BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT & OBTAINING YOUR HEALING

It’s so important to be led in faith by the Holy Spirit rather than the natural assumption of what you think people want to receive, or even how you think they should be healed.

God likes to do things His way because it’s His glory. I once prayed for a woman with chest pains. She said it felt like a band around her chest. We prayed for ages, the woman’s pain actually got worse! Then the lady said to me, “you’re not listening, and then Jesus said to me,  "Pull it out!”  As I stopped rambling and started listening, the Holy Spirit gave me the revelation of an ancient slavery band, which you had to unscrew and pull the pin to release freedom.

In the Spirit, I could see this pin sticking out of her heart, and by faith I grabbed it, twisted it and then pulled it out. To everyone else watching in the room, I probably looked like I was a crazy person, but as I pulled it out by faith she suddenly dropped to the ground and started convulsing as an unclean spirit came out of her! And she was healed from the chest pains. Amen. I had to laugh about it; it was completely all His glory.  Jesus even told the lady to tell me to listen to Him! If we are just talking and not receiving, then it’s not a very good relationship.

When we stop operating in the natural realm, we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us. The fruit of the Spirit comes by yielding to the Spirit and not by trying to work FOR Him.

Here’s another example of natural assumption. I’d spoken in a church service and afterwards some people came forward for prayer. The first one was a man in a wheelchair. I laid my hands on him and closed my eyes. There were many people waiting and watching expectantly, and I so wanted to say to the man, “Get up and walk!”  But that was coming out of my natural thinking; I assumed that was what he wanted prayer for.  In my mind, I said to God, "I'm not telling him to get up and walk unless that’s what You want me to do."  At that moment, the Holy Spirit gave me a picture of the man having his chest filled with the Holy Spirit, so by faith, that's exactly what I prayed. When I'd finished praying, the man said to me, "You thought I wanted to get out of this wheelchair, didn't you? But what I really wanted was more of God, and when you prayed, I saw Jesus standing there with a watering can, pouring the Spirit into my chest" – exactly what the Spirit told me to pray.

 It’s so easy to naturally assume that because someone has an illness, they therefore want to be healed. I’ve actually heard of several cases where Christians in church have refused prayer for fear of losing their disability benefits. Some illnesses have become identities to people. I’ve spoken to people who actually believe that their illness is a punishment for their past sins, and being ill helps to pay for it!  They have never understood what Jesus was doing on that cross – paying 100% for EVERY need.

I once spoke to a guy who liked being on crutches, because he felt in his struggle that he was himself like Jesus carrying the cross!  What you choose to believe is a powerful thing, but belief in a lie can move you out of God’s perfect plan for your life.

As in the case of a man who once asked for prayer against cancer, well as we prayed beforehand, I felt the Lord tell me that he had deep grief eating away at him and another friend felt the Lord say that we’d have to peel back layers to get to it. When he arrived, I felt the Lord placed on my heart to share particular testimonies to help him open up to God's way.  So, by faith, I shared these testimonies and the man started opening up a bit. Eventually, I felt the Lord tell me to share a particular story from when I worked for my family.

This had nothing to do with anything we had been talking about, but by faith I shared it. At that moment, the guy exploded. He went into such a rage and eventually shared a heartbreaking story from working with his own family. He had so much bitterness and unforgivness that had been buried away deep inside him, he actually shocked himself. Sometimes, a corrupt mindset in our spirit can eventually manifest a corruption in our flesh.  So rather than just praying for cancer, which would have been the natural assumption, the Holy Spirit led us through layers of ministry to expose the grief and a false belief in untruths attached to it. Now, I’m not suggesting that this is the case for everyone with cancer. I’m suggesting that the Holy Spirit can guide you through mindsets related to health problems.

The man forgave his family, repented and, through prayer, we were able to encourage him to align what he believed about himself with God’s truth about himself. When he received it, he became so drunk in the Spirit that he couldn’t even speak for about 30 minutes! So only by supernatural discernment were we able to encourage him and re-align his beliefs about himself with God’s truth about himself. So having received the healing of his spirit, he was able to receive God’s healing in the physical.

Sadly, as we choose by our free will what we want to believe, sometimes people “change their minds”, and ill health can then return. Jesus said "the truth sets us free" (John 8:32) but we need to get the truth inside us. The truth is that Jesus paid for our sicknesses and sins.

So not believing His truths, and lack of faith can actually stop you receiving His glory. Mat 9:29 “According to your faith let it be done to you”; Mark 5:34 “Your faith has healed you”; Luk 7:50 “Your faith has saved you”. I’ve experienced this myself; in fact it was the very first healing I ever saw. I was just weeks into an Alpha course, which I was only doing out of boredom. I had a broken wrist from a quad bike accident. Someone offered me prayer for my wrist and it completely healed in front of my eyes! Amen. Wow, I struggled to believe it, but as I looked in the mirror at my now mended wrist, I pondered if it would really be strong enough to go back to quad biking that coming Sunday morning. By the time I had walked back into the main room, the healing on my wrist had gone.

I had not been healed to reject His truths and return to my old way of life. My lack of faith and doubt had moved me away from His gift. So we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us by faith. The recipient must also receive by their faith. Even when we don’t see anything happen in the natural, we must still carry in us the substance of the things hoped for, (Heb 11:1). In other words, we believe before we see.

While ministering in a conference in Florida, as I was praying for people, I witnessed God do some amazing miracles, but one in particular really stretched my faith. A lady came up to me and asked for prayer for her ankle, saying that she had no movement in it. I knelt down and placed my hand upon her ankle and, to my surprise, it felt like I’d put my hand on a solid square chair leg. It felt like a piece of inch and a half angle iron! I asked the lady, “Is this your normal ankle?” And then she replied that she’d previously had an operation on it and had a piece of metal grafted to her bone, which explained a lot! This was the reason why she had no movement. Well, I believe in miracles but I was trying to reason in my head, how could it be possible? Was God going to bend the metal or make a brand new ankle? I started to pray, and about half way through my sentence I heard a loud cracking noise and, as I glanced up, I witnessed the shock on everyone else’s face as they had heard it too.

On finishing praying, I could still feel the metal plate in my hand, but when I asked her to walk in faith, all of a sudden she could move her ankle. Wow, hallelujah. I have no idea how or what happened in her ankle in any way whatsoever, but I don’t need to know, all I know is that she couldn’t move it before and now she could – simple. My point is this: we will never fully understand the “whys” and “hows”, but even when you don’t understand or see the manifested evidence of what you are praying for, never stop believing by faith.

I share these testimonies to encourage you to receive from the true source of information, the Head of the Body (Jesus) and not your own natural mind and reason. Stop trying to work for Him and, instead, allow Him to work through you. Don’t take on the false responsibility of running around trying to mend everyone, because there are lots of mindsets out there that are wrong, and not everyone wants to adjust their familiar thinking or change habits.

Don't get disheartened by what you see or don’t see, because God is in the business of doing a “suddenly”, so grab them by faith!

Kevin Dexter, Derby UK