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INNER HEALING By Carlos A. Oliveira
When I was involved in the Charismatic movement in Brazil I was part of a team of prayer warriors. Fernando, the person God used to disciple me, had invited me to join his ministry team. Even though I was overseeing the computer department of a bank, I found time to join my partners for prayer on a daily basis. That was a time of preparation for me as I learned to be dependable, obedient to God and to my spiritual leaders as well. God knew what He was doing in my life. As a new convert I didn't understand much about spiritual things, but I knew I was thirsty for God. God chose Fernando, a man ten years younger than me to be my
spiritual father and I praise God for Fernando's life. May God always be with him.
Through the Charismatic movement in Brazil I was introduced to the healing, deliverance and inner healing ministry. I experienced the power of God through our prayer activities, seminars every week, door to door evangelism, radio ministry and in home prayer meetings. Everything was new for me. I was excited to be involved in those ministries especially because God Himself was our instructor. I was confident in Him and knew that He had the best for me.
The Gifts of the Spirit
The certainty of God's calling for me came while in a Charismatic Conference in Anapolis, Brazil, on September 29th, 1989. During an explanation by a leader about the gifts of the Spirit the power of God came upon me. It was during a time of silent prayer that the preacher invited those who wanted to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and to receive the gift of speaking in tongues to stand up and repeat a prayer after him. I remember that I stood up to receive that gift when the preacher commanded us to let our tongue lay loosely in our mouth. He prayed for us and I felt my tongue moving up and down by itself. I also felt a wind blowing on my face in a closed auditorium with about 3,000 people present. That was a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and a few minutes later I was praying and speaking in tongues. What an exciting experience! After that incident I was convinced of the calling and I decided to study the Bible more closely and the desire to learn and to receive more from God consumed me. The Word of Knowledge
Among all the gifts of the Spirit the word of knowledge was one that I decided to pursue because two of my ministry partners, Fernando and Enedina, were being used by God in a powerful way with the word of knowledge. Time after time I saw them praying for people with all kinds of problems and all of a sudden through the word of knowledge deliverance and healing were taking place. My partners kept themselves busy in this ministry going from place to place, city to city, day after day. People came from everywhere to be ministered to by them. Every now and then I used to join them in this mission even though I was not able to operate in this gift yet. One day I asked them to explain to me the word of knowledge and one of them said, "The word of knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit that brings to light what is hidden in someone's life. We pray for people and all of a sudden God shows us what is causing the turmoil in their live. In some cases the person doesn't even know anything about the facts. That's why God uses us with the word of knowledge. In some cases, when we are praying for people we pray in tongues while waiting for the message from God. Most of the time we are given a few words. The Holy Spirit prints those words on our minds and we always ask for confirmation. In some other instances God gives pictures or visions of events that took place in their life sometime in the past. We relate the vision to them as we ask for their confirmation. Usually after the confirmation of the words the healing process begins." I myself experienced healing and deliverance after being prayed for by a group of ministers. Many, many times God showed me things that had to be changed in my life as well as healing of emotional wounds that were afflicting me during those years that had to take place. I had to undergo inner healing sessions a number of times. Every time I was being prayed for God was healing me from the dark side of my past. I really felt it was necessary to undergo inner healing. How I was blessed through that ministry! Operating in the Word of Knowledge for the First Time
One day my ministry team was invited to visit a woman who was facing family problems and for the first time the team invited me to join the prayer session. We began to pray for that woman and God began to give me pictures of things that happened in her past as well as problems related to her daughter. I remember seeing a picture of a monkey as I asked what this had to do with her. She told me that she couldn't stand monkeys, she had fear of them. Then I said, "God is removing this crippling emotional scar from you." Another picture that I saw was of silverware and she confirmed it by telling me that she had fought with her husband a few times using forks and knives. I said, "God is removing crippling emotional scars from your past." We all prayed for her and for her daughter as well, and I remember that two other words were given to us related to abortion and unforgiveness. That was when the woman revealed to us that she had tried to abort her daughter shortly after conception, and for that reason her daughter hated her. Through those words and prayer God brought healing to their relationship. One last word was given to us which was not confirmed. It was a problem in her uterus. She stated, "I don't know anything about it." That was the only word among many others that wasn't confirmed by the woman. When we finished praying she felt relief and she knew God was doing something, He was healing her. The Next Day
