I had just taught a lesson to the prisoners about the need to exercise
their faith to grow in their personal relationship with God and be who God is
calling them to be. After the message,
the Holy Spirit gave both the prisoners and me a lesson in doing just that.
The Holy Spirit moved giving a word of knowledge that there were some
people with headaches and a person with pain in his side. About 20 people came forward including the
person with pain in his side. I didn’t
touch any of them, but simply invited the Holy Spirit to come. I really believed that the presence of God
was present to heal all of them. Do you
know how many people were healed? Only
about 3 – 4 of them! I was surprised
because I believed that I did what the Lord had instructed me to do. A year
ago, I would have just ended the ministry time figuring that nothing else would
happen. But, this time I told the Lord
that I believed what He told me no matter how few people got healed. When I made that confession of faith,
suddenly the Holy Spirit said to me, “Do you know why they didn’t get healed? They were afraid to use their faith. But, tell them…that in my mercy, I will still heal them now.” I was about to
hesitate. After all, most people didn’t
get healed the first time. But, I decided to believe God because I knew the
Holy Spirit had spoken to me. I told the
prisoners what the Lord had said. After
inviting the Holy Spirit again to heal people, everyone was instantly healed except for 3 or 4 people.
There was no time for individual prayer for the few that didn’t get
healed. But, after giving one of those men
a prophetic word and prayer, he was totally healed. I left the prison in awe at the revelation of
faith the Lord had shared with us all. First,
the Lord actually healed the prisoners who chose to believe Him. By healing the others through His mercy
(though they hadn’t exercised their faith), He showed them that they actually could
trust in Him. But they missed a
privilege and a focus of our faith – pleasing God (Hebrews 11:6). I’m
happy the Lord healed the men, but I’m more excited that the Lord was able to
reveal His ways to us. Faith enables us
to depend upon God, so that He does what pleases Him. Thus, faith pleases God. And whatever pleases God should be the most
important thing to us.
Pray that the Lord would continue to pour out His presence upon the
prison. Pray that the men will mature,
exercising their faith to believe God so that they can do the things He is calling
them to do. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to
not only be healed, but also have faith to trust the Lord and work with Him
doing whatever He desires? The Lord is
so special, let’s give Him our love and choose to completely trust in Him.
To God be the glory. Love,
