“No one of consequence.” (Wesley, The Princess Bride)
What is your religious affiliation?
I am Catholic who loves the Church and its teachings, traditions, sacraments, and devotions.
Wait – you’re not a charismatic?
Not as I see it, although you’re free to disagree. I read Scripture, pray, go to a very conservative Catholic parish to celebrate a wonderfully reverent liturgy, and I believe that God speaks to His people. When the Spirit speaks, I do my best to obey. So if the Spirit tells me to pray for someone’s healing, I do it; if the Spirit tells me to share a word with someone else, I do it.
If you’re hearing words from God and seeing miracles happen, you must be a super-Christian.
Not in the least. My Christian walk has had plenty of trips, stumbles, and a few full-blown falls. Thankfully, God does not dispense His love and grace based on my performance.
So you’re saying I can do all this stuff too?
God wants a relationship with everyone. He speaks to those who are willing to listen. So, yes, you can have this same kind of relationship with God, and get to see Him do in your life what only He can do. You don’t need a theology degree, and you don’t need to reach a “minimum level” of holiness. Just start listening, and the rest will surely follow.
Isn’t your own church against this sort of thing?
Listening to God, hearing from God, casting out demons, and healing the sick has been part of the Catholic tradition from the first day. The writings of the early Church Fathers give witness to it, and no council or pope has ever condemned it. So no, I don’t believe the Catholic Church is against these practices.
How do I do this “listening prayer” thing?
Find a quiet place, give yourself a solid block of time, ask God to send you the Holy Spirit to speak to you, and then just listen. Keep some paper and pen close by so you can write down the things you hear.
What does God’s voice sound like?
Scripture says that Elijah experienced it as a still, small voice. For me, that voice sounds like a thought in my head, although it has also come as an image, a passage from Scripture that was buried in my memory, a word from a friend, a song lyric, a dream, a sign by the side of the road, even a license plate.
What if I’m not sure it’s Him speaking to me?
Ask Him to confirm it. He always does, in one way or another.
This seems dangerous, just leaving my spirit open to getting “messages” from another realm. Won’t I become an easy target for “bad voices”?
Scripture tells us that we have to discern the spirits. Jesus gave us authority over evil spirits, so I always begin by telling them that they are forbidden to speak to me, or even to come near me during that prayer time. I ask God to put His protection around me so that no attack from the enemy can penetrate. I tell God that I want to only hear His voice. I still have to be discerning, and obviously if I hear a thought that says something like, “you’re such a horrible person, I don’t even want to talk to you”, I know that’s not God – it doesn’t line up with what God says in Scripture. The discernment process gets easier in time.
What other ways does God speak?
The possibilities are just about as endless as His own nature. The most obvious ways are through Scripture and through His other children. For some people, He speaks through simple signs, such as a pair of birds flying together, or a particular kind of tree. He’s a very creative Father, so I try to keep my eyes and ears open for Him in whatever place I find myself.
I think I heard something from God. Now what?
Write it down. Contemplate it. Ask for confirmation. If it seems uncertain, ask someone else to listen on your behalf and see if they hear the same thing. Once you are certain that it was God speaking, the only thing left to do is to obey.
I think God gave me a message for someone else – should I deliver the message?
I don’t know. Ask Him. Don’t just ask Him “if” you should deliver the message, also ask Him “when” it should be delivered. Get confirmation, if possible. I have heard things for other people that needed to wait for a week; some things needed only to wait a few hours; I’ve been sitting on some messages for months, still waiting for a “green light”; in one or two rare instances, I’ve been told not to share the message at all, ever, but simply to use that information to guide my prayer.
I think God just asked me to do something, but it sounds really, really bizarre. That’s probably a sign that it’s not from Him, right?
