Jackie Pullinger emphasizes the importance of honesty in prayer, encouraging individuals to express their true feelings rather than offering superficial responses. She shares her personal experience of healing after extensive prayer, highlighting that healing can involve addressing deeper issues beyond physical ailments. Pullinger stresses that Jesus used various methods for healing, and that compassion and genuine care for individuals are essential in the healing process. She encourages a model of prayer that prioritizes love and sensitivity, rather than performance or spectacle, and reminds us that healing is ultimately in God's hands.

Okay, the important thing is when, because I want to comment on what we did before the break, is when you ask the person in the middle of prayer, how are you doing, that they feel free to tell the truth. Okay, so they don't have to say, oh, a bit better, thank you, or in faith, I claim healing, that's really not helpful. So when I first went to California, I had 29 hours of prayer. It was the first time in, I think, 17 years that anyone had prayed for me. Every time I went into worship, and every time people prayed for me, I felt worse. And so I was really encouraged. No, truly, because I knew we were hitting something, and we really did hit something. And I was healed. It was a very great pain in the back. So it, not in the neck, but just above the shoulder. Could the Lord have healed it in one minute? Yes, I'm sure, but there were many other things that we covered along the way, which I'm really glad we did, because it set me free in many other ways to go on quite apart from the back. So when you're praying with somebody, and you ask them, how are you, please be sure that they feel free to tell the truth. And if they say, well, actually, no change, that's all right, because as long as they feel free to tell the truth. In fact, there won't be nothing, because you can't pray in Jesus' name, and there's no, nothing happening. So if you're praying, especially with two people, in the name of Jesus, that will always bring an increase of Christ. So it can't be nothing's happening. They just might not feel it's healing the bit they wanted at that time. But please let them know you can tell the truth. Okay, they haven't got to make, you're there to help them. They're not there to make you feel good. So will you make sure? Any other necks there? I saw all kinds of hands went up to necks. But okay, how's yours? Thank you, it's much, it is better. Thank you, Lord. So well, if it's still there, we'll pray some more tonight. Okay, so you want to tell us what happened while we prayed before the break? Thank you very much. Now, that's why it's helpful to communicate with people in your team and between you, you get different impressions of perhaps how you should do it. Just to comment on this, Jesus used many methods in healing. So on one occasion with a blind man in Mark's gospel, in Mark eight, he spat, spat in his eye. Okay, so supposing you'd been one of the disciples, you would have said, well, I know about eyes now, you spit in them. And somebody else had been with him when he healed the guy in John, which is, what is it, John eight or nine? Thank you, in John nine, the man born blind. And he do say, no, you actually got it wrong. It's not spitting in the eye. It's spitting in the ground on mud and putting the mud in the eye. And somebody else would say, no, no, no, no. I know the healing method. It's spit on the tongue. No, you use that for ears. And so you can see that if you had been present and you thought this is the way to do it, you would start a new denomination. You would be three denominations, all claiming where the spit on the tongue group and where the spit in the eye group and where spit on the ground group. So this is how it happens when people have what was the truth and the Holy Spirit on that occasion and build a doctrine around it or build a practice around it it was valid, it doesn't mean to say it's always the right way. So what we are trying to do today and tomorrow is to use a model which may help you. Now there are many, many models. Years ago in Hong Kong, there was a very serious man, very serious who came and he claimed, and I think it was probably true, to have had some extraordinary miracles where people had got out of wheelchairs when they'd been to a rally on the platform. And that's actually great. And my problem though is the people that didn't get out of their wheelchairs. Because it's possible if we're not careful and loving and sensitive, that people get the impression they didn't have enough faith. Or God doesn't want everyone healed or he allowed this to happen to teach me a lesson or something, you know. So my concern is when you've got people with very serious illnesses and they bring them to big conventions, of course if they see somebody miraculously healed, that's good in a way because faith goes up. And when faith goes up, that's always good. But they may feel a failure because they're on show if they're not apparently healed. And I'm, but they tend to trot these people out. And you know, I'm terrified when I go to some meetings about when I'm speaking. And they have this healing line, they call it. And I'm at the front of the healing line and I think, oh God, I'm terrified of two things. You know, first of all, I'm terrified they won't get healed, you know. Because I mean, if God's not doing it, you can't do it. But I'd really like them to be healed, you know. So then I'm terrified they will get healed, truly. Because if they do, you know, there's going to be a line going on forever. And nobody heals everyone they pray for, no