Tag Archives: prophetic activations for groups

When I can’t hear from God for myself.

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Have you ever tried to hear from God and couldn’t?

Have you ever wished that God would write on your bedroom wall what you should do next (like in Daniel 5 for King Belshazzar)? I remember when I had just finished my nursing training in Tasmania and was trying to figure out what I should do next. I had an incredible opportunity with nursing, but I sensed God wanted me to shift interstate to pursue ministry training. I tossed and turned during the night, pondering God’s will for me. Even after 36 years, I can remember that overwhelming desire to have God write it on the wall or make it plain. I remember I even asked Him to write it on my bedroom wall so I would know what to do next.

I was young and had no real idea how to seek Godly wisdom. I had no way of recognising how God was speaking to me. I had minimal knowledge of the various ways God speaks to us.

This week’s podcast on our ‘Hearing God’ podcast covers that very issue – what to do when I can’t seem to hear from God for myself. (Next week’s podcast addresses what to do when our mind goes blank when we are trying to hear from God for others!)

The link for this week’s ‘Hearing God’ podcast is: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2196128/13276030 (You can listen to it on any podcast listening app.)

First Principle: Ask a Different Question

I will never forget the first time I decided to ask God a different question. I was driving home from an Anzac Day Service where I had watched my son march with his Air Force Cadet Squadron. Tears had flowed down my face. (When I am unexpectedly emotional, I have learnt to ask God what that is about.) I was processing this with God and asking why I had responded that way. “God – what was underneath that?” Nothing. I heard, felt, and saw nothing from God. I remember thinking, “well Jane, why don’t you ask God a different question then?” I changed the question to “God, was my response appropriate?” Bam!! The answer flowed.

Other suggestions when you are struggling to hear God for yourself:

  • Change things up – walk on the beach, different worship music, fast,
  • Read a different version of the Bible.
  • Devour God’s Word the Bible Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
  • Turn your heart and affections to God. Praise shifts the atmosphere. Psalm 100:4 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”

Some questions to ask yourself when you are feeling stuck and can’t seem to hear God for yourself:

  • Am I enjoying my relationship with God?
  • Am I treating God like Santa Claus? Am I wanting to hear a specific answer, thus not hearing God because I’m not getting what I want?

Second Principle: Check obedience.

If there is an area of my life in which God has asked something of me and I haven’t obeyed, I find it is much harder to hear God about another issue.

Ten years ago, I asked God to show me my future in nursing. I had a very specific dream that night, and the interpretation clearly outlined the step I needed to take. Fast forward five years, and I hadn’t obeyed. The outcome of the dream came true.

The Bible is full of amazing and often frustrating stories. Moses in Exodus 3 & 4 is one such example. Moses was going about his business, saw an unusual sight so went over to check it out (there was a bush on fire, but it didn’t burn up). God caught his attention with this unusual sight and showed up with a miraculous sign, then an audible voice telling him to go and address Pharoah. Moses refused five times with excuses that fed into his low self-worth. If you refuse, God can easily use someone else or limit your effectiveness.

Check:

  • If there is somewhere you haven’t yet obeyed God.
  • For sin, fear, ignorance.
  • Any unbelief in hearing God or needing more assurance or a sign.
  • For any preconceived idea of what God would sound like or say.
  • To see if you are realising your identity as a son/daughter of God or not realising the magnitude and greatness of God.

If you are struggling on an ongoing basis, it would be worth considering prayer ministry / inner healing. After my first time of having a SOZO, I left the building, and all my senses were electrified. Birds were singing. The sun was shining with a gentle breeze ruffling the leaves. God seemed extra close. I felt I could ask God anything and hear Him clearly. The prayer ministry session had ‘cleared’ my connection with God of any junk and it felt like an express highway of communication between God and me.

Prayer Ministry is valuable in clearing blockages and times when we may sense a wall between us and God or even when we may feel ‘frozen’ in relation to God and unable to hear Him.

Questions to ponder to begin the process may include:

  • God, is there a wall between you and me?
  • What does that wall look like?
  • Is there something you want to give me to help demolish that wall?
  • Is there an action I need to take?
  • If my emotions are frozen, when did that first occur?

Third Principle – God may appear silent, or the answer may look different.

My husband Gary recently gave a prophetic word to a young lady about three doors open before her. This young adult was gobsmacked as she had three research opportunities but wanted God to show her which option was from God. God was showing her that He would be pleased with whichever she chose, as He was giving her the choice, and all three pleased Him.

The book of Jeremiah in the Bible has much wisdom and many promises.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

The promise from Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable (or hidden) things you do not know.”

If you are unsure, here are some things to consider:

  • Am I devouring God’s Word? Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
  • Have I tried fasting?
  • What has God already given or shown me?
  • What has He promised me?
  • Speak life over my situation. Isaiah 55:11 “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Alternatively, have you ever asked God:

  • What are you NOT saying?
  • God, what is your perspective of where I am right now?

I would love to hear the strategies you employ when you are having trouble hearing God for yourself. Feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather Lego or building apparatus and enjoy creating what God is saying about you.

2. Group Activation: Get into pairs. Ask God to reveal to you which area of your life He wants to speak into. Then ask God which area of your partner’s life He wants to speak into. Ask God to show, tell, or give you something for that area of your partner’s life. Then share it with them. When your partner shares with you, see if it matches up with the area you sensed God wanted to highlight for you.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God, asking Him to reveal to you something in the Bible that speaks to you today.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God, asking Him to highlight His desire for your next season, any preparation required and anything you may need to let go of.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God hearing His heart for your nation and a current issue that is devisive. Ask God what He would love your response to be.

Keys for Physical Healing

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Numerous times throughout the Gospels, we read Jesus spoke a few words to someone, and they were healed. We don’t read of Jesus begging Father God to heal people. Instead, Jesus stated the desired outcome. He spoke the answer to the issue. Various examples include:

  • Mark 7:34 Jesus stated, “Be opened” to the dead and mute man’s ears and tongue and they were opened and healed.
  • Mark 3:5 “Stretch out your hand” to the man with the shrivelled hand, and it was healed.
  • Mark 5:21-43 “Little girl, I say to you, get up”, to the dead girl, who then got up and began walking around.

There are many more examples you will discover as you read the Gospels.

Our family has been fortunate to be involved in a church that believes that healing is for today. We have been involved in our church’s Healing Rooms for over eleven years and have seen many people healed and set free. We have also seen a number of people not healed.

