Posted by Martin Van Horn | Filed under Healing Prayer
Entering into dialogue with God
Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.” In our experience we can ask Jesus, our Pastor/Shepherd, a question and receive an answer in our spirit. One word from the Lord cuts through our questions and fears, our doubts and needs, bringing resolution and clarity.
We know that many in the Old Testament talked to God and He answered them: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Balaam, David, and so on. In the New Testament we see Cornelius, Ananias, Saul/Paul listening and hearing God speak to them. We can do the same thing, presenting the Lord with our issue and asking Him a question. If we are ready to hear the impression in our spirit and obey what He says, we can begin a divine dialogue.
I worship You, Lord
Listen to the Lord and He will bring truth into your confusion
First we address our God-given human spirit and bless our ability to hear and synchronize with the Lord.
Then we ask, “Lord, what do you want us to know?”
The answer is usually brief and comes as an impression, a word, a picture in our human spirit.
When we speak out this answer, it builds faith, realizing the Lord is present and that He cares. Often His word is a surprise, because He knows the root of the present situation better than we do.
Theoacoustic = Listening to God
This is a combination of prayer, counseling and discipleship. Being a disciple means hearing and obeying all that the Lord has commanded, even the things He brings to mind today, not just the things we had in mind. Our soul has many questions and often will tear apart the simplicity of the Lord’s word spoken in our spirit. Childlike faith and simplicity will get us much farther in our relationship to the Lord, our Pastor, than all our attempts to figure Him out. Faith comes by hearing. Obeying leads to more hearing.
Tags: discipleship, healing, Jesus, prayer, theoacoustic
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August 14, 2010
Posted by Martin Van Horn | Filed under Our Identity in Christ
Who am I? Saint? or sinner?
Growing up, singing in church, I was “a sinner saved by grace.” As the saying goes, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” In other words, my job was to make mistakes and God’s job was to forgive me and set me straight. It was miserable most of the time, because I saw my mistakes bigger than the God who was saving and sanctifying me. I was glad when I found out that’s not how God sees me.
As Dr. Neil Anderson points out, “we are saints who sin occasionally.” God sees the “new man” He has created in Christ Jesus, the person who is accepted, secure, significant. We can even say
God likes us. I decided if God can like me, the person He created, the one He redeemed, the person He knows me to be, then even I can like myself, with my imperfections. (For a full size version of “Who I am in Christ,”
Click Here.)
My opinion does not change God’s opinion of me
I was afraid the things I did not like about myself were the things that made God not like me either. Actually this attitude is an insult to God. He loved us while we were still ignorant sinners and sent His Son to die for us so we could be reconciled to Him. God is love and He cannot be anything else; He does not change. When I apologized to my Heavenly Father for my unbelief, He gave me cleansing and a freshness to open up my life and my spirit to Him.
He wants to bless me and I am learning to let Him. One way He blesses is to reveal what He has in store for me. The Bible is not theory, it’s just that we have not seen everything God talks about yet. He says I am a saint, someone He has chosen and made holy, special to Him. It was His idea and He knows all the wonderful gifts and abilities He invested in me. If I keep answering His calling, I will keep learning and He will go on revealing. Let me give a recent personal example.
Following God’s calling to the New Me
All my life people thought I was a scientist, taking in facts, analyzing and synthesizing new ideas. Unbeknownst to me or my friends, I am an artist too. The Lord moved me to research the reality of Heaven, so I checked out Scripture and people’s testimonies. Writing a historical description of God revealing Heaven, which is His Home, over the last 6,000 years was challenging, but not that hard. I had done this work for many topics in my 20 years as pastor and missionary.
Then God gave me a hard assignment.
Even though I was impressed by my description, He pointed out most people would not be motivated to read it. So He told me to describe His Home in a novel. Me, write a novel? I would never have realized I had this capability if He had not called me and I had not obeyed. You can read it at
www.scribd.com/martinvh. I am thrilled that over 1,200 people from all around the world have already looked at my writing. When He calls you, say “Yes.” If you explore your calling, you will find out God has a destiny in mind for you.
