Testimony Unfolded: April 2007

A man gets prayed for at SHAPE retreat and is healed:

A few weeks back I attended the Men’s SHAPE retreat to learn more about my spiritual gifts.  We broke into our small groups at the end of Friday and went back to a room to pray. We didn’t want to “bother” the group with it and really felt like it was too little a thing.  The group prayed over me and during the prayer, my knee lit up with heat.  It felt like it was on fire on the inside.  I heard God say,”I have healed you; this is where Satan will attack.”  I was still skeptical and processing what had happened, so I didn’t say anything to anyone at that time.  I came home Saturday and told my wife.  She thought it was awesome also, but I said that I needed to “test it out” to prove to myself that it was true.  I went running the next day and there is no still no pain.  Praise God!.  We prayed for different needs of different individuals in the group.  When it was my turn, I mentioned some things I was struggling with and that I thought God was pushing me in new directions.  I had been experiencing some knee pain when I ran, but it didn’t.

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This week we (high school group) went to Mexico with a small team to help out at the Big Heart Orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico. The jobs we did required a lot of long, hard work. During one of these days, Jose Muniz (the Jesus Crew guy…known as a scary looking mexican to many) was cutting rebar with a table saw and accidentally moved his right forearm into the blade. His arm was cut deeply about 3 or 4 inches long. D’Linda Benham, our team’s nurse, immediately treated his wound and wrapped it. Jose was obviously in severe pain and couldn’t do much with his arm. Later that day, before our nightly devotional, D’Linda approached me and asked me to make an announcement after my devo to pray for the injuries that people had from the first 3 days of work. As she said this, I quickly suggested further that we should pray over people because I believed God wanted to do some supernatural work. As I said this, an intern that was there, Kendall, quickly agreed with me and we decided we would do this after the devo. So at the end of our discussion, I made the announcement that if anyone had any kind of injury we were going to stay afterwards to pray over them. About 8 people stayed, so we circled up around the first patient, Jose. And we prayed. After 10 to 20 minutes of praying, I felt confident that God had healed his arm. We were praying that the wound would be completely gone, and I believed it would be. So when we finished, Jose was pressing on the bandage and telling us how amazing it was that there was no pain. I eagerly prompted him to remove the bandage. When he did, we didn’t find just skin, but we also didn’t find a deep cut. On his arm where the deep cut had been earlier was a surface level scab that looked as if it had been drawn on his arm. He showed us that it had truly been healed by pressing on it and hitting it and twisting the skin around it. He could barely touch it without wincing before we prayed, and now he was laughing and poking it liberally.

But that was just the beginning. Next up was Jessie Davis, who had a huge burn on the inside of his leg from the searing hot exhaust pipe of a motorcycle. It had been plaguing him the whole trip and it was not pretty. So after we prayed over it for another 10 to 20 minutes, we were all sure God had healed him. And sure enough, we removed his bandage and found a greatly reduced burn scab that he said had no pain. In fact, that day, D’Linda had traced the area of the red mark from the burn with a purple sharpie, and she showed us that that initial area was at least an inch or two bigger in diameter than the burn mark that was left. Also there was no heat to accompany the wound, something that was a bad sign when D’Linda was checking it out previously.

Then we prayed over Stephanie Maybee who had severe stomach pains. For her though the healing was more spiritual than physical, and God truly did move inside of her. It was an amazing experience and she left changed.

All this to say, Jesus is ALIVE!!! And He is STILL continuing to inpress me and show off his Glory, in new and increasingly powerful ways. Jose’s cut was a ridiculous healing! He cut his arm the morning of the same day it was healed on, and it was TOTALLY healed!

If you have read this, take some time to praise God for the works he is doing! He deserves it!

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A simple act of faith, an ankle pain a person experienced for so many years, healed:

My wife and I were invited to a Power and Healing service at New Hope Chapel last year. Many Beltway folks were also attending. We decided to go and just sit in the back and pray for people coming that they would receive healing. The man speaking (Pastor Bill Johnson) talked about the manifestation of the spirit in healing and about the many miracles of healing around the world this ministry was involved in. He said something that really struck my spirit. He said that being a recipient of a gift in most cases is a result of some simple act of faith. (This reminded me of Jesus in his home town. “A Prophet without Honor”) Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith and could do very little except heal the sick.