It doesn’t seem fair that some people don’t seem to experience healing. I have no idea why. However, I have observed that some things aid and accelerate healing. We have incorporated these ‘keys’ into how we pray for people for healing, enabling us to see an acceleration in physical healing. Please note – there are no formulas in healing with God. (I wrote this blog post on that very issue.) God is sovereign and often heals people instantaneously, but it can also be a slow process, or we may not see healing for a particular person. Why is that? I don’t know.

Keys to physical healing:

1. We listen first to the Holy Spirit and ask Him how to pray. If we hear from Heaven what we should pray and how we should pray, there is a far greater result in a person experiencing healing. (In saying that, one time when I was asked to pray for someone with cancer, I asked God what I should pray for, and I sensed this person was going to die, and it was about comfort, not healing here on earth. Usually, when I pray for healing from cancer, it is about the person being healed here on earth.)

2. We usually ask the person if something occurred at the same time the injury or sickness began. Often there can be a correlation between an adverse life event and the illness/injury but not always. We are body, mind, and spirit; these three parts are interrelated.

3. We may sense there may be someone that the person may need to forgive (someone else, themselves, or God), but healing is not dependent on forgiveness. We only ask that if the Holy Spirit brings it to mind.

4. We ask if there is any pain or lack of movement. If there is pain, we ask the person to rate the pain level out of ten, with ten being the worst pain possible and zero being no pain. After we have prayed, we ask the person to test (e.g. see if there is an improvement in the movement) or if the pain has decreased and what it is now out of ten. If there is no change or slight improvement, we keep praying, expecting God to continue healing.

5. We don’t beg God. We simply state the desired outcome e.g. if a broken bone, we would say, “Bone be healed in Jesus’ name”. “Pain go. Inflammation be gone” etc. We speak to the issue.

6. In praying for someone, we often feel led to lift off shock and trauma, especially if the illness has been a shock to the person or they have been involved in an accident. We then pray for an infilling of peace, joy, clarity, etc.

7. We may sense to break words spoken over a person or labels put on them. If it is an illness, the illness is not their identity. It does not define them. E.g. “I currently have diabetes” is different than saying “I am a diabetic”; the latter can make it more difficult to be healed.

Next time you are praying for someone for healing, I encourage you to try these keys. I would also love to hear if you have discovered any other keys when praying for physical healing.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Distribute paper and crayons/pencils. Ask the children to draw what body conditions God wants to heal today. Then find people needing those conditions healed and pray for them.

2. Group Activation: Ask group members if they need physical healing. Before praying, spend time asking God how He would love you to pray for them.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight someone with a physical illness or injury today and ask God how He would love you to pray for them.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to highlight a certain illness or physical injury. Ask God to reveal to you any keys in relation to the healing of that condition.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to highlight a national sports star. Ask God what He would love you to pray for that person and then declare it.

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

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This blog post continues along the theme of praying for people for healing. It is taken from Day 28 “Ministering like Jesus: How to Grow in Healing, Deliverance and Miracles” (Available here)

Mark 10:46-52 – Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

In this passage, I first notice that it can get messy before a miracle. The noise, the shouting, the crowd, the rebuking of the shouter, the shouting getting louder. It would have sounded chaotic. I would have felt like shouting, “STOP!”

Bartimaeus needed Jesus to hear him as Bartimaeus could not see Jesus, so he used what he had (his voice) to get Jesus’ attention. Jesus heard Bartimaeus above the noise, just like He always hears us.

He hears the cry of our hearts.

Even though Bartimaeus was told to be quiet, he became louder and more insistent. Bartimaeus knew who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. Bartimaeus had complete faith in Jesus’ ability to heal him. He was desperate for healing and was not going to miss out. Bartimaeus persevered.

Before Bartimaeus received his healing, he gave up his only possession – his cloak. His cloak symbolized his status as a beggar, his identity. He was willing to give up everything he had to get what he needed. He was willing to give up his only source of income to receive healing. He was willing to change his identity from a beggar to that of being healed and whole.

This passage shows no record of Jesus touching Bartimaeus to heal him. There is also no record of casting out a demon before healing, as is common in many of Jesus’ miracles in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus did not treat Bartimaeus the same way He healed the blind man at Bethsaida – by putting His spit in the blind man’s eyes. Just because the spit worked before when healing the blind man, Jesus treats each person individually. There is no set formula for healing with Jesus. Each person is unique. Each healing is unique.

Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”. When praying for people, a pivotal question to ask them is, “What do you want Jesus to do for you today?” The answer becomes apparent once they can articulate what they want Jesus to do for them.

A lady brought her elderly father to the Healing Rooms for prayer for healing one morning. We looked at the list of all the physical conditions they had listed that the man needed healing. It seemed overwhelming.

Before I even asked the Holy Spirit where we needed to start, I asked this man what he wanted Jesus to do for him this morning.

The man’s response shocked me.

The man replied, “I want to accept Jesus into my heart.”

Right then and there, we had the privilege of praying with this man, and his daughter, for him to enter the Kingdom of God.

I am so grateful for the question, “What do you want Jesus to do for you at the moment?” We could have missed this significant opportunity of this man accepting Jesus into his life. We then prayed for healing for all the physical issues, with him seeing amazing results. A couple of conditions were not healed, but the man’s focus had now shifted. The joy he carried was far greater than his physical condition. He had received far more than what he had expected.

To answer Jesus’ question, Bartimaeus replied: “I want to see.” Immediately Bartimaeus received his sight. Healing can occur immediately. Bartimaeus’ next response is to follow Jesus.

Immediately healed.

Immediately followed Jesus.

Reflection:

  • How do I respond in chaotic situations?
  • What am I prepared to give up to get what I need and follow Jesus?
  • How am I pressing into God for my healing?
  • Do I hear and see the ones who need a touch from Jesus, or am I distracted in the chaos?
  • Do I give people an opportunity to follow Jesus immediately after they have received their healing?
  • What do I want Jesus to do for me today?

Prayer:

Thank you, Jesus, that You are not put off by the mess and chaos surrounding us. Thank you, Jesus, for treating us all as individuals and ministering to our uniqueness. Thank you, Jesus, that You provide the answer for all my needs. Thank you, Jesus, that You hear the cries of my heart. Help me to see what You are doing and not get distracted. Help me treat each person I meet as an individual and worthy of Your love. Jesus, I declare today that I will give people an opportunity to receive from You, helping them encounter You for themselves. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Give everyone paper and pencils/crayons and ask each person to draw two pictures – who Jesus wants to be for them today, and another picture – what they need from Jesus today. Ask them to explain what they have drawn. Finish with praying for each person.

