Here’s another one of those encouraging testimonies from indigenous missionaries supported by the Gospel for Asia. This is the story of Mihir Gavde whose church has made considerable headway in bringing folks to Christ in his village through a number of miraculous healings. Read the account, it will encourage and empower your own faith.             *Top

Related Posts?:

1. -The Hospital Healing Prayer Initiative
2. -Is the Baton Being Passed to the Asian Church?

                 (Image via Wikipedia)

Abby Abildness, founder of Healing Tree International, leads a team of prayer ministers in a weekly healing prayer service at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and has for the past six years. According to Abby:

"Combining healing prayer with medical care can bring God’s healing care to society around the world.” 

Abildness said that she took God at His Word that He is the God who heals and now she is taking the power of prayer—to those in need who are at the hospital both the staff and patients.

According to the article about this ministry here’s how it works:

The hospital makes an announcement over the PA system every Friday at 11:45 a.m. that a healing prayer service is taking place in the chapel. When patients, family members (and sometimes hospital staff) arrive, a team of prayer ministers is there to meet them. They simply ask for prayer for divine direction or wisdom in making the right healthcare choices. According to Abildness, lives are transformed and healings take place.

Healing Tree International, headquartered at the historical Londonderry Inn Bed and Breakfast, Hershey, Pa. The group also offers healing prayers weekly on Wednesday morning at the Inn.

Abby Abildness has just finished writing a new book which will come out soon:  “God’s Original Healthcare Plan.”  The book documents the successes of  her ministry group and provides a blueprint for establishing a healing prayer ministry in hospitals and for working along with medical professionals to provide total healing for patients.

Response: This is an example of marketplace ministry that God is initiating through his Holy Spirit all across this country. Most of it is under the radar right now and most in the Christian community are not fully aware of all of the stuff that is going on and being initiated by fellow Christians. This is what I call ‘the seeds of revival’ that are just beginning to sprout.

At some point it is going to expand just like popcorn. The fire gets hot and melts the butter and it seems to take for ever before a few kernels pop. Then a few more explode and then all of a sudden hundreds are popping all at once. That is the way this ‘Thy Kingdom Come Revival’ is going to be revealed. Right now just a few kernels are beginning to pop but just you wait!            *Top

Related Posts?:

1. -The ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ Revival

I remember watching Oral Roberts on a 10” black and white TV screen as a kid in the 50’s and wanting to grow up as a preacher/healer just like him.

I get choked up all over again watching this video. Unless you lived in the early 50’s you really don’t have any idea how really terrifying polio was in those days. Thousands of kids were on crutches in America and there was no medical answers for it until the shots came along in the mid 50’s.

Oral was one of the last of the Pentecostal healing/revival evangelists that toured across America preaching in tents after WWII. He was the among first to take it to the next level with a regular program on the new TV media that soon was in every home across the country.

All the recent controversy with his son and all the stuff the media and late night comedians have said about him and a 900’ Jesus sort a makes us forget what a blessing his ministry was to millions of Americans in the 50’s and 60’s. Really the first major national TV evangelist and one which helped to take Pentecostalism from the other side of the tracks to the main street in America.

Here’s a statement made by Billy Graham in memory of Oral:

"Oral Roberts was a man of God, and a great friend in ministry. I loved him as a brother."

Graham also told reporters that he had spoken to Oral Roberts three weeks ago by phone, and that Roberts had told him then that his "life’s journey" was nearly over.

David Turner (pictured, right) a Phoenix-based businessman-turned evangelist believes that a revival of miracles will soon come to America.

"I believe God is about to do an explosion in America," said Turner, who has seen thousands healed during large-scale crusades he led in India with evangelist Harry Gomes (pictured, left). "We will start seeing [healings and miracles] even with stadiums of people."

