| Newsletter for 2/1/07- Variables of Healing- Part 2 The Pray-er |
Good Morning,
I would like to remind you of the A.C.T.S. (All Churches Training Service) on February 10th at 6 pm in Rainier
Assembly of God's Fellowship Hall. An opportunity for believers to come together and worship, learn, receive prayer
and become contagious with the passion of God to take back to their churches. Also, we want to remind you of the
continuing Revival meetings at New Life Fellowship in Longview, WA. They are scheduled for Sunday through
Wednesday of next week. Great things are taking place there and you will not want to miss it!
I would like to continue a series of thoughts that I began with you last week. This is the second part of a series called,
"Variables of Healing." This is NOT a list of obstacles to healing, but it is really a list of the variables that can
"manifest" the obstacles. It is not meant to be a thorough teaching on the obstacles but instead to be thorough
regarding those variables. As I shared with you previously, this is similar to troubleshooting. Many people are coming
up with reasons regarding healing and why it is or is not happening. Christians have created theology as to why God
is supposedly not doing what He said that He would. Much of this theology, is based more on our inadequacies and
lack of success than what is actually written in scripture.
Last week, we dealt with the fact that it is God's Will for us to be Healed and He was willing to pay the ultimate price
both for our salvation and our Healing. This does not mean that we understand all of His timing or why He does it in
the ways that He does it. We do not need to pray, "God if it is your Will, then please heal so-and-so!" To think that it
might not be God's Will, is to undervalue the price that He paid. This is basically like someone asking you to pray them
through to salvation and then as you pray, praying that if it is God's Will for them to be saved, then save them. For
further commentary and scripture, please see last week's newsletter on our web site's newsletter archive
(www.kingdompowernow.com).
Since we defined God as the First Variable, let's move on to the second Variable. This is the person doing the
praying. The pray-ER if you will. There are several things in the "minister's" life that can have an effect on what will
transpire. But let me start by pointing out that there is no recipe or certain incantation that is supposed to be prayed.
In fact, it is quite the opposite. Let's use Jesus as our example.
While Jesus was the "Logos" or Word described in John 1, the actual manifestation of God in the flesh, He operated
within the restrictions of being a man.
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to
be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness
of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross. Phillipians 2:5-8
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the
will of the Father who sent Me. John 5:30
The reason that Jesus sinless life was miraculous was because He lived as a man. He never stopped being one third
of the Trinity, but He restricted His life as one that was contained in human flesh. This is why He spent a great deal of
time in prayer, communicating with the Father. This is why scripture says that He encountered all of the temptations
that we were and are tempted with. If He were in His deity form, they wouldn't have been temptation to Him nor would it
be a comfort to us that He was able to overcome them. Because He faced it as man instead of God, He is our true
example. For that short period of time (His earthly life), He confined Himself to the abilities that we have, to prove to us
that it is possible to succeed.
So please allow me to repeat that there is no recipe or incantation that works every time that we pray for someone.
Jesus never healed anyone the same way twice, that we are aware of. True, scripture states that they couldn't record
all of the miracles that Jesus did, but I think it is profitable to notice that even with all of the miracles and healings that
took place in the Gospels that Jesus never duplicated the process.
The one common thread to Jesus "supernatural" ministry is that He listened to the Father for what, how and when to
do it. Several times Jesus speaks to the fact that we must listen to the Father and then He manifests this as an
example. We must be led by the Spirit as we minister to people. It is important that we are constantly praying and
listening to hear not only how to deal with a situation but what the situation is that we need to deal with. Many times
there is a deeper cause than the symptoms that we see and we must be able to hear from the Father how to proceed.
I have shared the story before of preaching in a certain church on a Sunday Morning and then while praying for
people in the altar, we met a woman with a throat condition. She shared with us that she had been to several doctors
and they could not figure out what was causing the problem. The problem was an extremely soar throat and her voice
had become extremely raspy. After hearing her diagnosis, we moved in to minister. I asked my wife to put her hand on
the lady's throat and then I put my hand over hers. (This was just in case a demon jumped off of the woman, then it
would get her first!!! Just Kidding!!! Kinda...) Then I just began to wait on the Lord and ask Him how and what to pray
for.
As I waited on the Lord, He reminded me of a portion of a verse "Their throat is an open tomb;" Romans 3:13 and
Psalms 5:9. He then showed me a picture of her face from the nose to the neck and a phone receiver being held
there. Upon seeing this, I said to the Lord, "Can you give it to me in a more positive manner so that, I don't hurt this
woman?" I waited on God for another word.
This time, I saw a picture of the deck of a cruise ship down near the water and a woman in the water about 30 yards
out. She is drowning. I see a red and white donut shaped life preserver thrown out to her and it lands right in front of
her, but because it is so hard shelled, she can't grip it. She continues to drown. Then a second time, I see the same
life preserver thrown out and it goes over the top of her and surrounds her. She is then pulled in and saved.