2. Group Activation: Spend time praying for each group member (depending on the size of your group, you may need to break into smaller groups) asking each person, “What would you like Jesus to do for you today?”

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God sharing with Him what you would love Him to be or do for you today and listen for His response.

4. Intermediate Activation: During a phone call this week, ask the person “If Jesus could do anything for you at the moment, what would you like Him to do for you?” Then ask them if you could pray for them.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him who He would love to be for your country. Turn the answer into a prophetic statement to declare aloud.

Healing Touch part 2

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A touch communicates so much more than just your hand touching someone’s shoulder.

Something is transferred in the gesture.

I have often asked someone I am praying for if I can place my hand on their shoulder while praying for them. Sometimes, I don’t tend to ‘feel’ anything in my hand. Often, I may sense something is occurring for the person. Occasionally, my hand will feel warm and tingly. No matter what my hand feels, the other person often feels something in the exchange – usually heat, a tingling sensation, or a profound sense of peace. I know the Holy Spirit has been ministering physically to that person.

What if nothing is ‘felt’?

If there has been no ‘warmth’ or ‘tingling’ sensation in the touch, it does NOT mean that God hasn’t been ministering to the person physically. There does not need to be a warmth or tingling feeling.

Always ask before touching someone.

When praying for someone’s physical healing, I always ask first if I can place my hand on that body part, if appropriate, i.e. shoulder, back, usually those places not on the front of a person’s body or the ‘private’ parts. If a person asks for healing for their stomach, I will ask them if they can place their hand on their stomach/gut region and if I can then place my hand on top of their hand. I do not touch people’s breast region or genital area.

Please, please, please, always ask before you place your hand on someone. Imagine if your eyes were closed, and you suddenly felt someone touch you. It can be quite confronting. The unannounced touch can make your mind fixate and be frightened about where you might be touched next. You can feel violated.

Do you need to touch someone when praying for their physical healing?

No. God can heal people entirely with no physical intervention from us. God does not need us to touch people, although something supernaturally transmits in touch.

In Acts 19:11-12, we read: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” God used a cloth to transmit His power. God can heal people, however, and wherever He so desires. It is a privilege that God uses us sometimes in that process.

I love reading the Gospels and seeing what Jesus did. He touched people a lot. Despite Jesus being jostled by the crowd, he immediately recognized when the woman with the blood issue ‘touched’ Him; He realized that power had left his body. (Mark 5:22-34). Touch was important to Jesus.

Something miraculous occurs when we touch someone. Something so much more than just a touch.

In Mark 8:22-26, we read: “some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

(In my 30-Day Devotional book, “Ministering like Jesus: How to Grow in Healing, Deliverance and Miracles”, I expand on this passage and the attitude of the Bethsaida people begging Jesus. For this blog post on touch, I will not include that here.)

In healing the blind man in this Bible passage, Jesus spat on the man’s eyes. This can seem unhygienic – putting your body fluid on someone’s eyes. Yet, this appears to be a loving act here. Spit contains bacterial enzymes that can cleanse and kill an infection. Maybe Jesus applied the antibacterial moisture to help loosen the eyelids from sticking together.

One of my first experiences praying for people for healing was at a women’s conference. The speaker encouraged us to ask God who we should pray for so that they could experience healing, and then ask the person. I felt I needed to pray for a lady with a thyroid condition whose eyes were bulging. I strongly sensed that I was to spit on my fingers and place my fingers over her eyelids.

Yuck! I felt this was revolting.

But what began as a strong sense quickly became a certainty within me.

I went to this lady and briefly shared what I had felt to pray for her. I asked her, somewhat hesitantly, if it would be okay with her if I spit on my fingers and placed them over her eyelids as I sensed that was what God was asking me to do.

Watching this lady’s face while I was sharing this with her, I was astounded. She was ecstatic.

This lady had told God she wanted someone to pray for her. She would know that it was from God if the person who prayed for her spat on their fingers and placed their fingers over her eyelids.

Despite this, the lady did not receive healing at that time.

Never underestimate God’s love and compassion and His work already in their life.

Please never spit on someone’s eyes unless you genuinely believe God is asking you to do that and the person agrees.

In the Bible passage, this man’s healing was gradual, sensitive, and progressive. Jesus did not mind waiting and asking the man, “Do you see anything?” The principle here is to perform a healing action, ask if there is any change, and then try again.

So often, we believe that if we do not get it right the first time, that is the end. This belief is not valid. Jesus is showing here that sometimes healing takes time. Sometimes we need to persevere. Sometimes it just needs one more try. Other times, there is a process in healing, and it can take hours, days, weeks, or months.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Using creative objects at hand, encourage everyone to dance, play, create, chat, and explore using these objects as they pray for others.

2. Group Activation: Brainstorm a group in your community who desires acceptance. As a prophetic group, prophesy into this community group’s acceptance and future.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time focussing on God and His love for you. Ask God to reveal to you words and pictures around His love and journal a love letter from God to you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to bring to your mind someone who needs a healing touch. Ask God how He would love you to respond.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God hearing His heart for homelessness within your area/state/country. Prophesy into the outcome.

Healing Touch part 1

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Standing in our church auditorium during our Healing Service, a lady came and stood before my team members and me. As I asked this lady what she would like Jesus to do for her today, she responded by sobbing. Through her tears came the words “to feel clean.” My response was to ask her if I could hug her. I then held her in my arms for ages. Gradually, the deep sobbing eased, and the muffled tears stopped. I released her, and she looked at me with a face that was glowing. “Thank you for loving me kindly,” she said. “I have never been touched by anyone in a gentle, kind manner. Thank you.”

A gentle, appropriate touch, with permission, can result in healing – more than we can ever know or understand.

Jesus loved touching people – physically, spiritually, and emotionally. He was the master at both compassion and appropriate touch. We often read in the Gospels where Jesus reached out and appropriately touched people, and in the touch, people were healed.

In Mark 1:40-42, we read, ‘A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.’

From these verses, we read Jesus was indignant. The Aramaic word for indignant can mean both anger and compassion. Perhaps Jesus felt both angry and compassionate. We see here that Jesus felt deeply for this man. To minister like Jesus, we need to feel compassion for the people we meet.

It could be construed that Jesus was angry at being misunderstood, as His purpose was to bring healing and restoration.

From what we read and know of Jesus’ character, I believe Jesus was angry at the condition – leprosy – that made this man a social outcast. No one would have touched this man for a long time.

Imagine never knowing the touch of another human being because you were considered ‘unclean’. What impact would this have on your self-esteem and self-worth?

