There are miracles taking place yet today in churches and living rooms, even in the workplaces of America. But I’ve noticed something: people don’t go running off to tell their friends anymore. Also, those who witness the miracles don’t shout with glee like they used to.
I’ve seen miracles take place through my own ministry and have witnessed some that took place while I was there. I, myself, was healed of an incurable spinal disease that had tormented me for nearly 15 years and was getting worse. I was walking with a cane, enduring sleepless, pain-filled nights and considering a nursing home just before God healed me. I’ve seen cancer healed, leukemia, gold fillings, legs grow longer, hips pop back into joint. The most incredible miracle of all, one that I’ve seen dozens of times, was hurting lives that were healed – the kind where the recipient was never going to be the same again.
Recently, in Coppell, Texas, was one of those days. In a beautiful home, 22 women, Revivalists Larry and Corrine Silverman and myself, gathered to see what God would do there. Over a 5-hour period, testimonies, anointed preaching, prayer, words of knowledge, prophesy, physical healing and deep inner healing took place. The presence of the Father was tangible. His daughters received His love and His power. Tears flowed freely as the Spirit moved upon these dear sisters. At one point, as woman after woman came forward, I said to Larry, “You can have your gold dust and gold teeth. I’ll take these changed lives any day.” Those women WILL go running and telling others. They will testify by eMail, by phone and in person as to what their God has done in a living room in Coppell.
Last night, in my own living room, a woman from Crowley, Texas joined us. This woman had been diagnosed with Stage Four uterine cancer and had been sent home to die. When she first called me two months ago, I told her we would pray for her until she was healed. Last night was her 8th visit. I’ve seen the physician’s report. She’s getting better and better and tumors are getting smaller and smaller with each visit. She looks great and her hair is growing back. Last night, it was glorious to watch as she ministered healing herself.
What about YOUR living room? Has your Christian experience been reduced to sitting passively as a preacher drones on and a band entertains once a week? Can you find scriptural evidence that THIS is what Jesus died for and expects of you? In all honesty, my days of warming a pew are over. That can’t hold a candle to casting out demons, watching people get healed and seeing lives forever changed.
Time and again, we ask people to come for healing prayer in my home. Rarely does anybody come but the Intercessors, though we meet regardless and always have something or someone to pray for. Some who HAVE come and received ministry did not return. Several times I’ve heard, “If God wants to heal me, He can do it right here in my home.” (Tell that to the people who sacrificed much to touch Jesus or receive from Him.) I know of people who were diagnosed with cancer who put all their faith in chemo treatment and insurance rather than come for prayer. (They might miss an episode of their favorite show, I guess.)Yes, God will use those things, too…but Healing Prayer is cheaper and easier!
AND more fun!
I recently heard a story about a man with a tremendous healing ministry. He once ministered at a place where 15 people showed up. A woman was healed and threw her walker away. The next night, thirty people attended, mostly first-timers. In Africa or China, there would have been thousands there. In America, we seem to prefer the glitz and glamour. We support the minister with the mansion and the airplane while we ignore the person whose ministry is just as powerful, if not more, who meets in tiny churches and living rooms. We judge books by their cover and equate one’s stage presence and glossy brochure with God’s anointing.
Be not deceived!
I digress…getting back to the point of this article: Why don’t Americans flock to be healed?
A. We have placed all our trust in physicians, medicine, vitamins and all he many products that supposedly make us healthy (my wife, a Registered Nurse, just took a course entitled “Killer Bugs,” describing the kinds of killer infections that are endangering many in America’s hospitals).
B. We have health insurance so we can more easily afford treatment.
C. We are spoiled.
America is a giant Nazareth. Like that dusty little town, the place where Jesus grew up, we see signs of Him every time we turn around. A church building, a T-shirt, a fish on a car bumper, dusty Bibles on dashboards…Jesus is everywhere. Imagine you lived in Nazareth and were shopping in the marketplace. You see 11-year old Jesus walking through the crowd carrying a chair his father, Joseph, had just built. He’s delivering it to a customer. Later, while talking with another Nazarene, you see Jesus again, this time playing with some other kids. Your friend says, “That Jesus..he sure is a decent kid…I suppose you heard about how his mother Mary claimed he was conceived….what a tramp!”
Years later, as Jesus returned to town as a man – the Messiah – ready to minister to anyone who needed His blessing, very few came. After all, it was just Jesus, Mary’s kid. Big deal. They were used to him. They were apathetic. Quite complacent. Those who came WERE healed… but very few came.
Sounds like Anytown, USA, eh?
In contrast, I have ministered by telephone to crowds in Pakistan, Kenya and Uganda. By telephone, people were healed. Deliverance took place and Muslims converted. During the Uganda call, when I was ready to go to bed at 1:30, the minister on the other end said, “Pastor, people are still coming! They are coming from every direction.” I asked, “What…are they driving? Do you see cars?” He responded, “No, we have no cars. They are waking in the rain through the bush. They will wait for you.” He told me they expected to hear from me in two hours. What could I do? So, in two hours, I called him again and he translated yet another message. Again, miracles took place.
Not like many towns in the USA, eh?
There are a few places that are getting some press in America. We use the term “Revival is breaking out.” (As my friend, Ed says, “We can’t expect revival when we haven’t yet been vived.”) You may have heard of what God is doing in places like Brownsville, Kansas City and, recently, Ignited Church in Lakeland, Florida where Todd Bentley is ministering. But you hadn’t heard of the living rooms in Coppell or Stephenville or Pfleugerville or Carrollton – all Texas towns where I have witnessed the mighty hand of God moving in the lives of His children. These are places where living rooms filled with people were “vived” as they encountered Life Himself, the person of Jesus Christ who STILL ministers to the hurting, if they’ll come.
Get on board with what God is doing. Larry and Corinne Silverman are here in Texas right now and, trust me, you could use their ministry. Hey, if it’s within 300 miles, Barbara and I may join them! Truth is, first time we ever met was via eMail nearly two years ago. Then I felt the Lord wanted me to have them minister at our Dallas House Church Conference. They drove from Florida to Texas to do so.
C’mon, flock of God…let’s flock to get healed. Whether it’s your health, your emotions, your relationships, your finances, Jesus is still healing, working through the hands of committed men and women – an army of ordinary people – in living rooms across the planet. Get on board with what God is doing! Like the two men who cut a whole in the roof so they could lower their sick buddy’s cot, bring your friend to a house near you and see the glorious hand of God in action.
Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
A servant of God