Every three months or so, LifeGate Church (the church I used to attend before I was saved) hosts an event called Healing Rain. People go in the hopes that they will be healed.
First a guy gets on the stage and talks about the healing power of God, and then the real reason everyone is there begins. The prayer teams line up in pairs in front of the stage. The music is turned up. The lights are turned down. People in search of healing come forward.
I came forward.
I stood before Pastor Connie and another girl. I told her about my epilepsy. Well, I didn’t actually tell her about it, all I said was “I’m epileptic” and she took it from there.
She said “Ok, lets do this”.
The girl with her put her hands on my left arm, bowed her head and began to mutter gibberish (they call that praying in tongues) while Connie put one hand on my chest and her other hand between my shoulder blades and then told me to relax and "just let it happen”. Then she began to declare that I was healed while gently pushing me backward and then forward again. Back and then forward. Her words became a chant “praise Jesus, she is healed. Praise Jesus, she is healed. Praise Jesus she is healed”.
She began to push harder and faster. Back and forth, back and forth. While her voice became louder and her chant picked up the pace. The girl next to her raised her voice, her gibberish becoming more feverish. I could hear the other leaders and their assistants chanting and yelling over whomever they were praying for, and I knew that people were already hitting the floor. The pushing intensified. The chanting grew louder, the gibberish sped up. I relaxed and “let it happen”.
And then I was on the floor looking up at Connie who was leaning over me, stroking my forehead and telling me “God rejoices for you”. She said “God dances in heaven for you”. Then she told me that from that moment on, I needed to repeat to myself “I am the daughter of a king!” Every time I had a seizure, every time it felt like I was going to have a seizure, or every time I even thought about a seizure. She said that I needed to say it to myself all the time, “I am the daughter of a king!” Every time I saw her at the church after that she would say to me "who are you?" and I was supposed to reply "I am the daughter of a king!" She told me that I needed to keep saying it until I truly believed it. And once I believed it, I would be healed.
That was four years ago.
I still have epilepsy. In fact, we now know that I have a serious autoimmune disease that causes seizures, Crohn's disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis.
Maybe I don’t believe in God enough? Maybe I don’t fully comprehend who I am in Christ?
Maybe I just don’t have enough faith?
Maybe it’s my fault.
Or maybe..
Just maybe..
That’s not how it works and I just fell for a big fat lie..
The kind of lie that millions of people all over the world are falling for because of churches like LifeGate.
Click here ——> THE HURT OF HEALING
What a story. Keep sharing it because you're right, millions of hurting and very sick people fall (no pun intended) for these empty promises every day. So grateful you have come to know the true and living God! My sister has Crohn's and suffers terribly-she won't listen to the good news and instead puts her faith in pills the doctors prescribe. Illness and pain take on a whole new (bearable) meaning when we look at Christ instead of ourselves.
ReplyDelete"Illness and pain take on a whole new (bearable) meaning when we look at Christ instead of ourselves."
DeleteNailed it!!