I'm a Psalm 110-ist

Jesus is King now!

Folks often ask me what I believe about the future. In my many years of being a Christian (accepted Christ when I was 6 years old in 1967), I've been all over the board on eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the last things. I've studied this incredibly popular and interesting subject my whole life and am still doing so. Many things about this subject are obviously mysterious, as Christians all throughout history have also been all over the board on the specifics. However, there are a few basic things that all Christians throughout the entire 2000 years of church history have agreed 100% on. Yes, that includes Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox. These fundamental things are:

• The future bodily coming of the Man, Jesus Christ
• The future bodily resurrection of the just & the unjust
• The future universal judgment of all mankind
• The future coming of the New Heavens & New Earth.

These were depicted early on, in every writing, creed, and council. Though we, as Christians, have a greatly varied opinions on the details and schemes, we all end up in the exact same place in 100% agreement: that is, the New Heavens and Earth in immortal glorified resurrected bodies like Christ, reigning with Him forever. Amen! Praise the Lord!

For example:

The Apostle's Creed (circa AD 120-250) states:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended to hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Nicene Creed (AD 381) states:

We believe in one God, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven; He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried. The third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come. Amen.

The Athanasian Creed (circa AD 500) states:

...The Son suffered for our salvation; He descended to hell; he arose from the dead; He ascended to heaven; He is seated at the Father's right hand; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. At His coming all people will arise bodily and give an accounting of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire. This is the catholic faith: one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

These are universal (ecumenical) truths. But how do we get there? What is going on now? This is where agreement ends.

Having studied the various beliefs I have learned not to be too dogmatic about these things. I am content to not go too much further than the above 3 ecumenical creeds. In fact, as the title to this short article shows, I am content to call myself a Psalm 110-ist. In a bit more detail, this is why:

Jesus is currently at the right hand of God according to the above. Scripture says:

Romans 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

What is He doing at the right hand of God, and why has He not returned to earth yet?

Psalm 110:1 The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Hebrews 10:11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

So, Jesus is at the right hand of God "waiting till His enemies are made His footstool," then, and only then, after that point, will He return, and in one appointed day, put the last enemy, which is death, under His feet via the resurrection of the just and the unjust.

Acts 17:30 "The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now He commands that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained; of which He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead."

Acts 24:14 "But this I confess to you, that after the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets; 15 having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust."

1Corinthians 15:25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

So, is Jesus king now? Or is He going to become king in some future millennial kingdom?

He is king now:

Acts 2:29 "Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was His soul left in Hades, nor did His flesh see decay. 32 This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this, which you now see and hear. 34 For David didn't ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit by my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."' 36 let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

Therefore, in my humble opinion, we are not waiting on a secret rapture, but rather we are the means by which Christ is putting all His enemies under His feet. He is reigning right now on the throne of David at the right hand of God. And He will return after all His enemies are made His footstool, and then personally put the last enemy down, which is death, via the resurrection of the dead. Then the New Heavens and New Earth will come and we will reign forever with Him on a New Earth under a New Heavens in our glorified, immortal, resurrected bodies.

Part of participating in the putting down of His enemies is what this blog is all about; getting the sick healed. Sickness is incipient death. And healing of physical sickness is a taste of the full redemption of our bodies in the resurrection to come. How do I know this? Jesus, when He walked the earth, forgave sins based on His [then] coming atonement on the cross, where His precious blood was shed. It is the atonement that bought forgiveness of our sins. Jesus, when He walked the earth, also healed sickness based on His [then] coming stripes He was to receive at the whipping post, where, again, His precious blood was shed. It is this beating that bought redemption of our bodies:

Matthew 8:16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." [quoting Isaiah 53:4]

Faith & Persistence in Prayer

Mountain of Adversity

This story is so good and encouraging, I just had to share it. It comes from a book that has John G. Lake's sermons in it. The title of the story is simply: "Adventures in Religion, Radio Lecture 5, June 28, 1935." 

I've laid hands on literally hundreds of people since I first started doing this. Oftentimes something tangible happens immediately and pain diminishes, or there is a feeling of heat, or of cold, or sometimes, tingling. Other times there is just a feeling of great peace. But occasionally, nothing at all seems to happen. It is times like that, that we need to press in. Yes, Jesus healed the sick instantly, but there were a few cases where the sick were healed over a period of time. For example:

• Lepers were cleansed "as they went" (Luke 17:14)
• The nobleman's son "began to amend" (John 4:52)
• Jesus prayed twice for a blind man (Mark 8:22-26)

And why would Paul tell us to stand for something if it were not occasionally necessary to do so? He writes, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints– (Ephesians 6:10-18)

So we are to stand "in the power of His might," not ours. And notice above he says for us to stand no less than 4 times. I believe we fail in healing many times simply because our faith is not long enough. We do not persist. We pray once and then that's it. But we must push against that mountain constantly, never letting up, until we see the manifestation of the power of the Kingdom of God; until we see "His Kingdom come" and exercise its complete dominion and rule over all the power of the enemy! We are not pushing God, we are pushing the adversity. It is the thief (the devil) that comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, not God (John 10:10). Jesus comes to bring life. And He never changes (Hebrews 13:8).

Here is the short story in its entirety:

"This afternoon I want to talk to you on the subject of miracles. From the year 400 until now, the Church has assumed the attitude that the days of miracles are passed -- without any scriptural evidence whatever. They have taught that miracles were to demonstrate the divinity of Jesus and, therefore, the divinity of Jesus being demonstrated, there was no longer any need for miracles.

"We had a local incident that demonstrates the effect of this teaching, I think. My conviction on the matter is that it has done more damage to the Christian faith than any other teaching that has been promulgated. There is a gentleman who works at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, O. A. Risdon, who is one of the engineers there. He had a son with a deformed head. The top of the head raised up like the ridge of a roof, the forehead and back of the head also were forced out in similar manner, giving the head the appearance of the hull of a yacht upside down. He was born with what the physicians call a closed head. The boy was always slobbering. The pressure on the brain caused the right side to become paralyzed, and the boy was dumb. He was five years old at this time.

"The physicians said there was nothing they could do. Then in desperation, he appealed to his pastor. The pastor told him the days of miracles were past, that the Lord did not heal now, that miracles were given to demonstrate the divinity of Jesus. The father replied, 'If Jesus would heal my son I would be convinced that He is divine now. If He is divine he could lift this damnation from our house.'

"Finally, he came to us seeking help. We began to minister to the child. In a few days we observed that the paralysis began to depart. Instead of walking on one side of his ankles he began to walk on the foot, and that indicated that the pressure was relieved on the brain. In seven weeks the child was perfectly well. The bones of the head softened and came down to normal. The paralysis disappeared and the child began to talk. In three months he was in the public school. He is a young married man now.