I believe Jesus was so angry at this dignity-stripping disease that His first action was to restore to the man the very thing the disease sought to steal from him – his worth. Jesus touched the man and restored the man’s dignity. Jesus broke societal barriers and rejection off this man. Jesus did far more than just saying “Be clean.”

It was a brave and courageous act for Jesus, as touching someone with leprosy brought shame and uncleanliness to you. Traditionally, Jesus then had to be excluded from being around people for a certain period. Jesus did not let that inhibit Him. Jesus came to destroy all those legalistic rules and lies that bound people. The superstitions around the diseases were lies, something the enemy specializes in, along with humiliation and exclusion. Jesus came to conquer this and bring freedom to all these areas.

I will never forget my first touch with leprosy. After carefully examining the sores on the child’s legs, the other nurse clinician and I glanced at each other. Our eyes communicated the unspoken disease – leprosy. That one word could still cause a feeling of dread in our minds because of the physical and social savageness and the isolation of the condition.

I internally struggled with my desire to withdraw all physical contact to lessen the likelihood of my contracting the disease. However, I deliberately kept my hands in contact with the child’s skin. I felt that showing compassion and love to the child far outweighed the emotional rejection this child may experience if I showed any fear of rejection and catching leprosy since touch transmits it.

The other nurse began explaining the condition to the child and her mother. Thankfully, there is now a treatment that means people with leprosy no longer need to be isolated after they have begun treatment. This child did not need emotional isolation along with this physical condition.

Notice how Mark writes ‘a man with leprosy’, not ‘the leper’. Your physical condition or sickness should never define who you are. To Jesus, here was a man, not a leper. Please be careful never to call or label people by their condition. I’ll expand more on ‘labels’ in a future blog.

Physical healing often follows the emotional healing. Jesus’ comment was, “Be clean.” Not “Be healed.” The man became healed by being declared clean (something that only a priest could announce). Physically, relationally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Until then, the priest was the ‘go-between’, taking man’s requests to God. Jesus came to bridge that gap so we did not need a ‘go-between’ but could go directly to God with our prayers. Jesus takes the priest’s place in this passage, foreshadowing what would occur after His resurrection.

Touch was important for Jesus. Jesus often healed people purely by touching them. A transaction occurs in the touching. Just as Jesus’ touch was powerful, so too can our touch.

A middle-aged man brought his teenage son to the Healing Rooms for prayer. After praying for the son, I asked this man if he wanted prayer for anything for himself. After a brief pause, he admitted he was the person who wanted prayer and that he had brought his son because he was too embarrassed to come for himself.

We prayed for this man and his various needs. His wife had left him, and he was lonely, scared, and depressed. He had some issues regarding his employment. We prayed for numerous physical conditions. After we prayed for the restoration of his eyesight, he could see more clearly and no longer needed his glasses.

But I still felt that this man needed something more.

My husband was praying for someone else, and I excused myself and went across to my husband. I tapped him on the shoulder and whispered that I needed him.

My husband appropriately finished with the person he was praying for and came across to me. I asked my husband to give this man a Father’s blessing.

Gary blessed this man, but the watershed moment was when my husband wrapped his arms around this man and hugged him like a father. The tears flowed from the man. This was a significant moment for him. The hug seemed to last for an eternity. This man experienced the Father in a new way.

As my husband stepped back, this man, with tears running down his face, expressed, “I am now ready to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.”

Never underestimate the significance and the power of a touch.

Questions to reflect on:

  • How compassionate am I towards others?
  • Am I carrying any shame or humiliation from the past that I need to bring before Jesus?
  • Are there any ‘labels’ that have been placed on me that need removing? How does Jesus see me?
  • When people ask for healing, is that always what they really want or need? How do I know?
  • What are my beliefs about touching someone when praying for healing for them?
  • How do I respond when asked to pray for someone with a ‘socially unacceptable’ issue?

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Ask God to show you as a family/group someone who needs comforting and cheering up. Ask God to show you how you can do this.

2. Group Activation: Ask God to show you a local societal issue with a root of hopelessness. Prophesy as a group over that issue. Ask God if there is something practical you can also do to help.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to show you someone who needs a touch from God today. Step out in courage and approach the person, asking their permission to pray and prophesy over them.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a local funeral director and how you can encourage and prophesy over them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight a socially unacceptable disease and to show you how to prophesy into the answer.

No Formulas in Healing with God

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My 5-year-old son accidentally dropped a massive Besser brick, from a great height, on his friend’s foot, smashing a bone. Her foot was massively swollen and extremely painful. We were in Mozambique, and she was to fly back to England the next day. Unfortunately, she wasn’t allowed to fly. Flying is contraindicated with a broken bone due to the flight aggravating the swelling and placing her at increased risk of circulation loss or a blood clot.

Amidst the crying of pain, her dad and I looked at each other. There was only one solution. We needed a miracle. We needed God to show up and heal this little girl’s foot.

In that moment of utter desperation, her dad and I commanded the bones to be mended, and we watched as we immediately saw the swelling dramatically reduce. The pain eased, and all movement returned to her foot. This girl was cleared to fly home the following day as the bones were declared healed.

Several months later, a friend’s nineteen-year-old daughter broke her foot. She went to the Doctor, and X-rays were taken, which showed a fracture in her foot. The girl’s mother brought her to our home for prayer before taking her to the Orthopedic Specialist the following day. I prayed, and the pain eased but returned, only to reduce significantly overnight. Her mother requested a further x-ray before the Specialist decided whether to operate. The second x-ray showed an old trace of a break in the bone that was now fully healed. The before and after x-rays were as if they were from a different foot.

So, when my daughter’s friend had a broken bone in her hand, I wanted to pray for her so that her fracture would be healed. I prayed, and the pain and swelling lessened slightly, but not completely. Over the next few days, it became evident that the broken bone had not healed.

Reflecting on this several days later, I realized several things. First, I had reduced God’s healing to a formula. I had prayed a certain way around people with broken bones, so I had prayed the same way. Unfortunately for us, God doesn’t have a formula for healing. God is supernatural, and He heals using whatever He desires. We cannot use formulas with God. Time and again in the Bible, we read God used unconventional means to heal or to get people’s attention. A fantastic example is when Jesus heals the man who was deaf and mute in Mark 7:32-37 by spitting and touching the man’s tongue.