one. Jesus did, and I think much of the reason was he prayed for the people that the father told him to pray for, okay. So when you look at the story in John, let me get this right, John five, the man who'd been by the pool for 38 years, out of that, it was like a clinic. You know, all these people were lying there, waiting for the angel who would come and disturb the waters and if they could be in the water first, it would be them. Why out of that whole crowd, it was him? I don't know. I, my bottom line is that I really believe God wants everyone healed, I really do. I really do. I really, really, really, really, really do. I believe he wants everyone healed, I really do. I think he wants everyone set free, I really do. I mean, if he sent his own son to die so we could be, what, you know, and promised to give us everything else that we would need for, on this earth, you know, of course he would. It's just, I'm praying to get better at spotting how he wants to do it this time or what he wants to deal with this time. We don't have all the answers. Paul didn't, he left his disciple behind sick once. And who was told to take a little wine for his stomach. The Pentecostals teach that that's to rub on the stomach. But that's because they have a drink problem, so. It's, you know, but, you know, he didn't have a 100% record either. So the model that we are trying to learn is one that cares for the person first of all. Because, hi daddy. This is what it says in Matthew 9, 36. Matthew 9, 36. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And he, every time you find the word compassion, there are six notable examples to do with Jesus. Every time the word compassion is used, there was action. It wasn't emotion, though there would be emotion. He cared. He wasn't up there doing a healing service. So everybody would know he was famous. And he'd get good TV ratings and a huge megachurch. By the way, that was the devil's first temptation for him. Sorry, second or third. You can have this whole megachurch if you'll do it my way. And he said no, knowing that the purpose of the father was for him to die, which looks a silly way to do it. When the enemy had promised him instant famous ministry. So it's, he actually cares. So hopefully you'll begin to believe that he actually cares. He is not doing miracles for the sake of doing miracles. Though in John's gospel, he says he nearly might. He nearly might do it for the sake of people believing. But he's not doing it to make people believe. It's part of his heart that people might see who he is. And he, when he met the leper in Mark one, the leper in verse 41 says, if you are willing, you can make me clean. It's a good question, isn't it? And perhaps a great number of you have asked that. If you are willing. So the leper clearly believed he could. He just didn't know if he would. And Jesus immediately says, I am willing. And I think he's always willing. But sometimes he wants to deal with other things. Now my brother-in-law, he's still alive, was one of the best GPs I ever knew. He was amazing. This was in the days where you visited your patients. Do they do that anymore? No, okay. So he drove around the countryside and he knew everybody. And he'd go into this lady's house and he'd look at the photographs on the piano and say, oh, how's your daughter's children growing up? You know, and then he'd go and visit somebody else and say, I noticed you've got a new cat. And you know, he was truly interested in them. And you know, half of them were sick because they were lonely. If you imagine that your only healing model, it may be valid sometimes, but if your only healing model is putting up your hand and saying, in the name of the Lord, be healed, and people fall over, it looks frightfully impressive. But what does that person who didn't get healed feel like on the next morning and the next morning and the next morning and the next morning? They actually need, the most healing thing you can do for them is be their friend on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and pray for them in your house group, not the big healing meeting where the poor things are on show. You know, it's too much, I think. So I'm very happy if these, powerful-looking men, they usually are men, apart from Katherine Kuhlman, who was part of the reason we got this word, anointing, in the church. But anyway, they look as if they do it all the same way. In the name of the Jesus, be healed in the name of Jesus, you know. And I was at a meeting where a very famous man was doing Holy Spirit healing meetings. And he came to Hong Kong for four or five days. There were queues round the block for hours and hours. Well, anyway, I have to tell you, I absolutely loathe the meetings. And because I hated them, I felt guilty all the way through. So, you know, I spent the entire meeting saying, oh God, I'm sorry. I hate this. Oh, please forgive me. And when he came towards me, because he frequently did, Lord, please let him not touch me. No, sorry, God, I really am open. You know, and this is exhausting. I tell you, after three days of that, I thought, well, I think that might not be a helpful use of my time. By the way, everyone in the meeting fell down except me, you know. And then I was feeling stupid standing alone with my handbag, you know. My husband had obligingly lain down, you know. By the way, the only time I'd ever fallen down, no, that's not true. The only time I laid on the ground was in Holland. And that was because people during worship kept coming up to me and saying, can I have your autograph? Or these days it would be a selfie. So I said to my friend, I'm lying on the floor. They won't bother me