. Thanks to a dream, the Ethiopian athlete was confident the doctors’ prognoses were wrong, because they didn’t account for miracles.
“I saw Jesus on my bed [in a] dream and God is taking my hands, too, and Jesus has healed me,” she said.
Fully determined to return to her passion, Bogale began to work out again, only this time she was no longer training as an athlete. Instead, as she described it, she was “like a baby” learning to walk again.
Now, just two weeks until Christmas Day, Bogale has turned a miraculous corner: she’s taken her first steps.
“God is good,” she said. “God is great.”
All the credit, Bogale added, belongs to the Lord.
Read the full story at faithwire.com
Mark Virkler: Prayerfully Speak God’s Healing Promises
Mark Virkler gives a powerful method of using Scripture to receive healing from the Lord.
Submitted by Mark Virkler on November 23, 2022 – 14:47
Doctors give us a prescription to take their medicine two or three times a day. Derek Prince spoke healing promises over himself three times a day and within a few months was healed of an infirmity that had been with him for years. Read his powerful testimony here.
Prayerfully speak these verses aloud over yourself morning and evening as your daily medicine from Almighty God. Ask the Holy Spirit to illumine these Scriptures as heart revelations.
Mechanical reciting of these verses is NOT what God is looking for!
- Utilize the seven steps of Biblical meditation so that faith arises!
- I have personalized the verses below having taken them from “The Passion Translation” (for Psalms, Proverbs and the New Testament). The remaining verses are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).
- When I slowly and prayerfully spoke these healing Scriptures, picturing them, believing them, feeling them, and thanking God, I felt the Spirit move and faith arise. When I followed this up with the EmWave2, I discovered I was in a high level of coherence. Cool! I also re-tested myself and noted that if I just spoke the verses mechanically, this did NOT produce increased coherence. One more piece of evidence that Christianity is NOT mechanical. It is a heartfelt living encounter with the living God.
Read the full article here
The Holy Spirit Guides Through a Covid Encounter by Karin da Silva
From, Mark Virkler’s blog
The testimony below is from Karin da Silva. A search for her name on this website will lead you to other blogs by Karin. Be encouraged. God is with us guiding and strengthening us in everything we walk through. That is why praise can continuously be on our lips.
A few weeks ago I started doing the “Overflow of the Spirit” course and even though I have done several of the School of the Spirit courses already, this one has again put so much about the ministry of the Holy Spirit into practical perspective. God’s timing is always perfect and I was barely a few lessons into the course when my husband came home from work not feeling too well. Yes, he had contracted Covid as so many of our neighbours and his co-workers and our friends and family have.
I realised that about a week before he got ill, I had an “awareness” of the illness in our area and actually posted on my Facebook page saying that we should not fear but stay sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this season.
He surely did lead as I started getting promptings in my spirit about things like soaking lemons in water for drinking. I suddenly had a craving for green smoothies and had one at least once a day. I upped my exercise and also got some extra hours of sleep in. My stress levels went down and my immunity went up.
The night before my husband was tested I remember waking up from him coughing in his sleep. His face was only a few centimetres from mine. The next day the Holy Spirit told me to move from our room into our study as the battle will be for a while and I have to stay strong. As I prayed, he imparted an impression in my spirit of which doctor to phone. Within an hour my husband was tested, seen and received the correct medication. In the package was also some extra immune-boosting vitamins for me to take, which I started taking.
About a week into this I was sitting next to my eldest son working on school work, again there was some strong accidental coughing only a few centimetres from my face. I knew I inhaled some Covid germs all over again. I gave the same doctor a call, and a few hours later we had another Covid patient in the house. This time it was my eldest son.
This did not stop as another week after this, my youngest son came into the room not feeling too well. And as you do with younger children, all physical distance keeping was gone by this time as I held him and again the air around me was filled with contagious germs.
I knew this was a time to stay close to the Father and His leading, all the giftings of the Spirit was necessary to push through this battle and come out victorious on the other side.
My spirit was on high alert and praying in tongues whenever I felt fearful images coming my way. I resisted illness every time I felt a slight headache or sore throat wanting to creep my way. I took captive any negative thoughts and spoke life and strength. We took communion as a family and rebuked every spirit of infirmity wanting to manifest in our household. I trusted in the words of knowledge and wisdom in knowing what to do and when to do it. This was intensely needed every day for the next three weeks.