God’s Calling reveals our Destiny
As Jesus told Retha McPherson in South Africa, “your life is in little pieces. If you try to put them together into a mosaic picture, you will cut your fingers on the edges of the tiles. Surrender the pieces of your life to me and I will create a beautiful mosaic picture out of your life.”
Our destiny is that wonderful picture that God sees before Him, but we have no inkling of. By faith we say, “Yes, I want to become that person You know I can become.” Ephesians 4:24 says, “and put on the new man, which, according to God, was created in righteousness and kindness of the truth.” He has already created the New Me. Everything I have learned about him has shown me I want what God wants.
I used to be a melancholy, critical, judgmental, timid person, always swinging between both sides of an issue, hesitating to make any decisions. I did not like myself. Psych books showed me I had company and explained my problem; I just could not stop and I could not do all the loving things God talks about in the Bible. Ephesians 4:23 tells me where the change has to take place: I must “be renewed in the spirit of my mind.” By prayer the spirit God created in me connects with God Himself, who is a Spirit. We “have fellowship with one another and He cleanses me of all unrighteousness.”
I was amazed when the Lord answered prayer and stopped my normal ambivalence (doublemindedness). By regular practice I have worked at giving thanks instead of griping and this has changed my attitude, my emotions, my view of God, and cured my stomachaches. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) The Spirit of God and my human spirit may be invisible, but their works are certainly real to experience. This has opened my mind to believe what God says about me is true. I have a birthright.
God’s children all have a Birthright and a Destiny
In Genesis we read that the Lord gave Abraham promises: a family, a nation, land, a blessing for the nations. This promise gave his sons a birthright. They could expect to inherit a blessing and be part of a large family and help God to make an impact on the world. We see in Isaac’s (Abraham’s son) two sons divergent attitudes about the worth of this birthright. Esau wanted something immediately fulfilling (a pot of stew) and Jacob was willing to cheat to get hold of the birthright and blessing from Isaac. By being adopted into God’s family, you and I have a birthright (Romans 8:12-17). It is easy to be distracted from God’s eternal values and be preoccupied with the things my body and emotions care about, or to go along with people’s opinions and physical attraction. I don’t want to lose out on God’s generous gifts. Romans 8 speaks of security, freedom from fear, sonship instead of slavery and eternal wealth (along with Christ’s sufferings).
One day it will be worth it all
The more the spirit of my mind agrees with God and His Word, the more joy I have in the things that make Him happy: faith, obedience, listening to His voice, loving the Family of God, worship. Indeed the new man that only God sees becomes more and more visible in my own eyes, though the good parts are not without effort. But God has a good memory and a great “forgetory.” He keeps track of all the good works and forgets all the sins we confess. Praise the Lord! Matthew 10:40-42 says He keeps track of all the little things as well as the ones I consider Big. Revelation 19:8 says all these little things will be our white robes in glory, publicly revealing the lifestyle here on earth that is precious to the Lord in Heaven. Some day I will know who I am and so will everyone else.
Like I have often said, “If you could see the real me, you would need sunglasses.” I John 3:2 tells us we will see Jesus face to face and that experience will transform us completely. We will be revealed in all our glory as He is revealed in His glory. What an amazing day that will be! For this we can truly use the word “awesome.”
I hope you are encouraged to be renewed by the spirit of your mind so you can agree with God for all the good things He has invested in you and for them to come clear more and more. God bless you daily as you walk with Him.
Tags: Answers to prayer, Calling, Destiny, Glory, healing, Identity, Jesus, Joy, video
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April 28, 2010
Posted by Martin Van Horn | Filed under Healing Prayer, Multimedia, Uncategorized
Every Saturday night a group of 10 to 12 people have been meeting to learn how to pray for healing and other needs. We have been watching Joan Hunter DVDs about prayer for healing.
On Saturday, March 13, we shared prayer requests and learned Joanie and Sharon, visiting from Indianapolis, had been unemployed for almost two years. We prayed for jobs, with a sense that the Holy Spirit was motivating us.