then. Yes, so anyway, don't be too impressed. These, when it's the Lord, it's the Lord, but it is not anywhere in scripture something to be looked for. It may be a phenomenon that the Lord uses, but don't go for that. Go for the heart of God. And when you're praying for somebody, say, Lord, this person's got a problem. Now, my brother-in-law told me that 70% or more of the patients had an associated family problem or loneliness problem or fear problem or whatever it is. And he dealt with the person. That's why he was such a good doctor. And he had a very high healing record because he loved his patients. And I think as Christians that this, we're using this model as an aim to, of course, in the middle of using this model, we might really strongly feel that we're supposed to say in the name of the Lord, be healed. That's fine. But that's not where we're starting from, okay? It's a possibility. This time, spit in the eye. Next time, spit on a tongue. You know, next time, don't spit at all. You know, it's fine not to. There, so we want to be sensitive and above all, love the person, treat them as a person, which is why I suggested that you opened your eyes because by opening your eyes, one thing is you begin to be able to see in the spirit how the spirit's working. And then you'll see if the long prayer you've made was helpful or not. Because you can see if they look bored, and goodness me, you know, when is this person gonna stop? You can see it. And then, you know, be kind to stop and say, well, have a seat, you know. Should we go on praying or not? Treat them as a person because you need to go on loving them. They're not there as a demonstration of healing and should not be used as such. Otherwise, they'll feel they've disappointed you or they'll feel they're a failure. And I think a lot of people get healed during these lovely music worship times. It's because nobody's saying that much. And then people feel relaxed enough to receive directly from the Lord. You're not getting in the way. And it's amazing. I don't know if Joe or Jill or any of you would like to tell a story or two about how people have actually received from, seen Jesus while you're playing. This was at the National Portrait Gallery, the secular place in London. First, we do sound portraits with a group called Epiphany. That means we just improvise over the person trying to bring God's presence and his love into their lives, et cetera. Anyway, he sat down and we played it over him and we asked him afterwards, what did you feel? He said, I think today has been the very worst day of my life. But through the music, I have got hope. That makes sense. Yes, it makes sense. It's fine. Any other stories that brought emotional or physical healing? Do you do these things? You do? Got any stories, Raul? It was a large conference hall and I just felt like going right to the back and played the trumpet and someone came forward and says, I suffered from panic attacks for many years. When I heard the sound, I was set free. Thank you. Thank you. So you understand that if you tell that story a lot, people with panic will ring for Raul. Okay, that's not helpful. This is how the Lord did it then. And what we've been trying to do and will go on doing is to create a setting where God can do it his way this time, which may be quite different from last time. There is one that comes to mind. So this is not involving me personally, but an orchestra that I work for that does Christian ministry. We were doing a concert once and the piece was called Healer of My Heart. And it goes, healer of my heart, lover of my soul, maker of the stars, the earth, the sky, come and make us whole, et cetera, et cetera. And it was probably the highlight of the concert. And one of my friends, a cellist, not Joe, someone else, was praying for a friend of theirs who had been experiencing heart problems. And she just felt very compelled that she needed to pray during the song for this friend. She wrote an email to us about a week after the concert and said, I felt compelled to pray during Healer of My Heart. And my friend was there at the concert and I was praying for her as we were playing. And my friend has since gone to the doctor and her heart problems have cleared up. I've also been in that orchestra and we've been privileged enough to go to Salzburg. And once when we were there, we were playing in this really enormous, well, I don't know how you describe it, extravagantly decorated concert hall. And some of the Austrians, really, they don't like you to mention the name of Jesus. So we played what we played without talking about Jesus per se. But the love and the light of Jesus that shone through that choir. And as we began to play, we would see tears all around the place because you didn't need the words. The power, the healing touch of Jesus through our music was just staggering. So even the hardest of hearts, they were melted that night. Funny you mentioned Austrians because my family is quite a tendency of them. So I had had celiac disease for 11 years. And whilst I was in Hong Kong at the Jubilee in November, I really struggled whilst I was over there, if I'm honest, with food for the first time in the 11 years, because in England, there's free from sections everywhere you go. You can go anywhere and get food, but in Hong Kong, I really couldn't. And I really sensed on the last day, actually, that Jesus was going to heal me. And during the day, I went out for lunch with someone who is in one of the congregations in Hong Kong, who I met there. And she said to me, gave me like a word. And she said, allergies come from spiritual idols in your generation, and Jesus wants to break