Second, I had become proud. My prayer for my daughter’s friend was out of pride. I had previously prayed for several people with broken bones, including the two girls above, and seen them healed. I had subconsciously developed a wrong attitude that my prayer had healed them. When I had prayed for my daughter’s friend, I had prayed, but I had not waited to ask God what He wanted me to pray. I had prayed my thoughts, not God’s thoughts.

It can be easy to believe that it all depends on us or to look for the right ‘formula’ so they will be healed. That people will be healed if we pray for them a certain way, that we can ‘fix’ people and their problems. We are not Jesus. We are not the answer to the problem. Please do not partner with the belief that you are the Messiah and that people need you to pray for them. God can always heal them another way. God is not dependent on us, but we are reliant on God.

On the other hand, we are invited to join God in seeing healings and miracles and bringing Heaven to earth. The secret is staying close to and remaining humble with Father God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus. Hearing what they want us to do and then doing that.

Questions I love to ask God are:

  • “What do you want to do in this person’s life, God?”
  • “What are you already doing and would love me to join You?”
  • “What would you love me to do and say?”
  • “How do you want me to pray, God?”

What about you? How have you seen God heal people?

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Prepare outlines of the human body on paper. Ask the children which body parts God wants to heal in the group. Ask the children to colour in those body parts. Then ask the chidlren to pray for those parts to be healed.

2. Group Activation: Spread out a pack of playing cards face down on a table. Ask people to each choose a card and then to get into pairs. Ask people to prophesy over their partner using the playing card they picked up.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you something about yourself that God delights in. Explore this further with God, asking Him more questions about this.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to bring to mind someone who is sick. Spend time with God hearing His heart for that person and how He would love you to minister to them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight a disease to you and then to show you His heart for people with this disease. Spend time with God seeking His answer to how you are to pray about a cure for that disease.

Surgical Intervention is not Inferior Healing

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Surgical intervention is not inferior to a supernatural spontaneous healing from God. Sometimes, in our enthusiasm for miraculous healing, we can reduce the role of Doctors and medicine in the healing process.

Several years ago, we went on a journey of ‘medical’ healing.

Hubby began experiencing tingling, and extreme discomfit in his right hand and arm. This had persisted for several months, during which he hadn’t thought to tell me before then. That Sunday morning, when we were chatting in bed before getting up, I commented how Hubby should book in to see our local Doctor. That afternoon, two medical specialists were at our home for pre-engagement counselling. Hubby commented on how he wanted them both to pray for him, as they have a supernatural healing ministry. They examined him, prayed for him, and strongly suggested he see the doctor for an MRI.

The next day, hubby rang the GP. The GP was fully booked out, leaving in a couple of days for an operation herself, and would be out of the office for several weeks. Hubby decided to ‘call in’ and see her at the end of her work, and she saw him then. He then rang me at 7 pm to say he needed an MRI, but it usually takes a week to get an appointment. I suggested he ring that night and see if he could leave a message. He rang, and they told him they had just had a cancellation for that night and he could come in immediately. Thus, another miracle.

The GP received the report of the MRI the following day and asked Hubby to come in as it was serious, and she wanted to refer him to a neurosurgeon. Again, we were told there would be a delay in getting in as we were public patients and did not have private health insurance. For all this to be achieved before our GP went off for her operation was impressive.

Hubby asked people to pray for supernatural healing of the C6 prolapsed disc and bony spur. He felt that there was enough faith in our home for healing, but we also invited other members of the Healing Rooms to come and pray for healing. During this time, I saw a picture of a bone being shaved away. Our 10-year-old son heard God say that Gary would be totally healed. I had a dream where I saw Arthur Burk standing in front of me, and he said, “Gary will be healed when he deals with his stuff”. Thus, Hubby was on bed rest, and I just wanted him to ‘deal with his stuff’ and ask God what He wanted to show him during this time. Our faith in supernatural healing was high.

The following Monday, we were sitting in the Neurosurgeon’s office. We had been warned that his bedside manner left a lot to be desired, but that didn’t concern us. His expertise was more what we were focussing on. I silently released peace and God’s presence into that room, and we immediately noted a change in the Neurosurgeon’s attitude. He started sharing his heart of justice, his mother, his frustration with the health system, and his concerns with some patients. Hubby felt a spirit of fear leave him in that room, plus he also had an encounter with Father God sharing some stuff with him. The outcome was that no conservative treatment would be effective for his situation, and Hubby would need surgery, but as we were public patients, there would be a wait of several months. The Neurosurgeon organised tablets and a cortisone injection that may help whilst awaiting surgery.

We have a few friends who are doctors and physios, so Hubby got their opinion. He started physio but experienced no change. The symptoms were getting worse.

Just as the 10-day course of anti-inflammatories finished, I received a phone call saying that Hubby was booked in for surgery at a private hospital that Friday at no expense to us. All within a fortnight of seeing the surgeon.

During that fortnight, we had also been on the team at our church’s Saturday morning Healing Rooms, where the team members and the children prayed for healing—no change in symptoms. One of the team leaders approached me and said, “You know Jane, surgical intervention is not inferior to a supernatural spontaneous healing from God”. I knew that, but now I have grasped more of it.

Our response then was: does Hubby proceed with the operation, or does he wait for supernatural healing? Is God going to heal through surgery?

I rang my dad, who said, “Jane – you don’t believe in coincidences. You always say that there are never coincidences with God. It sounds like you just need to walk on through the open doors.” Another few friends then said it was like the man in a flood standing on top of a roof crying out to God for help. A plane came, then a boat, and the man shooed them away each time and said he was waiting for God. The man finally accused God of not helping, and God replied, “I sent a boat and a plane. That was me reaching out to you.”

Thus, we went ahead, and Hubby had the surgery. Removal of the C6 disc, an artificial disc inserted and the bony spur shaved off down to the bone marrow. In an operation that was meant to take about 50 minutes, it ended up being 2 ½ hours as 1-2mm metal tip of a probe broke off during the surgery, and they had to find it and remove it by suctioning it out.

Apart from that complication, he had an incredibly amazing recovery. He did not have any pain or discomfort, even over the wound site or the site where the bone was shaved dramatically. The nurses gave him some Panadol in the hospital because they had to after surgery. He also had no complications after surgery.

The following morning, when the nurse took down his wound dressing, I was amazed at the lack of swelling, inflammation, bruising, and bleeding. The suture line looked beautiful and further healed than less than 24 hours post-surgery. As an ex Coronary Care Nurse, I was used to dealing with suture lines, and it honestly looked like it was about five days post-op with the lack of redness and inflammation and the closure of the wound. He came home that day with no pain, which is the major indicator of discharge in this surgery.

