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Aug. 8, 2016 - Praying Medic

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057 Top 10 Questions From Readers

In this message I answer the top 10 most commonly asked questions I receive from readers and listeners. Resources Southwest School of the Supernatural

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	Hi, I'd like to welcome you to our show.
	I'm your host, Prang Medic.
	We're talking about life as a child of God and all things related to His Kingdom.
	Thanks for joining us.
	If you're a new listener to the show, you can find articles and books and other resources on my website www.prangmedic.com.
	Now let's jump into this week's show.
	Hey, this is Praying Medic.
	Glad you're able to join me on the podcast today.
	Today's message is going to be a little bit different.
	I'm going to share with you the 10 most common questions I get from my website and the answers.
	The first question that I get from readers to my website is this, is it really God's will to heal everyone?
	Now, if you've read my articles, listened to my podcasts, or read my book on healing, you know that I believe it is God's will to heal everyone.
	A natural question is, then why isn't everyone healed?
	If it is God's will, why are people still sick when we pray for them?
	Well, there are two ways in which I received this question on my website.
	Some people ask this question and they sincerely want to know, how do I see God as being a God who is interested in healing everyone if there's so much sickness?
	I generally tell people, Jesus is our model.
	When we want to know what God looks like, what his view is toward any one thing, all we need to do is look at Jesus.
	He is our role model.
	He displays the character of God, he displays the nature of God, and he displays the will of God better than any other source we have.
	So I always look at Jesus whenever people want to know what God's will is.
	When I look at Jesus in the Gospels and how he approached people who needed healing, I see him healing everyone who ever asked for healing.
	He never turned anyone down.
	He never told anyone you couldn't be healed.
	He never told anyone it was the Father's will for them to remain sick.
	Everyone who asked for healing was healed.
	Now, one person pointed out, I think a week ago, that in the pool of Bethesda, there were many sick people who were nearby, but Jesus only healed one person.
	Doesn't that illustrate or suggest, perhaps, that it's not His will to actually heal everyone?
	Because He had an opportunity there to heal many people.
	Well, when you look at the scriptures and these healing accounts, you have to be very careful at how you look at them.
	In that particular account, what happened was, the narrative says that there were many people there and that the pool was famous because an angel would come and stir the waters.
	Whoever got in the water after the angel stirred the water would be healed.
	Well, the lame man said, I can't get in the water, no one will lift me up, and someone always gets in the water before me, so I've never been healed.
	And Jesus asked him what he wanted, and he said he wanted to be healed, and Jesus healed him.
	The narrative then cuts away.
	It doesn't have any more discussion about what Jesus did with the people who were at the pool.
	The next thing we read in that account is, the man was in the temple, and the Jews were asking him why he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath.
	They thought it was against the law.
	He said, well, this man told me to pick up my mat and he healed me.
	So we don't really know what happened with the people at the pool because the narrative in the Gospels doesn't tell us.
	It's possible Jesus healed everybody else who was there.
	It's also possible he didn't.
	We don't know.
	When I look at Jesus and I see his approach to healing, there are several places in the Gospels where it says he healed entire cities, entire villages of all their sickness and disease.
	There aren't any exceptions to healing that I see in the Gospels.
	So, when people ask me, is it really God's will to heal everyone?
	I look at Jesus and I say, well, that's what I see.
	When I look at Jesus, I see a God who had compassion on everyone, who wanted to heal everyone who needed healing.
	Now, the second type of person who asked me this question Is someone who doesn't actually want to hear my answer.
	They just want to bait me into an argument.
	So they can point to other situations like they might say, look, Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed.
	She was believing for her healing.
	She had faithful people praying for her and she wasn't healed.
	What's the deal?
	Why wasn't she healed?
	There are people who will bring up Paul's thorn in the flesh and say, well, you see, Paul had a thorn in the flesh.
	It was some kind of sickness or disease.
	And if Paul had this, then it demonstrates that maybe it wasn't God's will to heal people.
	You can go through the Bible and find passages that seem to support the idea that maybe it's not God's will to heal everyone.
	And that's fine.
	If you prefer to have that view, that's okay.
	Just realize, I have studied the scriptures.
	I've studied the Gospels.
	I've come to the conclusion that it is God's will to heal everyone all the time.
	When there is a failure of healing to happen, it's not because God doesn't want it to happen.