About 30 minutes in to the service, he said that “there was a man here that has broken his right ankle and has been living with a deep aching pain for over 20 years”. About 30 men stood. Immediately my wife started giggling because she knew who it was. Not many people know that I broke my right ankle three times. Once on ice, then racket ball, then skiing. He then said there is one of you that broke his right ankle not twice but three times. If that is not you, sit down. I was the only one standing. Mark 6:5 ran through my head. At that point I placed my right foot into the isle and back in. A simple act of faith. I didn’t want to be counted with those who lacked faith. At that moment I felt a warm sensation in my ankle. The pain I experienced for so many years was gone. He called me forward and said you were healed, weren’t you. He told me to do something I couldn’t do before. I squatted down and jumped up and down with my ankles. Something I wouldn’t do before because my ankle would swell up and hurt. The next day I played six hours of tennis. To this day, there is no pain or swelling. For many days after I was in an extremely humbled mood, even remorseful to some extent. There were so many there with health problems greater than mine, but yet God chose me. This was a very humbling experience. A most awesome God thing!

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I want to share the power of God that is flowing in this generation. Before I continue, I would like to encourage all of you to rejoice in what God is doing and TESTIFY IT!!! Even what seems like the littlest of things is still glory and honor to God and power to those who hear.

Tonight May 25, 2008 at Fearless in the Chapel at Beltway, a young lady was healed of a severe headache that was making her sick to her stomach. She had to keep going in and out of the chapel and also to the restroom. I walked outside the chapel doors and she asked me if I had any medicine for a headache. I kind of chuckled and said, “No, but I have an idea. Follow me.” I guided her into the chapel where we had just finished praying over another man. I announced her pains and we put her in the middle and prayed over her. I laid my hands on her head and everyone else laid hands on her and began to call on the healing power of God to come down. She told me afterwards that right as we started to pray it felt a little better. In the middle of the prayer time she could feel it going away, and at the end, she said it was COMPLETELY GONE! Even the littlest things of God’s glory and power excite me and I rejoiced. She then for the last song of the night danced and sang without any pain or any hinderance holding her back. She was faithful in receiving and then gave glory to the Father for His gracious works.

Whatever amazing things God is doing, TESTIFY IT! Tell others, spread the word that a revival is taking place. Let everyone know of God’s amazing power. No matter how little, small, big, or large His miracles are, they are still to bring glory and honor to Him! Ask and you shall receive AND THEN REJOICE AND TESTIFY!

Are you asking for God to move?

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At congregation, pastor David encouraged all Israelis who felt tired or weary to stand up and for the foreigners to pray for them.  My husband and I live in Israel, but we are foreigners, not citizens.  Plus, I don’t feel tired.  So I opted to pray.  I was going to walk quickly across the room to a lady I knew and pray for her in Hebrew just for fun.  As I was about to leave my aisle, a friend of mine, also an Israeli was standing up.  I thought, “Well, I guess I don’t have to go very far.  Look, my friend is tired and needs to be ministered to.”  So, I hugged her.  As soon as we embraced, I began weeping immediately.  I prayed for her as the Lord lead for the “joy of the Lord to be her strength” in this time.  Unexpectedly, she in turn prayed for me and my family.  Later, I had the opportunity to tell her that when we hugged, when I started weeping immediately that it was not my tears but hers.  She told me “I have been beaten up.  I have been shedding a lot of tears lately.”  She started tearing up again.  I sensed the Lord urging me to tell her, “He cries with you”, and so I did.  She was very encouraged by those words and we talked about getting together later.  God is so fun!

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Today, Tuesday May 6, 2008 at U-nite I was worshipping God in music.  I turned around and saw a college girl and immediately noticed her wrapped wrist before anything else.  I felt right there, “I’m praying over that and God is going to pour out.”

Well I went back to my seat while Brandon Hawk (the speaker) gave a few words of encouragement and joy.  As I was walking back to where the girl was, I decided to ask my good friend Thomas Wilson if he wanted to have some fun with me praying healing over this girl that I didn’t know and wasn’t for sure if she was injured.  He agreed and we made our way over to the college girl.

I asked her if her wrist was hurt and she said that she had strained it yesterday while moving out of her dorm.  She couldn’t move it much and it was giving her pain.  I laid my hands on her wrist and Thomas and I began to call upon the Spirit.  After a while we stopped and asked how she was.  She said it didn’t hurt as much and she could move it more, but that there was still some pain in it.  I told her this time to unwrap it and we were going to pray over it again.  I once again laid my hands on her wrist and Thomas and I began to pour out the Spirit.  Heat was moving, muscles were tensing, and everything was shaking.  We stopped and I asked her how it felt, she just kind of looked into thin space for a second while moving her wrist around and I thought she was going to tell us that she still felt some pain.  But on the contrary, she said that it was gone and that there was no more pain.  Thomas and I asked, “Seriously? There is no pain whatsoever left?” and she said “No!”  I told her that I wanted her to move it every single way it could and to bend it up and down, side to side, and all around.  NO PAIN AT ALL!!!  Instantly healed, GLORY BE TO GOD!  I told her to share it with those that she knew and I thanked her for her faith to let us pray over her and to have faith in receiving God’s healing power.