I googled “Arthur Burk pre anaesthetic prayer” to prepare for Hubby’s surgery. I found a video titled “Your spirit and surgery” – https://vimeo.com/315889893 (Approx 21 minutes) In this video, he describes some tools you can use to prepare your spirit for the operating room so that the procedure and the recovery are positively affected by the dominion God designed for your spirit.

I believe these prayers and how we prayed were a major help in the lack of pain and inflammation after the surgery. I must confess that we were running out of time, so I had scribbled the prayer on a slip of paper, and as I drove to the hospital with Hubby in the car, I prayed the prayer then. Not the best environment, but wow – the result was excellent!!

Four days before last Christmas, Hubby had major eye surgery. We again prayed the pre-anaesthetic prayer; he had no pain and an uneventful recovery. Hubby jokingly shares how the surgeon peeling off the tape over his eye patch was the only ‘pain’/discomfit he felt.

For those that would like this prayer, feel free to either watch the video on this link or contact me via email for a copy of the written prayer.

God created humans with the ability to gain skills and knowledge in a variety of areas. One of those areas is in medicine and healing. Healing through medicine is as valid as seeing supernatural healing through prayer.           

      

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post, I list five prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather a list of people needing healing. Write each person’s name on a separate piece of paper. Pray. Ask children to draw a picture from God for the person whose name is on the paper. Write a statement, in the child’s words, about what they felt from God. Distribute the pictures to the relevant people.

2. Group Activation: Divide the group into small groups of 2-3 people. Give each group the name of a medical specialty at a local hospital eg cardiac services, respiratory services, kidney/renal, neurological, gastrointestinal, haematology, etc. Ask each group to individually hear from God and then as a group to combine what they heared/sensed/saw and prophesy over that service/area of the local hospital.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight a person to you who is having surgery. Ask God to communicate to you His heart for them and to show you how to deliver it to them.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a hospital/medical clinic to pray and prophecy over. Spend time hearing God’s heart for that hospital/medical clinic and what He would love you to do with what He has communicated to you about that place.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight an area in the world that is in dire need of medical care and expertise. Spend time asking God to show you His heart for that area and what He would love you to do in response.

                                                                                  

Prophetic Acts Bring Change

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Calculating the exact mid-way point between the two major cities, we pulled over to the side of the highway. We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but a cemetery was beside us. That was a surprise and unexpected. Jumping out of the car, we grabbed a pair of scissors out of a special box, and my son proceeded to cut the air to symbolise cutting the divide between these two cities. There had been a long-standing invisible divide between the two cities, with one wanting to be the capital city of the state and the other winning that role. The jealousy and envy were evident in numerous ways.

We briefly made a declaration as we selected a beautiful rainbow ribbon with the seven colours of the rainbow from our special box and carefully tied the two ends together, symbolising the joining of this area with the promises of God and the seven spirits of God written about in Revelations. There had been 44 deaths from car accidents along this very straight stretch of road in the previous ten years, with the latest fatality being a young girl killed by a senior member of the legal team representing the state. We felt to decree and declare life into this area, this region, these two city fractions.

Hopping back into the car, I swapped roles with hubby and began to drive. Switching on the hire car radio that had previously not been used by us, the song was “I’m alive again”. We all looked at one another in amazement. Was that a coincidence? I am a huge believer that there are no coincidences with God. The next instant, the sun disappeared, and it started raining. The rain lasted about 5 minutes, and then a beautiful vibrant rainbow appeared and ended right in front of us at our front bumper bar. I was shocked. What was happening? Keeping an eye on that rainbow, it guided us into the next city we were travelling to, another forty minutes further on, keeping all the time at our front bumper bar.

This car trip was our family’s first introduction to a prophetic trip where we asked God what the issues were for the various cities/towns/regions we were visiting and what He wanted to show us about those areas. We then asked God to reveal prophetic actions we could do that would help change something in both the physical and spiritual realms.

On that ten-day trip, this incident was only one of the many remarkable outcomes we saw. I believe that God was graciously allowing our family to physically see that the prophetic acts we felt called to do were making a massive difference in the spiritual.

Another significant physical reaction occurred precisely one week after we had briefly stopped to pour out a bottle of pure water on an area of burnt, dry, barren ground. We were running late for a dinner appointment, so as we drove through the countryside, we remembered that this was where we had planned to do the act of pouring out the water. I slowed the car down to a virtual stop, and our son leaned out the window and poured out the water. I am not even sure we stopped long enough to say anything. Exactly one week later, it rained on that very spot – that small area was the only area in the state to get rain. Not only that, but it recorded twice the highest ever recorded rainfall for that area. Coincidence or not?

I believe God graciously allowed our family to see physically that prophetic acts do work as we then travelled interstate and overseas where we didn’t physically see any change at the time we carried out the prophetic actions, but we could have complete confidence that it was making a difference in the spiritual.

One such action was in our nation’s capital. As a family, we travelled to Canberra for a week because we believed God wanted us there. Sure, it was great educationally for the kids. Sure, it was a good time away as a family. But the primary significance was that we felt it was God’s timing, and He wanted us to do something there. I have full confidence that the prophetic actions we did joined with the prayers and prophetic actions of thousands of other Australians to bring a significant change. Exactly one week later, we watched our Prime Minister give her resignation speech and the incoming Prime Minister’s reply. As we were watching this event, our 10-year-old daughter asked, “Now what will happen to all those babies in their mum’s tummies who were going to be killed by the laws Julia Gillard wanted to introduce (for full-term abortion)”?

What is a prophetic act?

A prophetic act is something done (at God’s direction) in the natural (physical) realm that supports God’s workings in the spiritual realm to bring forth results manifested in the natural realm. It somehow opens the channel for God’s presence, power, and victory to be released to have an effect in the physical realm and change outcomes.

It is not a formula or method you can blindly follow to produce different results. God is not a respecter of formulas. It is also not always possible to fully explain or justify the sense behind a prophetic act with our human mind. It is also not worthwhile doing something that constitutes a prophetic act if it doesn’t first come from God.

Thus, it is a physical action that God gives you to do that becomes a sign and decree to forge a breakthrough in the spiritual realm. When praying for healing for someone, I may sense that God wants them to do a prophetic act, so I ask God for more details. I will share with the person I am praying for and give them an option. Do you feel you could, for example, take a step forward as a sign of stepping into the new mindset, etc.? Prophetic acts are powerful visual and kinaesthetic statements to the spirit world.