"Dear friends, if we had continued to believe that the days of miracles were past, that boy would be in the insane asylum. But we believed that Jesus Christ was the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the boy was healed. It is a delight to believe the works of Jesus. I have used this rule in my study of the Scriptures. If there is any question on any Scripture I settle it with the words of Jesus. I consider all the Scriptures are a common court of the Gospel, but the words of Jesus are the Supreme Court of the Gospel. When I want a Supreme Court decision I appeal to the words of Jesus.

"You can read all the words of Jesus in two hours or less in a red-letter New Testament. Make a practice of reading the words of Jesus on any subject that troubles you, and make a compilation of what He says. He ought to be sufficient authority on any question, for the heavenly Father called attention to the fact that He is the Son of God and that we are to hear Him. He said: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.' (Matthew 17:5)"

All His Promises Are Yes and Amen

Crack! Not a sound you want to hear when someone falls. This past weekend was not my favorite. A near catastrophe hit close to home. My granddaughter, Calvary, who is just 4 years old fell and hit the back of her head... hard. Her mom (my daughter) and her dad rushed her to the ER. She was disoriented, dizzy and crying. Her lips began to turn blue. She would go to sleep and then wake up and vomit. ER doctors put her in a neck brace. Then they did a CT scan on her head and her neck. Meanwhile, I was reigning in my emotions. This little girl is quite a bright spot in my own life. My first grandchild, Gunnar, spent much of his younger years with my wife helping my other daughter, Kimberly, raise him. He is currently 7 years old. But because of his early years spending so much time with my wife, he naturally has a special place in his heart for her. In a similar situation, due to Calvary's mom, Kayla, owning a dance studio, my wife helping with it, and her daddy, John, going to night school, I had the privilege of babysitting her on many evenings. I think because of this, she naturally has a special place in her heart for me. She is always glad to see me, hugs my neck and says, "Poppy, you want to go play?"

Having raised 3 daughters, her little personality reminds me a bit of each of my own. She can be quite determined like Kimberly (my oldest), very artistic and sweet like Karahann (my middle), and very comical/imaginative like her mother, my youngest, Kayla. I honestly can see all 3 of them in her. Raising my 3 and going through their bumps and bruises was, at times, very difficult. But having to go through it with little Calvary seemed very different. I can't explain what it is, but I guess it has to do with my age, maturity and the fact that she's a grandchild. As a parent, you are learning as you go and so much of the time you are worn out, physically. As a grandparent, the physical tiredness is missing and there are just some things you already know how to handle but you watch from the sidelines as your own children struggle with learning to be parents. Many times I know what to do to help, but I keep my mouth shut. I've never wanted to be a know-it-all. Yet I yearn to help.

But now, my granddaughter was suffering along with my wife, whose heart is so tender it breaks when she hears of anyone suffering. Calvary's parents were also having to see their little one suffer an injury that, possibly, could be life-threatening. They were dealing with feelings of guilt as all parents do when their children get hurt. Could I have done something different? In fact, I still have to deal with that same feeling even with grown children wondering if I could've been a better parent and saved them from some of the pain.

So with my wife, Calvary, John & Kayla all in the ER, I sat in Kayla's van with my 2nd grandson, Calvary's little brother, Ezekiel, while he slept, oblivious to the drama unfolding around his little life. I was trying to reign in my emotions and fear for Calvary's well-being. Just a few minutes ago, I had left that Sunday's church service at Christ Fellowship having listened to my oldest daughter sing on the praise team. I was actually singing "All His Promises are Yes and Amen" when my wife got the phone call from Kayla informing us of their sudden unexpected trip to the ER. Having dealt with tons of calls like this in the recent past, due to a series of traumatic events that happened in our lives, this call reinforced my wife's fears of phone calls. She had endured so much with the loss of her mom and her dad just a few years ago. Watching her suffer this call brought up all those horrible fears and dread once again both for me and for her.

We rushed to ER where I had let my wife out, parked my car, and got in Kayla's car to watch Ezekiel. While attempting to reign in my emotions, that song came up in my heart, "All Your Promises are Yes and Amen." And then I saw in my mind's eye the times angels appeared to men in the Bible and the first words out of their mouths were always, "Fear not." Then I heard, "Perfect love casts out fear, for fear has torment." Torment. Yes, I was currently familiar with torment. Then, just as quickly, I saw Jesus say to Satan, "Get behind Me!" and I suddenly realized just what an act of violence and intolerance that was. Wiping tears from my eyes, I pointed my finger forward, sitting there in that van, and I said out loud, "Get behind me, Satan. You are blocking my view of God. I'm going forward where there is no fear. And if you are in front of me I'm going to walk on top of you and crush your head. So... get behind me! What God will do for one, He'll do for another. He promised I could do Jesus' works. He promised I can ask what I will in Jesus' Name and He would do it for me. He promised that all Calvary's pains and diseases were healed by the stripes laid on Jesus' back. So... get behind me!" I then downloaded that song to my phone and began to sing. The peace of God entered my soul very unexpectedly. I then said, "Calvary's brain is healed. She will live and not die. She will lead a normal life. And from this point on, she will begin to amend. It will be an amazing recovery." Then I smiled at Jesus as I remembered a line from a very recent sermon given at our church by Jamie Winship, "Jesus will come right into the middle of your fear, every time. Even if the doors are locked!"

I continued to sing.

Calvary Recovering

In the ER, the report was no neck injury, no brain bleed but a hairline fracture of her skull. She woke up again and vomited. In the van, Ezekiel woke up. My wife came to the van and comforted him. We took him home and I headed back to the ER. I found Kayla on the bed with Calvary, who was sleeping and John watching on and a friend of ours, Kathy (who is also a nurse), there with them. Calvary woke and said her head hurt. They admitted her to watch her overnight. We moved to a hospital room. She woke again and vomited. But she acted like herself. A great sign. I stayed with them until late. Calvary's vitals became normal. She stopped throwing up. She talked to the nurse and all of us like she normally would, surprising us all with her little witticisms and light-hearted personality. She was healing nicely with no further symptoms or complications.

The next day will be a day in the history of Greg Kiser marked and remembered by Jesus Himself, as a day when I was probably the most thankful man who had ever lived on planet earth. John and Kayla's little family returned home with Calvary toting new toys obtained along the way. I had a new perspective; I personally know what Jesus meant when He said, "Get behind me, Satan." All His promises are "Yes" and "Amen."

Jesus had healed Calvary.

A Painful Knee Healed

A few weeks ago an elderly lady (80+ years old) knew I had laid hands on some folks before and had seen them healed. I ran into her again. She made small talk but then finally when I asked how she was doing she said she was in good health but that her knee had been bothering her a little especially when she walked down stairs. We happened to be standing near stairs at the time, so I asked if I could pray for her and then she could try these stairs. She agreed.