Most of all I had to watch my words and what I say, about myself and about the virus. I could sense there was a bigger battle going on, which was driven by images and stories that would come up in my mind about what I have seen on social media or heard from others about the virus. It was a constant battle against fear and I fought by visualising and saying God’s words and words of truth over myself and over our home and household.
The gifts of healing starting manifesting and taking ground, as my husband was the first one to bounce back, from there on my eldest son and also the youngest, one by one stopped coughing and colour returned to their faces.
Our home started returning back to normal.
Looking back I realised that I was in close contact over lengthy times with all three of them in their most contagious days. For three weeks I was washing sheets, cleaning rooms, throwing away used tissues and cleaning bathrooms. There was sickness on my left and on my right, but it did not touch me!
I know that this was also purely the grace of God and also the prayer covering I had from many others around us, for me. All of it worked together in this season for us to pass through this storm.
The Holy Spirit is right here in the midst of us and the manifestation of ALL we need flow from our inner beings like a river. We can trust Him, especially in the midst of our battles.
I thought to write down this testimony as I know there might be some other families going through a similar battle right now. God is faithful, and He will be there for you, no matter what your needs are.
Today’s Sermon
Becky Dvorak: Speak “To” and “Not About” that Mountain
Speak “To” and “Not About” that Mountain
So often, people speak about the mountain, the problem, the sickness or disease when Jesus clearly says to us in Matthew 17:20 that we are to speak to the mountain. “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
As a healing evangelist people say they want to speak to me about their healing, but what I often find out is that what they really want to discuss with me is about the sickness, the disease, the weakness, or the problem. And as I try to teach them about God’s healing power, and how to activate it in their lives they continue to go back to the disease. This scenario is a prime example of someone that speaks “About”, and “Not to” that mountain.
When we speak “About” the sickness we magnify it with our words. We actually give it more power, more strength inside our bodies. It is like when a man verbally beats down his wife, eventually his daily beating breaks her down, and he reaps what he sows, a sick relationship. The physical body responds the same way. It will become weak and sick as we continue to speak ill words over it. And I doubt that is what we desire.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ teaches us that “If we have faith as a mustard seed, we will say “To” this mountain to ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move.” If this mountain standing in front of you is sickness you will say to it, “Get out of my body in Jesus’ name”. If you believe in the power of the words you speak it will happen.
It all comes down to two things, the first being responsibility, and the second is choice. In Isaiah 53:4-5 he Great Physician, Jesus Christ has already released His healing power for us. But just as it is with the gift of Salvation so too is this great gift of healing that our Lord gave to us by the power of His shed blood.
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs, and He has carried our sorrows and pains; yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; the punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed, Isaiah 53:4-5, AMP.
This healing promise must first be believed and then it can be received into our bodies. But it is a choice to believe or not to believe, this is part of our free will. And with free will comes great responsibility. And when we are responsible with God’s promises and choose to believe in God’s promise we reap the blessing of all of His benefits.
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s, Psalm 103:1-5, NKJV.
God gives to us His promise for healing, and He also tells us what we must do, “Believe”, and then we speak words of faith “To” and “Not about” the disease. And when we follow His instruction His promise comes to pass, and we are healed.
Keys To Healing
One of the confusing aspects of healing ministry is the reason why some people are not healed. After all, Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, so why does this not happen today? It is easy to be discouraged by these apparent failures when we should rejoice in the fact that many are healed.
We have been conditioned by our technological culture to believe that there should be techniques , procedures or methods for every problem. Sickness can be dealt with by a pill or a needle- just follow the directions on the bottle. Of course we ignore the side effects and the cases where this approach fails, because of our faith in medical science.
This is not to disparage medical science. Our lives are immeasurably better because of the insights and knowledge of the medical and scientific professions.
Christians need to take a different approach. If our faith in doctors and medicines is greater than our faith in God, then we have made medicine an idol.
My thinking on this subject has been provoked by a question somebody asked at a recent cell group study of Psalm 91. Here is Psalm 91 in the Passion Translation:
When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai,
you are hidden in the strength of God Most High.
2 He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me,
the only God for me, and my great confidence.
3 He will rescue you from every hidden trap of the enemy,
and he will protect you from false accusation and any deadly curse.
4 His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you.
You can run under his covering of majesty and hide.
His arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping you from harm.
5 You will never worry about an attack of demonic forces at night
nor have to fear a spirit of darkness coming against you.
6 Don’t fear a thing!
Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble you,
nor will the powers of evil be launched against you.