In today’s culture, we celebrate various occasions that once began as very symbolic and prophetic, but the significance may have dimmed for some people, e.g. 21st birthday key symbolising the key to the door, the wedding ring symbolising eternal love.

Biblical examples:

There are many prophetic acts throughout the Bible. Several examples are:

  • Ezekial 4 – Lying on the left/right side, food, and drink preparation, prophesying to creation.
  • Ezekial 37:1-14 – The valley of dry bones.                   
  • 2 Kings 13:14-19 – Elisha – King Jehoash’s arrow.
  • Exodus 17:1-7 raising rod and verses 8-16 raising arms against the Amalekites.
  • Exodus 12 – Israelite families killed a lamb and put blood on their doorposts
  • Joshua 10:12-14 – declaration for the sun to stand still.
  • Jacob giving Joseph the multicoloured coat.
  • Hosea – marrying a prostitute.
  • John 2:1-12 – Jesus turning water into wine.
  • John 9:1-7 – Jesus putting clay on the blind man’s eyes.

The action can be for intercession, warfare, healing, a call to ministry etc. It can hold the spiritual power necessary for fulfilment or breakthrough.

The action can be for intercession, warfare, healing, a call to ministry etc. It can hold the spiritual power necessary for fulfilment or breakthrough.

The main principle:

Ask God what the issue is and whether He wants you to do a prophetic action to facilitate change. If so, what prophetic action comes to mind? As always, act on it whenever you feel prompted by the Holy Spirit.

I would love to hear any current prophetic acts you are doing. Please feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather bubble blowing equipment and a world map that can get wet. (I use a shower curtain with a world map printed on it.) Ask God to highlight to everyone which countries He would love to release joy into. Pray and have fun blowing bubbles as you release joy over those countries.

2. Group Activation: Beforehand gather items in a tool box that you can use for individual prophetic acts eg key, scissors, ribbon, ball, knife, pen & paper, bubbles, balloon, stone, scarf, etc plus a world map. As a group select a country and ask God for a current issue for that country. Then corporately ask God for a prophetic act that you could do for that nation so as to usher in a change. Carry out the prophetic act. Repeat the process individually for a different country.

3. Beginner Activation: What is your biggest need at home at the moment? Ask God to show/tell/give you a sense/idea of a prophetic act that you could do to change that situation and usher in breakthrough. Then do it.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spiritually map your local neighbourhood this week and ask God to show you the spiritual condition in this area. Ask God for an idea for a prophetic act to address an issue somewhere in your neighbourhood. Then carry out that prophetic act.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you His heart for your nation, a current national challenge, and for a prophetic act you can do to release breakthrough in this area.

Miracles – the impossible becomes reality

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Seeing the impossible become a reality increases our faith.

A few weeks ago, our family saw the impossible become a reality. And boy, did it increase my faith. I woke up the following morning ready and raring to pray for the impossible and excited to see more miracles.

That particular Wednesday evening, I picked my son up from his group activity. He jumped in the car, and his first words were: “Oh boy, you would never guess what happened?”

As soon as he told me, my heart leapt with excitement. “That’s what I’ve been praying for!!” I almost screamed. He looked at me, amazed. “Really?”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell you as I knew you would say it was impossible and no way a miracle could happen.”

But God.

But God is in the business of miracles.

But God is in the business of redeeming injustices.

I won’t go into the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ here as I need to be aware of privacy issues, but God did a miracle. My son had had an injustice occur against him, preventing him from a fantastic opportunity. He accepted it resiliently and didn’t fight back.

But this mama is learning to fight injustices and to speak up. To speak up to God. To go into bat in prayer and declaration.

Even when the miracle occurred and my son was about to be given the opportunity, another person tried to find another person from twenty-six different groups to fill that role. But God kept it available (or hidden) for my son.

God trumps man.

God is in the business of miracles.

When we see a miracle, the impossible becomes a reality, and it increases our faith.

If you are currently facing an impossible situation, here are a few proven strategies I use to increase my faith and to keep focused on that which God can do and will do.

  1. Speak life over your situation. Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Speak aloud the result you are desiring. Thank God for the anticipated result.
  2. Remind yourself of past miracles. Surround yourself with ‘memory stones’ – reminders of when God has performed a miracle in your life. Joshua 4:1-9 (verses 4-7: “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” When our children were healed of anaphylaxis, wow – did that increase my faith in praying for healing for others and seeing God heal them.
  3. Intentionally surround yourself with people of outrageous faith, people who believe God can do the impossible.
  4. Read stories in the Bible and current life stories of miracles. Ten years ago, friends commented that my faith had increased dramatically. Several reasons for this, not the least that our family devoured autobiographies of people of faith. Missionaries who had experienced ‘life or death’ miracles. We believed that if God could do that for them, He would do that for us.
  5. Worship God. Give God His worth.
  6. Thank God in advance for the outcome.
  7. Speak in tongues. When I speak in tongues, I find that my inner man increases and my belief in all things become possible increases.
  8. Step out and start praying for the impossible. Look for, and pray for, healing and miracles.

What current impossibility are you declaring will become a reality? What are you implementing to see that occur? I would love to hear your experiences so please feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather supplies of paint, paintbrushes or droppers, and paper. Fold the paper in half then splash a couple of dots of paint on one half of the paper. Fold the paper and squash the paint between the two halves of the paper. Open the paper and ask God to show you something positive and encouraging you can say to someone from the art created.

2. Group Activation: Play prophetic musical chairs. If the group is less than six people, have one less chair than the number of people playing. If it is larger, have two less chairs than the number of people playing. With the small group, when the music stops and the person without a chair to sit on is ‘out’, the person who is out then has to prophesy over everyone left sitting on a chair. Keep playing until last person is left sitting and the ‘winner’ – ask them to prophesy over the rest of the group. With a larger group, have two people ‘out’ each time the music stops. These two people prophesy over each other. Keep playing until you are down to the last two people and encourage them to prophesy over each other.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to show you a family portrait of you with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. Lean into God and ask Him to show you the expression on everyone’s faces, what you are wearing, colours, positioning, etc. Sit with God and explore the picture/images He shows you. Continue to ask God further questions about the picture.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to remind you of an area of your life where you need a miracle. Ask God to show or tell you how He would love you to partner with Him in this. Prophesy into this situation.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you an injustice in your sphere of influence. Ask God what He sees your role as in redeeming this injustice. Prophecy into that injustice.

I can’t hear God for Myself

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I can’t hear God for myself. What do I do?

Have you ever had trouble hearing God for yourself? I have.