I had her sit down on a bench and asked her to put her own hand on her knee and I would simply put my hand on her arm. I did not think it would be proper for me to put my hand on her knee myself especially in front of others. This is just wise and showing modesty and respect, which I highly recommend, if you are praying for the sick, to observe all the time. Jesus will heal in any way you will allow. Normally I would put my hand on the affected area, but when it comes to sensitive areas, particularly where women are concerned, be very respectful and fail toward being too modest rather than abrasive and forward. Jesus will heal either way.

I simply laid my hand on her arm and pointed my finger at her knee and commanded her knee to be healed and pain to leave. She said, "Wow, I feel it getting hot in there!" Yes! I said it is now time to see what progress has been made because, after all, it doesn't take Jesus long to do a miracle. So I asked her to try the stairs.

She went up the stairs and cautiously started down. She said, "It definitely feels different. But there is still a little pain." So I had her sit down again and we repeated what we had done before. Better. We did it a 3rd time. Even better. We did it a 4th time. Done! All pain was gone. She only said, "It doesn't feel 100% right, like the other knee, but now there is no pain at all." I explained that it could simply be that Jesus fixed it better than the other one, or that it will take it a little while to feel completely normal.

Jesus loves to heal knees, even 80+-year-old ones. You're never too old for Jesus to heal you.

Pain Removed From Neck Injury

I went out of town last week, for the whole week. Had to teach class to some techs on how to use our product. The classes for the techs were coordinated by a couple of engineers that work for the company I visited. They make sure the equipment is setup and working, the lunches are present and otherwise host us all even taking the techs out to dinner on the company's expense for one of the days of training. These two guys also were very hospitable to me; way better than I deserve. They even took me out a few of those days for dinner. On one occasion I noticed one of them holding his arm on the way to the restaurant and even after we had ordered our food. I asked him about it. He said he had just had an MRI which revealed some discs in his neck that were now so small that on occasion nerves running to his arm would get pinched by the vertebrae being too close together. He knows me well so it was not hard to simply ask him if I could pray for him right there at the restaurant. He immediately agreed. I laid my hands on his neck and spoke healing to him. His neck immediately got hot and he felt tingling down his arm. His pain diminished over the rest of dinner until it was completely gone by the time we went our separate ways.

I checked on him the next day before class. He said he slept well, like he hadn't in several weeks but that he woke up with more pain in his arm. I didn't have time before class to pray for him but I asked him to come back after class and we'd pray again. He came back. I laid hands on him again and spoke healing. There was heat this time, but nothing was much helping his pain. He couldn't lift his arms up above his shoulders without really bad pain.

It dawned on me something I had learned from others that minister healing in Jesus' Name. So I had him judge how high he could lift his arms before pain stopped him. He showed me. His arms were nearly even with his shoulders. I then told him I was going to command pain to go and healing to come, place my hands on his neck for about 2 seconds and then when he felt my hand lift to then immediately see how far he could lift his arms. I imagine the River of Living Water (Jesus' Life) rushing out of me into the other person and then I remove my hands before "the River" rushes back. (This totally cracks me up thinking about it that way! But Jesus doesn't seem to mind my crazy imagination and many times, for whatever reason, it seems to work.) So when I lifted my hands he immediately lifted his arms cautiously. They went even with his shoulders to where they were before, but this time without pain. He went higher. No pain. All the way up. No pain! Jesus had done it!

He said, "You have other talents besides teaching techs!" LOL... We gave glory to Jesus and he left without pain lifting his arms up and down and shaking his head in amazement. He kept saying, "That's wild."

Jesus really IS wild.

Jesus Moves an Upper Jaw Instantly

A neighbor of ours had suffered from obstructive sleep apnea. When she would lay on her back, her lower jaw would open too much and obstruct blood flow to her brain. It was getting dangerous for her because at times she would wake up with one side of her face drooping and numb because of lack of oxygen to that part of her brain! So after many appointments with the doctor it was decided for her to have jaw surgery to have her upper jaw and lower jaw moved to properly align her teeth and therefore open up her airway.

My wife and I were chatting with her and her husband about this one evening while relaxing on our back porch and we told her about Jesus' love for her and willingness to heal her. They both believed in miracles and they are very real Christians, just haven't found a church they enjoy, so they don't attend one. But they are believers nonetheless. I learned they often go on Harley bike rides raising money for various charities. Such sweet and genuine people! They are the best neighbors we've ever had.

Anyways, we asked if we could lay hands on her. I told her, "It doesn't take Jesus long to do a miracle and we expect something to happen right now." She wholeheartedly agreed. Her husband was also excited because he had a great burden on him from worrying about her health and the upcoming 5-hour surgery and consequent 10-week wiring of her mouth shut! So we all joined hands and prayed. I commanded her jaw to be adjusted and asked Jesus to ease her husband's burden. Then I asked her, "Do you feel anything happening?"

She replied, "Yes. My whole face is tingling and it feels really different."

I know from experience that tingling is usually a supernatural miracle occurring. Heat/cold feeling is usually a normal healing happening, but tingling (electrical feeling) is usually indicating the Holy Spirit is creating miraculous stuff.

We loved on each other and called it a night.

A few days later they came back over while we were out in the yard and told us that she had been back to the doctor for a pre-surgery examination and the doctor had come in and asked, "Did you go to the orthodontist since I saw you last?" She said, "No." He asked, "You didn't have the orthodontist move your jaw since then?" She said, "No, why?" He said, "Well your upper jaw has moved a half inch since I last checked it!" He then told her that he wouldn't have to do anything to her upper jaw and only had to fix something much more minor on her lower. He told her surgery time would be 1 or 2 hours and she wouldn't have to have her jaw wired shut at all!

Evidently, Jesus is also a Master Dentist & Orthodontist.

Cancerous Growth Disappears

I often go with a friend of mine from church to lay hands on the sick that request prayer. I like to do this at lunch time because the folks are local and it usually doesn't take much time for Jesus to heal the sick through a believer.

This time an elderly man from church whom I have known for many years asked for prayer because he had discovered a growth on his chest just under his skin and had gone to the doctor who had run some tests on it and told him it was cancerous.

We arrived at his house and after some friendly small talk also discovered he had some other various pains in his body. His hips and knees hurt him as well. So we first laid hands on him and watched as the Lord Jesus removed his discomfort from those symptoms. He was very happy but, quite honestly, not all that surprised as he was a believer in Jesus' power over sickness. I encouraged him, "We addressed these other physical things first because I wanted you to see some visible results to encourage you that when we lay hands on that growth, the same thing will happen to it." He agreed.

