There Is More:
Signs and Wonders for the Sake of the
Kingdom
.
by Lynne May
Desperation + Expectation =
Invitation for God to work.
It’s a formula I learned from Fr. Mathias
Thelen, a Roman Catholic priest in the
Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, USA. I
didn’t know the Holy Spirit was going to
have me learn it by living it, but that’s
exactly what happened and how I discovered
that signs and wonders are a part of the
revival that is beginning to happen here
in the United States.
Desperation
About a year and a half ago, I was
desperate for an end to the excruciating
and chronic back pain I had been living
with. It had been minor, dull for years.
It spiked about a year and a half ago.
Sleepless nights. I couldn’t eat. I
couldn’t exercise. I could barely work. I
was emotionally and physically at the end
of myself. People around me prayed with
me, but for some reason, God was not
allowing for breakthrough. Doctors said
they were doing what they could. I prayed
for a miracle.
Expectation
I went to my primary care physician for
back pain medicine. She saw the tears
streaming down my face. A devout Catholic,
she said, “You know, there’s a priest, Fr.
Mathias Thelen, who used to be at my
parish. He held wonderful healing
services. Very powerful stuff happened.
You should call him.” Well, I was
desperate. As I drove away, I looked up
Fr. Mathias Thelen’s office line number
off of Google and found it through the
seminary’s website where he taught at the
time. He picked up on the first ring,
saying, “Who is this?” I said, “It’s
Lynne.” We were old friends, acquaintances
more so, from years earlier. He said,
“What do you want? It must be the Holy
Spirit, because I’m never in my office!” I
said I wanted prayer ministry. So we set a
time.
When we met for prayer ministry, we prayed
through a set of inner healing things
before even getting to the physical
healing that we thought were perhaps even
more urgent to cover than the physical
pain. When we did get to the physical
pain, I have to admit, he prayed with me,
and the pain didn’t leave. Maybe it
lessened slightly, but nothing much
happened. Then the session ended.
But this wasn’t the end of the story of my
healing journey. Around this time or a bit
earlier, I had also begun to see an
additional back doctor I had heard about
from a friend, and his treatment began to
work, rigorous as it was. I found in this
doctor’s care my miracle of back pain
healing was being fulfilled. And I had
received much inner healing from Fr.
Mathias, which, I believe, is what God
wanted to address in that session that I
think my back pain lessened as a result.
But the real thing that struck me was Fr.
Mathias’ faith. I remember thinking, “What
faith he has for healing! The confidence!”
God
Works
And that witness of faith haunted me. The
following week, I heard that at the local
Catholic high school, a documentary called
Fearless was going to be shown to anyone
interested. Guess who it starred: yes, Fr.
Mathias. He was everywhere! So I went,
curious. I left, weeping. I saw Catholics
in pews who didn’t know one another laying
hands on one another for healing and being
healed. I saw people getting out of
wheelchairs when they were prayed with and
the Gospel was proclaimed. I saw
recipients of healing give lively
testimonies. I saw people get words
knowledge about whom they should pray for
out on the street that day, find the
people, and the people blessed as they
received prayer. It was my introduction to
two things I’d never really thought of:
signs and wonders and power evangelism.
Who were these Catholics walking in this
power, and where did the teaching for this
come from? How have I never heard of this?
I had to know more. This organization that
put together this film, Encounter
Ministries was based in Columbus,
Ohio. Their name comes from the fact that
they believe that every person is just one
encounter away from meeting Jesus Christ.
Fr. Mathias is senior leader for
Encounter, though he is in Michigan.
Encounter Ministries is Catholic and
exists to bring the supernatural charisms
into Catholic parishes. The Holy Spirit
continued to increase my desire to learn
more and that spring, I found myself
driving to Columbus to take a few summer
classes with this group.
Demonstrate the
Gospel
The mantra of the classes: Although we
understand that signs, wonders, and
miracles are not the whole Gospel, we are
convinced that the Gospel is not whole
without them. We spoke about John 14:12,
where it says, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, he who believes in me, the works that
I do, he will do also; and greater works
than these he will do.” When I look at my
life, I have to admit: I’m challenged by
this. Am I doing the works that Jesus did
– and greater?
No, I am not. But I am learning both how
to do and hunger for more of the works of
Christ. Jesus often, even regularly,
proved his claim that he is the Messiah
through a demonstration
– through a
healing, a deliverance, a multiplication.
His preaching was accompanied by signs and
wonders. He used signs to point people to
himself. If that is how our Lord
ministered and demonstrated the power of
his kingdom, shouldn't his disciples today
seek his wisdom and learn from him and
follow suit?
“Lord, help me,” is a prayer I’ve prayed
many times as I’ve begun down this path.
And I haven’t prayed it nearly as often as
I should. I’ve been reading books and
authors on healing and deliverance, signs
and wonders –
including Damien Stayne, Mary Healy, and
videos from Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, and
Todd White, plus solid teaching and help
from Encounter
Ministries, who run their own school
of supernatural ministry. As I’ve begun to
get my toes wet, God keeps trying to throw
me in the deep end.
A
Tire Shop Encounter
“So are you taking a class on healing
prayer?” I wake up and sit up in my chair
at the tire shop: an older, African
American man is asking the question. I’m
falling asleep after another long night of
driving to/from Columbus. “Yes,” I say, “I
just started.” He hobbles over, sits down,
and says, “Well, God healed my soul 20
years ago. I’m still waiting for him to
heal my leg. He promised he would.” And he
just sits there. Oh boy: I know what’s
coming. This is a Holy Spirit setup. A
chance to apply what I’ve learned!
