Fixing our eyes on the prize and on things of eternal significance is the singular thing we have to do as believers.  What matters is how we respond to God’s gift, to the Father’s call.  The thought that struck me a while back is that word, “singularity“.  Singularity of function, singularity of purpose.

In the field of business, we would call it a “critical success factor“, that is, factors that most or all our activities must be aligned with.  My critical success factor is healing – the subject of healing.

When awake, I think of healing.  When asleep, I dream of healing.  In daily life, I visualize God healing.  I have led hundreds of people to the Lord and I thank God for salvation, but where I fit is healing. I have been involved in mercy ministry, counseling, writing, giving, teaching financial seminars, even children’s ministry, but healing ministry is where I know I should be.

Singularity does not mean I am obsessed or one-dimensional.  Even if we are obsessed, it is OK to be obsessed with God’s business.  But I hope you understand.  Life goes on, I go to work, I spend time with family, I empty the trash.   You can get so spiritual that you’re of no earthly good.  That’s not me.

Paul knew a little bit about singularity when he wrote to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:1):

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”

To paraphrase, Timothy was encouraged to spend his time on his calling and to make it his singular purpose.  I watched Joseph Prince the other night teach about receiving healing through communion and that was encouraging to see a man in this generation being bold about healing.  It is one of the ways to receive healing I listed earlier.

What strikes me is that most of the men and women prominent in healing ministry over the last century are dead or elderly now.  I’m sure those still alive are amazed at the extent to which the healing message of the gospel has almost disappeared in our day.  This is not only referring to America, but to Christianity globally.

I also do not refer to traditional denominations – they have long since moved on, or perhaps more accurately, regressed in their theology.

So back to singularity.  Singleness of purpose means that we pay more attention to God’s call than to what everyone else is doing.  That’s singleness of purpose. Personally, I’m looking forward to spending more time and more focus in ministry, doing what I know I was called to do.

Available to Train in Healing

It has been several months since I made a post on the Christian Healing Blog.  I somehow became busier than the Lord intended and time got away from me.

So I’m back now and I promise to be more attentive to those who have commented on the site and to share more of what the Lord is doing in my life and around me in the Healing area.

The main topic of this post though is that I am making myself available to conduct seminars and to train in the area of healing to churches who request it.

For now, I have to restrict it to the North-Eastern United States until I have more time to travel. Apologies to those outside this area.

The Lord has placed it on my heart to share on and to train groups who are interested in becoming more effective in healing.

I’m not an ordained minister, so let’s be clear about that.  I am a teacher by gifting, however and have been trained in healing ministry, with over 15 years of teaching, healing, and counseling ministry.

If you have a group interested in healing or you’d like a seminar on the subject, that’s the idea.

These seminars would also be accompanied by ministry, where I expect the Lord to do what He does – heal, deliver, and impart knowledge and gifts to men and women.

I cannot deal with individuals at this point, only pastors and their staff.  If you would like me to come to your church or prayer group, please let your pastor know and let them or their staff do the invite.

Payment

To come to your church, I charge NO FEES.  I also do not require love gifts.

I do require that you pay for my travel costs (car rental/train/airplane) and a hotel room (Hampton Inn/Hilton Chain) if I have to stay overnight.  If you are in my local area (Philadelphia), I’ll not stay overnight, I’ll be heading home typically.

I think that’s it.  Pastors or their staff can reach me  – Bay - at ari840@hotmail.com. I will call you and we can talk further.

People and governments are increasingly not just immoral, but amoral, without any sense of right or wrong. Even in churches, many pastors believe righteousness is a means to financial gain – to the extent that I cannot even bear the sight of so many on TV – posturing and being so theatrical, having the form, but lacking the power.

However, we have confidence and foreknowledge in that Paul warned us of what would occur in the last days, as in these words in 2 Timothy 3;

” 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

As we see the evil become more evil, the insatiable greed of corporations and their managers; and the growing secularity of nations, it should encourage us that Christ is coming soon. It should also inspire us towards good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do. The time is short.

God is not impressed by the nations that rage and the people who plot in vain. In fact He laughs and scoffs at them (Psalm 2) and soon will rule them with an iron scepter, dashing them to pieces like pottery.

I’ve been focusing too much on the world these days, terrorism, wickedness, impunity, corruption, greed, and too little on what God is doing. That must change. I will instead, focus on what God is doing and what He is calling me too. I will fix my heart and thoughts on things above, where Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand. That is the wisest course. When the dust settles over His creation, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Then we will see that it was the best decision to serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling and take refuge in Him. May you be similarly encouraged in Jesus. Amen.

The next day, she called me even more distressed, with the news that one of his lungs had collapsed, he was now in intensive care, in an induced coma, as his discomfort was acute. His doctors did not know what else to do. She asked me to pray as the hospital outlook was bleak and getting bleaker.  I wasn’t too surprised by the turn of events based on what  had heard the first time, although a bit surprised at the speedy deterioration.

I’ll tell you what I did and what I did NOT do.  I did not call a prayer line or a prayer chain.  I didn’t get on the telephone with masses of people.  If the Lord led me to, I would have, but as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I believe it is a disgrace for hundreds of Christians to pray against one or a few spirits of infirmity.  One believer should be able to minister effectively against the attacks of a horde of demons, with Greater One on the inside.

I entered my “prayer closet” and took the offensive against this infirmity.  I prayed in the Spirit and I prayed with my understanding.  I took authority over the situation and spoke healing over the boy.  I prayed a couple of times – perhaps an hour each time.  When the burden lifted, I stopped, called the mother and told her I believed her son would be fine. At this point, there simply was no outward evidence of this, but I was convinced it would be so.