As I share this picture with this woman, she begins sobbing uncontrollably. I ask her what this means to her and she
describes a situation with her daughter. The daughter's husband had passed away about a year before and she had
berated the daughter in how she had handled the situation. At the funeral and ever since, this lady had wanted to
embrace and hug her daughter but she had not been able to. She had not even allowed herself to speak anything
positive to her daughter on the telephone, in the year since. I explained to her that she was the life preserver and she
could either continue being hard shelled and not allow her daughter to "get a hold of her" or she could wrap her arms
around her and pull her in saving her life. She immediately began sobbing again. We prayed for her and her voice
was immediately healed. Praise the Lord!!!
We need to be able to hear from the Lord and do as He tells us to do and how He tells us to. Jesus healed people in
some strange ways. He put mud in their eyes made from spit. Jesus stuck His fingers in a deaf man's ears and then
spit on His fingers and touched the man's tongue. He said that He never did anything that He didn't hear from the
Father, how much more do we need to hear from the Father. It is very important, that we be able to recognize the
voice of the Father and discern it from the many other voices of this world, including ourselves.
We need to have a "bank account" of prayer and fasting set up. When the disciples were unsuccessful in praying for
someone, but Jesus was able to minister to them the following discussion took place:
28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" 29 So He
said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Mark 9
However, it does not say that Jesus stopped and fasted before praying for the person, therefore, He must have been
praying and fasting even before the need was brought forth. He basically had built up a "savings account" of prayer
and fasting before the need arose. If Jesus needed to do this, then how much more do we need to? We need to be
prepared on a daily basis so that whether we are at work or in the marketplace or visiting our neighbor, we are ready
to be used at full capacity by God.
We also need to make sure that we are a clean vessel that God is able to use. The problem with having sin in our
lives, is that it can taint our ministry. If there is dirt and grime within our vessel, there will be dirt and grime within our
message. We will not be able to provide as accurate a message to God's people as what we could if the vessel were
clean. We have a responsibility to God and to His people to provide an accurate message!
Brothers and Sisters of the Kingdom, let's take on the challenge and responsibility of providing God's kindness to
those around us. "It is by His kindness that we come to repentance." I do not know of a more kind act than someone
getting healed or prophecied to. The world has heard us brag on the power of God for years, but I believe that they
have come to a point of saying either put up or shut up. So let's walk forward in faith and show them what God is doing
and what He wants to do through us.
Working while it is still day,
Pastor Jeff McCracken and the Kingdom Power Now Ministry Team
I would like to remind you of the A.C.T.S. (All Churches Training Service) on February 10th at 6 pm in Rainier
Assembly of God's Fellowship Hall. An opportunity for believers to come together and worship, learn, receive prayer
and become contagious with the passion of God to take back to their churches. Also, we want to remind you of the
continuing Revival meetings at New Life Fellowship in Longview, WA. They are scheduled for Sunday through
Wednesday of next week. Great things are taking place there and you will not want to miss it!
I would like to continue a series of thoughts that I began with you last week. This is the second part of a series called,
"Variables of Healing." This is NOT a list of obstacles to healing, but it is really a list of the variables that can
"manifest" the obstacles. It is not meant to be a thorough teaching on the obstacles but instead to be thorough
regarding those variables. As I shared with you previously, this is similar to troubleshooting. Many people are coming
up with reasons regarding healing and why it is or is not happening. Christians have created theology as to why God
is supposedly not doing what He said that He would. Much of this theology, is based more on our inadequacies and
lack of success than what is actually written in scripture.
Last week, we dealt with the fact that it is God's Will for us to be Healed and He was willing to pay the ultimate price
both for our salvation and our Healing. This does not mean that we understand all of His timing or why He does it in
the ways that He does it. We do not need to pray, "God if it is your Will, then please heal so-and-so!" To think that it
might not be God's Will, is to undervalue the price that He paid. This is basically like someone asking you to pray them
through to salvation and then as you pray, praying that if it is God's Will for them to be saved, then save them. For
further commentary and scripture, please see last week's newsletter on our web site's newsletter archive
(www.kingdompowernow.com).
Since we defined God as the First Variable, let's move on to the second Variable. This is the person doing the
praying. The pray-ER if you will. There are several things in the "minister's" life that can have an effect on what will
transpire. But let me start by pointing out that there is no recipe or certain incantation that is supposed to be prayed.
In fact, it is quite the opposite. Let's use Jesus as our example.
While Jesus was the "Logos" or Word described in John 1, the actual manifestation of God in the flesh, He operated
within the restrictions of being a man.