7 Even in a time of disaster, with thousands and thousands being killed,
you will remain unscathed and unharmed.
8 You will be a spectator as the wicked perish in judgement,
for they will be paid back for what they have done!
9–10 When we live our lives within the shadow of God Most High,
our secret hiding place, we will always be shielded from harm.
How then could evil prevail against us or disease infect us?
11 God sends angels with special orders to protect you wherever you go,
defending you from all harm.
12 If you walk into a trap, they’ll be there for you
and keep you from stumbling.
13 You’ll even walk unharmed among the fiercest powers of darkness,
trampling every one of them beneath your feet!
14 For here is what the Lord has spoken to me:
“Because you loved me, delighted in me, and have been loyal to my name,
I will greatly protect you.
15 I will answer your cry for help every time you pray,
and you will feel my presence
in your time of trouble.
I will deliver you and bring you honour.
16 I will satisfy you with a full life and with all that I do for you.
For you will enjoy the fullness of my salvation!”
The question was this: are these promises absolute or not? We talked for some time about all the reasons why people do not get healed and we made excuses for God.
When we see texts like this which are absolute promises of peace, healing and protection, we have to either compromise the text (“God didn’t really mean this”) or explain away the reasons why it doesn’t apply in a particular situation.
At the heart of the issue, we need to move our thinking away from a mechanical or technological mode (do this and that will happen) to a relational mode in which we understand that God is drawing us deeper into Him, and He will use physical, emotional and spiritual healing as part of a process.
Here are three important keys to healing:
1. Promise
All through the Bible we see promises about protection, healing, provision and so on. Sometimes these promises are very clear, and other times we can infer them from the narratives.
What we often overlook is that the promises come with conditions, “If you do this, I will do that.” In our eagerness to seize on isolated texts that seem to guarantee some benefit, we often fail to look back at the conditions that are set out. In other words, we have to do our part.
Psalm 91 offers us all kinds of wonderful promises, including the promise that even if thousands die around us we will not be harmed, and that no infection can touch us.
But look at the first two verses:
When you abide under the shadow of Shaddai,
you are hidden in the strength of God Most High.
He’s the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me,
the only God for me, and my great confidence.
There is the condition. We have to make God our refuge. When we turn to Him, rely on Him, trust Him for safety, then we can receive the promises.
When you are sick, where do you first turn to? Is it call the doctor, rush to the Emergency Department? Or do you turn to the Lord?
When you are feeling overwhelmed by life, do you trust alcohol or drugs ? Or is the Lord your refuge at that time?
To receive the promises of Psalm 91, we must make the Lord our sanctuary.
2. Power
Many of us have limited levels of faith. We believe that God can do some things but not others. We may think He can heal a cold but not cancer. Not that we say that of course.
We may believe that God will heal some people but not others. Or that healing and miracles happened in a fairy tale era called “Bible times.”
God has the power to heal today. Sickness was never a part of God’s plan for the world. It is caused by the general corruption of sin, but this does not mean God is unable to heal.
God is able and willing to heal. Faith means putting our trust in this fact.
3. Partnership
We need to understand that God works out His purposes In us in co-operation with us. We might know the promises of God and believe that He can heal but still fail to receive healing.
There are times when we might receive a sudden or miraculous healing, but often the Lord is asking us to do something as well. For example, when I was praying about my chronic issues with high blood pressure, I came under a strong conviction that I must lose weight. In other words, God is promising healing for me, but He wants me to take responsibility for my lifestyle .
Part of our quest for healing, particularly for chronic conditions is that we may need to do something that contributes to our continuing health.
We should not be surprised by this when we consider how often Jesus asked people to do something such as wash at a pool or go to the priests as a part of their healing process.
Notice that for each person there may be a different requirement. For me it is weight loss. For another person it might be that they have to forgive someone, give up drinking or something else. The point is that we must listen to the Holy Spirit to discern if there are things He is asking us to do in their healing journey.
It is important to see that healing (or good health) is not an end in itself. God pours out blessings upon us to encourage us to go deeper with Him. His goal is always relationship with us, and healing may be a by-product of that.
To live in the shadow of the Most High means that we live every day in close contact with Him. As we learn to do that those promises pf Psalm 91, including health and protection, will flow in us and through us to others.
Woman watched healing miracle for her painful hammer toes
From God Reports
Woman watched healing miracle for her painful hammer toes
By Ryan Zepeda —
She didn’t want to bother God with something as insignificant as pain in her toes.
