by Jan Beriault, Elder for Prayer Ministries

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working”. - James 5:13-16

In his book, Healing, Francis MacNutt speaks of inner healing in the quotes (taken from pages 185-187) that follow:

“ Inner healing is simply that we can ask Jesus Christ to walk back to the time we were hurt and to free us from the effects of that wound in the present.

Some of these hurts go far back
into the past.

Others are quite recent.

Many of the deepest hurts go far back to the time when we were most vulnerable and least able to defend ourselves.

Inner healing is indicated whenever we become aware that we are held down in any way by the hurts of the past. Many Christians are hindered in their lives by such things as a haunting sense of worthlessness, anger, depression, anxiety and fears.”

“We may have been children when we heard this but subconsciously we still hear it and believe it. If a person has always felt unlovable or has always been restless or fearful, the need for inner healing probably goes all the way back to the very earliest years of life.”

“The basic idea of inner healing is simply this: Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, can take the memories of our past and

• Heal them from the wounds that still remain and affect our present lives.
• Fill with His love all the places in us that have so long been empty, once they have been healed and drained of the poison of past hurts and
  resentments.”

This healing has also been called healing of the memories. Dennis Bennett described it this way,

“Inner healing is simply cooperating with the Lord to let Him cure and remove from our psychological natures the things that are blocking the flow of the Holy Spirit.” ( Emotionally Free, by Rita Bennett)

My desire as the Bethany Prayer Elder is that each one of us would be made whole: body, soul and spirit, as God created us in his own image. There is a desperate need for healing in today’s world and Bethany has a prayer team available to meet with anyone who senses it. On the 1st and 3rd Sundays after the 5:00 pm service, team members are available to pray with you. Someone in the lobby of the Bethany fellowship hall can direct you to the team. Confidentiality and privacy concerns are strictly guarded.

We have had such great response from the congregation that we need more team members, especially men! So if God is nudging you to pray for others and you would like to be a part of this ministry or learn more about it, please contact me at beriault_j@msn.com, 285-1502 or Kathy Parker katparker@earthlink.net, 547-2407.

The team itself meets the 1st Sunday of each month at 4:30 pm to pray for the ministry. What a blessing this is for me to serve the Lord in this amazing way.