When you have faith and believe that things not only CAN happen but WILL, it opens the doors for God to come and rock your world!  The glories of Heaven are pouring onto this earth and revival and a revolution is coming!  Do you believe?

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I have a friend who had strained her ligaments in her ankle earlier this week, practicing for track. She has a meet on Saturday in which she runs multiple relays and is the anchor leg for one of them as well. Well, her parents, being the amazing, loving, and faithful parents they are, had told me a few times that they wanted me to pray over her. Yesterday, Wednesday 4/23, myself, her parents, and two other amazing adult leaders in our church prayed over her. As I held onto her ankle praying for healing, the others pour out God’s love and plans for her life. They pray for healing, they spoke things about the future, they spoke things about what God wants to do now, and they spoke about how the enemy is trying to prevent blessings and strengths in her. We prayed for a while as the spirit came in and moved, many receiving words of encouragement, and feeling the awesome power of Yahweh Rapha (the healing God). I had to leave soon to play drums for our Echo Night of Worship, but I was soon to realize what God did do that night. Today, Thursday 4/24, she sent me a text saying that when she got home she had no pain in her ankle at all and she totally believed that God had healed her. She spoke of when we were praying over her and heat came into her ankle and it had begun shaking. She is now able to run her races this Saturday by the grace and power of God! The only little pain she has is when she puts weight on it if she were acting like she was rolling her ankle, that’s it and by the grace and power of God, that will be gone tomorrow in Jesus Christ’s name! She is a runner for Christ and she will continue to press in and run towards Him. There is a new definition for the supernatural and that is “THE NATURAL.” God is at work and is using us to bring His glory and Kingdom.

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A Life Group leader witnesses the working power of the voice of God:

One of our Life Group leaders received a call from a concerned father whose 28 year old son had gotten arrested for drunk driving, and was now taking up residence at the Taylor County Jail.  The son had requested a Bible and the LG Leader made the delivery.  He was able to meet the young man, we’ll call Thomas, in a small cinder block cubicle inside the secured area.  Merely receiving a Bible brought Thomas to the point of tears and he began confessing how he had made a mess of his life.  He’d recently given his life to Jesus at Beltway and had even been baptized, but the chain of substance abuse had obviously not yet been broken.  After 3 past admissions to rehabilitation programs, a deep sense of rejection still loomed like a dark cloud.  Our LG Leader was praying as he listened and discerned that there was a particular event early in Thomas’ life which was critical to his restoration.  Thomas was able to identify that at age 8 his step father sent him away to an institution for 99 days.  Thomas felt that his step father didn’t want a child that was not “his own blood” and had thrust him out of the home.

The LG Leader decided to risk acting on an impulse inspired by the Holy Spirit.  “Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where God was when your step father sent you to the institution” he began.  Thomas got quiet, then began shaking.  “God was right there with me!”  Thomas was surprised.  “How do you know He was there?’’  Thomas responded, “He was sitting right by me.”  The Leader took it another step, “What does He look like?”  Astounded, Thomas reported, “He looks just like Jesus!”  Our LG Leader asks, “Well, what are His feelings for you?”  Thomas is now sobbing profusely and exclaims, “He just really loves me!”  The Holy Spirit was so tangibly present I was sure that no security guard would even be able to enter the cubicle.  It was as if we were safely secured behind a thunderous waterfall of God’s Presence.  Thomas lifted his face which itself was flooding with more than just tears, and said, “I feel SO LIGHT!”  “I’ve never felt this way before.  I can’t explain it.”  God had demonstrated that during Thomas’ darkest hour, He was right there loving him.  Thomas now has consequences to face, but he has a brand new hope that was irrefutably birthed by a shaking encounter with the Living God.  I believe he’s got now what he needed at the very core of his being. 