So we laid hands on the growth and commanded in Jesus' Name for it to get out of his body and dissolve away to nothing. Nothing happened. We commanded several more times. Nothing. We (and he) could still feel the growth under his skin. So we resolved what to do. Oftentimes if you don't see results I recommend trying this. Command the healing, then put your hands on the person for just about 2 seconds, quickly remove your hands and them have the sick person immediately check for results. Me and my friend did this. We were determined not to leave until the growth left and we told it so!

The first time we did this together, the growth got smaller. So again. Smaller. Again. Smaller. We did this several more times until the elderly man could no longer find the growth.

Jesus is truly amazing. Don't give up. It is what He wants to do. He wants the healing more than the minister and the sick put together.

Jesus Heals Car Salesmen Too

Notoriously, car salesmen have a bad reputation. Kind of like lawyers. Most people have nothing but complaints and insults for folks holding those professions. Not that this is unwarranted, but it is certainly improper to judge someone in a profession by the profession itself instead of facing each person on an individual basis. For instance, my experience with car salesmen has been very positive the majority of time. In fact I have one particular man that has become MY car salesman. He works untiringly and has always given me the best deal that I have ever received from anyone in my area.

So, the last weekend when my middle daughter, Karahann decided she wanted rid of her "old" car for a newer one, this car salesman's name immediately came to mind. She asked me to go with her, since he knows me pretty well. So I did.

As usual, he was Johnny-on-the-spot. Another salesman had already quoted us a price, but when MY salesman heard that he said, "No, no, no. I will sell it to you at [this] price." A price MUCH lower than the one already quoted. As he went to work on the sale (he can also do the financial side of things too; in fact he is the main manager) we had times we could just chat. He and my daughter hit it off pretty good and I really didn't get much of a break to interject my opinion about mundane conversational things. However, when I heard him say, "Yeah, my back is killing me. I don't know what I did to it today, but I haven't been able to take a deep breath all day and I've been popping pain pills to keep it under control till I get off work."... my interest was suddenly piqued. My daughter, Karahann, knew it as well because she immediately looked over at me. She knows her old man pretty good.

So at one of the interludes where he was waiting on either the computer or one of the other salesmen to bring him something needed for the transaction; I said, "So, is your back still hurting you, like, right now?" Of course he replied it was. "Do you mind if I pray for you? Father God sometimes uses me to heal folks and get them out of pain." He was actually not taken aback by this. Why? Because a few years ago when he had a broken heart from a breakup with his girlfriend, he had asked me to have lunch with him and I had prayed for him for Jesus to heal his broken heart (see here, the 3rd bullet --> http://gregoryleonkiser.blogspot.com/2010/08/well-quite-bit-has-happened-since-my.html), and Jesus had touched him with His power like nothing he'd ever felt before (his words). So because of that experience he'd remembered he said, "You're not going to make me cry again are you?" LOL! I said, "Jesus had your number back then, friend, and He's got it again now. I believe He wants to relieve you of some physical pain this time." He wholeheartedly agreed... that mustard-seed-sized faith.

I got up from in front of his desk and walked behind him and laid my hand on his shoulder and prayed, "Father thank You for loving us. Thank You for your Son Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, bearing all our sins and pain. I speak to this pain and command it to leave in Jesus Name." That's it! He immediately said, "Wow, I'm burning up inside." I could feel the heat coming from his shoulder. He said, "Thanks so much." I said, "Do you feel any relief from pain?" As usual the person being prayed for is not really expecting results on the spot. He looked puzzled so I said, "Take a deep breath." He said, "Seriously?" I said, "Sure. Do it." So he did. His face widened with a grin and his face turned red. "No pain. Oh wow." He took several deep breaths. "I haven't been able to do that all day until just when you prayed!"

So you might be prejudiced against car salesmen, but Jesus ain't. Needless to say the car deal was made with all parties involved very satisfied... including Jesus.

Backstage Healing

Harrison-Jones Memorial Hall at Virginia Intermont College

Every year about this time, my youngest daughter, Kayla, puts on a dance recital for her dance studio. It always has a theme and features all the little dancers that attend her studio and puts their talents on display, whether it be clogging, hip hop, lyrical, ballet and even belly dancing. It is a big deal since all the families of the students get to come and (sometimes) see the dancers displaying their talent for the first time.

As is normal, my whole family usually jumps in and helps as well as many of the mommies and daddies of the dancers. The amount of work it takes to put on such a recital is amazing and, like most things that are worthwhile, takes a lot of planning and scheduling and money. But the rewards far exceed the invested effort. Watching those little ladies (some of which are just 4 or 5 years old) perform on stage in front of a big audience is one of the most heartwarming, inspiring and often humorous things in human experience!

My middle daughter, Karahann, meant to come but was feeling a bit under the weather and my wife wanted me to run down to her apartment and check on her to see if she needed anything. Well, she ended up feeling much better and coming back with me to the recital. But this is not about that! Instead, before I left to check on Karahann, I was backstage and gathering up my stuff to leave. The young lady who was in charge of the auditorium at the college where we were, was backstage as well, checking on us to see if everything was running smooth. But she spoke to my wife and said, "Something is wrong with me. I can't move my right hand hardly at all and both arms feel funny and are aching." She was visibly scared. My wife said, "That sounds like you pinched a nerve..." and she started rubbing her spine to see if there was a sensitive spot. My wife then said, "I'll go get a nurse. Honey, why don't you pray for her?" So, I asked the young lady's permission, and she agreed.

I had no sooner put my hand on her back than I felt a very hot spot on her spine. I said, "Wow, do you feel that?!" She said, "Yes, it is very hot!" I commanded pain to leave and for feeling and motion to be restored in both arms and her hand. We let it burn for about 3 solid minutes, then I asked her to see if anything changed. She said, "Well, I can move my hand now without pain. My arms feel much better now. Wow, thanks." I said, "Let's do it again." So I commanded pain to leave again... "Now?" She said, "They still feel a little funny, but the pain is gone and I have full mobility in my hand now!"

She was very excited and thankful. By then my wife had returned with a dance mommy that was also a nurse. It was time for me to leave, smiling at what Jesus had done backstage, so I told her, "I believe Jesus will continue to work on your spine until you are completely well." She thanked me again and her and the nurse started talking.

Later that night when the recital was over, I didn't get a chance to ask her if all was 100%, but I did notice that she helped clean up and didn't seem to be suffering any longer. Yay! Even if it was a partial healing, she was most certainly helped by Jesus that night and I'm sure the suddenness of that help blessed her heart because most people are not prepared for immediate results! Unfortunately we are too often surprised by God helping us immediately, but it was the normal mode for Jesus Himself when He walked the earth.

So, Jesus was at the recital. I'm not sure where He was sitting during the rest of the time, but He was backstage for a little while... LOL. He loves doing these things for us, if only we all knew how to let Him. Amen!

