A few weeks ago a few of us were out treasure hunting and spent some of the evening at Target. One of the team members had "green shirt" and "headaches" as some of the clues on their list. We ended up next to a married couple with their small son, and noticed that the husband had a green shirt on. We approached them and it turned out that the husband did indeed suffer from headaches. He was very appreciative and let us pray for him. We also felt that the wife might need prayer and she told us that she suffered from some arthritis, which was actually a clue on another team member's list. The team prayed for her also, and we also released some encouraging and prophetic words over her. They were both very thankful and encouraged by our prayers and it was a definite blessing for us to be able to bless them :) Our team was really encouraged by that encounter, but at that point in time there was no way to tell if either the headaches or arthritis had been healed.
Well, this morning the HCF office got a phone call. It was this same woman we had prayed for! She was calling to testify and share that since our team had prayed for her and her husband, the arthritis in her hands and feet has greatly improved (so not 100% healing, doing very well) and her husband has not had any headaches (except for some when he was sick with a cold). They were both greatly encouraged and praising God for His healing power in their lives.
It's so cool to hear the testimony of the fruit of prayer for healing. God is still working behind the scenes, even when we may not see the evidence right then and there!
Praise Jesus!!
Justin/Kalin
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Healing of Eyesight
About three months ago I had a dream where I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Watch for February the 12th.”
I wrote it on my calendar, and thought of it often. I told my wife Sherry and other people, “Something is going to happen on February twelfth.” I had no clue what February twelfth would bring or why God had spoke that date to me. I didn’t know if something would happen in the world, the church or me. I just knew God had given me that word.
As I’ve gotten older my eyes have gotten weaker. I needed glasses for help in seeing long distance (slightly blurry) but not real bad. I could actually drive or do many things without needing glasses, but for cautions sake used them anyway.
But the main problem was seeing up close for reading. I first needed reading glasses about 15 years ago and it got progressively worse and I needed stronger and stronger reading glasses as the years passed. Eventually I got bifocals for distance and close up for reading. The close up problem irritated me to no end, because one of my great joys is reading and studying. In addition, when preaching I would have to put on and take off my glasses over and over to refer to a scripture or glance at my notes.
So February twelfth comes (Saturday) and it turns out seemingly like any other day. The next day (Sunday) I was scheduled to minister at Faith Assembly of God in Warfordsburg, PA, so I was preparing for that service most of the day. When Sherry came home later that day she said, “Well, did anything happen today? It’s the twelfth.”
I said, “No, but the day is not over until I wake up on the thirteenth.”
The next morning I awoke about 6:20, quietly got out of bed (not wanting to wake Sherry) and suddenly realized I had a dream about Heidi Baker. In the dream she was teaching me one on one about certain truths in the bible. When I awoke, I was excited and thrilled about what she said in the dream. I grabbed my bible and went into another room, turned on the light and started looking at certain scriptures she had pointed out to me. I was taking notes, etc. Afterward, I thought, I’ll go back to bed and try to catch a few extra moments of sleep before we both get up. As I was laying down, suddenly it hit me. I was reading my bible and taking notes WITHOUT MY GLASSES. That is impossible I thought! I jumped out of bed and opened my bible again. I could read it easily without glasses. I went to the spice cabinet and read the smallest print I could find. I was looking at everything I could find to read, magazines, newspapers, etc. I was healed of farsightedness. Ironically in the distance I still see slightly blurry, but up close I can see clear as a bell! Praise God! Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. It was prophesied to me something would happen on the twelfth and it happened. Healing.
May the Lord receive all the glory.
Al Thomas
Monday, February 7, 2011
Divine Encounter
This past Tuesday Steve H, Justin and I went treasure hunting. We started at the mall and were just hanging around a bit at the entrance, waiting to see if the Lord pointed anyone out to us. During our brief conversation, we discussed how it might be easier to approach people who had obvious issues: sporting a broken arm or a crutch, for instance. Well, as soon as we started walking I spotted a guy with his arm in a sling. It's funny what the Lord will give you when you ask him... :) So we awkwardly interrupted the guy and his friends, got the story of what had happened (some sort of nasty infection that needed to be drained...) and asked if we could pray for him. He was very open and it was really cool to minister healing, encouragement and blessing to him. We walked for a bit longer and were also able to encourage/bless a man and his two kids.
Later on we ended up at Target. We walked around for awhile and were ready to call it a night when we walked by an aisle where a woman in a wheelchair and her husband were shopping. We did the classic creepy hesitation before continuing on past the aisle. After a brief discussion we knew we had to go back, so Justin boldly started up a conversation about baseball (the husband, Dirk, was wearing a Red Sox jacket) and Steve and I awkwardly hung about until Justin got to asking the woman, Tami, why she was in a wheelchair. She told us she had had Lyme disease for about 12 years and the symptoms had forced her into the wheelchair. Once she said this we knew it was a God-encounter because of Maggie getting healed of Lyme disease at our church last year. Tami was amazed at the testimony and it turned out that she was a believer too, and both she and Dirk were very strong in their faith. Ultimately we had a great conversation talking about the goodness of God and we were able to really encourage them. We also got to pray with them and it definitely ministered to everyone present.
It was so cool to see what happened when we really stepped out (wheelchairs can be intimidating for some reason...) and how God can use us to bless others in the most seemingly awkward situations. It was just further proof that stepping out to find out what God has in store is totally worth the risk of looking and sounding like crazy people. Our encounter with Tami and Dirk was an amazing divine-appointment, a total set-up for them to experience the Lord's incredible love and to bless us with being able to demonstrate it.
That's what treasure hunting and outreach is all about, anyways. The symptoms may not have left Tami when we prayed, but I'm not going to underestimate what God did and is continuing to do in that situation, just because I may not be able to see it all right out on the surface. The Lord is exceedingly good and I am now even more encouraged to step out in potentially 'awkward' circumstances : )
Kalin
Later on we ended up at Target. We walked around for awhile and were ready to call it a night when we walked by an aisle where a woman in a wheelchair and her husband were shopping. We did the classic creepy hesitation before continuing on past the aisle. After a brief discussion we knew we had to go back, so Justin boldly started up a conversation about baseball (the husband, Dirk, was wearing a Red Sox jacket) and Steve and I awkwardly hung about until Justin got to asking the woman, Tami, why she was in a wheelchair. She told us she had had Lyme disease for about 12 years and the symptoms had forced her into the wheelchair. Once she said this we knew it was a God-encounter because of Maggie getting healed of Lyme disease at our church last year. Tami was amazed at the testimony and it turned out that she was a believer too, and both she and Dirk were very strong in their faith. Ultimately we had a great conversation talking about the goodness of God and we were able to really encourage them. We also got to pray with them and it definitely ministered to everyone present.
It was so cool to see what happened when we really stepped out (wheelchairs can be intimidating for some reason...) and how God can use us to bless others in the most seemingly awkward situations. It was just further proof that stepping out to find out what God has in store is totally worth the risk of looking and sounding like crazy people. Our encounter with Tami and Dirk was an amazing divine-appointment, a total set-up for them to experience the Lord's incredible love and to bless us with being able to demonstrate it.
That's what treasure hunting and outreach is all about, anyways. The symptoms may not have left Tami when we prayed, but I'm not going to underestimate what God did and is continuing to do in that situation, just because I may not be able to see it all right out on the surface. The Lord is exceedingly good and I am now even more encouraged to step out in potentially 'awkward' circumstances : )
Kalin
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