Or so thought librarian Janis Jordan, who often wore high heels to work.
“It was the suit jacket days, so you show up to work looking A-plus,” she explains on a 700 Club video.
After 15 years, she left the library behind and started a career caring for special needs students at a hospital. She was on her feet even more. She walked three miles every day inside the hospital.
After several years, she finally consulted a doctor who diagnosed hammer toe syndrome, probably induced by the high heels. A hammer toe or contracted toe is a deformity of the muscles and ligaments of the second, third, fourth, or fifth toe causing them to bend, resembling a hammer. The joints can become so rigid they can’t be moved.
The doctor started talking about surgery, and Janis wanted none of it. So she endured the pain for another 10 years.
“I’m a person who keeps on moving, and I just accommodated the pain,” Janis says. “I just didn’t really focus on it, to really pay attention to it.”
Even though she’s a big believer in prayer, her concern seemed so small in light of others’ sufferings, she didn’t ask God for healing.
Then on July 4, 2019 after doing some yard work, Janice hurried inside to catch the prayer segment on the 700 Club television program. The host began to pray for someone with hammer toe, someone, he said, who hadn’t prayed for herself.
“You’re not even praying, but God is saying, ‘I can even restore. I can renew your youth,’” the host said, praying.
Goose bumps shot up her back. He’s talking about me, Janis thought.
As he prayed, she took off her shoes and saw her afflicted toes moving into the proper alignment — straightening before her eyes.
“They were going flat and the pain was just flowing (away) from them,” Janis says.
She was healed!
“This was my set time and just totally unexpected,” she says. “I was also very surprised, so God has the most wonderful surprises for you.”
Pain-free ever since, Janis now prays for the smallest of concerns in an intercessory prayer group.
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26)
“The Lord is looking,” she says. “He is looking to move on our behalf.”
Spiritual Gifts- Healing
Spiritual Gifts- Healing
The fourth gift listed in 1 Corinthians 12 is “healing”, literally “gifts of healing.”
Healing refers to the supernatural ability to restore to wholeness a person who is broken in some way. Paul probably refers to this as gifts of healing because there are many ways in which people may need to be healed- physical, emotional, psychological, relational, social.
There are also many ways in which healing may be administered- laying on of hands, anointing with oil, prayer in the person’s language, prayer in tongues. Jesus once spat in the dirt and made mud to apply to a blind man’s eyes (John 9:6). In Acts, we are told that people would bring the sick onto the streets so that Peter’s shadow might fall on them and they would be healed (Acts 5:15).
At the heart of the ministry of healing is the fundamental fact that God did not create human beings for sickness and death. It was Adam and Eve’s sin that brought death and sickness into the world, but now Christ’s death has reversed this curse.
When God recreates the heavens and the earth there will be no more sickness, death or grieving. We will once again live in perfect fellowship with God and sin will no longer impede the relationship.
In the meantime, christians have the blessing of healing gifts through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Because we are imperfect and are still affected by the law of sin and death, people still become sick and people still die. Unlike Jesus who had a perfect track record with healing, we don’t always get it right and we don’t always have the necessary faith to see complete healing take place. That does not mean we shouldn’t try and learn to work in this gift.
For many years, I have prayed against colds and flu each winter. Most years, I remain free of these conditions, although some years they sneak through. I have found that if I pray in faith, binding the disease as soon as symptoms show up, I prevent it from developing into something more severe.
This gift, perhaps more than other gifts, relies on both the faith of the healer and the faith of the person being healed. Placing hands on the person or anointing with oil are ways of building faith by providing a visible connection between the healer, the healed and the Holy Spirit.
It helps after praying to ask the person if there is any noticeable improvement, perhaps asking them to do something they previously could not do, or if there is a change in pain levels. If there is partial healing, we can pray again. Even Jesus did this at least once (Mark 8:24).
Some healing ministers say that we should not pray to the Father, but directly address the disease or the affected body part. They say that this is the way Jesus worked. That probably is not so important, as long as we have faith that Jesus is present to heal.
The test of faith for healing is not “Do you believe God can heal?”, but “Do you believe God wants to heal you of this condition now?” That is the level of faith that God responds to. Too many people profess a theoretical belief in healing, but even the Devil believes that. Healing happens when we believe God is here right now to heal this problem.
So how do we grow in this gift? By doing it! Start by asking God to lead you in the ministry of healing. Then when a friend or relative is ill, offer to pray with them. Don’t rush for the Panadol when someone gets a head ache, but pray first. Learn some key scriptures about healing and soak them into your heart.