Twenty-three years ago, hubby and I asked God where we should church plant. There were so many options. We visited places. Prayed over locations. Tried to break through the fuzz. Made up spreadsheets. Fasted. Prayed. Waited. Waited. Waited.

Ten years ago, as we flew to Queensland for a family holiday, I asked God to reveal to me on the holiday what I should do with nursing. I was nursing in a Coronary Care Unit one to two days a fortnight on weekends whilst home-schooling the kids. Sensing the time for finishing was near, I asked God to confirm it. The dream that first night on holiday was a clincher – give up or it will be taken from you. I hung on, not willing to take the plunge to leave nursing as the money was great and provided for our holidays. Interesting outcome. Not bad. Just a change in the boss several years later meant twenty-five of the best nurses left within seven days.

With big decisions now, I check immediately if God has already asked me to do something, and I haven’t obeyed.

Often, I can find it hard to hear God for myself when I have a significant decision. I can start doubting my ability to hear and sense God.

Sometimes God may appear silent because the options we have given God are all good. My husband was giving prophetic words at a worship gathering on Tuesday evening. A young woman was asking for direction in her life. She couldn’t seem to hear from God. Gary sensed that three doors were opening and each of the three were a good fit. He sensed God saying, “You choose what you want.” The young woman gasped as she had just been presented with three research positions. She had been asking God to show her which one she was meant to take whereas God was saying they are all a great fit – you choose.

I have tried several things to help me when I struggle to hear from God. Usually, I will try an ‘encounter’ with God, as explained in the last two blog posts, to imagine myself positioned with God. Other times, I have attempted to ask God a different question.

I will never forget the first time I decided to ask God a different question. I was driving home from an Anzac Day Service where I had watched my son march with his Air Force Cadet Squadron. Whilst watching the march, I began crying. Not sobbing but crying enough that my response shocked me. Why was I crying? When anything unexpected occurs, I try to ask God:

  • “What did that trigger in me?” or
  • “Why did I respond like that?” or
  • “What’s underneath that emotion?”

Nothing came. My mind was spinning with a thousand thoughts – was it because our son wanted to join the Defence Force, and he may be fighting in a war one day? Was it because…. Numerous what if’s came to mind. But God seemed to be deathly silent.

I sat with it a bit longer, and it suddenly struck me – I think I was asking the wrong question. The more suitable question was, “Was it appropriate the emotion I expressed?” Immediately I heard God’s voice – “Yes. You are extremely grateful for those who served and fought to save this country and your future.”

Try changing the question.

Thus, when people comment that they find it hard to hear God for themselves, my first response is to suggest they ask God a different question.

Have you ever asked God:

  • “What are you NOT saying?”
  • “Why is that God? Please show me more of the background.”
  • “What is your perspective God of where I am right now?”
  • “Why …..?” or “How ….. ?”

We can do several things to clear the communication lines when trying to receive communication from God for ourselves.

Suggestions to implement when you feel a blockage in hearing God for yourself:

  1. The first thing I do is turn my heart and affections to Jesus. I silently worship God. Praise shifts the atmosphere. Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise”. If you want to enter His presence, see what He is seeing, and hear what He is saying, praise and thanks will do that.
  2. What are you asking God? Can you reframe your question? Are you asking God the wrong question? Are you wanting to hear a specific answer, i.e. treating God like Santa Claus, thus not hearing God because you’re not hearing what you’re desiring?
  3. Change things up a bit. Do something different. Perhaps put on other worship music. Change position or posture. Try spending time with God in nature or a different place. I love going to the beach on a stormy day and ‘feeling’ God in the storm.
  4. Have you been obedient in doing what God has asked of you? If you haven’t been obedient in following through on what God has already asked you to do, how can you expect Him to tell you the next step?
  5. Is there any sin in your life? Sin has a disastrous way of blocking the relationship between God and yourself.
  6. Facilitate an encounter with God. I explained this in the last two blog posts – encountering God part 1 and encountering God part 2. A helpful encounter to try is to imagine yourself under a waterfall. Look around and feel, hear, smell, and see what it is like under that waterfall. Imagine next that that waterfall is God pouring out good stuff over you. What is He pouring over you? Revel in what is flowing over you. Enjoy. Splash around in it. When you finish imagining this, try spending some time just enjoying God for who He is.
  7. Are you prepared to lean into God over a more extended period – fast, meditate, pray, enjoy being with God, spend time listening?
  8. Ask God if there is a lie you are believing. If you perceive there is a lie, ask God to show you the truth.

If there is an issue you are struggling with or are finding it hard to hear God on an ongoing basis, regular prayer ministry enables blockages to be quickly erased.

The key is a vibrant, life-giving relationship with God the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus.

Next blog post I will explore several suggestions if your mind goes blank when prophesying.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Play prophetic ‘duck, duck, goose’. People sit in a circle with their eyes closed. Walk around the outside of the group and tap one person on the shoulder. That person is receiving the prophetic word. Ask everyone else to ask God what He would like to say to this (unknown) person with the scribe taking notes. After 5-6 people have shared, ask the receiver to raise their hand. Pass the written notes to that person for encouragement. Ask them to feed back to the group how accurate the words were, how they made them feel etc. Then repeat the process taping someone else on the head/shoulder.

2. Group Activation: Find a creative way of getting into pairs. Once in pairs, each person asks God for a book title for their partner. It may be an actual book title or a made up title that God wants to give to that person to highlight something about them. Remind people to capture the first thought that goes through their mind and go with that, as long as it is encouraging, strengthening, comforting. Keep asking God questions about the book – fact or fiction, children or adult, what the title means, what you would find in the book etc. Ask them to share with their partners. Set a time limit of three to five minutes total to help people be precise and hear/sense quickly.

3. Beginner Activation: Quieten your heart and focus on God. Then imagine a plane flying overhead with a banner trailing behind it. Look at the banner – what has God written on it just for you? Why? Spend a few moments asking God more questions about the wording and what it means for you. Then ask God to show your imagination the plane flying overhead again with a different banner. This time the banner is for someone else. Ask God who it is for and why. Is there anything else God wants to share with you about this? Ask God if you are meant to share this with the person and when.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight someone to you who politically votes completely differently to you. This activation is not about conflict and trying to change people’s opinions. It is about asking God for a love for this person and for God to show you His heart for the person. Ask God how you are to communicate to the person what He has shown you for them.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God hearing His heart for Australia and her future as the election is tomorrow. Prophecy aloud that which you sense is Australia’s future. Ask God if there is anything else He would have you do eg a prophetic act.