Abdominal Pain & Knee-swelling Gone

For quite some time now, my oldest daughter, Kimberly, has been struggling with pain in her abdomen. She's gone to several doctors and even had a surgery performed to see if there was any scar tissue or cysts or possible endometriosis. She's taken countless medications in hopes of relieving the pain all to no avail. She was to return to work after surgery but was still suffering pain. So I received the text message from her as shown at the right while I was at work. I went over to her house and laid hands on her. At first I felt a hot spot near her right kidney, but not much was happening. So I began to talk about some of the experiences I'd had in hopes of building up our faith together and encouraging ourselves in the Lord like King David did:

"David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the LORD his God." (1Samuel 30:6).

Next I tried a particularly successful technique I learned from listening to Curry Blake's teaching on getting folks healed. He described the power of God flowing out of us like a river as Jesus said:

"Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'"(John 7:38)

Curry taught that when we touch a person suffering from sickness, we want that river to flow from God through us to them, however, like a river, we don't want it to "bounce back" but rather stay and do its work. Strange description, yes, but I found it to actually work better in some instances when nothing much seems to be apparently going on. So, with my hands not touching Kimberly, I commanded her body to be made well and then touched her back suddenly, held them there for a second or two, and then removed them quickly and immediately asked, "Do you feel anything?". Strangely, I felt that hot spot turn cold immediately. Kimberly said, "Yes, I do this time. It feels like someone put Icy Hot in my body." That sensation continued for several minutes as we talked more about some experiences I had seen with other people.

She felt "different" she said. I had related an experience I had at getting a young guy's knees healed and she said, "While we're at it, how about praying for my knees?" I learned that where she stands on her feet all day doing her job, that the backs of her knees swell and Grant, her husband, usually massages them to make them feel better after work. I used the same technique on her knees and she felt the same "Icy Hot" feeling through her knees. A few minutes later we check the swelling and it was completely gone in her left leg and about 90% gone in her right!

Notice the text message I received this morning. Praise Jesus. He loves my daughter. "No pain this morning"! Jesus is real.

When there are no apparent results, keep pushing. Again, remember, the Holy Spirit is with you and He's done all this before. Every person that has ever been healed, He was there doing it. So, persist. If nothing is apparently happening, keep pushing, asking, believing... all while quietly relaxing that Jesus is the Healer and wants us all well every time.

Faith of a Child

The week after Christmas, I was at my daughter's (Kayla's) dance studio helping move some stuff from a room she was no longer going to use. I was off work that week and several other people were helping, mostly Kayla's husband, John and some dance moms. One of the dance moms, whom I know pretty well and who also cooks at a local deli, was limping around in the kitchen helping all she could. She was obviously in pain. I had prayed for her daughter one time at a clogging competition when she had hurt her foot and was worried about competing with the pain. Her daughter was healed in a few seconds at the competition when I laid hands on her. So now her daughter told her to let me pray for her back.

So I planned on doing it when we got to a good stopping point.

As we were all finishing up and folks were leaving the studio I caught her in the office. "You seem to be in a lot of pain tonight. What is going on with you?", I asked. "My back is killing me. I'll probably have to go to the doctor. But I've been putting that off because I really don't have the money or very good insurance." Her daughter was standing beside her. "Mom, let Mr. Kiser lay hands on you. Remember what happened when he prayed for my foot?!" She smiled and said she did remember that. I told her that it was not a special gift that I had but that all believers, when they realize Jesus hasn't changed and cares for their health, can do what I do. "It just takes the smallest amount of faith; mustard-seed sized.", I said. So, she consented saying she could use all the prayer I could muster. LOL

I asked her where it hurt and she said in the small of her back and around her kidneys. She didn't know if it was her spine or a kidney infection or something else. As soon as I placed my hand just above the small of her back I felt a tremendous amount of heat. I asked, "Feel that?" She started waving her hand in front of her face. "Shew! I'm burning up all over!" I told her that was a sign that God was working all over her body. I've learned from experience if the entire body gets hot it is usually an infection. But there was definitely a local hot spot on her spine as well. I said, "Put your hand around here and feel this!" She did, and she was amazed at the heat coming off of her back. Her daughter wanted to feel it to, so she did. "Wow, mom, you're burning up!"

I kept my hand on her for a good 5 solid minutes and the heat did not diminish. Finally after a few minutes more she started to cool off. I took my hand away and asked her to move around and do something that would cause her pain before. She bent over, moved her back around, leaned back, all to her amazement without pain!

Needless to say she was pretty amazed. Her daughter just said, "I told you so! I told you when this thing started to let Mr. Kiser lay hands on you!"

The faith of a child for the parent is powerful indeed. It is just like the faith the friends had for their friend when they brought him to Jesus and had to lower him through the roof. Jesus "saw their [the friends'] faith ...", He healed him (Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5; Luke 5:20).

Carpel Tunnel & the Waitress

Some time ago, my wife and youngest daughter ate at a Lonestar restaurant in a town near us. The lady waiting on us was very sweet (common in this part of the world). But I noticed she had a wrap around her wrist. She waited on us and I noticed she favored that wrist quite a bit so I could tell it was in pain. After she took our drink orders I told my wife, "I'm gonna ask about her wrist." So when she returned to get our food orders, we ordered, but then before she left, I asked, "I see you have a wrap on your wrist. Does it hurt you?" She said, "Oh yes. In fact I really couldn't work very well with it the last few days. Everybody tells me I'll probably have to have surgery on it eventually." I said, "Perhaps not," and smiled at her. She smiled back and asked, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, I believe Jesus wants to heal your wrist. Do you mind if I pray for it?" She said, "Right now?" I said, "Of course. It'll only take a second." So she agreed.

A simple prayer and a mustard seed-sized faith is all it takes. I put both hands on her wrist and just said, "In Jesus' Name I command this wrist to be restored. Jesus bore all your pain." As usual, I felt nothing, but asked anyway, "Do you feel that heating up or tingling?" Her eyes widened, "Oh my God. I really feel something! How...?" Tears welled up a little. "Try it out." She said, "I can already tell you as soon as you prayed the pain left." But she began to move it. "Wow! That used to tingle. I can't believe this."

She thanked me. She kept the wrap on because she said it still felt weak. But before we left the restaurant she thanked me again and showed me how much mobility she had with it without pain.

Amen. Jesus heals them all... as we go about our normal daily lives... let Him do His loving work. Even if nothing happens right away, you have still been obedient to His call and shown the other person His love.