	It's because we have failed to do the things necessary to appropriate that healing.
	Speaking about healing, question number two is this.
	I've read your book on healing and I'm not having any success in getting people healed.
	What am I doing wrong?
	Well, I generally ask people a couple of questions.
	The first question I ask is, how many people a day are you actually praying for?
	Sometimes the answer is, well, I'm not really praying for anyone.
	I'm not feeling led.
	I was hoping that God would somehow let me know that my healing ministry is ready to go.
	Well, the problem with that view is God has already commissioned all of us to go out and heal the sick, to raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, and proclaim the kingdom.
	That is a commission he gave to every disciple.
	We don't need to wait for anything.
	We can go out and we can go to grocery stores, to the theater, wherever you go, whether it's on a commuter bus, on a train, or in your home.
	You can be praying for people and you should be praying for people to be healed.
	The people who generally have difficulty seeing success in healing are people who are not actually praying for people.
	They've read the articles, they read blog posts, they read books, they listen to podcasts, but they're not actually putting it into practice.
	Once you start putting it into practice, you're going to see things change.
	You're going to see people healed.
	It may not be right away.
	It might take you a few weeks.
	It might take you a few months.
	It did me.
	But what I would encourage you to do is understand that you have to put this into practice.
	You can't just sit there and maybe pray for one person, the same person, who has some disease that's incurable.
	Now, I do have friends who have tried to pray for people in their family.
	They're not really stepping out much in the community or in churches and laying hands on people.
	They're mostly praying for themselves or family to be healed.
	Although you can pray for yourself to be healed, that's probably not the best way to build your faith for healing.
	The best way to build your faith for healing is to go out in public and pray for people to be healed.
	After you've seen some strangers healed, it's very likely you'll pray for yourself and see yourself healed.
	I know some of you will say, well, people are going to be stumbled when they see me and I'm not healed yet.
	They're going to wonder if I can really heal people, why haven't I healed myself?
	Trust me, I have friends who have seen miracles of healing and they have been in wheelchairs for years.
	The fact that they're disabled and in a wheelchair doesn't stop them from having faith and seeing miracles happen.
	Don't be concerned about your own health, your own illnesses.
	Just go out there and pray for people.
	Start laying hands on people and watch what God does.
	If you don't have opportunities to pray for people in public, you might consider teaming up with people who are interested in healing in a place where you can get some practice.
	A lot of churches now are putting together healing rooms.
	If you have to travel a little bit, I would suggest doing that.
	Just look around your local area, see if there are places where people are meeting and they're praying for people to be healed.
	There's nothing better than teaming up with people who are seeing miracles and who can mentor and train you if you need some experience.
	If there's nobody in your area who is laying hands on people and getting them healed, I would suggest getting on Facebook.
	You can join groups.
	There's lots of groups on Facebook where people discuss and do training and equipping for healing and deliverance.
	If you want to, send me a private message on Facebook at Praying Medic and I'll try to get you connected to some of those groups.
	The third question is one you might be surprised about.
	You mentioned Peter Tan in your book, Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple.
	I've gone to his website, I've read some things that have happened to him lately, and I want to know what you think of his life right now.
	So, here's the deal.
	When I write books, I do a lot of research.
	I read other people's books, I listen to podcasts, I watch videos, and I get as much information as I can about that subject.
	Some of that information will find its way into my books.
	But when it does, the fact that I've included somebody else's revelation in one of my books, it does not mean I endorse that person's ministry, or that I endorse their lifestyle today, or that I agree with their message, or I like all of their books.
	I'm not endorsing a person when I include something of theirs in my book.
	I don't really know what Peter Tan is doing right now.
	I know that a number of people have written me, and they have concerns about how he's living right now.
	The thing is, Peter Tan wrote this book, The Spiritual World, more than 10 years ago.
	At that time, the situation in his life was different.
	I don't really know what's going on right now, and it's really not my issue.
	At the time he wrote that book, I thought it was a very good revelation of the spiritual world.
	So I included parts of that in my book.
	For me, that's where it ends.
	If I include quotations or somebody else's work in one of my books, it's simply because I found their information to be helpful.
	Like I said, I'm not endorsing the person's lifestyle or their ministry or their other resources.
	The next question I sometimes get is, can I travel to where you live so you can pray for me to be healed?
