Go look for a red bottle

I've been re-reading John Wimber's book Power Healing lately for about the fifth or sixth time. I'm doing this because I want to get better at healing the sick and demonized. Because that's something that disciples — followers of Jesus — are supposed to do. See the first two chapters of our book Simple Kingdom: Discipleship if you're not yet clear about this. 

Anyways, in chapter 11 of John's book he talks about prayer selection, which means answering the question of what kind of prayer is needed to help the person you're trying to heal. He gives some examples of different kinds of healing prayers that include prayers of petition, prayers of intercession, words of pronouncement, words of command, and so on. 

One type of healing engagement he doesn't talk about here is what might be called a word of instruction. An example of this can be found in chapter 5 of Second Kings where the prophet Elisha sends a messenger to Naaman, the Syrian army commander who suffered from leprosy, telling him to go and bathe himself seven times in the Jordan river if he wants to be cured from his leprosy. 

Over the years Ingrid and I have occasionally given such words of instruction to people whose healing we were praying for. One such example involved myself:

During our early days when we were just beginning to learn about healing from Wimber's cassette tape series and other Vineyard materials, I developed some painful sores in my mouth. This got worse and worse over the next few days until I began having difficulty swallowing. At this point Ingrid laid hands on me and started to pray for my condition. As we waited for the Holy Spirit to lead us in our prayers, I suddenly saw a vision of a red bottle. Ingrid and I discussed this and concluded that God was probably instructing me to go look for a red bottle containing some liquid that would heal my condition. 

So I went to our local pharmacy and started walking through the aisles. When I reached the oral health section, I suddenly saw a red bottle that had the exact same color and shape as the one I had seen in my vision. It was a product called Sterisol, and the bottle's label described it as a therapeutic oral rinse that contained hexitidine, an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent. I was unfamiliar with the product, but because of my vision I concluded that God was telling me I should use it to heal my condition. So I bought it and went home and washed my mouth with it several times. The next morning my sores had greatly diminished and were no longer painful. And by the second day they were completely gone. 

As a postscript to this story, many years later I developed a small sore in my mouth. After about a week it went away, but I thought I'd better buy a bottle of Sterisol and have it around just in case I ever needed it in the future. But when I went to the pharmacy I couldn't find it, and looking online I discovered that the product had been taken off the market here in Canada because our health authorities had decided that the ingredient hexitidine was unsafe. Argh! Fortunately upon further research I found that this was not the case in the UK and that one could still buy a similar hexitidene-based mouthwash there called Oraldene, so I ordered a bottle of it from amazon.co.uk. 

Thank you, Amazon :-) 

In conclusion then, when you pray for healing for others, or even for yourself, be open for the Lord telling you to do something in order to be healed. Not all healing happens through divine power released during prayer; sometimes you have to actually take concrete steps to get healed. 

Be blessed, and be healed in Jesus' name.

—Mitch