Jesus Loves Cloggers #2

A Cadence Competition Event

This weekend (07-Sep-2013) I helped score a clogging competition. I don't do the judging, just the tabulation of the judges' scoresheets. In other words, I just do the math. Actually I just program the Excel spreadsheets that do most of the math for me. The week before this competition I was at my daughter's studio (Kayla owns her own dance studio) and was working on the spreadsheets in her waiting room. Lot's of little cloggers and their mommy's were coming in and out. I overheard one mommy telling my wife that her daughter, who was supposed to be in the competition this weekend, that she had hurt her shoulder somehow jumping on a trampoline and that it had a painful knot in it and she couldn't raise her arm without considerable pain. She was concerned she might not be able do the arm movements required for her dances with her team. While this mommy was telling my wife this, my wife, Tammy, in her normal loving and caring way, began to rub the little girl's shoulder. I could see her wince in pain as my wife's thumb passed over the knot. After she finished talking to the mommy, my wife told the little girl to go over and

She came over and I simply took her little hands in mine and said, "Thank you, Jesus, for loving us and carrying our pains in Your own body. Now, knot, I'm speaking to you and I command you to leave right now." I held her hands a little longer and then I just said, "Do you feel that?" (As usual with me, I didn't feel anything but usually the person you're praying for does.) She said, "Yes. It is tingling..." then she paused, and her eyes widened... "...and getting hot!". I said, "Very nice. That means Jesus is touching it." I then let go of her hands after a few more seconds and I said, "Now see if it is still there." She reached her other arm around her neck and backwards and tried to find the knot. It was no longer there. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open and she said, "How'd you do that?!" I said, "It wasn't me. It was Jesus." But she didn't even hear me she was running over to her mom. "Mommy, Mr. Kiser made it go away!"

Her mom gave the normal acknowledging remark that you would give a little girl who believed in something that wasn't necessarily so but didn't want to hurt her feelings. I told the little girl, "Move your arms around like your clogging moves." She did and then looked back at her mom, "Mommy, it doesn't hurt." She kept trying to find the knot. Finally her mom tried to find the knot as well. Curiously, it was gone. She was quite intrigued. LOL!

All-in-all, Jesus cares about even the littlest of hurts of a little girl. He obviously wanted the little girl to be out of pain for her clogging competition. And, I must say, she did very well this weekend. Her and her team (my daughter's team) won with many of their dances! 

That's right, Jesus loves clogging! :)

Jesus Loves Cloggers

Recently, I drove my wife, two of my daughters, and a handful of young cloggers and a mommy to competition in Maggie Valley, NC. It was a Sunday. I was supposed to be teaching a class on creationism in a Sunday School class and my wife was to drive them there, but she was just getting over being very weak and sick the week before. I didn't want her to drive in her weakened state. It was a windy and cold day due to the winds from hurricane Sandy coming in on the east coast of the USA, but the drive was beautiful, especially from I-81 down I-40 East. Fall colors around here are amazing. Snow was actually expected in the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains later that evening.

Along the way I learned one of the cloggers had injured her foot the week before. Doctors said it could've been a small hairline fracture. So her foot was very tender. Her mom brought some Olympic-style wrapping material for just such injuries. She intended on wrapping her sore foot just before going out on the floor to dance. I made a mental note of this.

We all found some seats together in The Stompin' Grounds balcony and the girls altered between watching dances and getting ready for theirs. While this injured little clogger (she's about 14 years old) is talking to her mom about her foot, I stepped up and asked if her foot was hurting her. She said it was. I asked her mom if she minded if I prayed for her foot. They're both Christians, so they both agreed. I took her hand in mine and thanked Father for His love for us through Jesus and commanded her foot to be healed. I asked her if she felt anything happening. She said, "Weird!" I said, "So you did feel something?" She looked at her mom and said, "Yes, I did, mom." I asked her to stand on it and try it out. She said, "Wow, it doesn't hurt!"

Here is their dance. I didn't get the very beginning because I'm a klutz:

After dancing on it she came up excitedly to her mom and said, "Mom, my foot really didn't hurt at all when I danced!"

After the clogging competition, we ate at a local BBQ place called "Butts On the Creek" (http://mountainshops.com/wnc/butts_creek.html). During dinner as the young ladies were talking of the competition and the dance, this young lady said, "Yeah, and I'd like to thank Mr. Kiser for praying for my foot. It didn't hurt at all when I danced today!"

Thus Jesus was glorified among all the little cloggers. I'm sure He smiled.

John G. Lake & Andrew Murray

John G. Lake

Reverend Andrew Murray, the head of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, whose books are throughout all Christendom and who is generally recognized as one of the saints of this age, was dying of an incurable throat disease. The physicians of Africa gave him no hope. He came to London, England, but received no hope from the medical men there. He went to Bagster's Bethsan Divine Healing Home and was perfectly healed.

He returned to South Africa and wrote a book on the subject of healing, and it was placed on sale by the church. After a little while, the ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church discussed it in conferences. They said, 'If we leave this book in circulation the people will read it. Then the next thing we know they will ask us to pray the prayer of faith for the sick, and we have not the faith to do it, and our jobs will be in danger.' So it was decided to withdraw the book from circulation.

Why not give the people the light of the scriptures? Let them know that Jesus is the healer still, that He empowers men today through the Holy Spirit, to heal the sick, just as He ever did.

-John G. Lake

The Cleaning Lady Healed

The other day I was visiting my father-in-law in the nursing home bringing him lunch. I usually visit him at least once a week, sometimes more. Each time I go visit I like to take him something to eat. He loves Long John Silver's fish and he usually just wants one piece. While we were in the cafeteria enjoying our fish, one of the cleaning ladies sat down at the table and spoke to us. She is always happy to see me and my family and she is one of the genuinely sweetest Christians I believe I've ever met. There are lots of problems in her life, but she is always singing, hugging and working. She has a brother who is mentally challenged and she's always telling me about what he's doing. So, needless to say, we love it when she takes time to visit.

She ended up telling me she had to go to the doctor the next day for tests to be run on her heart. She also told me she had a small irritating cyst on the underside of her eyelid. She had had it pierced once before some time ago, but it was back. We talked further and she was about to leave and I grabbed her hand, "Don't leave until we pray." She said, "OK! I need all the prayer I can get." I said, "We all do, but I'm going to lay hands on you and Jesus is going to work on your heart and your cyst." She said, "That sounds great!"

I took both of her hands in mine and thanked Father for His completed work in Christ for her healing, and grace for me and her. Then I commanded her heart to be strengthened and made whole right now and, like the fig tree Jesus cursed, I commanded that cyst to leave her body now and to bear no more fruit in it.

Suddenly she took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide, "I'm on fire inside!" LOL, this is a common sign of God's healing power working in her body. She felt a sudden tingle in her eyelid. She told me her heart was hot and I felt the heat coming from her entire body! It was amazing. She rolled her eyes around and couldn't find the cyst! It had decreased in size to just a small red mark on the underside of her eyelid in just a few minutes. Wow. Jesus is amazing!