Although she called me the next day with grimmer news of how his collapsed lung was scarring and he was now unable to breathe on his own, I was not moved.  OK, maybe some concern in the flesh – I’ll be honest – but I’ve learned that the flesh and mind will sometimes react to stimuli in ways that you cannot fully control.  If someone jumps out with a gun, your  adrenaline will spike even if you know the angels of God are protecting you.  That’s what I mean. You must realize though, that this is separate from faith.  Faith is what you KNOW, not what you feel.

In my heart and mind and words to her, I knew and told her he would be fine – but it was interesting watching my own emotions at times.  Sometimes even amusing.

OK, what happened?  Two days after that bleak report, he began recovering rapidly and was out of the Intensive Care.  The doctors and nurses who treated him in intensive care were all coming by to marvel at his “miraculous” recovery.  Another two days and he was home, playing with his siblings like nothing ever happened.  The doctors had said that the scarring in his lung would take at least 2 years to heal, but at his last visit, there was no trace of scarring, the doctors pronouncing his lungs to be “like Lance Armstrong’s”!!

So praise God for this all.  This is not about anyone’s greatness of faithfulness, but God’s.  He preserved my cousin from “sorrow upon sorrow” and kept the life of a boy who will live to serve Him and glorify His Name.  I pray that your hearts might be encouraged, just as mine and my cousin (and her family) have been, through the Lord’s healing mercy. Amen.

A man came by and sat down on my left and I thought nothing of it. A minute later, I saw a man on the opposite platform walking to and fro, mumbling to himself and occasionally calling out to no-one in particular.

Viewing this as a ministry opportunity, I leaned over to the man on my left and asked, “Do you know what his problem is?” He answered right back, “What’s his problem?” I smiled and responded, “He’s probably demonically oppressed,” and then continued, “do you know there’s a world beyond this physical one?”

This is when things got interesting. He gave me a wan smile and said to me, “I guess you’re a Christian. Listen to this…” He then launched into a short burst of speaking in tongues. I was surprised but managed to recover. “I guess you’ve probably heard the gospel before”, I said with a grin.

“You listen to me,” he demanded. “I was in the ministry for years and was in ministry school.” “But,” he continued, “we prayed and prayed and God didn’t heal the seven sick people we prayed for. They all died. That’s when I left the ministry.”

I didn’t know too much about the Word but I replied that our faith in God did not depend on who got healed or not. I told him I didn’t understand why those people didn’t get healed as I wasn’t there. But I said, God was still faithful and He was and is still our Healer.

He wasn’t moved, as our train pulled in. “All I want”, he said, “is one minute when I die, to say my piece and tell God how I feel about it. So much power over there when we need it here!” I patiently responded that it wouldn’t play out that way, that no one gets to vent in heaven.

The funny thing was that as he kept telling me how he didn’t want anything to do with Christianity, he kept talking about God and what he wanted to say to him. I tried to talk with him before my stop, about 15 minutes later and he kept asking me to refute what he was saying, but he was way too angry. I just told Him over and over that God loved him and was faithful. My stop came along first and I got off the train.

This man was in a place that I’ve seen others get to over the years since that day in 1987. I refer to people who have seen failures over and over, particularly ministers- folks who have had to comfort the bereaved again and again. It can be heartbreaking and I can even understand mentally, how he arrived at that place. I have been tempted too. Tempted to just walk away and not even bother to pray any more – just send people to the doctors and leave it to others who are willing to test their faith and face the risk of failure.

I’ll be honest though and share the determination I made years ago that no matter how many tragedies I see, God is still a Healer and His Word is still true. What’s the worst that could happen? We go to be with the Lord, which is better by far. Why would I want to arrive in heaven, with the thought in my heart: “you didn’t believe in God’s healing promises!” No, I won’t be condemned for it, but why not fight, why not believe, why not engage?

Paul said, “Fight the good fight of faith..” (1 Timothy 6:12). He said “We wrestle not against flesh and blood…”(Ephesians 6:12) . He continues, “Run in such a way as to win the prize…” (1 Corinthians 9:24).

Do we have this thought that it will always be easy, especially in the West? Do we think that healings are not a prize to be fought bitterly for, in prayer?

Jesus said, “This kind can come out only by prayer.….” (Mark 9:29). Do we still pray and fast, or are we caught up with activities that just engage the flesh? Is there too much “seeker-friendliness”, with mime and dance and too little all-night prayer and intercession? God help us! Philip didn’t need street mime and dance to cause Holy Spirit-led havoc in Samaria, did he?

As we struggle with church programs and ‘church growth’ activities, we’re wearing ourselves out with “stuff”. If one blind person received sight in your church each week, even with 4 services on Sunday, you would have lines that stretched for blocks. You would need the police to keep order.

Our leaders are so afraid to preach, teach and demonstrate healing though, that for many, this is beyond their reach. It’s at a point where so many just don’t believe anymore. Like my friend on the train, they may have started with zeal, but disappointments got the better of them. They not only refuse to believe now, but are deeply bitter at unrealized hope.

Like my friend the real cause of the bitterness is that they know healing is there and is real, but somehow or the other, they could never attain it. That’s where the broken heart and deep bitterness comes from, “..so much power over there when we need it here!”

There is a path to healing in our churches. It is not easy, but it is not obscure either. Preach it, teach it, pray for it, minister it, and repeat over and over until breakthrough comes. What if it tarries? Read John Wimber’s story if you find the time (Power Healing). You simply continue as a church until breakthrough comes.

Well, what if it still doesn’t come, you ask? Better to enter heaven declaring the truths of God’s Word and kingdom than to give up. I will never give in or give up. For me though, healing has already come, over and over again.  May such steadfastness undergird your own soul, may the Holy Spirit encourage you and reward as you persist in seeing the manifest promises of God fulfilled in your life and the lives of those around you. Amen.