	My answer to this question is usually no, and I have my reasons.
	First, I always ask people, how would you feel if you visited me and you paid for airfare and you paid for a hotel and I prayed for you and you were not healed?
	That is a serious concern for me because not everyone that I pray with is healed.
	A lot of people aren't.
	I can't, with a good conscience, have someone pay for airfare and a hotel to come here to have me pray for them with the possibility that they're not going to be healed.
	Now, sometimes a person will say, that's okay, I'll just go find somebody else and have them pray for me.
	Well, here's the problem.
	If a person is receiving prayer for the same condition from many people, and if they're receiving prayer from people who have a good track record, it's not an issue of finding the right person to pray for them.
	There are deeper problems that are involved that haven't yet been identified.
	And until those problems are identified and addressed, you can have as many people pray for you as you want and nothing's going to change.
	I don't think it's a good policy to go from one healer to another healer to another healer just thinking it's a matter of finding the right person, the right combination.
	That's really not how healing works.
	Most people who have these types of conditions, they're in need of something that hasn't been addressed yet.
	That either they need deliverance or they need inner healing.
	I found out last week in a dream that something that's holding up one of my wife's issues is the fact that she needs her DNA corrected.
	I'm working on that problem.
	But until you've identified what the problem is and addressed it, you're not going to be healed.
	So rather than spending a lot of money and time going from one healer to the next healer to the next, A better approach would be to methodically look at your situation.
	I would consider praying and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal what the problem is.
	That's what I did.
	I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal what the problem was with my wife, and I had a dream that indicated she needed to have her DNA corrected.
	It's a problem that I'm going to be working on and trying to resolve, but that's the best way to get these difficult cases healed.
	The next question, this is stated in a number of different ways, but I often have people write to me saying that they've prayed, they've had hands laid on them, they've cried, and they've begged God to heal them, and they want to know why they haven't been healed.
	Well, this goes back to what I just spoke about.
	If you have been doing everything you know to find a way to be healed and you're still not healed, number one, it's not an issue that God doesn't want you healed.
	It's probably more an issue that you've got some lie that you've believed either about yourself or about God that is causing the healing to be blocked.
	Now, I use an example of my wife.
	She had a herniated disc in her back three years ago and she went for a long time.
	We prayed and we went to healing meetings and she was not getting any better.
	No matter what we did, we couldn't get her healed.
	But one day she identified the fact that she had some wrong beliefs about herself and about God.
	And once she got her beliefs and understanding straightened out, simple prayer and bam, her herniated discs were healed.
	It's that kind of thing that is usually standing in the way of healing.
	It's something we believe about ourselves or something we believe about God that is preventing us from receiving the healing God wants to give us.
	I've seen this over and over again.
	Once you identify what it is, whether it's emotional trauma, or whether you've got some demons that are working in your life and preventing these things from happening, or you've got some demons that are lying to you and you're believing these lies, when you identify those things and get rid of them, the healing happens immediately.
	The next question I get is, again, phrased in different ways, but people write to me saying that their life is a mess, their relationships are a mess, their husband or wife doesn't respect them, people treat them terribly, their health is going down the tubes, they're always sick, the enemy is destroying their life, and they want to know what they can do.
	This situation is somewhat related to the last one, but there's some different dynamics going on, so let me explain them.
	It takes most of us a few years to make a mess of our lives, although if you're really determined you can probably do it in a couple of months.
	Here's the thing, when the light finally goes on and you begin to thinking about the fact that God might be able to help you get your life turned around, it's easy to imagine that he can fix everything in a day or maybe a week at the most.
	I mean, if God's all-powerful, he can just make everything happen and change everything immediately.
	That's what we've been taught.
	Thing is, before God is going to fix your circumstances that you've gotten yourself into, he's going to fix you.
	How quickly your life turns around and all that mess is cleaned up.
	is generally determined by how quickly you're able to come into agreement with his assessment of the situation and how willing you are to implement the plan that he has to change everything.
	If you're in the habit of blaming other people for your own situation, it's probably never going to change because you've got either one of two problems that need to be addressed.
	If other people really are the cause of your problems, then you've developed a pattern of thinking that believes it's okay to allow other people to control you.
	That mindset is the first thing that needs to go.
	It's never okay to allow other people to control you, and as long as they are, your life is going to be a mess.
	People don't care about your life being blessed and fulfilled.