I get up and begin talking to the man. He
confessed to me that he was a former
heroin addict, who gave his life to Jesus
but still had the symptoms of illness that
resulted because of the addiction,
including a leg that was emaciated and a
dropped foot.
I asked if I could lay hands on his leg
for healing. He agreed. I knelt down and
began to pray, “In the name of Jesus, I
command you, pain, get out, right now.
Leg, be restored. Be healed, in the name
of Jesus. Bones, ligaments, muscles, be
healed, be made well, in the name of
Jesus.”
We pray a couple more times, and I keep
checking in to see if there’s some
progress. There is a bit, maybe. Suddenly
the man pauses me, looks into my eyes, and
asks, “Do you really think that God would
heal the effects of a sin that I
committed, heroin addiction?”
I looked at him, and my heart melted.
“Yes!” I cried. I preached to him the
parable of the prodigal son. I said the
Father had welcomed him back. There is a
robe upon his back. Sandals on his feet. A
ring on his finger. Yes, not only would
he; he wants to, I said.
The man said, “Okay, then I guess we have
to take off the brace and find out!” So
the man took off the brace, and I held my
breath as he walked about the tire shop
(among all the people doing what you would
normally do in a tire shop). I would later
learn that often, the healing takes place
as the person tries to do what they could
not do before. Testing it out is key. And
that it can take time after receiving
prayer; it doesn’t always happen
instantly.
The man did not experience total healing,
but pain relief and some strength entered
back into his leg that day. He could walk
around the shop, and he hadn’t taken off
his brace to walk for years. Better yet,
he knew his sins were forgiven!
Hallelujah. It reads like something from
the Bible. The man knew his sins were
forgiven and began to walk. We exchanged
contact information. As I went to hug him
goodbye, the Holy Spirit whispered, “And
offer to pay his bill!” So I blurted out,
“And I want to pay your bill!” He laughed,
“But you don’t even know how much it is!”
I said, “Okay, fair, tell me, and then I
will chip in an amount.” The man was poor.
I was glad for the chance to help.
As I sat there, back in my chair, not
sleepy anymore, it hit me: “Wow, okay, I
am now officially that ‘wacko.’ I am that
healing-praying nut in a public place. And
this stuff is for real. You want me in
this, Lord. You set me up. And look how it
blessed that man. And how it blessed me!
Praise you, Lord!”
There Is More
There is so much more I could share. I’ve
seen and heard of many miraculous
healings. Sometimes, I pray over myself,
or my housemates pray over me, or we pray
over each other, and we receive physical
healing. We have a household culture of
prayer ministry, I would say. It is
normative for us to see one another healed
on a regular, nearly daily basis. Or to
have a sense or a prophetic word for
another household member. All because of a
few simple teachings we have received and
that, coupled with childlike faith. I pray
with my Uber drivers, my waiters in
restaurants, friends, people over the
phone. It’s a beautiful way to live.
In this darkening, suffering, and
post-Christian world, God is raising up
signs and wonders and more of his power,
so that his disciples can demonstrate his
power effectively as they preach the
Gospel. This is the in-breaking of the
kingdom! Bringing heaven to earth is what
the world desperately needs. It is what
Jesus came to give. He commissioned us to
do what we saw him do
– and more.
One of my favorite things is to pray with
non-believers, to ask them if they would
be open to hearing from a higher power. In
my next article, I want to share more
about that.
Revealing the
Heart of Jesus – with Compassion and
Humility
In conclusion, let me say a word about
motives and remaining grounded in all
this. First, motives: What should be our
motive for seeking signs and wonders, more
power? To prove to others that Jesus is
real? Yes, of course. But deeper than that
even: wanting to reveal the heart of Jesus
to another out of a genuine sense of
compassion for them. Jesus looked with
compassion upon those he ministered to.
Our motive of compassion will keep us
focused on love first, not gifting or
power, per Paul’s caution in 1 Corinthians
13.
And second, remaining grounded, humble.
Humility goes hand-in-hand with authority.
We have to know who we are to walk with
this greater measure of power, that we
sons and daughters of the Father. Jesus
ministered out of his identity, and this
identity also gave him the confidence to
minister boldly. So signs and wonders
aren’t about proving an atheist wrong, or
trying to win conversions. They’re not
about getting cool prophetic words or
glory stories to share. They are about
giving Jesus Christ all the glory, and
it’s wonderful that he allows his beloved
children to be a part of it, even a
critical part of it, to touch a hurting
world.
I thank God, and probably not often
enough, for the year I was not healed, my
year of desperation. He emptied me, and
that reminded me of my identity: I am his
daughter. When I couldn’t do anything for
anyone, give anything, he was still there.
But! I am so grateful that God broke into
this desperate time, which had created a
hunger, an expectation, and then, before I
almost could blink, swept me up into this
new thing he is about, one which even I
feel as if I am just beginning to learn
of.
I have no idea what our Lord has in mind,
but I pray I can be open to whatever that
is.
[Lynne May is a member of the Work
of Christ Community in Lansing,
Michigan, USA]
top illustration of man
walking away from crutches left on the
road, by HarveyMade at Lightstock.com
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