Not necessarily. God asks for strange-sounding things sometimes. “Go take your only son up that mountain and sacrifice him.” (Abraham) “Go fight that huge foreign army, but only take 300 men with you.” (Gideon) “Go talk to that rock, and water will come out of it.” (Moses) “Go fishing, take the first fish you catch, and you’ll find money in its mouth.” (Peter) “Go marry a prostitute.” (Hosea) “Bake some bread and eat it, but bake it over human poop – wait, forget that, use cow poop instead.” (Ezekiel) Just because it sounds strange doesn’t mean it’s not from God. Ask for confirmation!
How do I pray for someone’s healing?
However you hear the Spirit telling you to pray. This is why listening prayer is so important. Sometimes you might hear that you need to speak to the illness and tell it to leave. Sometimes you might hear that the person needs to deal with something in their life first (bitterness, fear, unforgiveness, anxiety, etc.). Sometimes you might hear that the illness was healed right then as you were listening, and all that’s left to do is to tell the person they’ve been healed. Sometimes you might hear that God intends to use someone else to minister healing to this person. Listen, listen, and listen some more. God works in different ways for different people at different times, and you can only pray with confidence when you know you’ve heard His voice.
What if they don’t get healed?
Don’t get discouraged. Jesus healed a blind man in Mark 8:22-26, but the first time He prayed, the blind man could only see blurry forms, so Jesus had to pray for him again. Some healings are a process, and that process may begin as you pray, without necessarily having immediate and visible results. Again, the key is to listen. If you prayed and didn’t see healing, go back to God and ask for further insight and instruction.
I’m a Catholic – doesn’t the Church teach us to accept our sufferings as gifts from God, a chance to “offer it up” and become holier?
I begin with the foundational understanding that physical suffering is a fruit of the curse in Genesis 3. It is, in my view, a sign or manifestation of the kingdom of Satan. He started it. Scripture is full of references to the fact that God is our healer, and Jesus pointed to the healings He performed as evidence that His kingdom had arrived on earth, and was overcoming the kingdom of Satan. St. John says plainly, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 Jn. 3:8) So my default attitude is that physical suffering is from the enemy, a result of the curse, and Jesus plans to destroy that fruit. However, it is true that not everyone gets healed. Somehow, in God’s mysterious plan, some people are going to suffer – I don’t know why. What I do know is that, even in the midst of suffering, God can work redemption and bring good out of evil, so I agree that we can offer up our suffering and trade it for sanctity. But saying that God can redeem our suffering, and saying that God intends or causes our suffering are two very different things.
So if suffering gives us a chance to identify with Jesus on the cross, why would I want to ask for physical healing?
For the same reason you probably take an asprin when you get a headache. When people get sick, they seek healing – it’s our natural response. Something in us tells us that this suffering is not right, that it’s a sign of something broken that needs to be healed. Even Christians who embrace suffering as a gift from God, and won’t ask for healing prayer, still usually end up going to the doctor for surgery, medication, therapy, etc. The desire to be whole is, I believe, a God-given desire. And since He gave me the desire for wholeness, I figure He’s probably the first one I should ask – even if His response is sometimes, “go take an asprin.”
When I pray for someone’s healing, do I have to lay hands on them?
I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. It seems to help, in my experience, but not everyone will be comfortable with you touching them. Treat each situation individually, and ask God how He wants you to proceed.
Can I pray for someone’s healing “long distance”, without them being there?
If that’s what God directs you to do, you can have absolute confidence in the power of that prayer. It really is all about listening to Him. The Roman Centurion told Jesus that He didn’t need to make an appearance at the house, and when Jesus saw the man’s faith, He pronounced the healing right on the spot. This kind of thing still happens in our time.
I believe God can speak to me, but I don’t think I have any sort of “gift of healing”.
I believe we all have that gift. Jesus said, “these signs will accompany those who believe … they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18) If I belong to the category of “those who believe”, then I have to believe Jesus’ words that I am one of those who “will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” But like any gift, I believe the gift of healing has to be nurtured. Some have the gift of teaching, but they still have to train, and practice, and get better at it. I think the same is true of healing. We have the gift, according to Jesus, but I think we have to practice, train, and grow in that gift.