I loved on her and she went away in tears of joy and singing (normal!). Next time I see her I've got to ask her about her heart tests and see how it goes. I'll post an update when I hear.

Jesus is like a healing machine. His grace and mercy are over all His works. He is ever faithful to heal the sick, not to receive glory like He is some kind of "glory hound", but rather, because He truly deeply and unashamedly loves us so. Praise Him and go lay hands on the next sick person you find. And don't you pray and ask Father to heal! No, no, no. You do it like Jesus did and speak to that mountain and that fig tree and tell that sickness what to do in the Name of Jesus! It must obey you! (John 14:12)

A Mustard-Seed-Sized Faith

Got a call from a friend of mine, "I can't take it anymore. I can't live like this. I can't live with this kind of pain. Something has to give. Can you pray for me, man?" I asked, "What's hurting?" He answered, "I've had blood in my bowels for a long while now, and I've had a constant headache for weeks. I can't take this pain." I asked, "How about your back?" (I had prayed some time ago for chronic back pain he'd had for years and Jesus had completely healed him). "Oh, no, no, no, that's great. My back hasn't hurt since you laid hands on me. That's healed for sure. But I believe if you'll pray for me right now, I'll be healed of this as well. I gotta have something..." His voice had despair. "OK, let's pray..." I took a deep breath, thought about Jesus, and began to thank Him for the grace and mercy for me and my friend and His desire to heal him. Then I commanded bleeding to stop and pressure to go away in his head. I asked, "Feel anything?" "Nothing." So, I did it again. "How about now?" "No, nothing. Still hurts." So, I did it again. "Anything?" "Nope. Nothing at all. But I feel lighter in heart." BAM! I said, "That's it. That's His presence. He's healing you." "OK, thanks friend. I love you." "I love you too. Please let me know..."

The next morning I was making breakfast for me & my wife, and I got a call. It was him; he was crying. "I just wanted to call you this morning and thank you for last night. About 10 seconds after we hung up, the pain in my head began to disappear and in just a few minutes was totally gone. No pain this morning at all either." Awesome Jesus. "How about the other?" "Don't know yet."

Later that day, I got a text message: "The bleeding has stopped! Praise the Lord! I love you man! Thanks for praying for me!"

The normal mode of healing the sick is laying hands on them. But when someone has a mustard-seed-sized faith, like my friend showed in calling me and saying, "I believe if you'll pray..." then we should meet them at exactly that point. It is powerful. Jesus, when He saw the faith of friends, healed a man. He didn't waste any time; the faith was there already. Jesus didn't have to use His faith for the man; the friends had it. In another place, Paul noticed a man who had faith to be healed, so Paul commanded him to walk.

Faith must be there for a connection to God's Life to flow. All that is required is someone present have merely a mustard-seed-sized amount. You can see that amount easily if the sick person looks to you for healing, or if they ask for prayer, or even if they just moderately agree when you ask to pray... that's all it takes to plug into God's power. I've seen atheists get healed by merely agreeing to let me pray for them! This is how you can get not only atheists healed, but even wrong-faithed religions as well; like followers of Islam, Buddha, cults, Wican, etc... it doesn't matter. When a mustard-seed-sized amount of faith is present, this makes that person a "believer" right then. I'm not saying they've dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ, but at that point they have a very small amount of faith that it just might be possible for them to get healed.

And that is all it takes. We turn to God just the tiniest amount, and like the Prodigal son's father, God bounds down the road to us to meet us! He can't help it... He is predisposed to show us favor!

"Show Me Your Moves!"

Bruce Lee

My daughter, Kayla, is currently dating a young man whose dad I knew as a kid. His dad, David, was a special forces man in the Vietnam War. As a young man, David had studied martial arts and became very good at it. He became so good, in fact, that the army utilized his skills and made him a trainer. After the war he continued to study different forms of martial arts. He opened up a school in my area when I was a kid and taught his skills there. He married late in life (his 40s) and had 3 children, the middle one's name, who is dating my daughter, is Solomon. I know, I know, isn't that cool? Dad: David, son: Solomon. That was on purpose. He is also a minister and even though David is in his 60s he could still probably whip 3 good size young and strong men if he had to.

Anyways, Solomon is also very well-trained in martial arts. In fact, in his age division, he's never been defeated in a bout. He's a very sweet and energetic young man and is pretty crazy about my daughter. Kayla told him my interest in martial arts. When I was a young man about Solomon's age, I had taken karate for about 4 years and had earned a brown belt in a particular style. But unlike Solomon, I had lost plenty of times. But I did manage one year to earn a Tennessee state championship. When Solomon heard that he kept aggravating me and begging me (just kidding with me) to "Show me your moves!" This was quite funny to me because that was 30 years ago!

David & his son Solomon

But the other night he was over to the house waiting on Kayla to finish getting ready. We were all going out to eat. Solomon had been training kids all day in martial arts, Kayla had been training kids all day in dance, my wife had kept our grandson all day, and I had worked about 13 hours... so everybody was wore out. But Solomon was in my living room stretching, flexing and shaking his legs. I asked, "What's a-matter?" He said, "Well, I've abused my legs from kicking so much in fights, that my hips hurt me sometimes and I can't sit for a long period. And the doctor says my knees are getting close to bone-on-bone. So they crack and pop and hurt most of the time." Interesting to have these kind of issues at 20 years old. But I suppose it is not uncommon for an athlete his age considering he started martial arts when he was 2 years old.

He finally came over on the couch and with a big grin on his face asked, "So, Mr. Kiser, when are you going to show me your moves?" I said, "How about right now?" His eyebrows raised, "Seriously?" I said, "You bet. Give me your hands." So, rather excited, he gave me his hands. I said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command your hips and knees to be made whole right now!" I looked up, the grin was gone, and he had his head bowed. I asked, "Do you feel that?" He looked up and said, "Oh man! I'm on fire!" I asked, "In your hips and knees?" He said, "Oh yeah. It's like Icy Hot on the inside!"

I held his hands for about 3 or 4 minutes and then told him, "Go check it out and see if it feels better." He went to the center of the room and started stretching, moving, kicking, etc. He said, "Wow. I'm freaking out right now. I can't get my knees to pop. Everything feels great! I haven't felt this normal in years." I said, "Well, you asked me to show me my moves. So there you are." He busted out laughing. "Oh wow, Mr. Kiser, I really love your moves! It's just faith, right?" I said, "Right. Not just faith. But faith in a Person. Faith in the faithfulness and willingness of a Living Jesus to do these things for us."

Needless to say, Solomon was very happy and when Kayla came down from finishing up getting ready, he told her about my moves. LOL! Jesus is faithful to heal us. His moves are always for our healing. His moves always work through our moves. If we don't move, He can't move through us. So... MOVE!