Enedina, one of my ministry team partners who was with us that day praying for that woman, received a phone call the next day. She reported that the woman called her to ask who had mentioned the word uterus. She couldn't remember, but the woman went on to tell her that she had gone to church the next morning and during the communion time she was standing when all of a sudden her pants began to fall down and she noticed that her abdomen seemed smaller. At that moment the word uterus came to her mind and she realized that God had healed her of that problem even though she wasn't aware of it. Inner Healing
Inner healing is a healing that takes place in a different manner, usually with the word of knowledge together with prayer. We say inner healing because in most cases the person's emotions are affected by a number of incidents that have
occurred during their lifetime. These can contribute to many problems including depression, substance abuse, divorce, illness, fear, etc. Also, problems that sometimes begin at the time of conception and stay with the person throughout their life, for example: attempted abortions, violence, abuse, rejection. In some cases asthma is just a reflection of mistreatment and abuse in someone's past. Absence of one of the parents can also cause an emotional reaction that manifests as asthma. Depression can also be the result of mistreatment, abuse, violence, and loneliness in someone's life. The idea of ministering inner healing is to ask God to heal the person from the past hurts. Forgiveness is an important factor to deal with during an inner healing session. How to Minister Inner Healing
Inner healing is an intercessory prayer. You pray to God on behalf of the person. It's biblical. Prayer is biblical. There are two common ways to minister inner healing: 1) pray for a person asking God to reveal to you through the word of knowledge facts about the past of that person that are causing some sort of problem, and 2) pray with the person by going back in his past starting from the time of conception and going year by year, praying and asking God to reveal things that happened in those years. Usually God shows you pictures, scenes, visions, or just words. The fact is that through this process you can help someone overcome depression, bad relationships, asthma, sickness, marital conflicts, etc.
In closing, let me give you two examples of people who were healed during an inner healing session. I met a lady in 1991 who was afflicted with a problem in one of her legs. Actually, she had broken the femur (her bones were very fragile due to osteoporosis) and for about two years she had gone from doctor to doctor and from hospital to hospital, undergoing one surgery after another with no positive results. She was a
Christian and for two years she had people coming to her home to pray for her on a weekly basis. Her problem was getting worse and worse, to the point that one of the doctors said that she was doomed to live in a wheelchair.
At that time I was ministering once a week at a radio station. She used to listen to my radio program and one day she asked me, through one of her friends, if I could go to her house to pray for her healing. I agreed to go.
I went to her house with two prayer partners. After she had told us her story and how people were praying for her, I decided to do what no one had ever done for her, an inner healing session. We started to pray and ask God to show us what was causing that problem and God gave me some pictures. One of them was a little girl, approximately six years old, in front of a bar where a few men were fighting, throwing beer bottles at each other. After I said that, all of a sudden she began to cry saying that she remembered the incident and had been afraid of being hit by one of the bottles. Then I said, "God is healing your emotions from that time." Another picture that God gave me was of a little girl on a farm, underneath a fence with cows walking by. After I said that she cried and said that she remembered being afraid of the cows. I told her that the Lord was healing her from that fear. After I reported the third vision and she confirmed it, we finished that prayer session. She commented that she never thought those incidents could have affected her life so many years later.
A month had passed when a report came to me from her, through her cousin, saying that in her last appointment the doctor was astonished and said that her God had given her a brand new bone and she was healed from that problem. Praise God! Another story—In 1996 one of my friends' son had been depressed for about two and a half years. His mother was a prayer warrior and she tried everything she could during that time to see her son healed, but nothing seemed to work. They had also taken him to a psychologist during that period and he was actually getting worse. I also prayed for him a few times, rebuking the devil in his life, but he stayed the same. I remember that a few times she came to me hopeless, wondering why God didn't want to heal her son. I always tried to comfort her, but had little success. Her son was getting worse every day. After about six months of praying for him, I decided to do what we had never done—an inner healing session. She brought her son and we prayed asking God to show us what to do and how to pray for him when I felt in my heart that God wanted us to pray for his emotions.
We started to pray but no words of knowledge were given to me until I decided to pray for him by going back to the time of conception. God led me to pray year by year and in almost every year a picture was given to me regarding his life. Each time he confirmed it I said, "God is healing you from this." He was 22 years old at the time and we prayed through each year of his life. There were no noticeable changes, however, until about a month later. His mother came to me saying that he was getting better and after another month he was totally healed of his depression. If God leads you to pray for someone using these techniques, just do it! Never try to limit God's action. Inner healing is a prayer associated with the word of knowledge. That's all it is!
For information regarding our Inner Healing Seminar please e-mail us at: seminar@gospelgoodnews.com
Read It Now!
Last Updated: June 24, 1999
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