So, you have to do your homework in your personal life with God. Ministry is about bringing the life of God to people; and before I come to pray, there’s apprehension – what if nothing happens; what if I have feelings of inadequacy. Make a decision – I’m going to step up and trust God. When you come to pray, you may feel somewhat concerned, ‘maybe nothing will happen’. Push it aside and focus on the Lord. “Thank you Lord for Your presence is here; and I see You touching her right now.” What I did was I began to picture Jesus standing there, and life is flowing through me to touch her; and that’s exactly what happened.
Of course, after you’ve ministered, then sometimes doubts can come. You wonder about ‘was it good enough’. Just stop. Stop it. Don’t go analysing. You just did what you could; you just ask the person: ‘was this helpful?’ What can we learn, and learn next time, new things. It’s a journey of learning.
“Just come. She’s asleep. Here we go. Just come. Alright then. So, just close your eyes.” You must centre people’s attention on Jesus. Otherwise they put a demand on you, and you’ll start to feel manipulated to try and make something happen, rather than leaning on the Holy Spirit. Now, when you’re praying for people (you’ve done your counsel), when it comes to praying, depend on the Holy Spirit. Always depend on Him. So, I just set my mind listening for Him, what He wants to do; and I become conscious on whether the anointing is settling on her. If I feel a wall and a block, you’ll feel like no flow, there’s something happening I don’t know about. So, I just need to ask the Lord – “What is it Lord?” Then, power of God.
Sometimes there are blocks in ministering to people. If there’s a block, sometimes I can just overcome it with just a power surge, but most times, you need to stop and ask the Lord what the problem is. It could be a control spirit over the person. It could be unbelief. “In Jesus’ name, I bind that control spirit, I bind the unbelief. Loose her now.” Often then, power will start to flow. Or, there may be an issue in the heart that you have not yet addressed. You just need to say “Hey, I don’t feel the flow of the Spirit, let’s talk about that. Is there something that we’ve missed? Let’s ask the Lord to show us what’s missing” You close your eyes, and you get them to close their eyes – “Let’s ask the Lord: Lord, show us what it is we need to deal with.” Interact with the person.
[Practise Exercises]
We need to just have a chance to pray with people now, and I’ve run out of time so much, I’ve got so many things I want to do. I would love to get you praying for one another. Then we’ll have an alter call at the end, and we’ll just have to believe for God to touch you, wherever you need to be touched. This is what we’ll do. I’ll get you into groups of 3, and I want you just to get the feel of ministering power to one another. We just need say, 3 people – 1, 2, 3, just come. Stand there. Ok.
So, it’s very simple – just step-by-step. This is the purpose of this. I want you to get used to releasing power. Now, we release power usually with a word of command. It’s from within. The steps we’ll take are very simple. “You’re the catcher. Eyes open. Be ready to catch.” Sometimes people fall over “Ahh”. Sometimes they go “Oh!” So, be alert. So, you have your eyes closed. Just ask now – ‘Can I practise on you?’ ‘Yes please’. Be encouraging! Just stop here.
Jesus cultivated an environment for ministry. When the people were not responsive, little power flowed. If that happened with Jesus, then it will happen with you. In some places, He took the person out of the town to pray for them, because the atmosphere of unbelief was so strong. Sometimes He put people out of the room, because the atmosphere of faith was not there. It is important to set up the ministry; to create expectation for God to do something.