This gift works in concert with other gifts such as faith and word of knowledge. As you step out in faith and believe that God is able to heal, you will find times when you work in the other gifts as well.
Don’t be discouraged when people are not healed straight away. This is not your fault. Ask the Lord to give you more insight into how He heals and how you can work with Him.
The gifts of healing are as important as ever, even though medical science is much more advanced than in Biblical times. God is still present to heal people.
Don’t Agree Things Are a Pain in the Butt Unless You Want a Pain in Your Butt
From Mark Virkler’s blog
Don’t Agree Things Are a Pain in the Butt Unless You Want a Pain in Your Butt – By Linda Burton
Last summer as we were moving furniture, I felt my lower back go out of place. I fell to the floor crying out, “My back, my back.” As I lay there I prayed, “Lord Jesus, please lay Your hands on my back and heal it.” In a little bit I was able to get up and move about with discomfort but not intense pain. Then every day I noticed less discomfort and more flexibility.
In December, I started feeling pain in my lower back and sciatic nerve in my right leg. It was in the same place as the injury last summer so I believed it was coming from that. I started doing exercises to strengthen my lower back and to relieve the pain. After three weeks, the pain was still very intense and not getting better. At this point I began questioning if there was something else going on.
I went to Jesus and quieted myself, turned to vision, tuned to the flow of the Spirit and journaled. I asked Jesus what the root of this pain was. I saw and heard Him laughing. He asked, “Did you not agree with your daughter that some things in life are a real pain in the butt?” Immediately I remembered her making that statement and my agreeing. Oh my! Oh my! Jesus then said, “I just gave you what you asked for!” I saw the twinkle in His eyes and He chuckled.
Needless to say, I immediately confessed, repented and asked forgiveness for making this agreement. When I awoke the next morning, the pain was gone and has not come back.
Jesus said, “Beloved, words come easily and agreements are made without thought. In the Kingdom, every word is of great importance, for good or evil. Listen to the words of your heart as you also listen to others.”
The issue my daughter was referring to was “more month than provisions.”
Soon after this experience, my daughter called and in the conversation she said, “Mom, I just don’t know how I am going to pay the electric bill.” As we were talking, she exclaimed, “I just paid the electric bill online and we have $10.00 left in the bank account! I didn’t think we even had enough.” Together we raised a hallelujah and praised our mighty God for His provision of more than enough. Things are still financially tight but there continues to be more than enough!
Our loving holy Papa, You are so incredibly amazing. Your majesty, goodness, and loving kindness bring us to a deep sense of awe of You! We thank You that You are our faithful God that goes before us and prepares the way for us. As You prepare the way, Your light illumines the way we are to go. You never lead us astray or down a dark dead-end alley. You are never too late or too early. Everything about You is perfect. Thank You for who You are in us and for who we are in You.
May we have soft and pliable hearts that respond to Your loving touches. May we not be so busy or distracted that we forget to come and sit at Your feet and spend time with You. May we regularly take time to celebrate life as sons and daughters of The Most High God! Thank You, Papa, thank You! We love You!
Prayer Application for breaking agreement with lies
Examples of lying agreements to be aware of and to renounce: Pain in the neck, sick to my stomach, never enough, I cannot succeed, I am a victim of…, I am sick with …, etc.
Discernment: Lord, are there negative agreements or judgments I have made against self, others or circumstances which are now binding me and keeping me from Your bountiful provision and full health? Remind me of them. Show me what they are and how they have affected my life. Lord, speak to me Your truths which counter these lies of the enemy so I can speak them over my life. Journal out what He speaks.
Confession and repentance: I confess and repent of my sin of embracing these lies, and of living in judgment against myself, others and circumstances. I release judgments against myself, others and circumstances which have affected my life, and acknowledge that You can and do work all things out for good (Rom. 8:28). I ask You, God, to forgive me, and I receive Your forgiveness. I forgive myself for participating in this sin.
Action: I break off the power of these word curses, and command all connected demons to leave in Jesus’ name. Jesus, cleanse the cellular memory of this trauma. Lay your hands on the ailing body part and speak health, healing and release to it, thanking God for setting you free and restoring you to full health in Jesus’ name. Jesus, I speak in faith that by Your stripes I am healed. I speak to these damaged cells to be restored in Jesus’ name. Function normally, in Jesus’ name.
New Life Narrabri 