them off of you, which was so significant because for me, I'm the first Christian in my whole family ever, come up a lot, got a lot of persecution there because of it and a lot of religions involved in my past as well for my family. So it was really significant. And then on the last night, as we're on our way to the Jubilee, it was kind of about maybe 10 to nine. So I was thinking, oh, I really feel like Jesus wants to heal me. And he did, and it was instant. And I was being completely set free. So now I can eat everything, drink everything. And it actually healed a lot of fatigue issues I've had as well over the years because of it. Thank you. We got two people healed of celiac on the same day. So, good. Right, just one or two other things about the way Jesus healed. If you look at the Mark 8 miracle, which is the blind man again, he took the man out of his village. In verse 23, then he asked them the question, do you see anything? That's why I encouraged you to ask the question in the middle, how are you doing? How are you feeling? When you ask that question in the middle of praying, I mean, don't ask it too quick, give them some time. And that person should keep their eyes closed if possible, because if they open their eyes and start talking to you, it just breaks the flow of what the Spirit's doing. So you can keep your eyes open and they keep their eyes closed. It's not a rule, it's just helpful to remember. Anyway, after Jesus had prayed a second time and the man could see completely, he gave him some post-prayer advice, which was not to go back to the village. And I suppose there was something in, or someone in the village that would be unhelpful. So sometimes when you pray for people, it may happen tonight, you may want to say, shall we go somewhere quiet? Or would you prefer to pray where there are not so many people? For a number of great reasons. And some people are happy to pray in a crowd because it looks as if they're getting lost, other people are afraid of the crowd. So be sensitive. It's, I personally think small home groups are the best place for people to be loved and prayed for. But sometimes big gatherings, there's a general rise of faith and worship, which is helpful. So there's not just one way, but remember to ask questions. There are several times where Jesus, like in Jairus' daughter, in Mark 5, and Peter's mother-in-law, where he would do it quietly somewhere. So Jesus' basic healing motive and method. We'll quickly look at this, because it's really important, and I've mentioned it a few times. When we've been in the middle of praying, John 5. Okay, so I want you to share this with your neighbor. Okay? Read verse 17, and then 19 to 20. So one of you read it to the other, every other verse. 17, and then 19 to 20, John 5. We need to be, okay. Okay, so in these scriptures, there are some similar ones in John 7. We learn that Jesus doesn't do anything on his own. Now, if he said, unless the Father's working, I can do nothing, that lets us off the hook. Why would we think we could make something happen if we've got enough faith? He said, unless the Father's working, I can do nothing. So this is why I've encouraged you to open your eyes and work with a team, so that together, you can try and decide, what's the Father doing? And if you see some response, you can see that something's touched the person and they're crying. You just say, Lord, thank you for whatever you're doing. I bless what you're doing, and you'll see more increase as you do that. So you learn to cooperate, and that's why I've encouraged you not to stand behind people, because you can't see. You also don't know if they need to kiss you or if they need to sit down, no, and we're treating them as someone that we love. So that's our aim tonight. Now, some of you will go to the streets this afternoon, healing on the streets. Just very quickly, because I need to release you. My husband died, and he had the best prayers in the world, praying for him, not me, but some of the best prayers, and it's actually fine. I'll tell you more about it later. It was actually fine. It was the right time. His life was not snatched at all. It was the right time. Other people thought it was too short. I did not. I thought I had the long time. So anyway, after that, the people from his congregation, because he was running one, by the way, I didn't often go. I really did not want to play the pastor's wife role, so I'm not into role-playing, really, so he felt much freer when I wasn't there, and we were both in ministry, so what's the problem? Anyway, anyway, anyway, his congregation got completely hung up on praying for him before he was sick and before he died, and so afterwards, they didn't want to pray for anyone, so I said, you better go out and find some lost, and tonight, I'll explain why. It's easier to get lost people healed than found people physically. Anyway, because Jesus said these signs will follow you, these signs will, part of going to the lost and the poor is that these signs will follow you. That's just the sweetness of the Lord. We don't know if all the people who are healed are going to remain healed or remain following Jesus. We don't know, but God will gift you this afternoon. You'll find as you go to the streets, there'll be people you've never met who will be healed. With believers, he often, as well as the physical healing, wants to deal with other things. In my case, in that 29 hours of prayer, I'm really thankful he dealt with the other things, and then I was completely free, so I'll go over a few of those reasons tonight, so go and enjoy yourself on the streets, and Alex has got some other things to sign up for.