On the following Wednesday they received phone calls telling them they were hired. Listen to Joanie’s report and praise God with us.
Tags: Answers to prayer, Testimony, video
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April 11, 2010
Posted by Martin Van Horn | Filed under Healing Prayer
We are excited to see what more God will do as we learn how to pray and ask Him to heal. Last week we learned about Jesus’ atonement as the basis of our healing. Next we will focus on asking for God to come as King and perform His will right in front of us.
The theme is Romans 14:17, “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
When things are right, they come into the alignment that God designed. Then they function well together and we have peace. This results in the joy we and the Holy Spirit share.
If something in your life is out of alignment, ask Jesus to come and be King and set it straight.
For a detailed outline see http://mightyinspirit.com/pqr
Tags: healing, Jesus, prayer
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January 17, 2010
Posted by Martin Van Horn | Filed under Healing Prayer
We are very excited that we have completed the curriculum for our School of Healing Prayer, which kicks off this month in Louisville, KY. Please pray God will move in our hearts and in our city. Click on the Healing Prayer category to see the other posts.
We’ve also discovered Aiko Hormann’s website and believe it is a valuable resource worth experiencing and sharing. They have posted a video of her on that explains about what God does through her. Amazing!
http://www.vimeo.com/5402050
You may also want to look at a Webinar from Lance Wallnau which is significant in understanding what God is doing and how He is moving in this new season.
http://www.christian.tv/channels/details/video/39
Tags: Aiko Hormann, Lance Wallnau, resources, video
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January 13, 2010
Posted by Martin Van Horn | Filed under Healing Prayer
Life Connections International is proud to sponsor the first night of our School of Healing Prayer. It will take place in Louisville, KY, on January 9, 2010, covering materials developed by our Mighty in Spirit ministry.
SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR SINNERS TO RECEIVE HEALING FROM GOD
Genesis 3:2-3 Adam and Eve fall under the “Law of Sin and Death” (If you sin, you will die. Sickness is a symptom of eventual death.)
Romans 8: 1-4 Believers are no longer under the Law of Sin and Death
Believers are under the “Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”
PART A: The Spirit of God in the life of Christ Jesus and in believers today
II Corinthians 4:16-18 The body continues to die, the spirit in us remains alive (Our God-given human spirit is daily energized by the Holy Spirit.)
We base our ministry on “seeing the unseen” (We look at people and situations with “eyes of faith,” seeing potential good things God may want to do.)
PART B: The Spirit of Life operating in Christ Jesus while here on Earth
Matthew 8: 14-16
- Jesus touches Peter’s mother-in-law, healing her of fever
- He drives out demons with a word
- He heals all the sick
- Matthew quotes these acts as “fulfillment” of Isaiah 53:4 [-6] (This passage is integral to the doctrine of Atonement and shows that physical healing is included.)
Matt. 10:1 ( || Mark 6:7, 12-13) Jesus sends out the 12 with authority
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SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS ON JESUS’ HEALING MINISTRY IN ISRAEL
- Jesus has authority from God
- Jesus will bring atonement from Adam and Eve’s sin and ours
- Jesus delegates his authority to his disciples
Methods of healing
- A word
- A touch
- Anoint with oil (also James 5:13-16)
- Forgive sins (Mark 2:10-11, James 5)
- Cast out demons
- Faith (Mark 5:34)
- [Fasting and] Prayer (Mark 9:29)
- [Curse to the root (Mark 11:14, 20-21)] Joan Hunter’s method
We use video teaching from Charles and Frances Hunter and from Joan Hunter
Tags: atonement, healing, Jesus, prayer, The Happy Hunters
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January 10, 2010
Posted by Sharon Van Horn | Filed under Multimedia
So many people feel like this. They want to be known and loved for the real person within. I pray God will touch your heart with this song and give you courage to be who He designed you to be – the real you! Blessings!
Tags: inspiration, music, video
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September 4, 2009
