Praise the Lord and Give Thanks

Compiled by Anne Early
May/Jun 2006

From clients who received healing through Intensive Prayer Ministry at CHM:

“I want to thank all the people at CHM for blessing Jane and myself last week at the Intensive Prayer Ministry. What a ministry! Our lives were touched in many ways. I have had no symptoms of fibromyalgia for nearly a week since being there. Although we were disappointed by not seeing Francis and Judith, we felt in no way slighted; God has used them to equip the many servants of CHM. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and may God continue to bless the CHM ministry.”

“God provided an opening, when there was not one, for my wife and I to attend this IPM. The people here are like Francis and Judith. We have felt very welcomed, safe and led by the Spirit of God. Thank you.”

From “Princess”: “About 30 years ago, I got so scared of myself that I jumped into psychotherapy with both feet and have stayed there ever since. I was afraid to accept God as the supreme authority, so I went all over the United States, trying to find answers. God showed the prayer minister who prayed with me a picture of me on a roller coaster, all alone. That has been my life. It was as though my trying to seek healing was stealing my life, and the fear was almost worse than the illness. I had horrible depression and was in and out of hospitals. Sometimes I stayed up all night because I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to get my children off to school. The only time I could find peace was when I was asleep. When I came here for prayer I said, ‘Lord, this is it. I’m not searching anymore. I’m not going anywhere else.’ While I was here, God let me know, through one of the prayer ministers, that I am his princess. Some things have gotten into my spirit for the first time. I was rejected in the womb, and have experienced rejection ever since. I received a revelation that I had been looking for human love and perfection, and realized I had rejected the love of the Lord — the only one who could give me what I’ve been searching for my entire life.”

“I have a heart full of gratitude and want to thank the prayer ministers that were picked just for me, because I gave them a hard time. I’m leaving all my rebellious, contentious nature here in Jacksonville. The blood of the Lamb has separated me from these things.”

“I am shy and emotional, but you can publish my tears. I thank everybody that smiled, prayed silently, and touched, and I thank my prayer ministers for their words. I thank Jesus, and I know my marriage is going to be okay. Thank you for all the love and the peace. I feel joy. I saw Jesus reaching out his hands and I slowly accepted.”

From our Emerging Leaders in Healing Conferences:

From a Coast Guard Captain with a note that said: ‘I sent this email out to all my chaplains and my extensive Prayer Warrior prayer list.’: “Last week I attended Francis and Judith MacNutt’s Emerging Leaders in Healing Conference in Dallas. It was powerful. I recommend it to all and their families. Francis has been involved in the healing ministry for over 40 years. John Wimber who started the Vineyard Church Ministry said, ‘Everything I learned about healing I learned from Francis MacNutt.’

“We talked about physical, inner, and generational healing plus deliverance ministry. The place was packed with psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, nurses, doctors, chaplains, pastors, priests and many lay folks interested in the healing ministry in the church. Everyone had a chance to receive prayer in a healing team. We saw many miracles, including a woman being healed of cataracts in her eyes. Lauren, my daughter, was prayed for with no visible change in her eye, but she received some other spiritual and inner healing and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I had a great renewal of spiritual gifts and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

“I enthusiastically recommend this conference to you. They have it three times a year in various locations. The next two are May 8–10 in Jacksonville, Florida, and October 9–13 in Denver, Colorado. I am going to do everything I can to send every member of my family to this conference.”

“My experience at your conference was absolutely life changing. Each night I found myself one of the first ‘resting in the Spirit’ and always the last to get up. Never before had I rested like that. It was incredibly intense.”

“Since the ELH Conference in July, I have become the leader of our Afterglow–of–the–Eucharist Ministry. Since November, we have had teams praying for the needs of people individually after our eleven o’clock mass on Sunday mornings. People have felt good and have come back for more. I’m evangelizing again.”