Turner is hosting the Harvest America Healing Explosion at the 14,000-seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix this week and hopes to see the beginnings of Revival at the 3 day conference. Come Holy Spirit!            *Top

This comes from the street ministry our friend pastor Mark Hadfield is involved with in the UK: ‘Healing On The Streets’.

You have to read these if you want to be edified, uplifted, and encouraged:

Just another Saturday morning

Lots of healing stories

Where two or three are gathered in my Name…

Response: Praise the Lord!

The deaf hear, the lame walk, the blind see, the dead are raised to life, and tens of thousands have surrendered their lives to Christ–all of this is happening in the southeast African country of Mozambique, a nation suffering the squalor of extreme poverty in the aftermath of a prolonged civil war.

When missionaries Heidi and Rolland Baker of California arrived in Mozambique in 1995, they struggled to begin a church and a dilapidated orphanage housing 80 children, a center previously run by communist leaders. Today the Bakers’ Iris Ministries (IM) cares for thousands of orphans and is approaching the point of having a church in every single village in large areas of central Mozambique and southern Malawi.

<<Read the whole article>>             *Top

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mozambique: Latest from Heidi Baker and Iris Ministries
• Rolland Baker is in need of Our Prayers

First, there is an article by David Copeland: “What I have Learned From Revival“. What a great article and summary. Believe me you could read a dozen books on Revival and not get as good of understanding.

Second, For incredible encouragement, read Mark Hadfield’s account of his ongoing ‘healing on the streets’ ministry in his article: “Growing Up!“. It is really a must read. Actually gets even better if you read it a couple of times.

Third, but not nearly as impressive, is my own article about my experiences in blogging and being so blessed by many of you who stop by and drop a comment or two: “Iron Sharpens Iron“. The comments are well worth the read and touched me greatly. *Top

Rolland and Heidi Baker tell their own incredible story in this book, starting at the beginning, how they met, their education and preparation (both completed their BA & MA degrees at Vanguard University, and Heidi has a PHD in Systematic Theology from King’s College, University of London), how they were called to missions, serving first in Hong Kong, and then how they eventually ended up in Mozambique serving the poorest of the poor.

The story of their Mozambique mission reads like the Book of Acts. Incredible victories, miracles, healings, feeding hundreds with just enough food for a family, bringing 10′s of thousands to Christ, birthing 6000 churches, training thousands of pastors and leaders, true revival, and also incredible opposition, and a multitude of frustrating situations. The real story is not about the huge numbers and success, it is about the Baker’s willingness to help one person at a time. Their reaching out to one orphan after another, bringing love, care, and Christ to those who have none of the above, and have been rejected in probably the poorest country in the world. Their testimony and their obvious humility, causes one to be encouraged and to celebrate the greatness of our God, also to seek revival in one’s own life and community. If you really want to know the truth about the Baker’s, this book is the best place to start. The book is available through many Christian book stores, or directly through the Baker’s ministry site: http://www.irismin.com/products.html Also: Check out their ministry blog and newsletter while you are at it: http://www.irismin.org/wordpress

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One major problem that I see in the study, is the fact that those who did the praying, had no actual contact or knowledge of those who they were praying for. In order to maintain a ‘blind’ study, the people who prayed, were only given the first name and last initial of those they were expected to pray for. See Story: www.ocregister.com /March 31, 2006/Health, www.nytimes.com /March 31, 2006/Health

This leads to a number of questions. Did the members of the prayer team actually believe in the power of prayer? Better yet, that their prayers could result in healing? Also, one wonders what God may have thought about this study, did he really like being put to the test? This could really affect the results.

Personally, I have always believed that prayer could bring healing from God. Yet there was a time in my ministry when I had very little faith that my prayers would be effective, and most of the time they weren’t. But then there were those surprising occasions when healing really did come, and my faith was lifted to a different level. There are still times when I pray for the sick, that I feel that I am just going through the motions, but other times The Holy Spirit comes and brings compassion & faith that is well beyond my natural capacity. The results are far greater on those occasions.