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Thomas Wilson, a guitarist on our worship teams, shares how God miraculously intervened in technology:

This last Saturday night, me, Josh Mcqueen, Blake Holder, and Pascoal Mafuieque did our regular deal out in Albany, leading worship for their youth service “Fearless”. We arrived in that great village a couple of hours early to set up and practice. Everything was going well, we set up, and it sounded ok, but a little way into practice Blake’s bass head stopped working. He dismantled it as the rest of us continued on, but to no avail. He had taken that thing apart and had tried so many different things to get it to work that we knew without help it would never happen. Searching for a solution, we called Brenton Dowdy to see if he could hook one of our friends up with a head from the church so that when he arrived later, though Blake would have to play without having practiced, he would at least get to play. We never really found out what happened with that because we soon found the correct solution to our quandary: Jesus.

As Blake sat trying to figure something out, the rest of us began to be discouraged, realizing the songs would be pretty empty without bass, and a spirit of frustration seemed to have infiltrated our midst. At one point, it was so bad that we stopped practicing, and Josh took the initiative to lead us in prayer. we sat and laid down on the floor, praying that God would take away any barriers that would be in our way of experiencing him and that he would smooth out all of the problems we faced. We begged that he would return to us a spirit of peace and a heart of worship. Soon Josh prayed out loud and after he said “Amen”, we looked up, only to see Blake still working on his head. The only difference was that now, he was putting it all back together. I somehow knew he had prayed over it, but Josh apparently didn’t, so he unassumingly asked “dude, what are you doing?” Blake responded confidently that it was going to work this time. Josh simply asked how he had fixed it, and what he had tried differently to get it io work. Blake replied, “nothing.” So as he plugged everything back in and Josh turned it on for him, I remember thinking “it really is going to work. wow.” And sure enough, without changing a thing, he turned it on, plugged in, and began playing, messing with his EQ to get his bass to sound good as the rest of us sat praising God for his Glorious intervention. God heals. People, animals, electronics, you name it. He heals.

So at the beginning of worship, Josh told this testimony, and a great time of worship ensued for all…..supplemented nicely by a very much needed bass guitar.

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As my small group of conference attendees gathered around to see how God wanted to minister to us last Saturday morning, one of the ladies present said that she thought that she heard the Holy Spirit impress upon her that there was someone with a back problem. I had been suffering with a lot of pain in my lower back for about 4 weeks. I had been prescribed muscle relaxers and was still not getting much relief. My condition stemmed from an accident years ago and I had not experienced this much pain in many, many years. It has been one week now and my back doesn’t hurt anymore. I am able to lift things now with no pain that I could not have even thought of lifting before the Lord healed my back.  Glory be to God for His mercy and healing power!

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From Brett Stewart, one of our high-school students:

Today was so freaking incredible.

First of all there was an awesome sermon about hearing God’s voice. Then we had time to receive words of prophecy or encouragement for another person whom we had never met. Mine was accurate with him, and his was accurate with me. Then….THEN THE AMAZING GLORY of GOD happened.

We got into groups around 7-10 people. We then were to take time in hearing God’s voice for a physical need someone had that needed to be healed. I received the word “ankle” and had a 45-50 yr old man tell me his problem. He had had a vein running from his hip all the way to his angle crumpled up. Basically they didn’t want it to work, but didn’t take it out. It had left him with several markings and an itching pain in his ankle. I got down and put my hands on his ankle and our group began to pray. I prayed and prayed and prayed and was filled with this burning fire. It heated my whole body, i would’ve loved to know what my body temperature was at the time, because it felt way over 100 degrees. After praying he just kind of stood there and looked at me, then he began to cry. He began pouring out tears and was just saying that it was gone. That it was amazing and everything was gone. He had to sit down and catch his breath then he just began to hug me for a very long time.

After that first miracle God had worked, a lady in our group told us of a ringing she had in her ears and how she felt she couldn’t hear as well as she used to be able to. Well once again we were around her and I put my hands on her ears and began to pray. Hands and arms shaking this time while praying intensely, after finishing she said that the ringing had stopped, that it was decreasing as we were praying and that she could hear our whispers of prayer, when we could barely hear ourself say them. So, yet another miracle from God came.

Then we had another guy in our group say that he had stomach pains. Once again we circled around him and I put my hands on him and began to pray. Everything in my body this time shaking furiously I prayed. When finishing, I looked up and he said, “It is gone!” I said, “Really? Like Seriously?” I couldn’t believe that God would work like that and heal like that instantly three times. He said as we began to pray, it started to go away and Boom! when done, it was gone!

Praise and glory be to God. You might think that these things sound supernatural, but this is becoming the natural for me. I think as Christians what others view as unbelievable and supernatural, it should be considered the normal for us, because God would use us in such amazing ways to shine His glory! Praise and glory be to God!

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