From a nurse who attended the Emerging Leaders in Healing Conference in Dallas: “It was such a treat for me to watch a ‘community in action’ with the group manifesting all the gifts together — each one of you shining and beautiful, each one helping and working together in love. Your talks helped me immensely. I know a spiritual change has taken place, perhaps a structural change as well. Never had I been able to get totally still before God. I think I have learned how. After two days of praying for my family in different ways, my household is calmer and everyone is better behaved. Coincidence? I doubt it. Thank you for helping change my life for the better. I feel like a captive who has been set free. We are beginning discussions on how we can incorporate in our church all the things we have learned this week. Thank you again for the tremendous help.”

From students who attended School of Healing Prayer Level I in February:

“This school was highly effective in so many ways. Being in such a Holy–Spirit–drenched setting allowed us to grow, as we trusted God more and more, with nurturing from staff and volunteers that was immeasurable. God so strongly spoke to my heart — astounded but filled to overflowing with His love for me.”

“I saw how personal, extended prayer ministry changes lives. I thought both the teaching and practical applications were effective. There is so much to learn and experience that you don’t want to stop.”

“Very enlightening and encouraging. The most important thing I learned from the books and classes was that healing and deliverance are part of the gospel, not just ‘add–ons’ to be done outside the church’s main ministry and emphasis.”

“This school opened my eyes to the power of healing prayer with the laying on of hands and prayer language. The prayer–practice sessions were very strong and real, and the healing which took place was incredible.”

“It was awesome to be immersed in the supernatural for a week, an experience that completely changed my concept of healing. I can relax and trust the Spirit in me. The Holy Spirit does it all.”

“I thank the Lord so much for making it possible for me to participate in the Level I training and to meet Francis and Judith and a most wonderful staff. I sincerely hope to make it for Level II and III. Amazingly, God has put people right in front of me who needed prayers, and He has given me the courage to proceed. The training provided me with knowledge and a feeling that I have the ‘authority’ to pray for others.’”

From our Mail and Email:

“I am a life–long Christian; however, within the past month I have experienced God’s redemption and mercy by doing the Liturgy of Reconciliation from the Book of Common Prayer with a priest. At the end of the liturgy, the priest prayed over me for my deliverance from various harmful relationships. I never have experienced inner healing in such a way as I did that evening. Later, after inquiring of the priest how she knew what to pray when she prayed for my deliverance, I was told that your ministry, Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida, was where she had studied. I want to say ‘thank you’ for what you are doing in healing individuals and communities through your work. Please keep up your healing work through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“I want to let you know I received a healing on the Day of Healing Prayer in January. I asked for prayer for my problems with overeating. That day I was delivered from the spirits of Gluttony and food addiction. I had not realized that these two spirits were tormenting me and adding to my problem. I no longer binge eat, and I have an easier time sticking to my weight–loss plan. I have visited CHM over the past 15 years and have received healings on deeper levels each time I have visited. Thanks so much for your help. It’s great to be free to live life as Jesus wants me to live it.”

For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings (Malachi 4:2).

(The Praise Reports have been edited for readability.)

Rebecca’s testimony at the end of the March IPM was a Word for prayer ministers we want to share with other ministers, too:

“I am not the architect of my being; God is. When I came here, I asked God to let me know when it would be time to go — when the portion of His work He wanted to accomplish here was finished and I would feel peace. The actual way that happened was when we were up there praying: He gave me a word for the prayer ministers. He showed me a field with sheep and shepherds, demonstrating that you prayer ministers are not hirelings who merely watch the sheep. He said, ‘They are my very own representatives. They represent me. They are representative shepherds.’ He said He sends his most vulnerable to you because He trusts you; you are the towers of light and refuge to whom refugees can run and find safety. Then He showed me Noah’s ark with all the different animals in it. He said that in Noah’s ark he had preserved a remnant in the midst of an evil generation, so that when the time came to recreate and redeem the earth, they would be there to start the process. He said that each of you, like those animals on Noah’s ark, is different and He has preserved you as a remnant for his redemption of the earth. That is your job. The last thing I saw was Jesus holding a glass of wine and toasting all of you, saying, ‘I honor you at my table for the work and service you have done unto me.’”