	If someone else is controlling your life, it's going to be run by what makes them happy, and that's usually not going to be what makes you happy.
	So the first thing you need to do is not allow people to control you, to really get out of your life anyone who is trying to control you.
	God isn't going to overrule the decisions you've made that empower other people to run your life.
	At the end of the day, you need to allow God to have his way in your life.
	But before that can happen, you need to first take back control of your life from the people that you've given it to.
	The other possibility is that you developed a habit of blaming other people for your problems, but those problems are actually caused by your own thinking and your own behavior.
	Now, if this is the case, then you're wrongly expecting that your situation will change if other people change, and that's simply believing a lie.
	If you haven't given control of your life to other people, but you're blaming them for your problems, you've got a lie going on here.
	Because if they're not in control, but you think that they are, then you have to realize you are the one who's in control, and your mind, your thinking, and your actions have to change.
	Your life is never going to change if you don't take control and give it over to God.
	Many of us have very difficult lives because of the way we've been programmed to think about who we are.
	From the time we're young, we are essentially brainwashed by our family, by teachers, by society that tells us our identity and tells us who we are.
	We've been told who God is.
	We've been told who God is not.
	We've been told what He can and can't do.
	Most of our problems actually result from things we believe about who God is and who we are, which is why the very first message Jesus gave was, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
	And of course, the word repent is the Greek word metanoia, which means change your thinking.
	In order for us to live a victorious and blessed life, we have to think about ourselves the way God thinks about us, and we have to think about God the way He really is.
	We have to understand what it means to rule and reign with Him in our daily affairs.
	The people that I know who are living life to the fullest have programmed their minds in accordance to what God has said about them, in complete disregard for what their family and friends have tried to make them think.
	Their families have learned to respect them because they've learned to respect themselves and who they are as a child of God.
	The enemy doesn't usually harass these people much because there are a lot easier targets to go after.
	Like people who are still ignorant of their identity in Christ.
	People who don't understand who they are and don't understand who God is.
	It really is all about identity.
	It's about seeing yourself the way you really are in Christ.
	It's about seeing yourself doing the things Jesus has done, living the way he lived.
	If you see yourself as a worthless, wretched person, that's exactly how everyone else is going to see you and that's how they're going to treat you.
	But, once you start to see yourself as a beloved child of God, as an empowered believer who is a significant person in the kingdom, when you start to see yourself that way, other people are going to see you that way too.
	The next question is, why don't you interpret dreams?
	There are a couple of reasons why I don't generally do dream interpretation.
	The first is, I don't know your dream language.
	Each person has a different spiritual language that is used in their dreams.
	God generally gives us dreams with images that are relevant to the things that we do in our daily lives.
	So, if you happen to be a nurse, a lot of your dreams are going to take place in the setting of a hospital.
	I'm a paramedic.
	A lot of my dreams take place in the setting of an ambulance.
	If you happen to work as a cook in a restaurant, a lot of your dreams and a lot of the symbolic images you see in your dreams are going to come from the work that you do.
	So, when you have a dream that you're cooking in a kitchen and you're doing certain things, that's going to have a totally different meaning to you than it would to me because I'm not in that situation.
	I don't know what your job is and I don't know what your dream language is.
	So, it's very difficult for me to interpret somebody else's dream if I don't know the details of their life.
	The other reason why I don't do a lot of dream interpretation is, it's not actually my job description to interpret other people's dreams.
	It is my job to train people how to interpret their own dreams.
	And I'm very interested in training people to understand how we communicate with God, how He communicates with us, and how we can learn to interpret the revelation He gives us.
	The next question is, why can't you give me a prophetic word?
	Well, the answer to this is related to the last question.
	We seem to have developed a church culture where some people can't get out of bed in the morning without getting a prophetic word.
	Now, I'm not saying it's a bad idea to ask for a word now and then, but your life should never be lived based on what other people are telling you God is saying.
	It should always be lived based on what you are hearing God say to you personally.
	And that's kind of how I live my life.
	I receive enough revelation from God that I can pretty well steer the course that I need to be on.
	Occasionally, I do get prophetic words from people.
	I don't ask for them.
	Usually, if the Lord knows that I need specific revelation that is outside of anything He's told me, He will give a friend a prophetic word or a dream, and they'll contact me and give it to me.