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to
be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness
of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross. Phillipians 2:5-8
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the
will of the Father who sent Me. John 5:30
The reason that Jesus sinless life was miraculous was because He lived as a man. He never stopped being one third
of the Trinity, but He restricted His life as one that was contained in human flesh. This is why He spent a great deal of
time in prayer, communicating with the Father. This is why scripture says that He encountered all of the temptations
that we were and are tempted with. If He were in His deity form, they wouldn't have been temptation to Him nor would it
be a comfort to us that He was able to overcome them. Because He faced it as man instead of God, He is our true
example. For that short period of time (His earthly life), He confined Himself to the abilities that we have, to prove to us
that it is possible to succeed.
So please allow me to repeat that there is no recipe or incantation that works every time that we pray for someone.
Jesus never healed anyone the same way twice, that we are aware of. True, scripture states that they couldn't record
all of the miracles that Jesus did, but I think it is profitable to notice that even with all of the miracles and healings that
took place in the Gospels that Jesus never duplicated the process.
The one common thread to Jesus "supernatural" ministry is that He listened to the Father for what, how and when to
do it. Several times Jesus speaks to the fact that we must listen to the Father and then He manifests this as an
example. We must be led by the Spirit as we minister to people. It is important that we are constantly praying and
listening to hear not only how to deal with a situation but what the situation is that we need to deal with. Many times
there is a deeper cause than the symptoms that we see and we must be able to hear from the Father how to proceed.
I have shared the story before of preaching in a certain church on a Sunday Morning and then while praying for
people in the altar, we met a woman with a throat condition. She shared with us that she had been to several doctors
and they could not figure out what was causing the problem. The problem was an extremely soar throat and her voice
had become extremely raspy. After hearing her diagnosis, we moved in to minister. I asked my wife to put her hand on
the lady's throat and then I put my hand over hers. (This was just in case a demon jumped off of the woman, then it
would get her first!!! Just Kidding!!! Kinda...) Then I just began to wait on the Lord and ask Him how and what to pray
for.
As I waited on the Lord, He reminded me of a portion of a verse "Their throat is an open tomb;" Romans 3:13 and
Psalms 5:9. He then showed me a picture of her face from the nose to the neck and a phone receiver being held
there. Upon seeing this, I said to the Lord, "Can you give it to me in a more positive manner so that, I don't hurt this
woman?" I waited on God for another word.
This time, I saw a picture of the deck of a cruise ship down near the water and a woman in the water about 30 yards
out. She is drowning. I see a red and white donut shaped life preserver thrown out to her and it lands right in front of
her, but because it is so hard shelled, she can't grip it. She continues to drown. Then a second time, I see the same
life preserver thrown out and it goes over the top of her and surrounds her. She is then pulled in and saved.
As I share this picture with this woman, she begins sobbing uncontrollably. I ask her what this means to her and she
describes a situation with her daughter. The daughter's husband had passed away about a year before and she had
berated the daughter in how she had handled the situation. At the funeral and ever since, this lady had wanted to
embrace and hug her daughter but she had not been able to. She had not even allowed herself to speak anything
positive to her daughter on the telephone, in the year since. I explained to her that she was the life preserver and she
could either continue being hard shelled and not allow her daughter to "get a hold of her" or she could wrap her arms
around her and pull her in saving her life. She immediately began sobbing again. We prayed for her and her voice
was immediately healed. Praise the Lord!!!
We need to be able to hear from the Lord and do as He tells us to do and how He tells us to. Jesus healed people in
some strange ways. He put mud in their eyes made from spit. Jesus stuck His fingers in a deaf man's ears and then
spit on His fingers and touched the man's tongue. He said that He never did anything that He didn't hear from the
Father, how much more do we need to hear from the Father. It is very important, that we be able to recognize the
voice of the Father and discern it from the many other voices of this world, including ourselves.
We need to have a "bank account" of prayer and fasting set up. When the disciples were unsuccessful in praying for
someone, but Jesus was able to minister to them the following discussion took place:
28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" 29 So He
said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Mark 9
However, it does not say that Jesus stopped and fasted before praying for the person, therefore, He must have been
praying and fasting even before the need was brought forth. He basically had built up a "savings account" of prayer
and fasting before the need arose. If Jesus needed to do this, then how much more do we need to? We need to be
prepared on a daily basis so that whether we are at work or in the marketplace or visiting our neighbor, we are ready
to be used at full capacity by God.
We also need to make sure that we are a clean vessel that God is able to use. The problem with having sin in our
lives, is that it can taint our ministry. If there is dirt and grime within our vessel, there will be dirt and grime within our
message. We will not be able to provide as accurate a message to God's people as what we could if the vessel were
clean. We have a responsibility to God and to His people to provide an accurate message!
Brothers and Sisters of the Kingdom, let's take on the challenge and responsibility of providing God's kindness to
those around us. "It is by His kindness that we come to repentance." I do not know of a more kind act than someone
getting healed or prophecied to. The world has heard us brag on the power of God for years, but I believe that they
have come to a point of saying either put up or shut up. So let's walk forward in faith and show them what God is doing
and what He wants to do through us.
Working while it is still day,
Pastor Jeff McCracken and the Kingdom Power Now Ministry Team