Grace For Drug Test & Cancer

A couple of weeks ago, my sister (TammyC), my mom and I went to pray for a lady (Mary) whom we've known all our lives. She was rasied down the street from where I was raised. I actually went to school with her older sister and brother and most of my memories of her are her toddling around as the younger sister. She was also a good friend of my wife's, who went to school with her. Turns out after school she got herself into quite a bit of trouble with drugs. She recently had been released from jail and was out on probation from a drug-related charge. She lives with her mother, who now takes quite a bit of care due to increasing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. By her words, she doesn't receive any help from her older siblings and she is basically the sole help provider to her mom. The reason for our visit is because, of late, she was told she had liver cancer and a possible brain tumor along with a recent failure of her drug test from her probation officer.

As I entered her house it reeked of cigarette smoke. Her mom answered the door and seemed mostly normal. She recognized my mom and my older sister immediately and asked if I was Greg. She said I'd gotten older and looked different with gray hair. Yeah, it happens... LOL. We sat down in the living room and Mary came from the kitchen, cigarette in hand. She was a mess. The years have been rough on her. She was still sweet as could be, but you could tell she was having a very hard time with life.

She began to tell us what was going on. We heard that she had had seizures lately, even falling off the lawn mower and lying on the ground for over an hour while the mower kept running. A neighbor found her. Since she recently failed her drug test at her probation officer visit, the liver cancer doctor was not sure if he could treat her. Of course, she maintained that she didn't know how she could've failed her drug test when she's not been taking anything illegal. We heard her stumble over this story several times and make a few self-incriminating boo-boos in the coversation that followed. She looked like she was on something. Of course, who could blame her? I felt nothing but compassion rising in me. During one of her stories, I just couldn't stand it anymore; I rose up and hugged her.

After the many stories, many tears shed, I started telling her that there are no easy fixes to all our problems as humans, but that Jesus wants the best for her and is here to help her. She confessed that without Jesus, she'd already be dead. She expressed faith that Jesus wants to help her, but she thought He might be teaching her something, or punishing her for her lifestyle. I assured her that was not so. That the Jesus of the Bible was not like that.

I asked her to come over on the couch beside me and let me and my sister lay hands on her. She did. We commanded liver cancer to die and prayed for her seizures to stop. I asked her if she felt anything. She replied, "Well, I'm getting hot over here on my side" (her liver side!) "but I didn't know what it was." I explained that is the power of God healing her. Also she confessed her headache immediately disappeared. She'd had a headache for days that wouldn't let up.

She revealed she was worried about passing her "piss test" (to use her words) on her visit the next day to her probation officer. If she failed this, she'd probably go to jail. I thought, 'That's terribly sad' and I didn't know what to say. Suddenly I felt Jesus speak in my heart, "Pray for her blood to be cleaned of drugs." I was shocked. Would He do that? Of course He would. I repented silently of my unbelief and my limitation of His mercy and grace toward Mary. I prayed this silently because it just didn't feel right to say it out loud.

After we left, my sister asked me if I noticed Mary was on something. I said I did. She also noticed the self-incriminating stumbling of her language and asked what we should do about her upcoming drug test. I told her what happened to me. She laughed and said she thought exactly the same thing!

Sunday (13-May-2012) I asked my mom about Mary. Turns out, she went to her drug test the next day and passed! Then she had another visit to her liver cancer doctor, and he said, "Well, looks like it is in remission. We can't find it anymore." Praise Him! Mary now wants us to come back and pray for her tumor again.

What is amazing to me about this is Jesus' grace toward Mary in passing her drug test. I want you to think about that for a while. You might say that was cheating. LOL! His mercy never ceases to amaze.

Healing On the Job

Yesterday (Thursday, 29-Mar-2012), I took my regular bi-weekly trip to Cumming, GA to the company that sells our products and does front-line technical support for them. It is normal on such a business trip to visit with the techs that answer the phones and take them out to lunch. During this visitation we mainly discuss technical issues with older products and up-coming issues we foresee for yet-to-be-released products.

Betty

There is a lady there, one of the lead techs, that I often visit and chat with whose name is Betty. She is such a delightful person to be around and she's one of those persons that I would put in my rather small category of real Christians. She grew up protestant but married a catholic husband and is now a faithful catholic. We usually end up talking about our family or Jesus somehow each time. She's been a great help to me and the other techs on many occasions. She's not afraid of hard work and can work most of the other techs (who are all men) under the table any given day.

Yesterday she told me about not participating in some physical activity because of her back problem. She'd had it for years and never really done anything about it. But lately it had gotten unbearable. She went to a doctor who didn't help her much, so she went to a chiropractor. He just immediately began popping her back without much evaluation. This wasn't helping so she went to a different chiropractor and insisted on an X-ray.

The X-ray revealed the padding in her L5 vertebra was flattened, and bone was basically rubbing bone. I don't know the technical name of this malady, but she said it was very painful or would cause her back to catch where she literally couldn't bend a certain way. Instead she'd have to settle back down, wait for it to pop back, and then she could move.

Of course, I was chomping at the bit the whole time. I could sense the excitement that was about to happen to her; Jesus was pushing me to lay hands on her... it had to be Him. So after waiting rather impatiently for her to finish her story, I said, "Well, let's just pray, can we?" She agreed. Yes!

I sat in the guest chair of her office and just asked for her hand. She gave me her hand and I prayed something like, "Thank You Jesus for your love for Betty. Thank You for the healing that you have provided for us all. Thank You for Your grace for me and her." Then I pointed to her back with my other hand and said, "Now, back, I command you to be healed, right now." It was quiet and calm. We waited. Seconds passed. Her head was still bowed, eyes closed.

Suddenly she inhaled dramatically, pulled her hand out of mine, and said, "Shew! I am burning hot all over!" She's usually cold anyway and has a little space heater under her desk and usually wears a light jacket, which she now immediately pulled off and began to fan her face. I started chuckling. "Don't laugh at me!" she said with a big grin. I said, "What's going on?" She said, "I don't know I just suddenly got hot all over and now my back is on fire!" I asked, "In the appropriate spot?" She said, "Yes!" and then started crying.

I love Jesus and the way He touches us.

I started laughing. It wasn't insult, I just can't help getting tickled when Jesus does this stuff. People are so not expecting anything to happen and when it does the facial expressions are priceless.

I asked her if it felt any better. She said, "It feels wonderful! Are you kidding. Wow. I don't think I'll go back to the doctor." I said, "Well, no worries. There is no test. Keep your appointment. If it is 100% healed, it's healed. If it isn't 100%, it isn't, and we'll just do this again."

Now, mind you, this was in her office at her workplace, and I was on a business trip. Gives meaning to "as you go":

Matthew 10
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 

Amazing, truly amazing. It never gets old.