	It's usually confirmation of something I've been suspecting or wondering about.
	So, I'm not against people receiving prophetic words, but my job description doesn't include giving everyone a prophetic word.
	It does involve teaching people how to hear God for themselves.
	So, if you are interested in learning to hear God, learning to hear the Holy Spirit, learning to interpret the things that He says, I'm here to teach you whatever I can teach you.
	But if you're just looking for another prophetic word and you're not really interested in learning how to hear God for yourself, you probably just need to find other prophetic people who are willing to give you prophetic words without teaching you anything about how to hear God for yourself.
	And that's okay.
	There are plenty of prophetic people who are willing to give prophetic words and not really do any teaching.
	The next question I sometimes receive involves prayer requests.
	I literally receive hundreds of prayer requests a week through Facebook and email.
	Some people will ask me to pray for them every day for their healing.
	So the question is, do I actually pray every day for the same people?
	Well, this is going to surprise some of you, but it's actually not my job to heal everyone who needs healing.
	Because my main job isn't healing, it's teaching.
	Now, it's true that God has called me to pray for people to be healed.
	And I do pray for a lot of people, just about every day.
	And I sometimes see people healed.
	But that's not the most effective use of my time.
	There's an old saying that goes, if you give a man a fish, he'll eat for one day.
	But if you teach him to fish, he'll eat for the rest of his life.
	Well, my approach to ministry is exactly that model.
	I know that if I pray for someone to be healed, they might be healed today, but next week or next month, they may come down with another sickness.
	If I haven't taught them how to get healed, if I haven't taught them how to heal other people, they're going to come right back to me for healing again.
	And then two months later, they're going to come back to me again for healing.
	And two years later, they're going to come back to me again for healing.
	They then become dependent on me.
	Every time they're in a crisis, every time they have something go wrong, they have to run to me to get them healed because they never learned how to heal themselves.
	Well, here's the reality of what I do.
	My job is to teach you how to heal yourself and how to heal other people.
	While I am interested in getting people healed in the process, that's not the main way in which I use my time.
	If I had a choice between praying for 100 people a day and seeing all of them healed, or teaching 10 people a day to heal others, My time would be better spent teaching the 10, because over time, those 10 people that I trained could heal and train tens of thousands of other people.
	It's about spiritual multiplication.
	Because I know that God can use me most effectively as a teacher, and not actually as a healer, I spend most of my time writing articles and books.
	I create podcasts like this one and now I'm even doing videos.
	All of this is so that I can teach you how to heal others and how to heal yourself.
	Now that doesn't mean I won't pray for your healing, but it does mean this.
	If your primary concern is getting yourself healed and not learning how to heal others, you've probably come to the wrong place.
	There are many other people in the Christian community who focus most of their time and energy on getting people healed and setting them free of demons.
	They don't do a lot of teaching.
	They're really good with prayer and getting people healed.
	I would suggest that if your primary need is just healing and not teaching, that you would seek out those people and let them do what they do best.
	If you are interested in learning about healing, stick around and let me do what I do best.
	The last question is this, do I ever do any public speaking?
	Well, I am starting to do some, but I'm only speaking locally right now.
	There's an organization that was called the Arizona School of Supernatural Ministry.
	I think they're changing the name to the Southwest School of Supernatural Ministry.
	They're going to be meeting in places like Flagstaff, Payson, Prescott, Gilbert, Maricopa, and Phoenix.
	The classes are going to be starting up here pretty soon for the fall semester.
	I'm actually going to be doing some teaching with that school.
	I still do spend an enormous amount of time writing, but I may be venturing out into other locations as time allows in the future and as the Holy Spirit leads me.
	So if you think I'd be a good fit for your tribe, send me a speaking request and I'll pray about it.
	And if the Holy Spirit gives me a green light, I will get in touch with you.
	That is all for today.
	I'm glad you dropped by.
	I'll catch you next week on the podcast.
	This is Praying Medic out.
	Well, folks, that is our show for today.
	I hope you enjoyed it.
	Thanks for dropping by.
	If you're new to the podcast and you haven't been to my website, you might drop by and check out the articles I have there.
	If you have any questions or comments about the show, you can contact me at admin at prayingmedic.com.
	That's A-D-M-I-N at prayingmedic.com.
	You can also contact me on Facebook and Twitter.
	I'd like to thank you again for dropping by.

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